Rachael Henthorn

EDTL 2760
Blog Post 10
How do we design instruction that sticks?
As like my last three blog posts I am at Bowling Green High School in three comparative
government classes and one United States government class. The comparative government
classes (CG) are mostly juniors and seniors while the United States government class (USG) is
mostly juniors. Since my last post though a methods student has come into the classroom and
slowly started taking over. The CG class has taken their test on Nigeria and is now working on
looking at the United Kingdoms government. The USG class is also going over the same topic.
Can using preview assignments really help?
Bring Learning Alive!(BLA) (Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S., 2010) describes a
preview assignment as a short, engaging task that foreshadows upcoming content(pg. 22).
These are usually used at that start of a unit but they can even be used to start every day. In class
we learned about the 10:80:10 ratio. This is the model that is used to structure a class, 10% of the
lesson should be a preview assignment, 80% should be the content of the day and the last 10%
should be your closing. From this model you can see while the preview assignment, also called a
hook, is a very short part of the lesson but it can be very impactful. The BLA text on preview
assignments goes over different ways you can make a hook. Some examples are that you could
show a video to start the lesson, you could ask an essential question or you could even listen to
music. In my current classroom there is no preview assignments from either my teacher or the
methods students. Both review what they discussed last class and then jump right into the lesson
for that day. I think preview assignments would be very useful in all four classes that I am in. For

example when they were introducing the UK unit I think it would have been fun to brain storm
as a class what they all know about the government over there. It would get the students really
thinking about what they already know and especially about what they don't know yet about the
subject. Plus is would encourage the students working together and the opportunity to bounce
ideas off one another. This activity would also fit into the 10:80:10 model because it is quick
while still making an impact. The reasons I just listed are why hooks are so important in a
classroom, they get the students interested about the unit and whats going to happen that day and
entices lots go HOTS.
What makes for authentic teaching?
In the article Fivestandardsofauthenticinstruction(Newmann,F.M.,&Wehlage,G.G.,
1993)thearticlesaysthatwhatmakeslearninginauthenticis,1.Often the work students do
does not allow them to use their minds well. 2. The work has no intrinsic meaning or value to
students beyond achieving success in school (para. 5). Unfortuently I see a lot of this in the
classes that I am placed in. The teacher lectures to them everyday which does not allow them to
think outside of what the is taught and the homework and assignments he gives do not inspire
students to do anything more than do well on a test or quiz. I have only seen one activity that
allows students to think outside of the box. They had a class debate in which the class was split
into two different parties and they had to each argue their points. Other than this one activity
both the homework and the tests are only looking for correct answers. The tests are always
multiple choice and short response as are the quizzes that I have seen. This encourages
memorizing one correct answer instead of HOT answers, this does not make students want to
apply their knowledge outside of the classroom. While the article does say that there is a time
and place for memorization (para. 21) it should not be used everyday and for every assignment.

The article also discuses how you need Substantive Conversation, this is when students are able
to talk and ask questions to help them gain a deeper knowledge of the subject. This includes
group discussion, sharing ideas and having a dialogue between student and teacher. In my current
classroom there is none of this the teacher simply lectures everyday while the students take
notes. I would say that my classroom is a prime example of inauthenticlearningbecauseitmeets
noneofthestandardsofauthenticlearning.
References
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Preview assignment. Bring learning alive!
Methods to transform middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers
Curriculum Institute, pp. 22-26.
Newmann,F.M.,&Wehlage,G.G.(1993).Fivestandardsofauthenticinstruction.Educational
Leadership,50(7),812.