How would you teach?

My roommate was in my room and I asked her if I could take a few minutes of her time to ask a question. She willing agreed. I asked “How would you teach a second grader how to read?” Her eyes went bug-eyed and responded “ughhh hand them a book?” So, I realized I should narrow the topic. I thought about what I learned in second grade. I then asked “How would you explain the process of photosynthesis?” Once again looked at me as if I had four eyes, said “I don’t know how explain how I would explain that! I’m not an Ed. Major, I can’t do this stuff!”

            I think it’s funny how everyone always says that “teaching is easy” or “gosh, I just wish I could be an Ed. Major/teacher so I didn’t have to do anything!” Yet, when asked how to explain something at a second grade level they’re unable to. I think this helped my roommate to realize that teaching is harder than it seems. She even said to me “wow Car, I never really thought about what you do.” Not going to lie, this made me really happy! J

DLT and SLT with More Knowledgeable Peer

DLT and SLT are very similar while they are still different. I feel that you when teaching, you need to start with a concrete form of DLT from there you move to abstract DLT. You continue to move from concrete to abstract to make sure your students are fully understanding and grasping the concepts you are teaching them. There is a gap from concrete to abstract and that’s where SLT comes into play. SLT is the social interaction you have with your students. It bridges the gap so that the more knowledgeable peer can help how the context is worded.

            The more knowledgeable peer is a peer (or teacher) that has the knowledge and tries to help others out. Using SLT focuses on other people who you are teaching. An example is once a teacher asks a question, they go straight into group conversation. It’s SLT because the students are interacting with each other and being social and the more knowledgeable peer could help if a student in the group is not grasping the concepts the way they should be and can re-explain the situation. 

Using DLT in all aspects of the classroom

DLT is not a teaching technique, it can form all aspects of teaching by making things more familiar for the students. Teachers can use DLT to lecture, learn a skill, form something conceptual, impact decisions on assessment and can also be used for ELL.

            Teachers should focus on using their power points as an outline. Students do no learn by just listening to a teacher talk. For students to truly learn, teachers need to make their lessons as concrete as possible (Just because something is simple doesn’t mean it’s concrete). Teachers can use DLT to lecture by breaking up their lectures with diagrams, pictures, videos and personal examples.

            DLT can be used to form the difference between learning a skill and forming something more conceptual. An example of a skill would be tying shoes where as a concept would be the phases of the moon or the process of photosynthesis.  A concrete way of using DLT to form a skill would be having the students tie the shoe themselves. Abstractly, teachers would ask the student to tie another students shoe or to write out the process very detailed step by step. This would ensure the teacher that the student truly understood the concept of tying a shoe.

            Finally, using DLT to impact assessments would be to use diagrams on the test. To make the assessment as concrete as possible for the students, a teacher should use a diagram as the test itself. An example of this that my group talked about in class was when learning about the brain. The teacher could have each student come up and show where each part of the brain is on the diagram and what is does. I firmly believe that if I was able to be taught and assessed with a diagram of the brain I would still remember where each part was and what its actions were.