OTL502-1: Learning Theories and Models of Instruction Materials

In Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (2009), the aviation industry and medical industries layout numerous checklists for various scenarios, like what to do in the event fuel lines start to freeze during transpolar flights. Given how complicated these industries can be, the idea of a checklist might seem far fetched, but they achieve results. So what would happen if concept of a checklist were applied in a classroom setting, an undeniably complex environment where student success and achievement are on the line?

This is the question Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Hubbell set out to answer in the The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day (2013). Goodwin and Hubbell's approach suggests a much broader scope for teachers to use in what they are calling a “Do-Confirm Checklist” to reference after the fact. This recognizes the reality of a classroom where teachers cannot stop what they are doing to reference a specific checklist for a specific scenario.

In short, the checklist ensures that teachers are being demanding, supportive, and intentional in their everyday classroom operations. Divided into 12 specific items, the checklist is a reference for teachers quickly review at the end of a lesson, day, and/or year and decide what is being done well and what needs additional focus.

This section of the website will focus these 12 items individually, provide research that supports these actions, and hopefully offer some practical examples of the touchstones in action from the perspective of a high school Computer Science course.