Nashville education writer TC Weber takes on the latest new old craze making waves over at the Tennessee Star: Direct Instruction.
What concerns me isn’t necessarily the existence of Direct Instruction.
It’s the assumption that it should become the dominant model everywhere.
Education reformers often fall in love with universal solutions.
Teachers know better.
Students are different.
Schools are different.
Communities are different.
What works in one classroom may fail spectacularly in another.
That’s why good teachers employ multiple strategies.
They adapt.
They adjust.
They respond.
They don’t simply read scripts.
And that’s where Direct Instruction starts making me nervous.
A heavily scripted curriculum inevitably diminishes teacher autonomy.
