User:Celtickendra/Four Families of Teaching

=Four Families of Teaching= People are different. They differ in many ways, appearance, native language, and culture, all of which are easy to notice. People also differ in ways that are not as noticeable. Some of these ways include differences in belief systems, differences in intellect, or differences in values. These differences make each person a unique and special individual. It creates a variety to life and society. However, for a teacher, these differences create an average classroom. Teachers deal with differences in appearance as well as internal differences. A teacher also must handle one more difference, one that is more important to the classroom than the others. This difference would be each student’s learning style. To reach the students, a teacher must be aware of the ways her students learn new information. Also an effective teacher must strive to increase the ways each student is able to absorb the new learning, to make them better learners. To aid in this endeavor, Bruce Joyce and Marsha Weil visited numerous classrooms to research the ways that teachers were teaching. They grouped the teaching methods they observed into four groups, which they called families. The models of teaching were grouped together because of certain similarities which will be discussed further. The purpose of Joyce and Weil’s many hours of research was to create a logical classification of effective ways teachers can instruct the learners.

Behavioral Family Models
The most structured group of teaching models is the Behavioral Family. This family of models is based on how people respond to tasks. Much research was done on this idea by Skinner who led the belief that people learn through conditioning. This conditioning is accomplished with positive reinforcement or behavior modification. The teacher presents a lesson in small increments while observing the learning that is, or is not, taking place. The teacher can then respond accordingly. With the lesson presented in small sections, the student is less likely to be overwhelmed by the new material and more likely to successfully acquire the new skill. Teaching models are placed within the Behavioral Family if they create conditions that enable the students to progress and gain satisfaction quickly. The models in this family can be used to teach large groups of students quickly and effectively. In the Behavioral Family, there are three models. One model is Mastery Learning. This model was developed by Benjamin Bloom. In Mastery Learning, information is presented to students in tiny pieces. Student work to master one small piece before moving to the next small piece. Students work at their own pace often with appropriate degrees of difficulty. This model works well for use in math classes, language training through ‘language laboratories’, or special needs classes. The second model in the Behavioral Family is Direct Instruction. Direct Instruction also presents the concept taught in small pieces. However, the teacher first prepares the students for the lesson sharing the topic and the objective. The teacher models the skill while explaining the steps. Finally, the students follow with a series of practices. The teacher walks the student through structured practice, guided practice, then the students practice independently. Throughout the practice the teacher leads the students to the correct answers, guiding only as much as the student needs. This systematic approach is very effective in any area where it would be beneficial to present information in small steps with controlled practice. Direct Instruction is often used in math ( Saxon Math program), grammar (Shurley English), and the Slingerland approach for teaching reading to students with Specific Language Disorders. Simulations are the final model in the Behavioral Family. In Simulations, students learn from the consequences of their actions, although the consequences are not truly real. The teacher strives to make the learning experience, simulation, as real as possible where the learners would “modify their behavior according to the feedback they receive from the environment” (327). Simulations can be found in the version of board games such as Monopoly or Life. Intensive simulations include those used for drivers’ training experiences and flight simulators. Simulations can also come in the form of a re-enactment or mock government. The Behavioral Family focuses on learning through conditioning and often allows more learning to happen in less time.

Information Processing Family Models
A second family of learning is the Information Processing Family which is less structured than the previous family discussed. The teaching models in this family emphasize peoples’ desires to make sense of the world by gathering and organizing data, determining problems, and finding solutions. Models are put into the Information Processing family if they seek ways of helping process information better and if their goal is to help students become more powerful learners. There are more teaching models in this family than in any of the others. One model is Concept Attainment developed by Bruner. In this model the teacher prepares positive examples of a concept as well as negative examples. The teacher then presents the exemplars to the class in pairs, one that is a ‘yes’ and one that is a ‘no’. The students work to make hypotheses about the concept being presented and test their hypotheses as more exemplars are presented. After several pairs are presented, the students are give the opportunity to identify some examples as ‘yes’ or ‘no’ according to the hypothesis they have generated. Students are also given time to create their own exemplars to further test their hypothesis of the concept. Then, with teacher guidance, the students evaluate their thoughts and the path in which they reached their final, hopefully correct, hypothesis. The Concept Attainment model is not only valuable as a teaching model, it also helps foster thinking strategies in students. This model can be used with any aged children and all grade levels. Concept Attainment is an effective model to use to introduce a lesson, to reinforce previous learning, or as a means to reveal the depth of a student’s understanding of a concept. Another model in the Information Processing family is the Picture Word Induction Model (PWIM) which was developed by Calhoun. Although this model was developed with the young reader in mind, it can be used in other teaching situations as well, such as an ESL or foreign language class, or as a pre-writing activity for a creative writing assignment. In the PWIM, Calhoun makes use of the students’ own vocabulary to prepare and develop a group of words that will work their way into sight words for the students through a print-rich classroom and repeated viewing of the word cards. First, the teacher presents a picture to the class. The class identifies the objects and actions they see in the picture. As the students use their vocabulary to name items in the picture, the teacher labels the items, spelling aloud and repeating and re-spelling the word with the children after writing it. She then makes flash cards for each word. The students are encouraged to use their ‘picture dictionary’ to review the words or locate the words with which they are unfamiliar. The labeled picture and flashcards are used in a variety of ways to reinforce the oral and written language connection. A third model in the Information Processing family is Scientific Inquiry. This model developed from a desire by Schwab to make learning more like the functioning of a laboratory where students are involved in their learning, not merely receivers of facts. The students are invited into a genuine study of a scientific inquiry and are confronted with some area of investigation, a part of the experiment may be left blank or been done incorrectly. The students are guided to inquire about the how’s and why’s of the experiment to gain their own understanding of the process. This model is effective, of course, in the science curriculum, but is also helpful for developing thinking and problem solving skills. Advanced Organizers, a model developed by Ausubel, is another helpful model for teachers to use in the Information Processing family. Ausubel desired to improve the teacher’s method for presenting information, “to help teachers organize and convey large amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as possible” (189). The use of Advanced Organizers as a teaching model is very flexible and adaptable. An organizer can be presented in the beginning, middle, or end of a lesson to aid the student in understanding the information. The teacher guides the students in preparing or completing the organizer. Use of an organizer in learning allows the students to relate their previous knowledge with the new concepts being taught. It also encourages the students to manipulate the new content, spending time with it and enhancing their learning. There are many sources to acquire organizers for students such as books, the internet, or creating them. The Information Processing Family of models incorporates models of teaching that allow students to organize and understand the world around them in a more meaningful way.

Social Family Models
The Social Family of Models is more flexible than the previous two models. At the heart of the models in the Social Family is the belief that students working together accomplish more than the sum total of their separate work abilities, a phenomena also known as synergy. An early theorist for what developed into the Social Family, John Dewey, believed in group investigation where students may experience the give and take of the democratic process. This becomes a central role of education, to introduce students to democratic behavior were the students can learn and do more when working together. Teaching models belong here if they include relationships between people in interdependent learning communities. There is also an emphasis in these models toward the social nature of the learners realizing how social interaction can enhance learning. In the Social Family, the models teach a social skill along with an academic concept. There are two main models in the Social Family. The first model is Partners in Learning, also referred to as cooperative learning. Research in this area, led by Roger and David Johnson, encourage cooperative learning in the classroom because people are naturally cooperative, a trait that should be fostered, not depressed. In cooperative learning, the teacher organizes students into groups where each child has a specific job. The roles each child performs change which allows growth in different skills to develop. In these cooperative groups, each student has a responsibility for the success of the whole group. There is not group success unless the group has worked together to make sure each individual has mastered the concept. All students are contributing to the learning that is taking place. When the Partners in Learning model is used, effects on the learning of content and skills are rapid. Also, there is a decrease in disruptive or off-task behavior. Cooperative learning can be used in any part of the classroom and at any age level. The second model in the Social Family is Role Playing. The researchers that supported Role Playing are George and Fanny Shaftel. This model is not just the reading of a script to create a drama, but it is the understanding of self and others through participation in the re-enactment of a situation. Students are chosen to participate in certain roles in a situation. They are guided to analyze the roles and be true to the character they are portraying. The students who are not participating in the Role Playing carry an important part as the observers who work to review and process the action. After the students act out a certain situation, they are guided by the teacher through an evaluation of how to improve the situation being played out. A main goal in Role Playing is the development of empathy in the participating students for someone else’s view. This model is an excellent way to deal with responses to drug issues on a class level, and can begin as soon as the children can understand the concept. In the Social Family of models, interaction with others is a key element. What is learned from the students working with their peers is just as important as learning the academic concept itself.

Personal Family Models
The final and most flexible family is the Personal Family of teaching models. This model is based off Maslow’s theories of self-actualization. In the Personal Family, it is believed that education should lead to a better understanding of one’s self. Teachers are not only to provide content, but also to gently guide students to self-awareness and self-understanding. The models placed in this family guide students toward greater mental and emotional health by improving students’ awareness of self and raising their self-confidence. In the Personal Family, there is a belief that education should stem from the needs of the student. The main model within this family is Nondirective Teaching. Nondirective teaching was developed by psychologist and counselor Carl Rogers. This model, formed from counseling, partners teachers and students to provide the guidance needed for students to work out their own problems. Nondirective teaching can be used independently, or it can be incorporated into other models. Teachers can use this model to direct students though conflict resolution situations as they work toward building a better class and improving students. Teachers become an empathetic listener, facilitating the learning with some counseling mixed in. Nondirective teaching is effective when used as a response to “life” situations that occur within the classroom or outside its walls. It could also be used to allow students to respond to a historical situation so that event or one like it would not be repeated or so an understanding of the persons involved is developed. The study of the teaching models within the four families developed by Joyce and Weil expands a teacher’s ability to reach more students in more effective ways. It opens doors providing the teacher with a new variety of tools to incorporate into her methods of teaching. One can only benefit from using any means to study the variety of models. Like any learning, when a teacher first begins using new models in her teaching, there will be moments of discomfort. This merely signifies that learning is occurring. Given time and practice, using a new teaching model will move from uncomfortable to exciting as the teacher watches her learning benefit her own students. As a teacher begins using new models, one key to remember is to vary them. This keeps learning fun and students interested and involved. Teachers can also combine teaching models. Teachers become the learners while incorporating different models into their personal teaching style. The teacher demonstrating that the discomfort of learning is not only beneficial to the teacher but also to the students.