Topic: Teaching

10-second review: Examples and modeling in teaching students what they are expected to do.

Title: “Teaching The Outsiders to the Real Outsiders.” SM Martin. English Journal (March 1998), 81-83. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: “Clear explanations with examples or the modeling of what students are asked to do.” Class was an alternative to the regular classroom. Using examples and modeling and a number of other techniques helped to assure that students were successful in learning.

Comments: A fundamental technique in teaching: before students are asked to do something, the teacher gives the students examples of finished work and/or demonstrates (models) what the students are expected to do.

Modeling works. One of the most difficult skills for me to teach was the thesis sentence. After I discovered modeling, I modeled or demonstrated how to write one and after showing students several examples of good thesis sentences, and after I revised several of the students’ first efforts, they were able to produce accurate thesis sentences for the rest of the semester in a community college basic writing class. Boy, I wish someone had taught me like that. RayS.

The purpose of this blog, English Education Archives, is to review articles of contemporary interest from past issues of English education journals.