This document summarizes a presentation by Brent Daigle on faulty notions about teaching and learning. The presentation addresses 10 common but flawed assumptions, such as the ideas that structured teaching impedes true learning, teaching discrete skills trivializes education, and that building self-esteem should be a teacher's primary goal rather than improved achievement. Daigle argues that research supports explicit instruction, discrete skills are important to outcomes, and the primary goal should be improved achievement which leads to increased self-esteem. The presentation provides counterarguments to each faulty notion based on research findings.

1. Article Summary from
2003 Journal of Special Education
– Written by William Heward.
Faulty notions about teaching
10
and
Learning
Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

2. 1. Students with disabilities have the right to an effective
education.
2. Special education instruction should be individualized,
intensive, and goal-directed.
3. Special education teachers should know how to select and
apply research-based strategies.
4. Research-based instructional tools are underused in special
education. A large research-to-practice gap remains.
Assumptions
Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

3. Faulty notion # 1
Structured teaching
impedes
Research supports an instructional
approach that relies on explicit
instruction, guided practice,
and feedback (i.e., direct
instruction.) true learning

4. Faulty notion # 2
Teaching discrete skills
trivializes education
& ignores the whole child
Discrete skills , such as an emphasis on sight
words and phonics, is important and
critical to improved academic outcomes. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

5. Faulty notion # 3
Drill & practice limits
deep understanding
& dulls their creativity
If done properly, drill and practice
builds fluency and leads to
improved outcomes. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

6. Faulty notion # 4
Teachers do not need to
(and/or cannot, should not)
measure performance
It is indefensible to make
instructional decisions without
data from direct and frequent
measurement. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

7. Faulty notion # 5
Students must be
internally motivated
Overwhelming empirical evidence
that contingent teacher praise,
approval and other forms or
positive reinforcement (e.g.,
token economy) have positive to really learn
effects on student behavior
and achievement. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

8. Faulty notion # 6
Building self-esteem
is a teacher’s
Primary goal is improved
achievement. Increased self-
esteem is the result of primary goal
improved outcomes or mastery
of a new skill. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

9. Faulty notion # 7
Teaching students
with disabilities
requires unending patience
If there is no change in learning, teacher must differentiate their instruction, not
simply become more patient. Research indicates that patient teachers often
translates into slowed-down instruction, lowered expectations, fewer
opportunities to respond, and few in-class and homework assignments, all of
which students with disabilities do not need.

10. Faulty notion # 8
Every child
learns
Many instructional strategies were
founded on a few basic
principles of learning. The
challenge for teachers is to
differently
find the combination of
strategies that address the
unique needs of each child. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

11. Faulty notion # 9
Eclecticism
is
Constantly changing the combination of principles and
methods of instruction from a large variety of
theories and models is counterproductive to
students with exceptionalities. It is more important
for special educators to have knowledge and skills
in using a core set of instructional methods and
good
approaches to meet the needs of students in their
class. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

12. Faulty notion # 10
A good teacher
Creativity is good,
however it must have
an instructional
purpose. Your
creativity, when
is
done correctly,
should be used to
extend the
curriculum based on
the standards you
are targeting.
a creative teacher
Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.

13. Presented by: Brent Daigle, Ph.D.