DSST Core Instructional Practices
Guitar & Violin by Picasso
“The more technique you have, the less you
have to worry about it. The more technique
there is, the less there is.”
Picasso
“It’s the little details that are important. Little
details make big things happen.”
John Wooden
Look for:

What techniques does Nicole use to
create a powerful learning culture in her
classroom?

How does this culture allow her to
maximize learning for her students?
 How does this clip reinforce some of
the techniques and strategies that
you are already using?
 What are some new techniques that
this clip encourages you to try?
Jot down:

One technique you’ll try tomorrow

Three “little details” that can make “big
things happen” in your classroom
culture
Brain Rules Rule #4: Attention
We don’t pay attention to boring things.
Brain Rules Rule #5: Short-Term Memory
Repeat to remember.

Stop & Jot: Jot down some of the techniques
you use to help students move knowledge
and/or skills from short-term to long-tem
memory.

Turn & Talk: Share your list with the person
sitting next to you.
Brain Rules Rule # 6: Long-Term Memory
Repeat to remember.
Learning occurs best when new information
is incorporated gradually into the memory
store rather than when it is jammed in all at
once (Medina 133).
Read pp. 132-133 from Brain Rules
Share Out:
Based on this passage from Brain Rules,
which of your techniques does
neuroscience support? Why?


Rule: The way to make long-term memory
more reliable is to incorporate new
information and repeat it in timed intervals
(Medina 147).
Technique: Spiraling
Consciously go back over essential
information many times to ensure it is
incorporated into long-term memory.


Rule: “You can improve your chances of
remembering something if you reproduce the
environment in which you first put it into your
brain” (Medina 119).
Technique:
Show highlights of a PowerPoint seen
months before: ask students to explain
images.


Rule: “The more elaborately we encode a
memory during its initial moments, the
stronger it will be” (Medina 119).
Technique: Students role play to employ
different foreign policy strategies in order to
help new information encode deeply.
Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy negotiate where possible, use force when necessary
 The U.S. as an “international policy power”



Average on spiraled terms (review): 90%
Average on terms introduced in lesson: 69%
Average on new terms used in role play: 77%
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History: Room 105
English: Room 136
Science: Room 134
Math: Room 135