chapter 13 Instructing Students

Overview of Chapter Goals of instruction Practice Personality variables Teaching behaviors Observation for skill and confidence Strategies for improvement Effective and expert teachers About expert teachers

Are Teachers a Natural? Important behaviors of teachers—practice Information about instruction Student learning is optimal You are ready to assume the responsibility of teaching Continuous improvement of teaching is a realistic goal

Practice Practice and feedback are important learning variables for the children and for teachers Monitor practice variables for success Motor skill learning takes time

Events That Suggest Reorganizing Practice Children are having trouble following instructions None of the children are making progress on qualitative aspects of skills Children cannot explain what they are trying to learn After considerable time, skill is not improving

Personality Variables May Influence Instruction Voice Volume Tone Pace Body language Facial expression Enthusiasm

Table 13.2 Teacher–Student Interactions List the students’ names in the left column. Each time your observer notices you looking, speaking, touching, or smiling at a student, a mark is placed in the appropriate box. The goals are to have at least one interaction with each student in a class and to balance the interactions among students. Name Looked at Spoke to Touched Smiled at

Using Humor in Teaching Never make fun of a child Direct humor at yourself Learn to tell jokes that 8-year-olds like

Teaching Behaviors Important teaching behaviors are instructions, cues, feedback, and demonstrations Teaching is a series of teacher–student and student–teacher interactions—show that I like you and I like this activity Location—where should you be? Scanning—visually searching the learning area

Observation for Skill and Confidence Watch the children Use rubrics to guide your instruction, practice, corrective and reinforcing feedback, and evaluation Observe for student confidence Good observation helps you to remember

Strategies for Improvement Practice, goal setting, and obtaining feedback will improve your observational skills Management will become automatic with practice, allowing you to focus on student learning Use videotape to help you

Directions and Demonstration Directions communicate what you want students to do; however, these should be limited Correct demonstrations use models Help children understand what to do the first time Limit demonstrations to 2 or 3, then allow practice When skill is stabilized, demonstrations will help more Help children know what to look for in models Use peer models—they are effective Avoid expert models because they may not be useful to beginners

Reinforcement and Feedback Important because Let children know you are watching Let children know you care about learning and effort Encourage children since it shows you believe they can learn the tasks Use the sandwich technique: Good try, now take a bigger step, I know you can do it Provide positive reinforcement Use corrective feedback Follow with reinforcement Practice and feedback are the two most important variables that positively influence learning!

Effective and Expert Teachers Expert teachers use, monitor, and revise routines for management, practice, and instruction quickly and effectively, often while multitasking These routines are automatic and require little cognitive effort due to extensive practice

Characteristics of Experts Novices tend to hold literal views of objects and events, whereas experts make inferences about those objects and events. Experts are better able to make predictions than novices. Experts categorize problems to be solved at a higher level, whereas novices categorize problems by the surface characteristics of the problem. Experts have extraordinarily fast and accurate pattern recognitions. (continued)

Characteristics of Experts (continued) Experts may be slower than novices in the initial stages of problem solving. Experts are sensitive to the task demands and social structure of the job situation. Experts have been shown to be opportunistic planners. Experts show self-regulatory or metacognitive capabilities that are not present in less experienced learners. (continued)

Characteristics of Experts (continued) Experts develop their expertise over time. Experts have knowledge that shows up in relation to the goal structure of the problem. Experts possess a higher level of sport-specific motor skills as sport participants, compared to novices.

Stages of Teaching Expertise Stage 1—Novices and new teachers; context-free rules are essential Stage 2—Advanced beginner teachers combine experience with verbal knowledge Stage 3—Competent teachers make good decisions and know what is important Stage 4—Proficient performers use intuition, procedures, and pattern recognition Stage 5—Expert teachers have fluid performance; decisions are automatic, rapid, and accurate

Categories of Pedagogical Knowledge Can accommodate instruction to the developmental level of the student Understands what the student knows about the skills Can select and apply curricular knowledge so student practices the skill Has multiple strategies for teaching content