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Poketha Ruffin Averett University W422 ED 555 Models and Theory I Differentiated Instruction Liston Bailey PhD July 14, 2013

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My first few weeks of teaching were nothing short of a disaster. I was a young, 22 year old, recent college graduate with no teaching experience. I was given a set of teacher editions and a pacing guide to assist me with teaching. I had no idea how to make grammar interesting for students let alone how to teach them. I knew I was not doing a good job. I could manage the behaviors in the classroom, but I felt like a failure when it was time to teach. I wanted to be a good teacher so I asked for help. I learned how to manage time and how to stay on pace. It was yet a while before I learned strategies and models that would aid in instruction, and because I am constantly critiquing myself I am still looking for ways to improve my teaching. Thankfully Models 1 has three models that will assist my in the classroom today. One of the first models that I liked was the Cause and Effect model. I would use this model to teach my students about various conflicts in history such as the Revolutionary War and its impact on the colonists. Students would have previously studied that the Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, the Sugar Tax, the Quartering Act, and the British government. I would use this model to assist them in making the connection that each of these issues led colonists to declare their independence from Great Britain. When teaching the cause and effect model I would begin by reviewing prior knowledge, then give my students a cause and effect graphic organizer to help them formulate their ideas. What I like about the cause and effect model is the questioning involved. The questioning increases rigor and encourages critical thinking skills. The students are also able to make connections to the material they

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are learning. In the cause and effect model, students have an opportunity to study a situation in detail, to put names to mental activities, they have used in used in their own thinking, and to hear the thinking of others, (Estes, Gunter, and Mintz, 2011). The Cause and Effect model enables students to produce a conclusion based on questioning in order to make connections between what they know and what is being presented. The model allows the teacher to control the amount of information that is being presented through structured questioning and aid in metacognition. Another model that I found helpful was the Integrative model. The Integrated Model is a controlled discussion or a structured conversation that allows teachers to focus on helping students learn academic information while practicing complex reasoning skills. The model is designed to help students see relationships among the components of a complex topic (Estes, Gunter, and Mintz, 2011). I would use this model to have a controlled conversation with my students about more controversial topics such as slavery. The integrative model would help students to attain more information through discussions. The structure of the model allows students to use important critical thinking skills. The expectation underlying the model is that students will make logical inferences, identify similarities and differences, generate explanations and hypotheses, and synthesize information while they are learning academic content, (Estes, Gunter, and Mintz, 2011). I teach a very vast amount of content. In order for the students to retain the information I have to categorize the information. According to Estes, Gunter, and Mintz the integrative model helps organize

Ruffin information and make it more manageable so that students can attain a deep understanding of the content. The integrative model helps students navigate through organized bodies of

information or webs of information. The integrative model is efficient and congruent with the way we learn. The integrative model allows students to make connections between what they know and what is being presented by helping them to build personal schemata. The integrative model provides a structure for making sense of the content of textbooks and allows the teacher to control the amount of information presented (Estes, Gunter, and Mintz, 2011). The final model that I would use in my classroom would be the, Vocabulary Acquisition model. I taught language arts for several years. Part of the curriculum included vocabulary. I wanted the students to not only pronounce and spell the words correctly, but I also wanted them to use the words and comprehend their meaning. I wanted the students to improve their articulation and speech. The vocabulary acquisition model combines research based strategies and graphic organizers to aid the student in reaching a broader meaning for a term. The purpose of the model is to learn the term not only in context of the unit, but also to gain an understanding of the term when it is used in other ways (Estes, Gunter, and Mintz, 2011). One of the ways that I would use the model would be through the use of graphic organizers. I would give my students a list of terms and then ask them to complete a set of activities using the organizer. The students could complete the organizer in pairs or individually. In the graphic organizer students spell and define the words in one box, use

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the word in a sentence in another, and lastly draw a picture of the word in the last. This activity gives students a visual representation of the word. I would also use comic strips. Students would make a comic strip related to the content and include use of the vocabulary words in the conversations. Lastly I would encourage the student to use the vocabulary in class while answering questions, or participating in a debate. The students that use the words the best get points. There is of course a prize for the student that uses the words the best. It starts off as an extrinsic motivator but students are eventually motivated to use the vocabulary more frequently and comprehend the word beyond what is needed for the content. One of the greatest challenges that teachers face in the classroom today is how to increase student motivation. With pacing guides comes the pressure of deadlines and teachers are urged to stay on pacing. We end up teaching facts instead of facilitating learning. Students learn enough facts for the test and never make connections with the material learned. Through the use of the cause and effect model, the integrative model and, vocabulary acquisition teachers can increase rigor and critical thinking skills in students and foster an environment where students realize that what they learn and how they learn is important to us and to them. I plan to use these models more frequently in my classroom. I have taken from this class the great value there is in connection, motivation, and student achievement. My students are not a test score. They are learners that need to make connections between what is taught, what is learned, and how it applies to their life.

Ruffin Resources

Gunter, M. A., Estes, T. H., & Schwab, J. H. (2011). Instruction: a models approach (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.