Appendix A: Preparing for licensure
Preparing for licensure: Rosemary’s instructional decision
See also Chapter 8, Nature of classroom communication; Chapter 9, Facilitating complex thinking.Rosemary had planned a lesson for her second grade class about personal and social management,
but she was not satisfied with it. She had taken the general goal directly from the state’s official
curriculum guide for health education: “Students will identify positive communication skills”, it
said. But the guide said nothing about how to translate this goal into practice.
She was thinking that she would use puppets to demonstrate how to communicate in positive ways.
The puppets would engage in dialogue, during which they would nod their heads appropriately,
focus on the speaker, not interrupt, and keep still while listening. Maybe she would include a few
communication mistakes as well—times when a puppet might interrupt in appropriately, for
example—and challenge students to identify those moments.
Her plan seemed fine as far as it went, but she felt unsure about two things. One concern was how
to make sure that students got the point of the activity, and did not regard it simply as
entertainment. How should she introduce the activity? What should she say about it, either
beforehand, during, or afterwards? What exactly should she tell students she is expecting from
them?
The other concern was with the very format of the activity. She did not want students just to know
about good communication skills; she wanted them to use them as well. The puppets did not seem
to help with this latter purpose. How, she wondered, could she get students to take responsibility
for practicing good communication? Was there a way to modify or extend the puppet activity that
would do this? Or perhaps additional activities that students could do?
Think of the range of instructional strategies available to Rosemary. Then answer each of the
following questions.Questions
➢ Choose two strategies that would help her with the first of her concerns—with making sure
that students understood the purpose of the puppets lesson. Compose an imaginary script
of what she might say before, during, and after using the puppets in the way described.
➢ Devise one way to modify the puppet activity so that it focused less on students’ knowledge
of communication and more on students’ skills with communication.
➢ Devise one additional activity to develop students’ skills with communication and their
sense of responsibility for doing so. Outline each activity in point (or summary) form.