Pages: 232 Price: $64.95 (Hardcover); $44.95 (Paperback) ISBN: 978-0-398-07722-8(Hardcover); 978-0-398-07723-5 (Paperback)
A great deal of attention has been given to millions of children with disabilities because of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), implemented in 1975. The authors of this book provide a method of teaching that will help all students to become self-determined learners. However, their main focus deals with helping special education teachers and students with disabilities to learn about "a four-step pedagogical strategy for empowering students to become self-directing, self-determined learners before they leave school" (p. vi).
The title of this book caught my attention because I am directly involved with students with disabilities who are mainstreamed into my regular education classes. These inclusion classes involve many different types of students who have different needs, and I am constantly researching new ways to assist them in their quest to become successful in school.
An overview of the book describes teaching methods that encourage self-instruction pedagogy. Starting with chapter 1, the authors clearly explain the differences between direct instruction and self-instruction. Direct instruction focuses on teachers making choices and feeling in control. Self-instruction focuses on students making choices and feeling in control. Since research shows that most teachers use direct instruction, the goal the authors support is to help teachers to move away from direct instruction to student self-instruction in order to help students become self-determined learners.
How does a teacher know if their instruction is self-directed or student-directed? Chapter 2 provides teachers with tools to assess and determine where they are on a scale of instructional control. One instrument, Instruction and Curriculum Rating Scale for Self-Determined Learning, has 48 teaching statements that teachers respond to using a four-point scale. The next step is to score instructional-directedness (teacher-directedness and student-directedness), and curricular functionality (basic skills and applied skills) using the responses from the ratings identified on the scale. Next, a comparison is made with the instruction-directedness and curricular functionality scores of 253 other experienced special and general education teachers.
The next four chapters describe steps to help teachers shift from teacher-directedness to student-directedness. Chapter 3 describes the first step which includes three methods used to teach self-control--self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-adjustment. Chapter 4 is about step two which is teaching self-regulation. Two additional strategies, goal setting and self-planning, help students regulate their responses to any learning situation. The next chapters promote self-determined learning and self-determined Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs) in which the student identifies the needs, interests, abilities for the IEPs and school-to-work transitions.
Chapter 7 discusses why teachers are reluctant to choose self-direction for their students. Some of the reasons are that the teaching approach is very different, that giving students choices leads to unpredictability, and teachers are used to being in control and making all the decisions. Chapter 8 summarizes the four main principles that promote self-determined learning which are choice, self-instruction, matching (comparing results with expectations), and persistence principles. Included at the end of the book is Appendix A, describing research on self-instruction and direct instruction pedagogies, and Appendix B, describing instruction and curriculum scales for self-determine learning.
A great deal of the information in this book confirmed beliefs that I had about the actions and beliefs of special education students. On a daily basis I witness students depending on the teacher for their learning and refusing to do work on their own because they believe they cannot do it on their own. Agran states that "when they [teachers] teach, students learn, and when they do not, students do not learn" (p. 47).
At times students will not do their work because they believe the special education teacher will do it for them. If students could learn ways to self-monitor their learning, then they would be involved with student-directed learning. A specific and concrete example given was to have students use a tally card with questions like the following: "Am I on task right now?; Did I finish the task?; Was my behavior good?; Am I organized for this class?; Did I bring my homework today and put it where it belongs?" (p. 51). The students put a check mark "yes" or "no" and turn it in to the teacher each day. Interestingly, as I read this section, I wondered if the students would be honest with the answers. The authors addressed this concern indicating research shows a desired effect will be produced even if the students' responses are inaccurate because the students are attentive to the actions. I immediately tried this the next day in class with a student and found positive results. I asked the student to make a checklist in the corner of his paper with two columns (yes/no). Approximately every ten minutes, he was to identify if he was on task. The first day, he had 2 "yes" and 4 "no" responses. The second day, he had 4 "yes" and 2 "no" responses. The third day, he had 5 "yes" and only 1 "no" response. I do not think he was completely accurate, but I did notice an improvement in his ability to stay on task.
Another area that is difficult to help students learn is how to problem solve. The authors stress that teachers should avoid solving problems for the students. Instead, teachers should empower students to problem solve themselves. The section on helping students direct their learning is very helpful to teachers because each phase of problem solving is explained, along with the teacher's role, and supportive research. Even though the emphasis on self-determined learning focuses on students making the choices, the teacher's role is not over-looked. The teacher is still the expert and responsible for helping students learn through the students' own self-regulated efforts.
Overall, the purpose of the book is well-defined—to make teachers more aware of the research, learning methods, and benefits of self-determined learning. The authors recommend that all teachers be given the opportunity to learn and understand the importance of self-instruction pedagogy so that they can make informed decisions regarding the way their students learn.
The only information provided about the authors, Dennis E. Mithaug, Deirdre K. Mithaug, Martin Agran, James E. Martin, and Michael L. Wehmeyer, is their university affiliation, even though many of the references included in the book involve the authors' research.
MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution