Howdy!
Maybe you're a veteran teacher and you want to learn more.
Maybe you're a new teacher, or an ed student, and you want to learn a LOT more.
Maybe you're a principal and you want to be a good resource for your staff.
Maybe you have a high fever and you don't know where you are.
I couldn't say. So, I'm going to load this page with everything I've written, and I'm going to arrange it in what I hope is a logical sequence. I hope to provide a nearly complete teacher preparation program. [I should live so long!] Take whatever you want.
Start with these, if you'd be so kind. They show why the usual teacher prep curriculum is such a big flop, with a capital FLOP, and what a serious curriculum would look like.
The last education reform ppt
The last education reform doc
Now, please read this. It describes the four main activities of teachers; identifies the knowledge needed to do them well; and presents a logical sequence in which that knowledge--in my opinion---ought to be acquired. It is quite possibly the most amazing thing you've ever read!
Map
Expanded Route to Proficiency This document elaborates on each item (knowledge element) identified in the "map" document, above. I will insert hyperlinks to full documents that treat each item---I should live so long! [This doc is not complete.]
Glossary. This document gives pretty full definitions of all of the items in the "Map" and "Expanded Route" documents. It will also have hyperlinks to full documents.
A. What is Knowledge?
Knowledge is the way human beings represent reality. Our human picture that we take to be reality has four kinds of knowledge in it. ONly four. Only four kinds of knowledge that we can learn (construct from experience), communicate, examine, and store.
These four are
1. Concepts---knowledge about classes of things. Things that are red, things that are furniture, things that are mammals, things that are minerals, things that are republics. Things IN a concept or class or category or set are IN there---as examples---because they share certain defining features. What features are common to triangles, despite differences in size, color, or particular angles?
There are five ways to teach or communicate the features that define a concept.
a. Synonyms. "Huge means very big." If you know the features of things that are very big (ength, width, depth), then you now know the features of things that are huge.
b. Examples and nonexamples. If you show triangles of different colors and sizes, but it is easy to see that they have three straight lines that connect to form angles, then the "learning mechanism (Engelmann and Carnine, 1991) will figure out, induce, or construct the generalization that "triangle" means shapes with three straight lines that connext to form angles.
If you put an example of a triangle right next to a square of the same size and color, and if you call the triangle "triangle" and the square "not triangle," the learning mechanism will not be sure that triangles are defined by three straight lines that connect to form angles, because that is how the example and example differ.
c. Verbal definition followed by examples and nonexamples. Some concepts have so many features that are spread out that you can't show examples---solar systems, republic, equity. So, you have to tell the features and then back up that definition with examples that show the features and nonexamples that don't.
d. Morephemes. Some words contain parts that have meaning. You can teach a person what each part means. Together, this defines the concept.
"inspector. or and er often mean person who does something. Inspect means to look and listen closely to see what's goiong on or to see what features something has. So, an inspector is a person who looks and listens closely to see what's going on or to see what features something has."
e. Context. Sometimes, nearby words tell us what another word means.
"She was so exuberant about going to the party. She was laughing and jumping around and saying how excited she was. So, exuberant probaly means very excited and something."
Each kind of knowledge can be taught effectively with a certain format or formats--sequences of communication with students, back and forth. The big idea here is
If the learning mechansim performs certain logical operations in order to "get" (figure out,
construct) knowledge, then it makes sense to communicate in a way that the learning
mechanism can easily DO its operations.
So, first let's find out how the learning mechanism constructs knowledge from information it gets through eyes, ears, nose, and touch. Then we'll see how to teach.