Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session One:
Instruction That Works: A Glimpse of the
Basic Components
Presented by: Doreen Fuller, Patty Garrison, Lorna Manuel
Moderated by: Nancy Silva, CTAP Region 2
Regional System of District and School Support, Region 2
Direct Instruction – What Is It?
A collection of
instructional practices
combined together
to design and deliver
well-crafted lessons
that explicitly teach grade level content
to all students.
Hollingsworth and Ybarra, Explicit Direct Instruction, p. 12
Direct Instruction – Why Embrace It?
 Research
supports that direct instruction is more
effective and efficient, especially for struggling
students, including those with disabilities
 Students
learn more when instruction is teacher
centered direct instruction
Chall, The Academic Challenge: What Really Works in the Classroom
DI = Effective Instruction
 Explicit:
unambiguous and direct approach that
supports or scaffolds learning
 Effective: research based proven strategies

Design and Delivery Components
 Efficient:
maximizing learning in the shortest
amount of time
 Taught at grade level



Test Scores go up when students are taught grade level content.
Students perform no higher than the assignments given
Students cannot learn what they are not taught.
Underlying Principles of Effective Instruction
 Optimize
engagement / time on task
 Promote high levels of success
 Increase content coverage / opportunity to learn
 More student time in instructional groups
 Scaffolded instruction
 Address different forms of knowledge
Archer and Hughes, Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching, p. 5
DI – Lesson Design Components
The logical selection and sequencing
of content and breaking down the content
into manageable instructional units based on
students’ cognitive capability
(e.g. working memory capacity,
attention, and prior knowledge)
Archer and Hughes, Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching, p. 3
DI – Lesson Design Components
 Learning

What students will be able to do at the end of the lesson
 Activate

Development
Explicitly teaching concepts in the learning objective
 Lesson

Prior Knowledge
Purposely connecting new lessons to long-term memories into working
memories, building information
 Concept

Objective
Importance
Teaching why the content is important
DI – Lesson Design Components
 Skill

Development
Explicitly teaching steps or processes. How to do it.
 Guided

Working problems with students, checking for clear understanding
 Lesson

Practice
Closure
Students demonstrating what they have learned before given independent
practice
 Independent

Practice
Having students practice what they were taught
DI – Lesson Delivery Strategies
Clear descriptions and demonstrations
of a skill, followed by
supported practice and timely feedback
Archer and Hughes, Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching, p. 3
DI – Lesson Delivery Strategies
 Checking

for Understanding
Students are learning while they are being taught
 Explaining

Teaching by telling
 Modeling

Teaching using think-alouds to reveal to students the strategic thinking
required to solve a problem
 Demonstrating

Teaching using physical objects to clarify the content and to support
kinesthetic learning
Interactive Participation
What previous knowledge and/or
experience do you have with the
components and/or strategies used in
direct instruction?
References
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Adams, G. L., & Engelmann, S. (1996). Research on Direct Instruction: 25 years beyond DISTAR. Seattle, WA: Educational
Achievement Systems.
American Federation of Teachers. (1999). Five promising remedial reading intervention programs. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved
July 2004 from http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/downloads/teachers/remedial.pdf
Archer, A. L. and Hughes, C. A. (2011). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Borman, G. D., Hewes, G. M., Overman, L. T., & Brown, S. (2002). Comprehensive school reform and student achievement: A metaanalysis (Report No. 59). Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk, Johns Hopkins University.
Retrieved July 2004 from http://www.csos.jhu.edu.
Carnine, D., Silbert, J., Kame'enui, E., & Tarver, S. (2004). Direct instruction reading (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Forness, S. R., Kavale, K. A., Blum, I. M., & Lloyd, J. W. (1997). Mega-analysis of meta-analysis: What works in special education.
Teaching Exceptional Children, 19(6), 4-9.
Marchand-Martella, N. E., Slocum, T. A., & Martella, R. C. (Eds.). (2004). Introduction to Direct Instruction. Boston, MA: Allyn and
Bacon.
Science Research Associates. (2002). Reading Mastery Plus series guide, levels K-6. Columbus, OH: Author.
Tarver, S. (1999, Summer). Focusing on Direct Instruction. Current Practice Alerts; Division for Learning Disabilities and Division for
Research, 2, 1-4.
Watkins, C., & Slocum, T. (2004). The components of Direct Instruction. In N. E. Marchand-Martella, T. A. Slocum, & R. C. Martella
(Eds.), Introduction to Direct Instruction (pp. 28-65). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
White, W. A. T. (1988). Meta-analysis of the effects of Direct Instruction in special education. Education and Treatment of Children,
11, 364-374.
Strategy:
CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING
(CFU)
Checking for Understanding
The teacher continually verifying that
students are learning what is being
taught while it is being taught
Why is Checking for Understanding
Important?
 It
is real-time information and allows the
teacher to pace the lesson
 It
allows the teacher to provide examples and
reteaching in direct response to students’
ability to answer questions
Why is Checking for Understanding
Important?
 It
allows the teacher to confirm students can
do independent practice before it is assigned
 It
makes the classroom more interactive,
improving student engagement
TAPPLE
 Teach
First
 Ask a question
 Pause
 Pick a volunteer
 Listen to the response
 Effective feedback (echo, elaborate, explain)
Interactive Participation
What are some examples of how you
implement or have seen checking for
understanding implemented in the
classroom?
Direct Instruction:
The Components
A Well Designed Learning Objective
What is a Learning Objective?
A statement that describes what students will be
able to do independently at the end of a specific
lesson as a result of your instruction
It contains a Concept (idea), Skill (measurable),
and sometimes the Context (condition)
A Well Designed Learning Objective is
Important
1. Learning Objectives ensure students are taught
concepts and skills vs filling out worksheets
2. Learning Objectives make students more
successful as the focus on concepts and skills are to
ensure successful independent practice
3. Learning Objectives allow teachers to measure if
students achieve the outcome of the lesson
A Well Designed Learning Objective is
Important
4. Learning Objectives tell students what they are
expected to do
5. Standards-based Learning Objectives ensure the
lesson is at grade level, which is critical for
appropriate learning as well as doing well on state
tests
Writing Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
Select a grade-level content standard
Identify all concepts and skills in the standard
Deconstruct the standard into specific
learning objectives
Select an Independent Practice
Moving to Independent Practice
Starting with End in Mind
An assignment that students
complete by themselves with
no help from the teacher
Why is Independent Practice
Important?
It is important to provide students with
additional repetitions of the lesson’s concept
and skills so
 they remember them
 transfer information into long-term memory
 develop fluidity and accuracy
Interactive Participation
Type in any questions you might have
about the content presented to this
point in the webinar.
Activating Prior Knowledge
Teachers need to know what students
already know
Don’t assess prior knowledge –
Activate it
For example:
Activating prior knowledge is not asking
students if they know the definitions of
herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores before
they have been taught. It is asking the students
about something they already know (what they
have eaten) that can be connected to the lesson
(herbivores, carnivores, etc.).
Why is Activating Prior Knowledge
Important?
When students learn to make connections from their
experience to the objective they are learning, they
have a foundation upon which they can place new
facts, ideas, and concepts
You facilitate the brain to integrate new information
with what’s already known
Activating Prior Knowledge
APK should not take over five minutes. The bulk
of the class time must be spent teaching
students the new grade-level content
(Hollingsworth, 2009).
How to Activate Prior Knowledge
 Universal
Experience
A prior “life” experience
 Sub-skill
review
A prior “academic” experience
Concept Development
A concept is…..a set of objects or events that
share common characteristics and a common
name. In concept development students are
taught the “big IDEA” – the generalization of
the lesson objective.
Why is CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT important?
• Allows students to make generalizations in new situations
• Allows students to internalize as opposed to learning individual
examples
•Allows for higher student achievement on high stake state tests
“Not all terms and ideas students need to learn are EQUAL. Some ideas rise to the
level of CENTRAL CONCEPTS that serve as bedrocks for future teaching and
learning. When students have only a hazy understanding like culture or civilization
in social studies, polynomials in pre-algebra, or even alive in primary-grade
science, much of their future learning, which rests on key concepts like these, will
be hampered by that initial lack of definitional clarity.”
- Silver, Strong, & Perini (2007), The Strategic Teacher
Concept should include:

A Bulletproof Definition
 Attributes
or Characteristics
 Examples
 Non-examples
(whenever possible)
Example: Totalitarianism

Bulletproof Definition:
Totalitarianism -absolute control by the state or a governing branch of a highly
centralized institution.

Examples:
Hitler’s command of Germany during WWII

Non-examples:
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States during WWII
Processing Time
Think of an example of a key concepts
you may have taught or will soon
teach. What examples and nonexamples could you present to
students to help them understand the
concept?
Concept Attainment
“… is designed to lead students to a concept by
asking them to compare and contrast examples
(called exemplars) that contain characteristics
(called attributes) of the concept with examples
that do not contain those attributes.
- Joyce & Weil, Models of Teaching
(sited in The Art and Science of Teaching by Marzano)
Importance:
teaching and convincing students that today’s
content is important to know.
Knowing the importance increases:
 Student Motivation
 Student Engagement
Student Understanding
Include different types of reasons for
Lesson Importance:
Personal – connect to student lives
Academic – connect to school
Real Life – connect to certain
occupations or societal issues
Allow students to state their own reasons.
Example
 Why
is it important to know how to use
density?
Different substances have different densities, so knowing the density
of a substance helps determine its identity. For example, if I am
trying to figure out if my earrings are made out of gold. I can
determine the mass and volume of the earrings and find out its
density. If the density is 19.3 g/cm3, then they are made out of gold.
Skill Development
“I Do”
During skill development students are
taught the declarative (facts and
information) or procedural knowledge
(how to do something) as it relates to the
concept.
Guided and Independent Practice
“We Do”
Students perform the learned skills with teacher
guidance through each step to verify they’re doing
it correctly.
Teacher and student are working on the
“same step” at the “same time”.
Why is Guided Practice Important?
Students are doing their initial practice under
direct teacher supervision.
Misconceptions and errors can be quickly
corrected and reteaching can occur.
Interactive Participation
What is another reason
Guided Practice is a
critical component
of instruction?
“We Do” leads to
gradual release to “You Do”
(Independent Practice)
Closure
Final Checking for Understanding
before students are given
Independent Work
Closure is important…..

Answers three questions:
1. Which students have reached the objective and
are ready to move on and practice independently?
2. Is more guided practice, or reteaching, necessary
to some students?
3. Should the lesson strategy be altered, or can the
teacher move on to another activity?
During Closure the teacher should check
to see if
students can:
- correctly describe the concept
- tell you why it is important to learn the
information
- successfully execute the skill.
Review of Direct Instruction Components
Learning Objective and Independent Practice
 Checking for Understanding
 Activating Prior Knowledge
 Concept Development
 Lesson Importance
 Skill Development
 Guided Practice and Independent Practice
 Closure

Two Stars and a Wish

What are TWO new learnings you
experienced during
today’s webinar?
What is ONE idea you would
like to learn more about?
Questions?
“Improvements in teaching and learning can only come from
a strategy focused on improving instruction.”
Pedro Noguera
“Excellence in teaching is vital to the future success of the
Institute. Every single one of us needs to improve as teachers,
not because we are not good enough, but because we can be
better.”
Dylan Wiliam
Next Webinar
Component One:
A Focus on Learning
Objectives and Checking for Understanding
March 15, 2011
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
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