Destination 5: Direct Instruction

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On day one of our lesson plan, we taught using the direct instruction method (see post 3 for an in depth explanation on the four methods of teaching).

 Our topic for the semester is Communities. Therefore, my group decided to teach the students the basics of a community. Our lesson focused on the following:

  • What is a community?
  • What are citizens?
  • How to be a good/active citizen
  • Demographics
  • Types of communities
  • Law and the Community
For 40 minutes, my group and I taught the topics listed above. Overall, I believe we kept the students engaged in the lesson. After several slides throughout, we checked for understanding by asking students to give us a thumbs up (i understand), thumbs down (i don't understand and have questions) and thumbs to the side ( I sort of understand, can you slow down and explain?).

Throughout the lesson, only 2 students have thumbs to the side or down, to which we slowed down and answered the questions they had. Unfortunately, we only had time to implement 1/3 guided practices we had planned. The one we did do was a matching activity. This activity had students matching local government terms to their definitions. When unsure, students could "phone a friend" for help. Only one term students had trouble with to which we explained why it was wrong.

For the independent practice, students had a chart to fill out with their ideas of what makes a good citizen. Students had a few minutes to work on the chart while my group and I walked around to help struggling students. After their time was up, several students had a chance to share.

Before they left for lunch, we concluded the lesson by using post it notes to check for understanding. Students were instructed to take a red post it if they did not understand the lesson and have questions, yellow if they needed extra help and green if they totally understood. Additionally, students were instructed to write their names and questions they had on their post it. Results included all green post its (which a few pictures drawn!) and 2 yellow but no questions attached.

I believe for our first whole class lesson, it went very well. There were a few things we could have down better such as not saying "you guys" or explaining the directions better, but you live and you learn!!

For those interested, I will link our direct lesson presentation HERE

Stay tuned to hear about our next destination... THE INQUIRY METHOD!

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