I just discovered Saskatoon Public School Division's Online Learning Center and it's excellent Instructional Strategies Online. If you're looking for how not to throw the baby out with the bath water as we attempt to improve teaching practice, here's a great site that puts direct instructional methods in perspective with the full array of instructional strategies that are necessary for project-based learning, differentiated instruction, and student-centered learning in general.
Too often the side-by-side charts of traditional vs. constructive or teacher-directed vs. student-centered instruction gives the impression that lecture, explicit teaching, didactic questions, and the like are no longer viable or that they are inherently bad or out-dated. Rather, I believe we need to emphasize the importance and value of adding more student-centered strategies to broaden teachers' repertoires. Exploring the Instructional Strategies Online site, I believe, will do just that without threatening or unnecessarily demeaning teaching strategies that still have and will continue to have value and utility.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
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