Page 231 - Making Instruction Work

chap 18 3/11/97 5:14 PM Page 217

course procedures 217

Example: One of the ideal characteristics of instruction is
“Student progress is controlled by their own competence.”This
means that the most efficient instruction is that which allows
students to progress to something new as soon as they have
mastered what they are learning now. It means that students
are not forced to begin new material before they have mastered
the old and that they are encouraged to progress to new mate-
rial as soon as they have mastered the old.

NOTE: Sometimes students will master a skill before
developing the confidence needed to actually apply the
skill. When this happens, they will often ask if they can
practice a little more before moving on. If you can, let
them practice. At other times you will find that students
are so delighted with their new skill that they want to
exercise it—fondle it—before moving on. When this hap-
pens, they are literally enjoying the subject matter; it feels
good to do something you’ve just learned how to do.
Unless time presses, it is good to allow this to happen.

To show you how to think through the questions above, I’ll
put some sample “thinking” in the form of a monologue. That
way you can see what goes on in the head of someone deriving
course procedures.

1. We are considering the characteristic “Student progress
is controlled by their own competence.” Can you imple-
ment the characteristic as stated?

No way!

2. Write the rules.

I can’t do it.