Page 266 - Making Instruction Work

chap 21 3/11/97 5:18 PM Page 252

252 making instruction work

lesson plans, you do it when you make equipment more read-
ily available to your students, you do it when you make the
objectives a little easier to understand, and you do it when you
make the instruction more tightly related to the objectives.

Improvement Requires Change

Though it is always necessary to change something in order
to improve it, change doesn’t always lead to improvement,
Madison Avenue and politicians notwithstanding! To improve
something means to make one or more of its characteristics
come closer to some ideal or desired state. But you can claim
that improvements have been made only if you know what you
are trying to achieve, if you know the objectives you are trying
to accomplish. For example, if you can say, “Hey, there; I gave
a thirty-minute talk today and only said ‘aah . . .’ twelve times
compared to yesterday’s ’leventy-seven times,” and if aah-less
speech is the goal, standard, or ideal you are trying to achieve,
then you can say that you have made an improvement.
Think of it this way. Improvement is the last of a four-step
process.

1. Measurement. The first step is measurement. When you
determine the extent of some characteristic, you are
measuring. For example,“It’s six feet long” is a statement
about a measurement.

2. Evaluation. When you make a judgment based on a
comparison of a measurement with a standard, you are
evaluating. For example,“It’s too short” is a statement of
judgment. The thing measured has been compared
against a standard or ideal and found not to match.
Without a standard against which to compare a mea-
surement, you cannot tell whether the thing measured is
OK or not OK.