[MOSAIC] Question from future teacher-Patrick

[Bill Roberts]

>> Bottom line, if a lesson isn't going to help you or your kids, why do
>> it?
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> AMEN!!
>
> Well..... yes.
> But.... how can we really know?
> We can *think* something won't help students and yet there may be two or 
> three who benefit.
>
> My guess is that there is little that is totally useless, although some 
> things are certainly more useful than others. That's where making 
> decisions comes in. :-)

I think it's the fact that each child is different and has different needs 
that should direct instruction.  Some lessons will be geared for the most 
kids with similar needs (like introducing strategies), but some lessons are 
gonna be more geared for individual students.  If 26 of 29 are fluent, it's 
a waste to spend a lot of whole class time on fluency, but taking the 3 
students who need the help while the rest of the class is working on 
something else, is probably more effective.

The only way to know if a lesson is effective is to know your kids....
The only way to plan a lesson is to know your kids...
In other words, know your kids.

I think any lesson is ineffective if you don't know the WHY of it.  Are you 
looking up words in a dictionary for the alphabetizing skill?  Or 
vocabulary?  If you are just doing it because that's the way its always been 
done, then don't do it.  If it is to build research skills, then you can see 
if the students are improving.  If the purpose is to build vocabulary, you 
can check and see if they've learned the words.  There may be some residual 
learning on the side (a kid might look up a word like Paleontolgy and 
discover that's what they want to be when they grow up, but that's not the 
purpose of the lesson), but you have to keep your eye on the prize.  If you 
have a goal, you can check its progress.  That's how you know...

No lesson is a waste because someone's gonna learn something from it.  The 
students might learn the intended outcome, but also the teacher might learn 
that it's a bad lesson and not do it again.  Or maybe learn a better way to 
teach that lesson.  The only way a lesson is a waste of time is if it's busy 
work because the outcome is just to keep the kids occupied.

Or if the teacher doesn't know what they are doing.  I've noticed more 
people the last few years who come into teaching from other careers because 
they think teaching is easy and don't do a thing to help their kids or 
worse, they make the kid hate school or the subject or kill their self 
esteem....

Bill