Office Chat: Strategy Instruction

In this office chat, Dr. Norah Hooper describes two systems of visual organizers in use in her field of special education. Again, as I have mentioned before, the topics covered in these office chats have application to online instruction as well. If we listen with our minds open, Dr. Hooper is describing a deliberate and methodical approach to learning and teaching that may be leveraged as part of our teaching tool set.

The first system of graphic organizers which Hooper discusses are “Thinking Maps” as developed by David Hyerle and published in his 1995 book, Thinking Maps: Tools for Learning. She mentions that such meta-cognitive tools are helpful in working with students with learning difficulties. One thing that makes these maps work is that they are constructed by the learner rather than “hand-outs” from the teacher.

The maps are used to exercise eight thinking skills; brainstorming, classifying, sequencing, cause and effect, comparing and contrasting, analogies, part to whole, and describing qualities. These are critical thinking skills used by successful, self-regulated learners to good affect. However, special education school children need assistance in learning these meta-cognitive skills. Although Dr. Hooper discusses these tools in relation to special education, whom of us has not had difficulty learning something along the way? -obviously not as severe as a child struggling in a school setting, but a learning acquisition issue none-the-less.

Students in online classes (or classes taught partially online) have their own unique problems. Sometimes these are related to technology, time management, family and work obligations, accelerated courses, etc. An introduction to these thinking maps might be very useful to these and others learners.

The second system of graphic organizers mentioned by Hooper are those used in conjunction with strategy instruction. In particular, Hooper references the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) developed by Don Deshler and his team at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. These graphic organizers assist the teacher in focusing on the “big picture” while developing a course, unit, or lesson. Hooper shows examples of a Course Organizer, Unit Organizer, and Lesson Organizer from one of her own courses.

Software has been developed to support Thinking Maps.

References:

• University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning
• Thinking Maps at Designs for Thinking
• Graphic Interactive System for Teaching (GIST)
• The Power of Strategy Instruction, Stephen D. Luke
• Adapting Classroom-based Strategy Instruction to a Distance Learning Center, Vee Harris
  
• Strategy Instruction, Pat Beckman