Well, it is already nearing the end of the quarter. When I look back on the past ten weeks in my instructional strategies class, I realize just how much I have learned. This course was a great introduction to the specifics of how to teach. Last quarter, we examined teaching from more of a philosophical angle that left me inspired to be an extraordinary teacher but at a loss as to how I would accomplish that. Our instructional strategies course has started to provide me with those tools, and I appreciate how practical and applicable it has been. I have even thought about using some of the strategies in my current work at the after-school program, since those kids deserve quality instructional practices as well.
This quarter we have covered a wide variety of instructional strategies in four different strategy “families”: Information-processing (like scientific inquiry and advance organizers), social models (cooperative learning and role play), personal models (nondirective teaching and self-esteem promotion), and behavioral systems (direct instruction and simulations, for example). I’ve wrestled with the appeal and concerns of Dewey’s constructivism, revisited Gardner and his multiple intelligences theory, been inspired by Carl Rogers’ Priorities of Affective Education, and examined the differences between nondirective teaching and direct instruction.
Bloom's Taxonomy, from edorigami.wikispaces.com
Fascinating as these all have been, I think that the most (currently) useful things I’ve learned in this class are the transdisciplinary concepts and Bloom’s taxonomy. The transdisciplinary concepts, which have been especially useful as I’ve shaped an integrated unit plan for another class, consist of these: cause and effect, commonality and diversity, systems and patterns, scale and symmetry, cycles and change, interaction and relationships, time and space, and equilibrium and order. I appreciate this list because it gives me something that will tie units and subjects together for my students, fostering connections between pieces of knowledge. Bloom’s Taxonomy, which constructs six levels of intellectual processes from knowledge to evaluation, is also helpful as I seek to move my students into deeper understandings.
Many of the other instructional practices we have discussed have inspired me and provided me with valuable tools, and I will explore a few in-depth in my final paper (which will be posted later on this blog). As I said before, this course was a very informational and practical introduction to effective classroom teaching.
Caitlin's bPortfolio 