A direct instruction teaching style involves a teacher-led approach in which material is directly taught to the students with the reciprocative expectation that they’ll interpret and thus utilize that information on their own (Rosenshine, 2008.) In these classroom settings, the teacher “shows, models, demonstrates, [and] teaches the skill to be learned” (Sun et al., 2022, p. 3.) It is regarded as an efficient model in relation to transmission, as it allows the teacher to be in full control of the cognitive load exchanged between the teacher and its students (Sun et al., 2022.) Additionally, this ensures manageable limits where a teacher can “ensure students have fewer encounters with misconceptions and provide corrective feedback as soon as they detect a misconception” (Sun et al., 2022, p. 3,) thus lowering the students’ chances of confusion regarding the material taught.
Here is YouTube video that provides an easy-to-understand definition and example of direct instruction teaching:
This video (2013) covers four things that teachers using this model must do:
- Motivate students and build background knowledge
- Explain the new skill students are expected to learn
- Model quality product for them
- Provide guided practice
In my groups Interactive Learning Resource, the direct instruction approach will not have a role. This is because our topic being the misconceptions against learners with learning disabilities completely contradicts this idea. Our resource critiques the direct instruction approach as being very limited in the way it educates others, and challenges its exclusive nature. Individuals with learning disabilities benefit from alternate teaching methods – very distinct from a teacher directly instructing them on the material. Our learning resource introduces more interactive methods of learning, such as interactive textbook learning that can be student led and centred.
Instead, the approach that more closely aligns with our interactive learning resource is cooperative learning. In this approach, students are not solely provided with an abundance of information and expected to learn it independently, but rather they are able to work with their teacher and other students to solve problems. In this approach, students are thus better able to communicate to teachers their limitations to certain concepts, and thus better interpret them based on an interdependent and collective end goal.
In the image below, here are some given benefits to cooperative learning, in which my groups’ resource will incorporate:
References
Rosenshine, B. (2008). Five meanings of direct instruction. Center on Innovation & Improvement. http://www.centerii.org/search/Resources%5CFiveDirectInstruct.pdf
Sun, J., Anderson, R. C., Lin, T.-J., Morris, J. A., Miller, B. W., Ma, S., Thi Nguyen-Jahiel, K., & Scott, T. (2022). Children’s engagement during collaborative learning and direct instruction through the lens of participant structure. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 69, 102061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.102061
TeachLikeThis. (2013, October 11). How to do Direct Instruction – TeachLikeThis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJkkUPC_yM
