An instructional model is a step-by-step procedure that leads to specific learning outcomes. The models of teaching approach emphasizes the need for variety in the classroom, which can only be accomplished by developing the teacher’s repertoire of instructional approaches to meet a range of objectives. The teacher who utilizes a variety of instructional approaches is more likely to reach all students in the classroom; moreover, students are encouraged to learn in a variety of ways.

The models presented in the fourth edition of Instruction: A Models Approach by Gunter, Estes, and Schwab are as follows:

Direct Instruction: A highly structured model used most effectively in teaching basic skills such as reading and mathematics when the tasks to be learned can be broken down into small, discrete segments.

Concept Attainment: Through a series of positive and negative examples, students define the concept and determine its essential attributes.

Concept Development: Students learn to group data based on perceived similarities and then to form categories and labels for the data.

Inquiry: Learners take a puzzling situation and follow a scientific process for problem solving that leads to the generation of an hypothesis.

Synectics: The three versions of the synectics model presented here use group interaction to stimulate creative thought through metaphorical analogies.

Cause and Effect: Through inference, students hypothesize about causes and effects, consider prior causes and subsequent effects, and generalize about human behavior in similar situations.

Classroom Discussion: This model guides the planning and selection of questions to be used in classroom discussions. Both students and teachers learn to identify different levels and types of questions.

Vocabulary Acquisition: This model presents a technique for teaching vocabulary through the history of language and word derivation rather than through the memorization of lists.

Resolution of Conflict: A model which provides precise questioning techniques for the exploration and study of feelings as students explore the thoughts and behavior of individuals involved in conflict situations.

Values Development: This model stresses the use of the regular school curriculum to identify the important themes and questions that are embedded in all subject areas.

Cooperative Learning: Five models that encourage students to work with and help other students in the classroom. Included are Jigsaw, Role Playing, Team Interview, Graffiti, and Think, Pair, Share.

Memory: Four models that can help both teachers and students improve their memory skills. Included are Link, Loci, Memory Through Motion, and Names and Faces.

Mastering Models of Instruction

Just as with learning any prescribed action, models need to be demonstrated by an expert and practiced repeatedly for mastery to occur. I recently purchased an exercise bicycle from a catalog and was stunned when it arrived in many pieces with a set of instructions for assembly I couldn’t begin to understand. My teenaged grandson came to my rescue and had the bike assembled within an hour. With each step in the assembly process he explained the procedure he was following—just in case he wasn’t around, he said, the next time I needed to assemble a piece of equipment. He even had me put together some of the parts under his watchful eye.

Learning to utilize some of the instructional models may seem as daunting the first time they are encountered . Reading about them is a good beginning but it is still important to have each model demonstrated by an expert and then to experience many opportunities for guided and independent practice of the model before it can become a part of ones instructional repertoire.

In our classes for teaching instructional models to teachers, we first ask the members of the class to read about the model in the text, Instruction A Models Approach. Then my co-teacher and I teach a lesson to the class following a particular model while pointing out the various steps as we proceed. The next step is to divide the class into teams and have the various teams take turns teaching the model to each other. We give each team several opportunities to practice in this way under our guidance and supervision. Finally, we select one team to teach the entire class and ask a small group of the participants to give feedback and coaching to the presenters. My co-teacher and I try to remain observers during this part of the process.

Between class meetings, these teachers, all of whom have classrooms of their own in which to test the models, utilize the model several times in teaching their own class. They select one of these experiences and write a detailed analysis of the process and the results they achieved. This analysis includes the lesson plan and the content of the lesson. At the next meeting of the class, we begin by asking the teachers to share their experiences. We take their written reports and provide feedback to them to be returned at the next meeting. After this period of review and sharing we then proceed to the next model. 

A primary objective of our instruction is for the students to recognize the importance of combining the models into an effective instructional design. We have the members of the class design a unit of study to be taught over a period of weeks The unit includes the objectives of the process, the content to be covered and the number of lessons to be included. We ask the class to weave the models into the instructional design of their unit and to explain why they chose a particular model to achieve a particular objective.

We encourage the teachers to select a unit that they are planning to teach in the future and to include the materials and activities that will be a part of the complete process. Many of our students have told us that they have used these units many times with success.. Examples of these units are present on this site

Summary of the steps used in teaching the models to experienced teachers:

1. Have the teachers enrolled in the class read about the model in the text.

2. The instructor(s) demonstrate the model to the teachers in class pointing out each step of the process.

3. The class is divided into teams and each team prepares to teach a lesson to another team utilizing the selected model During this process the instructors circulate from one teams to another giving suggestions and feedback.

4. One group is selected to teach the rest of the class while another group serves as observers. This group of observers will give feed back at the end of the lesson.

5. The students utilize the model in teaching several classes to their own students in the interim between our class meetings. The number of times they can utilize the model will vary according to the length of time between class periods. (Also, they are required to read about the next model to be studied in the class.)

6. The students discuss their experiences of teaching the model to their individual classes within small groups and then report a summary of these discussions back to the entire group.

7. The instructors evaluate the written reports and return these to the individual teachers.

8. As a final activity for the course, the teachers are asked to construct a unit of study utilizing the models studied during the semester.

I have also taught the models to classes of undergraduates who do not have their own classrooms in which to practice using the models. The process is very similar except that students are video taped at special sessions between classes teaching a lesson which they have planned. The tapes are then reviewed with the students.

Summary of the steps used in teaching the models to student teachers-in-training who do not have an actual classroom in which to practice.

1. The students read about the model in the textbook Instruction:  A Models Approach.

2. The instructors demonstrate the models to the students pointing out each step of the process.

3. The class is divided into teams and each team prepares and teaches a lesson to another team utilizing the selected model. During this process the instructor(s) circulate from one team to another giving suggestions and feedback..

4. One group is selected to teach the lesson to the entire class while another group serves as observers. This group will give feed back as the end of the activity.

5. Small groups of students are scheduled for sessions between the class meetings in which they meet with the instructors and are video taped teaching a prepared lesson. Each member of the small group is asked to lead a part of the lesson. Individuals within each group view the video tape on their own time and write a critique of the process. If the level of technology is available, these students can view the process and write their evaluations on the Internet.

6. The instructors evaluate these critiques and return these to the individual students.  It may take several sessions to thoroughly discuss and evaluate a model, hence fewer models can be included in the course design.

7. As a final activity for the course, the students are asked to construct a unit of study utilizing the models studied during the semester.

It usually takes many practices before a teacher becomes comfortable and at ease using a model of instruction, but the outcome is worth the effort. Access to a range of instructional models in a professional repertoire greatly enhances the effectiveness of the teacher. In addition, these models provide a common ground of professional approaches to be shared by teachers of all subjects and grade levels. In our classes we have a complete range of teachers from kindergarten to graduate school and from physical education to calculus. They find great rewards in the opportunity to share in the experience of planning for instruction utilizing these techniques.

PLANNING USING MODELS OF INSTRUCTION

Learning the models only makes sense within a context of good instructional planning and design. One can only decide How to teach, using a particular instructional model if one has already decided What to teach and Why it is to be taught. Some refer to the what and the why process of planning as curriculum planning and the how as instructional planning. Whatever process is used, a teacher must have an understanding of what is being learned and why it is important. The how and the why process should result in objectives at different levels of specificity stating what the learners are expected to learn and how the learning will be measured.

The statement of objectives of various levels of specificity are discussed in the text. These objectives form the basis for making the decision regarding the appropriate model to select. We still prefer the time-tested process of breaking content into units and then the units into lessons. Even though a teacher is presented with a pre - developed curriculum plan, it must be understood, modified and owned by the teacher. Objectives at various levels of planning help to structure the process.

We teach our teachers to develop units incorporating a number of lessons containing a variety of the instructional models. Each unit should represent a significant chunk of the content of the course and we ask the students to describe the other units in the course so that we can determine how the plan fits together within the instructional design for the entire course.

A unit should contain several lesson preferably with each being of several days in length. Perhaps an ideal plan is for a lesson to last for a week within a unit of study, but there should be no fixed rule regarding this part of the design process. We also ask that the teachers prepare a calendar that summarizes the use of the models as well as including in their unit plan all the related activities such as field trips, speakers and films that may be a part of the process..

The following are some of the steps we suggest that should be included in a planning process:

1. The teacher considers the content to be learned and then ask why this content is of importance to the learners and how much should be included.

2. The teacher evaluates his or her own knowledge of the content and determines if this needs to be expanded, revised, updated etc. before preparing to teach.

3. The teacher develops instructional goals for the class that can be written in very general terms.

4. The teacher examines the content of the course and determines how it can be divided into manageable chunks. Each of these chunks, which we call units, should have a title. This part of the process reflects the determination of what will be included, the focus of the material and the sequence in which the material will be taught.

5. Instructional objectives for each of the units are developed and these are written so that the learning that is anticipated to take place can be measured. The objectives for each unit are linked to those in the units before and after so that there is a continuity in the learning process.

6. The unit is then broken into chunks which we call lessons which may vary from one day to as much as a week in length. Specific, measurable objectives for the lessons are developed and these are related to the unit objectives and to those lessons taught before and after.

We realize that this process may have variations, but we have found that teachers who do not utilize a functional planning process have great difficulty learning new instructional techniques. So-called teacher proof curricula that mandate what the teacher is to do in the classroom fails to credit the critical importance of the teacher’s role. There is no prepackaged curriculum—including textbooks—that a good teacher cannot make significantly better.