Assessing and Improving Instruction
Martin Kozloff
2014
Outline
1. Maximize time for teaching.
2. Use productive grouping in differentiated instruction.
3. Prepare student for new material being taught. Make sure they are firm on
the pre-skill elements and/or background knowledge.
4. Prepare students for the start of each lesson and for the start of each new
task in the lesson.
5. Design instruction on the basis of objectives: the performance (what
students will do) and performance standards (how they will do it).
6. Prepare the lesson for delivery.
7. Lessons are a sequence of knowledge-rich tasks. Each task in a
lesson has a clear instructional function.
8. Use the proper format for teaching each form of knowledge:
facts, concepts, rule-relationships, routines.
9. Adequately teach and assess all phases of mastery: acquisition of
new knowledge (initial instruction) fluency (accurate and quick),
generalization (application to new examples), integration of
elements into larger wholes, retention.
10. Organize lessons around this format. Seven-point lesson plan.
11. Plan ways to scaffold instruction ; i.e., various kinds of
assistance to help teachers communicate information, and to
help students acquire, organize, retrieve, and apply
information/knowledge.
12. Begin instruction on a new lesson with review, especially of
knowledge elements and background knowledge relevant to the
current instruction (pre-skills).
13. Next in a lesson, frame the main business of the lesson by
stating the kind of new knowledge to be taught, the objectives
(final performance and standards), and big ideas.
14. Next in a lesson, model or present new information clearly
and focus on the objectives.
15. If students are not likely to learn from the model alone, lead
students through the application of the new information just
modeled.
16. Use pre-corrections, or reminders, to prevent errors when it is
students’ turn to respond.
17. After the model (and if used, the lead), give an immediate
acquisition test/check to determine whether students learned
the new information.
18. Correct all errors and/or firm weak knowledge after the lead
and/or test/check.
19. If new material is a concept (e.g., mitosis), rule-relationship (e.g., how
price varies with demand), or cognitive routine (e.g., a math algorithm),
make sure to: (a) use a wide and varied range of examples; (b) juxtapose
examples to reveal sameness; (c) juxtapose examples and nonexamples to
reveal difference; (d) when teaching routines (sequences of steps), use a
sequence of formats, from more to less teacher-modeled.
20. Give a delayed acquisition test/check to determine whether students
learned the concept, rule relationship, or cognitive routine from the set of
the examples and nonexamples.
21. Teach at a brisk pace, with enthusiasm.
22. End the lesson by reviewing the lesson (e.g., main things taught) and
state how what was taught is relevant to next lessons.
23. Use frequent (every 5 to 10 lessons) curriculum-based progress
monitoring assessments.
Now let’s look at each item in more detail.
Curriculum
1. A curriculum is all of the information, skills,
or knowledge that students are to learn, and
the sequence in which they are to learn it.
Scope and sequence charts show what is taught
and when.
Scope and Sequence (What and When) Chart for a
Beginning Reading Curriculum
Lessons 1 
100
Hear sounds in words (phonemic awareness)
|--------------|
Sounds that go with letters (letter-sound correspondence: alphabetic
principle)
|-------------------------------------------------------|
Decoding (sounding out unfamiliar words: alphabetic principle)
|-----------------------------------------------------------|
Fluency (reading letters, words, sentences, paragraphs fast and
accurately)
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
Vocabulary
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
Text Comprehension
|----------------------------------------------------------|
The sequence should be meaningful (make sense) and coherent
(knowledge elements hang together).
How to do this.
1. Organize the content (what is taught) and sequence around Big
Ideas. For example:
a. A theory of social change, for a course on history.
The age of pioneers the age of conquest  the age of
commerce  the age of affluence  the age of intellect
the age of decadence (Sir John Glubb. The fate of
empires.)
b. The concept of system, for a course on science.
c. The idea that poetry reflects and is shaped by the social
setting of the poet.
d. The idea that some groups want a strong government and
other groups want a weak government
2. Organize content in a logical progression. For example:
a. Time line.
b. Story.
c. Deductive: General idea followed by supporting facts.
d. Inductive: Facts that reveal or from which students can
induce (figure out) the general idea.
e. And in all curricula, teach knowledge elements before you
teach larger routines that USE the knowledge elements.
Knowledge analysis tells you what these elements are.
(1) Sound out ram. What does student do/have to know?
(2) Translate second paragraph of Declaration of
Independence into a list of rule statements. What does
student have to know?
Curriculum
Lessons/ 1……….10……………….35…………………..50…………………………90
days
Unit 1 Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Lesson
Task 1. Review and firm. Sequence of sentences.
Task 2 New: facts, concepts, rules, routines.
Task 3 More
Task 4 Work on fluency and/or generalization
Task 5 Integrate? Apply?
Task 6 Review, firm, reteach
Of course, instruction occurs within a curriculum. Here are the main
units.
Note: there are objectives---performances and standards---for the
whole curriculum, for each unit, for each lesson, and for each task in a
lesson.
Performance: What students will do.
Standards/assessment: How students are to do the performance.
Usually:
a. Correct, such as percentage correct.
b. Speed. Such as time; correct problems per minute.
c. Completeness: steps completed, issues addressed.
If your materials do not state objectives for you, then you have to
make them up.
Where do you get objectives for a whole curriculum?
1. State, district, and school standards.
2. Research; e.g., on “best practices in science.”
3. Your own knowledge.
What about objectives for units, lessons, and tasks?
Do a knowledge analysis of the objectives for the whole curriculum.
“Students describe how galaxies consist of solar systems, which consist
of planets, which (in the case of earth) consist of ecosystems, which
are influenced by a variety of other systems (geological, biological,
sociological), which consist of life forms.”
“Students define the following concepts: system, ecosystem, tectonics,
….”
What do you have to teach for students to achieve those objectives?
In what sequence would you teach that content?
These large chunks are your Units:
1. Systems. 2. Biological systems. 3. Ecosystems. 4. Earth as a
system. 5. Solar system. 6. Galactic systems.
Now, what are objectives for each unit?
1. System.
“Define system.” “What are main features of systems: structure
and process?” “Give examples of systems and state their
features.”
This is what you have to teach for Unit 1, in a sequence of lessons.
Each lesson teaches some of the knowledge needed to achieve the
Unit objectives.
For example, Lesson 1 of Unit 1 might give examples of systems--atom, cell, organ, forest, marsh—and then define system and tell the
features.
There would be objectives for this lesson. “Give examples of systems.”
“State the definition of system.” “State main features of systems.”
This is what you would teach in Lesson 1.
Each lesson is a sequence of Tasks.
Each task focuses on a part of the knowledge needed for students to
achieve the lesson (and therefore the Unit, and therefore the
curriculum) objectives.
For example,
Task 1.
Boys and girls. New concept. System. Spell system.
Here’s the definition of system. Look at your guided notes. A system is
a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements
forming a complex whole.
say that definition…. [Task objective] You
Task 2.
Let’s look at each part of that definition. You tell me the main words
in it. [Task objective.]
Elements…
Interacting…
Interconnected…
Complex whole…
Task 3. Now let’s examine what these words mean, and see how they
describe different kinds of systems. [Task objective is that students (a)
define each of the system terms, and (b) use them to identify aspects
of different systems.
“Here’s a muscle cell. Name the elements….”
Instruction
1. Maximize time for teaching.
a. Have necessary materials readily available and
at hand.
b. Control noninstruction activities--announcements and other interruptions.
c. Use routines for distributing and collecting
materials. Teach how; practice; do “sprints.”
2. Use productive grouping in differentiated instruction.
a. Give pre-tests or placement tests (of what is taught
throughout a curriculum) to place students in groups with other
students at the same level or spot in a curriculum---homogeneous
grouping.
b. Keep the groups small—say six to eight students.
c. Move students to different groups based on progress
monitoring information.
d. Have lower performers seated close to you, and separate
students with problematic behaviors.
3. Prepare student for new material being taught.
Make sure they are firm on the pre-skill elements
and/or background knowledge. These knowledge
elements are determined by knowledge analysis; e.g.,
revealing the important concepts in a science passage;
the concepts and rules needed to do each step in a
math routine.
Teach elements (pre-skills) early, and review/firm them
continually before they are integrated into larger
routines that USE the elements.
4. Prepare students for the start of each lesson and for the
start of each new task in the lesson.
a. Teach and practice having students get ready for learning.
“Show me ready.”
b. Get into lessons quickly, and give encouragement. “Okay,
we’re ready to learn. Here we go. Remember, when you try
hard, you get it!
c. Reinforce attentive, effortful behavior. “I love the way John
is listening to Jerry read.”
d. Re-establish attention and participation immediately. “I
need to see everyone sitting ready.” “I need to hear
EVERYbody!..... That’s it. NOW we have everybody!” ”My
turn!”
5. Design instruction on the basis of objectives
a. What students will DO---not what they will know,
appreciate, understand, or demonstrate), and
b. HOW they will do it---performance standards
such as accuracy, completeness, and speed.
Focus communication precisely on objectives.
No blather.
6. Prepare the lesson for delivery.
a. Script portions that must be logically faultless, such as
wording and examples in definitions, steps in routines (such as
math and reading).
b. Prepare places in your presentation for test/checks of student
acquisition. “So what do you do next?” “Remember to…”
c. Anticipate specific errors or difficult tasks, and prepare to
repeat models and the lead (“with me”); use pre-corrections
(reminders) and information checks. For example,
“They are not yet firm with these definitions; so I’ll review them
first.”
“Remind students of the rule on renaming.”
“Ask students to repeat an instruction.”
7. Lessons are a sequence of knowledge-rich tasks. Each task in a
lesson has a clear instructional function.
a. Teach something new (facts, concepts, rules, cognitive routines).
[acquisition]
“New vocabulary word. Republic.”
“Here are the steps in the routine for calculating slope and
intercept.”
b. Summarize. “The 9 events leading to the War of Independence
are…”
c. Build fluency. “You can do these problems in 1 minute. The error
limit is two. GO!”
d. Review and probe/test (retention). “Let’s review our concepts.”
More instructional functions…
e. Expand---add more to existing facts, examples, concepts.
f. Generalize knowledge to new examples. “Here are new
examples of linear functions. Calculate slope and intercept with
the same routine as with earlier examples.”
g. Strategically integrate---combine information into a larger whole,
such as an explanatory essay, or a research project, or a math
routine. For example…
Teach what a linear function is. + >> Define data points as
coordinates on X/Y axes. + >> Graph data points. + >> Explain the
straight lines as examples of linear functions. +>> Show that all
sections of a line (function) are the same in the ratio of change in Y
over change in X. +>> Model, lead, test the sequence of steps in the
routine for calculating the slope.
8. Use the proper format for teaching each form of
knowledge, based on the logic of learning.
We have a learning mechanism: sense organs and brain.
The learning mechanism runs on logic. It does two things.
a. The learning mechanism figures out what events mean.
This is the construction of knowledge.
The learning mechanism uses inductive logic.
How? It compares and contrasts events; it sees how they are the
same and different; it sees how some things go together and other
things don’t; it infers (induces, generalizes, figures out) that:
a. There are KINDS of things---classes, called concepts. Millions of
classes/concepts make up the stuff in our reality.
We don’t see a configuration of colors and shapes.
We see a member of the class/concept of table.
We see reality through our concepts.
The learning mechanism also learns that (or is told that)
b. Individual examples of kinds of things have features. The dog is
brown. Facts.
The learning mechanism also figures out that…..
c. Some classes/concepts are connected. All dogs are canines.
Some cheese reeks of decay. No poison is good eating.
Whenever X increases, Y increases. If and only if X occurs will Y
occur. Rules.
And the learning mechanism gets (infers) that
d. Some outcomes happen through a sequence. Routines.
For example, to figure out (a + b) (c + d), do FOIL.
To sound out a word (ram) do rrraaammm.
To describe a forest, state the following facts….
These are the only kinds of knowledge we can know, store,
communicate, learn, teach. Concepts, facts, rules, routines.
Mostly, we store and communicate knowledge with arrangements
of sounds, words, and sentences—language (vocal, written, or
nonvocal gestures).
But we also use sculpture (“Is that a man or a banana?”), music,
dance, painting.
b. The learning mechanism figures out what events mean--concepts, facts, rules, routines—using inductive logic. The
learning mechanism also tests, affirms, disconfirms, and
improves knowledge (concepts, facts, rules, routines) through
deductive logic.
“I have figured out that civilizations move through stages.
[knowledge of a routine.] America is a civilization that is in the
phase of intellect. I predict that America will next be in the phase
of decadence.” [If the prediction is confirmed, then the whole
theory is confirmed. If the prediction is not confirmed, the
learning mechanism may try to revise the theory so that it fits the
facts.]
It stands to reason that:
When instruction makes it easy for the learning mechanism to do
its inductive (knowledge construction) and deduction (knowledge
applying and testing) business, the learner will make fewer errors
on the way to an objective, and will take less time and less learning
experiences to achieve an objective.
[Does teaching with multiple formats make it easier?!!!]
So, what are the kinds of knowledge, and what are effective
formats for teaching them?
1a. Basic or sensory concepts. One example shows all of the defining
features. red, straight line, on top.
How to teach.
** Present/model a range of examples that differ in size, shape,
etc., but are the same in the defining feature (e.g., color)—to
allow comparison, to identify sameness. “This is red.”
** Juxtapose examples and nonexamples that are the same except
for the defining feature---to show contrast, to identify difference
that makes the difference.
** Test with all examples and nonexamples (delayed acquisition
test). “Is this red?...Is this red?”
** Test with new examples (generalization test).
“red”
“red”
“not red”
juxtaposition
“red” “not red” “red”
juxtaposition
1b. Higher-order concepts. Features are spread
out. Can’t be sensed all at once.
Representative democracy, cell mitosis, table,
galaxy.
How to teach.
a. Teach the definition: model, lead,
test/check. ““Mitosis is the process of cell
division in eukaryotic cells (this has to be defined
FIRST) that consists of six phases---interphase,
prophase, metaphase anaphase, telophase,
cytokinesis.
Then present examples and nonexamples, as with
sensory concepts.
** Test all (delayed acquisition test). “Is this…?”
“How do you know?”
** Generalize to new examples and nonexamples.
How to teach.
b. Teach the definition: model, lead,
test/check
Format for teaching facts.
(1) State the fact (model). [Students write it down in
guided notes? Students say it to themselves?]
(2) Then have students say the fact with you (lead). [If
needed.]
(3) Then have students state the fact by themselves.
[test/check]
Format for teaching higher-order concepts, continued.
(2) Then present examples that show each phase with
different cells, so that students can see the sameness in
the essential features. “This is metaphase. Notice it has
(these features). And THIS is metaphase. Notice that it
also has (these features)…”
(3) Then juxtapose examples and nonexamples that
are similar, but that differ in the essential (defining)
feature of each phase. “This is metaphase. Notice these
both have…. This is NOT metaphase. Notice that the
one called ‘metaphase has.... But the once called ‘not
metaphase one does NOT have… So THAT feature is the
difference between metaphase and not metaphase.”
Format for teaching higher-order concepts, continued.
4) Then test all examples and nonexamples used
(delayed acquisition test). “Is this…?”….“How do
you know?”
(5) Then present new examples and nonexamples and
show student the features that make them examples and
nonexamples. Then test. “Is this anaphase?... How do
you know?” [Students state the features that define the
concept—anaphase.] (Generalization)
a. Facts.
Declarative statements (subject  predicate) about a particular, individual subject.
Examples.
The first ten amendments are called “The Bill of Rights.”
Boston is the capital of Massachusetts.
Format 2. for teaching higher-order concepts. Inductive.
1. Give examples of a concept. “This is a republic.” [Rome, Athens,
Venice, U.S.A.] Tell the features. Some are part of the definition
(political units, representation, voting); others are not (climate,
language, time period, size).
2. Give nonexamples of the concept. Make sure the nonexamples
are just like the examples in the nonrelevant features, but are
different in the defining features, so that students can infer the
difference (in the relevant features) that makes the difference in
whether the instance is an example or a nonexample.
3. Coach students to compare examples to find sameness, and to
contrast examples and nonexamples to find difference. Coach
students to state how examples are the same. These same
features ae the definition.
4. Coach students to state the definition:
“A republic is a political system in which (features)…”
5. Show new examples and nonexamples and have students identify
them as such. Have students use the definition to make the
judgment. “How do you know?” This is a generalization test.
d. Rules. Statements that connect NOT one thing and
another thing (e.g., name and date = fact), but
connect whole sets of things (concepts). Examples:
When (whenever, if, the more) demand (a whole
class of examples) increases, (then, the more/the
less) price (a whole class of examples) increases.
All/some/no (examples in the class of) dogs/cats/fish
are (members of the larger class of)
canines/tigers/have wheels.
Rule relationships be shown on diagrams; e.g., graphs
and models of interconnections.
Format for teaching rules. Teach rules one of two ways.
a. Deductive method---from general (rule) to specific (examples). Examples
reveal rule.
(1) Teach the rule statement (model, lead, test) first.
(2) Then present examples and nonexamples---as with concepts. Verbal and
visual models.
(3) Then test all examples and nonexamples.
“Is this (verbal description or graph) an example of the demand-price rule?”
“No.”
“How do you know?” Students state rule.
(4) Then generalize to/test new examples and nonexamples.
Format for teaching rules, continued.
b. Inductive method---from specific (examples) to general (rule). Students
infer (figure out) rule from examples. More complex than the deductive
method.
(1) Present a range of examples first (e.g., different price-demand curves):
cars, oil, gold.
(2) Show students how to compare the examples and to identify the
sameness—the relationship; e.g., one variable goes up and the other
variable goes up. “Demand varies directly with price.”
(3) Then present nonexamples, and show (in relation to the rule) how they
are nonexamples. “Demand is increasing, but price stays the same. That
does NOT fit the rule.”
(4) Then test all examples and nonexamples. “Is this one an example of the
rule?... How do you know?” [Acquisition test.]
(5) Then give new examples and nonexamples, and have students say if
they are or are not examples, and how they know. [Generalization test.]
d. Routines. A sequence of steps for getting something done.
Examples:
Solving math problems, sounding out words, writing essays, brushing
teeth.
Format for teaching routines.
(1) Model, lead, test each step (or a few steps).
(2) Add a few more steps and then do the whole sequence so far (model,
lead, test);
(3) Add a few more, until students are doing the whole sequence.
Use a series of formats in which teacher first models all the steps and
students watch (or do one step); repeat until students’ part is firm. Then
the teacher models fewer steps and the students do the rest, repeating
until firm. Repeat until students do the whole routine.
9. Adequately teach and assess all phases of mastery: acquisition
of new knowledge (initial instruction) fluency (accurate and
quick), generalization (application to new examples), integration
of elements into larger wholes, retention.
Generalization
Acquisition
Integration
Retention
Fluency
For each phase, there are stated objectives, instructional
procedures, assessment of progress, and suggested remediation (if
there is too little progress) based on assessment data.
Here’s more. 
a. Acquisition phase. General procedure.
(1) Gain attention. “Eyes on me.”
(2) Frame instruction. “Now you’ll learn to…” State:
(a) Performance (e.g., which problems); and
(b) Standards (accuracy, speed, completeness).
(3) Model (‘My turn.”), lead (“Do it with me.”), test/check (“Your
turn,”) the first example in the acquisition set; e.g., the routine for
solving a kind of math problem.
(4) Verify correct responses; correct all errors (model, lead, test, start
over, retest), firm weak parts (e.g., a step in a routine), or even
reteach.
Even more 
Acquisition phase, continued
(5) Model, lead, test/check the next examples in the acquisition set.
(6) Test/check all examples---delayed acquisition test.
“Your turn to do ALL our problems.”
(7) Verify correct responses; correct all errors (model, lead, test, start over,
retest), firm weak parts (e.g., a step in a routine), or even reteach.
(8) Test/teach generalization to new examples.
“These are new examples, but you can (sound them
out; solve them with the routine). I’ll show you how
(model)…
Now your turn…
(9) Verify correct responses; correct all errors (model, lead, test, start over,
retest), firm weak parts (e.g., a step in a routine), or even reteach.
b. Building fluency---accuracy plus speed.
(1) Model fluency. “I’ll show you how to read sentences fast.”
(2) Teach component skills (knowledge elements) to fluency, from the
smallest to the largest units. For instance,
Answering comprehension questions about sentences, then
paragraphs, then sections, then whole documents fast.
How do you know what are the component skills (knowledge elements) of a
more complex performance? Answer: knowledge analysis. “What kinds of
fluency are involved in fluent reading (with comprehension) of a whole
passage?” Answer---from smaller to larger elements of fluency:
Answering questions about sentences, then paragraphs, then sections,
then whole documents fast.
Apply this fluency-building principle to any math routine.
Building fluency, continued.
(3) Use pacing devices. Clapping, metronome.
(4) Repetition. “Let’s read it again the fast way. Error
limit is two.”
(5) Speed drills, one minute timings. Graph towards
fluency objective.
c. Generalization of knowledge to new examples.
(1) Use a generalization set---examples that differ in nonessential
ways from the acquisition set (e.g., different numbers), but are the
same in essential ways (e.g., how you treat them) as examples of the
same KIND of problem.
(2) Model for students how to see that new examples are the same
(in how you treat them) as the ones in the acquisition set. Show
essential features.
(3) Work on new examples one at a time: model, lead, test.
(4) Gradually, fade out the model and lead until students are
independent working with the new examples.
d. Strategically integrate part skills (basics) into larger wholes; e.g., use knowledge
of historical periods, biography, rhyme, figures of speech, and symbolism to
perform a routine---analyze poems.
(1) Analyze a whole into its knowledge elements; analyze each element into
smaller elements.
(2) Think of a logical sequence of instruction for integrating the elements.
a. One way. Big idea; then details that reveal or support the big idea.
For instance, it makes more sense, logically, to show students how to find the big
idea expressed by a poem, than to identify figures of speech in poems.
The Second Coming [excerpt. W.B. Yeats, 1919]
Turning and turning in the widening gyre [circles]
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; [Humanity is disconnected from God.]
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; [What happens then.]
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
More on strategic integration 
Strategic integration, continued.
b. Another way. Teach less-complex knowledge elements and gradually
integrate them. For instance, firm up multiplication and subtraction; then
teach estimation (56 divided by 12 is….); then integrate these in the routine
(set of steps) for long division.
As you firm up earlier taught elements and teach a new one, integrate these into
a whole routine---sequence of steps. Do this step by step (add steps) and
explicitly, with:
Model. Teacher alone.
Lead. Student and teacher together.
Test. Student alone.
Verification and error correction—repeat until firm
More 
Building a routine by integrating elements into a sequence of steps is
best done over a series of lessons. Watch as new elements/steps are
added to the routine sequence.
Lesson 1. say sounds (mmm, ahhh, sss) +  read letter-sounds (m, a, s).
Lesssons 2 and 3. say sounds +  read letter-sounds + use lettersounds to sound out words (am  aaammm, ma  mmmaaaa, sam 
ssssaaammm)
Lessons 4-8. say sounds +  read letter-sounds + use letter-sounds to
sound out words +  say words fast (sam!) +  read words fast
(sam  sssaaammm  sam!).
Even more 
Strategic integration, continued.
Teach routines using a sequence of formats that move from more
to less teacher modeled. Watch.
First integrating format. Teacher models steps in a math algorithm (and
explains what she’s doing); students write numerals and signs.
Second integrating format. Teacher tells students to do all the steps she
modeled; tells students what they steps are; has students say what they
will do---until firm; students do the steps.
Third integrating format. Teacher has students say what they will do---until
firm; students
do the routine.
Last integrating format. Students do the routine and explain each step.
e. Retention.
(1) Cumulative review after a series of lessons. Most examples
from the last lesson plus most of the second to last lesson, plus
some of previous lessons.
(2) Also review at the start, middle, and end of lessons.
Always include items on which students were not firm.
Reteach as needed.
Use retention information (e.g., which students miss which
items) to improve teaching in general (e.g., use more examples
during acquisition; review and firm more often) and to individualize
(e.g., special sessions of intensive instruction).
10. Organize lessons around this format. Seven-point lesson
plan.
a. Objectives. State what students will do; the forms of
knowledge worked on; the phases of learning worked on
(acquisition, fluency, generalization, retention.); how learning
will be measured/tested/applied.
b. Standards. State type of lesson (lecture, cooperative,
mixed); procedures to be followed; expectations/challenge for
success.
c. Anticipatory set (to focus attention and provide an
organizing framework). Present big ideas (possibly advance
organizer in the form of diagram). Review.
d. Teaching presentation. Some variation of gain attention, frame,
model, lead, test/check, verification (to communicate new fact, list,
concept, rule relationship, or routine), followed by questioning
that expands on the new information. E.g., after asking
comprehensions questions that are tied directly to the text just
read (who said/did what, etc.?) ask for other examples students
might know.
e. Guided practice. Application: worksheets, write poem, solve
more math problems, do experiment—but circulate and supervise.
f. Closure. Review. Delayed acquisition test/check. Correct errors,
form weak parts, reteach as needed. Plan to review at the start of
next lesson.
g. Independent work. Not every lesson. E.g., speed drills, paired
reading.
The order is like this.
Gain attention
Frame instruction
Model New Information. “My turn.”
Lead students through the information. “Do it with me.”
Give an immediate acquisition test/check. “Your turn.”
Verify correct responses, or correct errors, or firm up a weak part,
or reteach.
Model-lead-test more examples (in a concept or rule) or steps (in a
routine).
Verify correct responses, or correct errors, or firm up a weak part,
or reteach.
Test all examples---delayed acquisition test.
Verify correct responses, or correct errors, or firm up a weak part,
or reteach.
Review, firm up weak parts, reteach as needed.
11. Plan ways to scaffold instruction; i.e., various kinds
of assistance to help teachers communicate information,
and to help students acquire, organize, retrieve, and apply
information/knowledge.
Examples are stated objectives, highlighting, reminders
and hints, wait time, big ideas, advance organizers (lesson
and unit outlines, guided notes, concept/proposition
maps, lists of steps to follow in routines), summaries,
diagrams, glossaries.
12. Begin instruction on a new lesson with review, especially of
knowledge elements and background knowledge relevant to the
current instruction (pre-skills). The teacher…
a. Corrects errors. “12 goes into 22 ONE time. How many
times does 12 go into 22?
b. Firms weak part-knowledge. “Let’s practice drawing best-fit
lines as part of finding the slope of a line.”
c. Reteaches as needed. “Okay, let’s start over, with step 1.”
…before introducing new material that requires this background
knowledge.
13. Next in a lesson, frame the main business of the lesson by
stating the kind of new knowledge to be taught, the objectives
(final performance and standards), and big ideas that will help
students organize, remember or access, and comprehend the new
knowledge, and connect new with prior knowledge.
a. Objectives should state what students will do---the final
performance. They should not speak of know, appreciate,
demonstrate, or understand.
b. Objectives should state performance standards---the desired
accuracy, rate, and completeness. For example, how many
concepts per minute will be correctly identified from examples. Or,
“I’ll say a word slowly; then you’ll say that word fast.”
14. Next in a lesson, model or present new information clearly and
focus on the objectives. The teacher:
a. Shares his or her thought processes. “First I…. Then I…”
(explicit instruction)
b. Uses clear wording. Uses consistent wording.
c. Repeats the information as needed.
d. Presents one step or item at a time in a list or routine, depending
on how many steps or items students can handle.
Wording. Should be simple declarative statements (“This is…”; “We
will…”); consistent wording in the same task and when teaching the
same kind of knowledge (“New concept.”); focused on objective.
Examples of concepts, rules, and routines:
1. Clearly show relevant features.
2. Cover a varied range.
3. Are juxtaposed to show sameness across examples
and difference between examples and nonexamples
4. Are presented with frequent and regular examples
first; e.g., teach m, s, a, before x and ing; teach
regular words (sad) before irregular worlds (said).
The teacher repeats the model as needed. “Watch me
again,….”
15. If students are not likely to learn from the model
alone, lead students through the application of the new
information just modeled. Sometimes called “guided
practice.” The lead is not always needed, but is it best to
err on the side of caution.
“Now we’ll work that problem together.”
Repeat until students are firm.
16. Use pre-corrections, or reminders, to prevent
errors when it is students’ turn to respond.
“Remember, F…O…I…L. Multiply the First
numerals; then the Outside numbers; then the
Inside numbers; then the Last numbers. You tell
me which numbers we do first… Which ones we
do outside…. Which ones we do inside…..; which
ones we do last….”
Prevent errors, continued.
Also, check students’ preparation to take their
turn. Do they remember what to do?
“We always multiply numbers in the ones
column first. What numbers do we multiply
first?.... What numbers are in the ones
column?... So what numbers are we going to
multiply first?”
17. After the model (and if used, the lead), give an immediate
acquisition test/check to determine whether students learned the
new information.
Test/check every time new information is presented to be sure that
students learned it. This is especially important when teaching
diverse learners, essential material, and difficult material. “Your
turn to define our new concepts.”
a. Ask the question first or gives an instruction, before calling on
the group or an individual.
b. After calling on the group for a choral response, call on
individual students, and make sure to call on students who have
made errors or who in general have a harder time learning.
“Now for individual turns.”
c. Give think time (quick count of 3) before calling on the group or
an individual.
“Get ready….. Go.”
d. Use a signal to tell students to start; e.g., for example, tapping the
book; saying “Go.”
e. Immediately verify correct responses. “Yes, you read those words
the fast way.”
Repeat until students are firm.
18. Correct all errors and/or firm weak knowledge after the
lead and/or test/check.
a. This is done in a matter of fact way and directed to the group.
b. Model. Teacher immediately gives the answer or
demonstrates the step. “That word is standing.”
c. Lead. Students say the answer or do the step with the
teacher. “Sound it out with me.” [Use if model is not enough.]
d. Test/check. Teacher asks the question or gives the problem
step again. “Your turn. Sound it out.”
Error correction, continued.
e. Verification. Specific praise. “Yes, that word is
standing. Now you got it!”
f. Retest/starting over. “Start that sentence over.”
g. Delayed test. Teacher comes back and checks again.
“Let’s review our words one more time. [When students
approach the spot where they erred, “Careful. Don’t let it
fool you.”]
19. If new material is a concept (e.g., mitosis), rulerelationship (e.g., how price varies with demand), or
cognitive routine (e.g., a math algorithm), make sure to:
a. Use a wide and varied range of examples.
b. Juxtapose examples to reveal sameness. “These
problems look different, but they are really the same. Look
at how they are the same…. Now you tell how they are the
same…”
c. Juxtapose examples and nonexamples to reveal
difference. “These examples look the same, but they have
an important difference. Look at how they are different…
Now you tell how they are different.”
d. When teaching routines (sequences of steps), use a
sequence of formats, from more to less teachermodeled. For example, when teaching students to read
and answer questions about a passage,
(1) First read the passage, ask and answer your own
questions, while students read along.
(2) Next read the passage and ask students
questions.
(3) Next have students read the passage and then ask
students questions.
(4) Finally, have students read the passage and then
have students ask and answer the questions.
20. Give a delayed acquisition test/check (calling on both
the group as a whole and then individual students) to
determine whether students learned the concept, rule
relationship, or cognitive routine from the set of the
examples and nonexamples, or whether students
remember the set of facts presented.
“Ill give examples, and you name the concept.”
“Here are all the problems we worked on. Your turn to do
them by yourself. Try not to make errors.”
The teacher then plans to work on
>> Generalization of knowledge to new
examples.
>> Fluency.
>> Integration of knowledge into larger
wholes.
>> Retention.
21. Teach at a brisk pace, with enthusiasm,
by speaking more quickly; staying on task;
using words whose meanings are clear; using
the same instructional vocabulary from one
task to another; cutting out unnecessary
words.
22. End the lesson by reviewing the lesson (e.g., main things
taught) and state how what was taught is relevant to next
lessons.
The review:
a. States what was learned, how it built on what came before,
and how it will be built on by next lessons.
“Next, we’ll use our facts to make a time line of the American
Revolution.”
b. Has students once more reveal essential knowledge.
Correct all errors, firm up weak elements (part-firming), or
reteach. Begin the next lesson by firming all weak skills.
23. Use frequent (every 5 to 10 lessons) curriculum-based
progress monitoring assessments (“mastery tests,” “checkouts)
that assess acquisition and retention, generalization, integration,
and fluency.
These mastery tests assess a sample:
a. Of new material that was taught in the previous 5 or 10
lessons; e.g., math problems, concepts. This assesses acquisition
and retention.
b. Of new items that are similar to those that were taught; e.g.,
new math problems, or new examples of concepts. This assesses
generalization.
c. Of “a” and “b” (acquisition and generalization items) to
see how accurate and fast students are.
“Now do this set of problems fast. Be careful!!” Or, “Now
read this passage quickly. Try not to make errors.” This
measures fluency.
Use guidelines for deciding when students’ performance
on assessment means that they (1) are firm and can move
ahead; (2) need firming on certain knowledge; (3) need
reteaching; or (4) need intensive instruction. Have plans
and procedures for such remediation.