Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Four:
Instruction That Works:
Lesson Importance and Checking for
Understanding
Presented by: Lorna Manuel, Patty Garrison, & Doreen Fuller
Moderated by: Nancy Silva, CTAP Region 2 - BCOE
Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS), Region 2
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Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Four:
Instruction That Works:
Lesson Importance
and Checking for Understanding
Presented by: Lorna Manuel, Patty Garrison, & Doreen Fuller
Moderated by: Nancy Silva, CTAP Region 2 - BCOE
Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS), Region 2
Webinar Learning Objectives

Participants will determine.

Participants will learn about the different categories
used to provide reasons for lesson importance, with
examples provided.

Participants will be provided additional strategies for
checking for understanding.
DI – Lesson Design Components
 Learning
Objective
 Activate Prior Knowledge
 Concept Development
 Lesson Importance
 Skill Development
 Guided Practice
 Lesson Closure
 Independent Practice
Lesson Importance is…
Explicitly teaching students why learning the
new content and concepts are important.
Why do we want you to know about this
Direct Instruction component?
Because knowing the importance of what
is taught provides motivation for students
and increases student engagement
Hollingsworth and Ybarra, 2009
?
Research
A
lack of student engagement is a
predictor of dropping out of school.
(Rumberger, 2004)
Engaged
students learn more, retain
more, and enjoy learning more.
(Dowson and McInerney, 2001)
Research
Students…



Learn at higher levels and have a profound
grasp of what they learn
Retain what they learn
Can transfer what they learn to new
contexts
Schlechty Center for Leadership in
School Reform
A Model for Making Instructional Decisions
Strategy
Attention
Student
How do I
feel?
Am I
interested?
Engagement Is this
important?
Can I do it?
Teacher
Do I have their
attention?
Are they
engaged?
Are they engaged?
If students do not perceive classroom tasks as
important, engagement will be muted or nonexistent.
 Your
engagement: We are going to practice the
E
Checking for Understanding
strategy of a
“Whip Around”. (See webinar resources.)
 Brainstorm
the reasons why understanding the
importance of a lesson is crucial to learning.
When to Highlight Lesson Importance
 Lesson
importance is not taught at any specific
time in the lesson.
 The
deciding factor is how soon students
understand the concept.
When?
The lesson importance can be an introduction to the
concept, if the concept is easily understood.
Example: Persuasive Writing using the strategy of
“Graffiti Wall”.
Graffiti Wall
Give an
example of
when you have
had to
persuade your
parents…..
Give an
example of
when you
have had to
persuade
your
teacher…
Give an
example of
when you
have had to
persuade
your
friends…
Give an
example of
when you
have had to
persuade
the
police….
Using the Graffiti Wall to Emphasize
Lesson Importance
Now ask students:
Why is it important for you to learn to write
persuasively?
When?
The lesson importance can be later in the lesson
when the concept is more difficult to understand.
Example: Understanding inferences and how they
are used by practicing the strategy of student
independent research on real life applications.
Homework and Follow Up
After direct instruction on inference, the following
homework assignment is given.
MODEL: A lot of business decisions are made by making
inferences. For example, businesses put together
information to infer what customers want and why.
Example: Mountain Dew commercials imply
drinking this soda is associated with having a good time.
So when?
1.
At the beginning of the lesson

When students have information they can apply to the
importance
2.
Later in the lesson

When the teacher provides information or demonstrates
examples to help students understand the importance of
the lesson
Categories for Providing Lesson Importance
 Personal
Importance
 Connecting
to student interests
 Connecting to student ambitions
 Academic
Importance
 Related
to grade level standard articulation
 Connected to future learning and assessments
 Real
Life Importance
 Connecting
to specific careers
 Connecting to societal issues
Example: 2nd Grade ELA Standard
 ELA
Standard (Grade 2): Recognize cause-andeffect relationships in a text.
 Learning
Objective: Students will recognize, or
look for, cause-and-effect in a story.
Cause and effect is when one action makes
something else happen.
CAUSE
EFFECT
A reason for
something happening
The result or
consequence of
something happening
Why did it happen?
What happened?
There are signal words that will help you to identify
the two parts of a cause/effect relationship. The
most common signal words are: because, if, when,
so, then.
Mark was grounded because he wasn’t on behaving at
school..
In the sentence above, the
word because signals a causeeffect relationship.
Example
ELA: Real Life Importance
Connecting to
specific careers
 Connecting to
societal issues


Ask student why people in the
following jobs need to
understand cause and effect
relationships?
Police investigators
 Scientists
 Historians
 Doctors
 Newspaper reporters
 Automobile mechanics

Example
ELA: Personal Importance

If we understand the
consequences of our
own behavior,
perhaps we can
modify our behavior
in a way that will
allow us to lead
happier, safer lives.
Connecting to student
interests
 Connecting to student
ambitions
 We can avoid poor
choices when we
understand the effects of
those choices

Example
ELA: Academic Importance
Related to grade level
standard articulation
 Connected to future
learning and
assessments


Because writers use cause and
effect frequently in stories,
recognizing it will help us
become better READERS and
better WRITERS.

Helps us to have better
comprehension of what
happens in the story and why it
happened.
Check for Understanding
 Why
is it important to recognize cause and
effect in a story?
 Can
anyone else tell me why it is important?
After reading each sentence, students will underline the word
(because, if, when, so, then) that signals a cause and effect
relationship. Then they will identify the relationship.
1.Tim forgot his math book, so he was unable to complete his
homework.
Cause:
Effect:
2.
Keegan was hungry because he skipped lunch.
Cause:
Effect:
3. The boy was surprised when the lizard darted across the
rock.
Cause:
Effect:
History Social Science
Examples
Economics Standard (Grade 12) -12.4
Students analyze the elements of the U.S. labor market in a
global setting.
Learning Objective: Students will be able to describe
the current economy and labor market, including the types
of goods and services produced, the types of skills workers
need, the effects of rapid technological change, and the
impact of international competition.
Personal Importance
Learning about the effects of technology and
the changing world of technology will be
important if you one day become a business
owner and plan to sell products through
technological means. It is also important to all
of us as we need to make sure we are
technologically prepared with the skills needed
for many of our future jobs.
Checking for Understanding
Audience Participation:
Consider a job you might be interested in
pursuing in the future or currently hold. List a
technological skill you might need in order to
be better prepared and/or more marketable for
this job.
Type in your answer.
Academic Importance
Learning about the components of the labor
market is important in helping you pass your
Economics semester exam. For those of you
considering business careers, it will be critical
in helping you pass other exams (such as CFA)
that will improve your chances of obtaining a
job.
Checking for Understanding
The teacher can asks students to:

Restate one reason why this information is academically
important from those given;

State one additional reason this information might be
academically important to them or to a business
professional.
Real-Life Importance
Example Strategy: Invite Guest Speakers
The teacher asks a journalist with the Economist to join
his class via video conference to discuss the recent
economic recession. Students prepare questions about the
causes and effects (both long and short term) of the
recession and are encouraged to ask the journalist advice
about what might happen in the future.
Possible Student Questions
 Some
students may ask what is safe to invest in
 Some students may ask what fields of study will
ensure safe and successful careers
 One student is an aspiring painter and may want to
know what might happen to grants and
scholarships in the near future
Checking for Understanding
After the conference, students have a roundtable
discussion about what they learned and why the
state of the economy is relevant to politics, history,
scientific and artistic movements, and their own
daily lives.
Resources for Finding Unusual
Information (Real-Life Applications)

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
(http://free.ed.gov)
One link on this site features news and developments in business
and international trade. Topics include alternative energy
entrepreneurs, American Indians in business, Hispanic buying
power, Group of Eight Summit, who will replace the U.S.
consumer, the world's richest man, international economic policies,
and more.
Revisiting Our Learning Objectives

Participants will determine why teachers need to identify
the importance of a lesson for students.

Participants will learn about the different categories used
to provide reasons for lesson importance, with examples
provided.

Participants will be provided additional strategies for
checking for understanding.
Questions?
Next Webinar
Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Five:
Concept Development
Dates and Times To Be Determined
Register on the Region 2 RSDSS website:
http://www.tehamaschools.org/department/rsdss/upcoming-rsdss-events
Contact Information
Doreen Fuller (Shasta Hub Coordinator – serving Lassen,
Modoc, Siskiyou, Shasta, and Trinity Counties):
dfuller@shastacoe.org
Patty Garrison (Butte Hub Coordinator – serving Butte and
Plumas Counties): pgarriso@bcoe.org
Lorna Manuel (Region 2, RSDSS Director and Tehama
Hub Coordinator – serving Glenn and Tehama Counties):
lmanuel@tehamaschools.org