Reply to Why was Balanced Literacy so popular for so long?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I read education blogs/forums and there is a prejudice against "Direct Instruction" in which the teacher stands at the front of the class like a drill sergeant and the students repeat the lesson. Phonics is lumped in with this method. The current preference is for small group learning, student-led learning. These methods assume self-motivated students who are also altruistic enough to help their classmates who need extra support, while the teacher takes a passive stance. What they all ignore is that direct instruction WORKS and their preferred methods only work in their fantasies.
The most important change that could be made, that would help both students and teachers, is ability grouping. We can't do that so let's at least use scientifically proven teaching methods.[/quote]

I see this too.  DI is a four-letter word in education.  It's also easier for the teacher, who won't have to make 3-5 lesson plans for each small group at a different level.  And students learn from direct instruction.  Not as well as from discovery - but actual discovery is really really hard to make happen in a classroom and in the best case should only be a small portion of the academic teaching.

The current way of teaching is really really hard for teachers - and the benefits for students are negligible and not worth the effort.  [/quote]

Discovery doesn’t work for half the students.
Group work is still fine by 1-2 people in the 4-5 person group.
And it’s very slow and can’t cover much material in a week or month.

DI resonates with all learners, is skills based, and an efficient way to learn and cover more.
If you’re really smart you can learn way more. And then read more and teach yourself. But please, not for under 12 yos.[/quote]

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