Instructional System Designs Develop a Teachers Pedagogy

All to often we as teachers (or those like myself future teachers) find outselves in a place where we need to learn more... there is something to be said of the addage; "It was a great day today, I learned something new." In the end, many of us fall short in this area, especially for the teacher that teaches the same grade year after year. Instructional Systems Designs allow for a teacher to apply a methodology be it within the classroom or in their own development. The simpliest method is called ADDIE: Analysis... Design... Development... Implementation... Evaluation...

When I first read this article I thought sounds like something that would be used in a Science class, than when I digested it a bit more I realized that it was not about the subject itslef, but how the teacher taught the subject. For example, let's say you are a Middle School History Teacher and you are looking for ways to increase the class participation within your classroom. I am not talking about the students that raise their hand all the time, they will always do that, but for the majority of the class... a teacher can apply this methodology to a number of teacher mechanisms or teaching strategies... it can be as simple as the delivery of the lesson or how the teacher presents the motivator or "hook" of the lesson... or the end of the unit project. Whatever it is that you are looking to change, you can apply this methodology for true feedback... there is no reason to change something and than continue to do it if it doesn't work. Your feedback could be from a colleague who you have asked to sit in on your class or it can be direct from the students in the form of a written or oral survey. Listen, listen, listen... not only to your students but yourself... you will know when something isn't working, you will not have every pair of eyes on you all the time.