Chapter 5: Designing Instruction to Improve Teaching and Learning

This was a hefty chapter about designing instruction. What sticked out to me in this chapter was the three models for organizing instruction: authentic instruction, WHERE, and differentiated instruction. For authentic instruction, I liked the criteria the book described such as constructing their knowledge, engaging in cognitive work that requires them to rely on knowledge, and accomplishing value beyond the classroom. I feel that no matter what authentic form of assessment or instruction you have, if students can do these three things, then they fully understand the material. The WHERE design tool is something I'm sure everyone who's done Practicum. The system has guidelines such as: Where are we heading? Hook the students, Explore the subject and equip the students, Rethink our work and ideas, Evaluate results. Differentiated instruction is another form of instruction that we learned in Practicum. This caters the lessons to students' specific needs and backgrounds. As the book says, it maybe difficult for teachers to have the time, skill, tools, and resources needed to use the model correctly.

In my opinion, the WHERE design is a very effective way to design lessons.