HO1 DIRECT INSTRUCTION Reading Introduction Reflections/Questions 1. Explain the concept of congruence in direct instruction. Direct Instruction is a model for teaching that emphasizes a teacher’s ability to teach to carefully formulated lesson objectives. Lesson objectives take into account content and/or skill to be learned, depth of learning (level of cognition—Bloom’s Taxonomy), adopted curriculum and standards. Teaching to these objectives requires teachers to maintain congruence (complete match) between their actions (providing information, asking questions, designing student practice activities and providing feedback to student efforts) and the lesson objective. A major goal of direct instruction is the maximization of student learning time. Many teacher behaviors found to be associated with student achievement are in fact associated with student time on task and student rate of success, which in turn are associated with student achievement. Thus, the behaviors incorporated into direct instruction are designed to create a structured, academically oriented learning environment in which all students are actively engaged during instruction and are experiencing a high rate of success in tasks they are given. Time spent by pupils in both these conditions is referred to as academic learning time (ALT), which is to be maximized. Overview of the Model The direct instruction model consists of five phases of activity: orientation, presentation, highly structured practice, guided practice, and independent practice. Phase one is the orientation phase in which a framework for the lesson is established. During this phase the teacher’s expectations are communicated, the learning task is clarified, and student accountability is established. Three steps are particularly important in carrying out the intent of this phase: (1) the teacher provides the objective of the lesson including the level of performance; (2) the teacher describes the content of the lesson and evokes prior knowledge and/or experience from students followed by an explanation of the relationship to the current lesson; and (3) the teacher discusses the procedures of the lesson—that is, the different parts of the lesson and students’ responsibilities during each part. 2. What information would be communicated to students from effective lesson objectives? 1 Phase two is the presentation phase, in which the teacher explains the new concept or skill and provides demonstrations as well as meta cognitive processes (think aloud) and examples. If the material is a new concept, it is important that the teacher discuss the characteristics (or critical attributes) of the concept, the rule or definition, illustrated by several examples. If the material is a new skill, it is important to identify the steps of the skill with examples of each step. (A common mistake is to provide too few demonstrations.) In either case, it is important to convey this information both orally and visually. Visual representation tools (VRT) provide students a reference in the early stages of learning. Another part of this phase is checking to see that students have understood the new information before they apply it in the practice phases. Can they recall the attributes of the concept that the teacher has explained? Can they recall the number and list of steps in the skill they have just been shown? Checking for understanding (CFU) requires that students recall or demonstrate understanding of the information that has just been presented. In structured practice, they will apply it. Highly structured practice (HSP) is phase three. The teacher leads students through practice examples, working in lockstep fashion through each step of the problem (skill) or processing of definitions and key attributes (concept) as it appears on the VRT. One way to initiate the lockstep technique is to use an overhead projector, doing practice examples on a transparency so that all students can see the generation of each step or application of concepts. The teacher’s role in this phase is to: 1) model the thinking process (meta cognition) needed to accomplish the task(s), 2) demonstrate the steps or application of the concept(s), 3) ask questions to cause students to reprocess the thinking required to accomplish tasks. The VRT is available for student reference and to support teacher feedback. In referring to it while working the practice examples, the teacher is ensuring that students understand it so that they can use it as a resource during guided practice. Another common error is to move to phase four before students experience success with highly structured practice. 3. Compare and contrast presentation for a skill vs. a concept based lesson. 4. How does the teacher’s role change when moving from Highly Structured to Guided to Independent Practice? Phase four, guided practice (GP), gives students the opportunity to practice first as a total group and then on their own while the teacher is still in the environment. Guided practice enables the teacher to make an assessment of the students’ abilities to perform the learning task by assessing the amount and types of errors the students are making. The teacher’s role in this phase is to: 1) monitor all students’ work, 2) ask questions that cause students to reprocess the information from the presentation phase, 3) provide feedback on students’ responses: reinforcing accurate responses and 2 cuing or prompting students who are “stuck” or whose answers are incorrect and/or incomplete and 4) re-teach when necessary. Independent practice is the fifth phase of the direct instruction model. It begins when students have achieved an accuracy level of at least 85% in guided practice. The purpose of independent practice is to reinforce the new learning to ensure retention as well as to develop fluency. In independent practice, students practice on their own without assistance and with delayed feedback. This can be done in the classroom, if the teacher is not involved, but it can also be done as homework. The teacher’s role in this phase is to make sure the independent practice work is reviewed soon after completion to assess whether the students’ accuracy level has remained stable and to provide corrective feedback for those who need it. An independent-practice activity can be short in length of time and number of practice items; however, it should not be a one-time venture. Five or six practice sessions distributed over a month or more will sustain retention. Model Delivery Before presenting and explaining new material, it is helpful to establish a framework for the lesson and orient the students to the new material. Comments and activities at the beginning of a lesson are designed to clarify for the students the purposes, procedures, and actual content of the subsequent learning experience. Such activities are associated with improved student engagement during the lesson and with overall achievement. Orientation involves: introductory activities that elicit all students’ relevant existing knowledge (activating prior knowledge) and teach the objective of the lesson; telling students about the materials they will use and the activities they will be engaged in during the lesson; and providing clear expectations for student outcomes. Once the context for learning has been established, instruction begins with presentation of the new concept or skill. Students’ success in learning the new material has much to do with the thoroughness and quality of the teacher’s initial explanation. Effective teachers spend more time explaining and demonstrating new material. Presentation practices that facilitate learning include: (1) presenting material in small steps (chunking) so that one point can be learned at a time; (2) providing many, varied examples of the new skill or concept; (3) modeling, or giving narrated demonstrations of the learning task; (4) avoiding digressions, staying on topic; and (5) re-explaining difficult points. From research on concept learning we also know that when teaching a new concept it is important to clearly identify the characteristics (critical attributes) of the concept and to provide a rule or definition (or sequence of steps in skill learning). Finally, providing a visual representation of the 5. Summarize in your own words the intent of orientation. 6. Explain the purpose of visual representation tools (VRT) during presentation and practice. 3 concept or skill along with the verbal explanation assists students in following the explanation and serves the function of anchoring the learning. Later, in the learning process, the visual representation serves as a cue or prompt. 7. List at least 3 effective strategies Following the explanation/presentation, the teacher checks for students’ understanding of the new concept or skill. A common error is simply to ask students if they understand or have any questions and then to assume that if no one or only a few students respond, everyone understands well enough to move on to practice independently. Effective teachers ask more questions that check for student understanding than less-effective teachers. Such questions call for specific answers or ask for explanations of how answers were found. Effective checks of understanding utilize simultaneous active engagement strategies that allow the teacher to gage the learning of all students. Appropriate wait time after asking questions is essential to engaging the minds of all learners. Effective teachers not only ask more questions, but they also spend more time on teacher-led practice and on repeating the new material they teach. Another aspect of effective questioning for direct-instruction is ensuring that all students respond—not just those who raise their hands. This can be accomplished by simultaneous, frequent engagement of the minds of all learners through a variety of active engagement strategies, e.g. white boards, choral responses, think-pairshare etc. Asking questions within students’ “reach” a high percentage of the time (75 to 90 percent) is another effective questioning strategy. when checking for understanding (CFU). Once the teacher has initiated a question and students have responded, the teacher needs to give them feedback on their responses. Research indicates that effective teachers do a better job providing feedback than less effective teachers. They do not let errors go uncorrected, nor do they simply give the answers to students who have responded incorrectly. They use techniques for correcting responses or they reteach the material. In addition, effective teachers maintain a brisk pace. When they provide corrective feedback or reteach, they do it efficiently so that many practice opportunities are provided. For example, when a correct answer has been given, the teacher quickly affirms the correctness and asks a new question. In the early stages of learning, when answers may be correct but somewhat tentative, the teacher provides knowledge of results and quick-process or academic feedback. (“Good. You remembered that ‘i’ goes before ‘e’ when it comes after ‘c.’”) If an incorrect answer is careless, the teacher provides corrective feedback and moves on. If the incorrect response indicates a lack of understanding, the teacher provides cues or prompts, such as referring back to the VRT. It is important to probe responses for clarification of student thinking to improve answers. Effective feedback is academically oriented, not behavioral. It is also substantive, i.e. it tells students what they have done correctly. Feedback 8. List 3 ideas you want to remember about the teacher action of providing feedback. 4 may be combined with praise; however, it is important that praise be deserved based on the quality of the response. The major point is that the kind of feedback students receive during structured practice has much to do with their later success. Feedback helps students find out how well they understand the new material and what their errors are. To be effective, feedback must be academic, corrective and/or affirming, respectful, and deserved. The need for students to be given thorough explanations and structured practice with feedback before they begin independent practice seems obvious. However, it is clear both from research and from classroom observation that students are often asked to work from their texts or workbooks without sufficient explanation and/or practice. Students need to have a high degree of success when they are engaged in conceptualizing or practicing skills. In order for this to occur, they should move from highly structured practice to guided practice only when they have achieved about 85% accuracy on the highly structured-practice examples. 9. Agree or disagree with this statement. Justify your answer. “If students answer questions accurately during the presentation phase of DI, it indicates they are ready for independent practice.” In the average classroom, students spend a large percentage their time working alone on tasks. If this large amount of time is to be productively directed toward learning, students need to remain engaged in the learning task. What is most conducive to engagement is being well prepared, by the teacher’s presentation and by teacher-led practice. Practice that is directly related to the presentation and that occurs right after teacher-led practice facilitates student engagement. Effective teachers also circulate while students are working, monitoring students and providing needed feedback. Practice Theory The “heart” of direct instruction is practice; three phases of the model deal with practice under varying conditions of assistance. The literature emphasizes six principles to make practice effective. The first principle is shaping. The goal of all practice is the ability to perform a skill independently and without error. When the principle of shaping is adhered to, the teacher moves the student through practice with different levels of assistance: highly structured, guided, and independent. This practice progression is designed to provide appropriate support until student independence is achieved. The three levels of practice function in the following manner. When the students are first introduced to a new skill or concept, the teacher leads the group through each step in working through exercises. This lockstep method ensures that few errors are produced in the initial learning stages, when memory is most vulnerable to remembering incorrect practice and when errors reinforce incorrect information. After lockstep or highly 10. Restate the underlined sentence in your own words. 5 structured practice, the students practice while the teacher monitors (guided practice). During this time the teacher provides corrective feedback for any errors produced as well as reinforcement for correct practice. When students are able to practice with accuracy, they are ready for independent practice—that is, for practice under conditions when assistance is not available in the environment. This last step in the practice progression occurs when students are performing the skill independently with minimal error. The second principle is the need to monitor the initial stage of practice because incorrect performance at this stage will interfere with learning. Students need corrective feedback to prevent incorrect procedures from becoming embedded in their memories. Immediate corrective feedback (that is, information on how to perform correctly) will reverse misconceptions early in the instructional process. It also reduces performance anxiety because students practice with the assurance of immediate feedback. In addition to catching incorrect performance in the early stages, it is also important to reinforce correct performance. This gives students the knowledge of results that stabilizes the new learning more quickly. 11. Explain how frequent, simultaneous active engagement strategies (see pg. 4 first paragraph) support the 2nd principle. Having students achieve at least an 85% level of accuracy at each practice level before going to the next level is the third practice principle. Paying attention to accuracy rates ensures that students experience success and do not practice errors. The fourth practice principle deals with the length of each practice session. Research indicates that, on the whole, the more a person practices a skill, the longer it takes him or her to forget it. The general principle guiding the length of time recommended for practice is: Short, intense, highly motivated practice periods produce more learning than fewer but longer practice periods. For example, with younger students, short, 5- to 10-minute practice sessions interspersed over the day or a series of days will be more effective than long, 30- to 40minute sessions. Older students are able to handle longer practice sessions, but, for them also, many short sessions with clear feedback about progress is more effective. The fifth principle is distributed practice, or multiple practice sessions spread out over a period of time. Without practice to reinforce it, 80% of new information is forgotten within 24 hours. With periodic reviews spread out over an extended period of time, such as four or five months, nearly all new information can be retained. A common mistake in instruction is to deal with a topic, end the topic, and never review the information or skills again until a “final examination.” The important material needs to be reviewed regularly. 6 The sixth principle addresses the issue of optimal amount of time between practice sessions. Practice should be massed and distributed to be effective. The general guideline is that practice periods should be close together (massed practice) at the beginning of learning; once learning is at an independent level, the practice sessions can be spaced farther and farther apart. Thus, guided practice sessions should occur immediately after new learning has been introduced and should continue frequently until independence is achieved. When this has occurred, independent practice sessions can be distributed farther apart, that is, I, 2, 6, and then 15 days apart. 12. Explain the sentence “Practice should be massed and distributed to be effective?” Summary The term direct instruction has been used by researchers to refer to a pattern of teaching that consists of teachers’ explaining a new concept or skill to a large group of students, having them test their understanding by practicing under teacher direction (that is, controlled practice), and encouraging them to continue to practice under teacher guidance (guided practice.) Effective use of several teaching strategies is essential in high quality delivery of this model including questioning, checking for understanding, active participation and the use of cues, prompts and feedback. Direct instruction delivered by powerful use of these strategies results in enhanced learning and higher achievement for all students. Adapted and revised from Models of Teaching by Bruce Joyce, Marsha Weil with Emily Calhoun 7