Page 244 - Making Instruction Work

chap 19 3/11/97 5:15 PM Page 230

230 making instruction work

How does a success definition promote effective instruc-
tion? Once you have a clear picture in your mind that tells you
how to recognize instances of desired outcomes (evidence of
success), and of approximations to desired outcomes, you’ll be
able to follow those desired outcomes with favorable conse-
quences (to the student). That will make it more, rather than
less, likely that you’ll get more of those desired outcomes. (As
you know, a new skill often looks somewhat shaky—less than
wonderful. If you don’t recognize it as an acceptable approxi-
mation along the road to mastery, you might kill it off.)

Consequences
With a picture of instructional success clearly in mind, you
can think about what you will do when the successes (and the
approximations toward success) actually occur.
Because instructor behavior is so critical to successful
instruction, you must pay careful attention to how you behave
in the presence of your students. Whether you like it or not,
you are an instrument of reward and punishment, an instru-
ment that will cause students either to want to learn more of
your subject or to want to hear no more about it. Whether you
like it or not, your own behavior shapes the attitudes of your
students. For example, consider the effects of the following
instructor statements:

“Look. This is a dumb video, but I’m supposed to show it,
and you’re supposed to watch it.”

“I already answered that question three weeks ago.”

“If that’s the best you can do, maybe you should be in
some other department.”

“Don’t try to get ahead of the class.”
“This class isn’t as sharp as the one I had last year.”