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Citation Killen, Roy. 2009 'Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy' In: Effective teaching strategies : lessons from research and practice / Roy Killen. 5th ed. South Melbourne, Vic. : Cengage Learning, 2009. Chapter 5, pp. 117-145

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Using direct inst uction as a teaching str tegy Teaching can be thought of as the process of guiding learner °s as they work with information. Teachers help learners to find information, remember it, understand it, organise it, apply it, evaluate it and do creative things with it. Each chapter of this book will help you to explore different ways in which you guide learners as they explore information and develop their understanding. The Etrategies that you will learn about vary from the very direct interactions with learners described in this chapter to methods that require learners to have high levels of indepe.adence. However, all teaching strategies are based on some fundamental principles that a7e introduced in this chapter. There are four key aspects of instruction that promote academic achievement: organising and explaining material in ways that are appropriate to students' abilities, creating an environment that fosters learning, helping students become autonomous learners, and reflecting critically (Davis, 1993). Spady (1998) suggests that even more important than these issues is the need for both teachers and students to have a clear understanding of what it is that students are to learn, a view supported by the extensive work of Hattie (2009). This chapter helps you to investigate . vvays of achieving all of these things through direct instruction. This chapter also explores some of the circumstances in which direct instruction can be an appropriate way to facilitate learning, highlights some of its strengths and weaknesses, provides guidelines for planning' and implementing this strategy and suggests ways in which you can evaluate your direct instruction. When you have mastered the ideas in this chapter you \ vill be able to: • Decide when direct instruction is an appropriate strategy for helping students to achieve particular learning outcomes. • Prepare thoroughly and thoughtfully for teaching through direct instruction. •

Create a learning environment that motivates learners and encourages them to accept the challenge of achieving worthwhile outcomes. • Present your direct instruction lessons in ways that act: vate and facilitate learning while catering for the cultural, ethnic, language, learning style and other differences of the learners. • Evaluate the success of your direct instruction lessons.

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Some important features of direct instruction The terms direct instruction or explicit instruction usually refer to whole-class expository teaching techniques. Simple forms of direct instruction include lectures and demonstrations. They are teacher-centred approaches in which the teacher delivers academic content in a highly structured format that direct the activities of learners and maintain a focus on academic achievement. Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006:75) define direct instruction as 'providing information that fully explains the concepts and procedures that students are required to learn as well as learning strategy support that is compatible with human cognitive architecture'. When used effectively, direct instruction has the following important features: • The learning outcomes and success criteria are made clear to students. • The teacher controls the time for various instructional activities. • The teacher organises and controls the sequencing of lesson activities. • There is an emphasis on academic achievement. • The teacher carefully monitors students' activities and learning. • The teacher provides frequent clear feedback to students. The basic forms of direct instruction have been very popular approaches to teaching for many years — you have probably experienced them a lot — yet they are often criticised. The reason for this criticism is simple: when they are implemented poorly they can be very boring. However, when implemented well, direct instruction remains one of the most effective ways of promoting student learning. There are two main reasons why many teachers still use direct instruction. Some teachers use direct instruction because it gives them maximum control over what, when and how students learn — which is intuitively attractive to many teachers. Others use direct instruction because it has strong research support (e.g., Rosenshine, 1986; Ross & Kyle, 1987; Rosenshine, 1995; Kirschner, Sweller & Clark, 2006; Hattie, 2009). We will explore some of these research findings later in this chapter. As you develop skills in using a wide range of teaching strategies, you will find that, in some circumstances, direct instruction is simply the most appropriate strategy to use. For example, when students are being introduced to a new area of study it is useful to develop their basic knowledge and skills through direct instruction techniques before giving them a more active role in knowledge-seeking through strategies such as problem solving or experimentation. As Brookfield (1990) suggests, there are times when ideas need to be laid out for students so that their interconnections are obvious before students can discuss or reflect critically on those ideas. In such circumstances, direct instruction is quite appropriate. Rowe (2006) supports this argument. Making a similar point, Geddis (1996:254) highlights the 'incongruity of leaving children on their own to devise scientific perspectives that have taken the human race centuries to articulate'. What these writers are saying is that

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sometimes it is better for teachers to explain and demonstrate things directly rather than leaving learners to discover knowledge for themselves. Thi; does not mean that direct instruction excludes the use of constructivist approaches to tfaching — quite the opposite. It emphasises that students need careful guidance in order to construct meaning from their learning experiences. Direct instruction is just one of the tools available to teachers. It should be used when it is the best approach in a given situation, and must be used thoughtfully and skilfully if it is to help students learn. Because direct instruction is used so often (particularly in the form of lectures), it has a reputation of being a dull and borir g technique used by teachers who are stern, authoritarian, dominant or lazy. This does Lot have to be the case. The control and structure that characterise direct instruction can be achieved in interesting, warm, concerned and flexible ways so that a positive classroom climate is maintained anc: students enjoy learning. As with all other teaching strategies, its success depends primarily on the teacher's enthusiasm and efforts. In direct instruction, the emphasis is on 'teaching in small steps, providing for student practice after each step, guiding students during initial practice, and providing all students with a high level of successful practice' (Rosenshine, 1987:34). Each of these steps requires considerable skill. The following pages provide a brief summary of ideas that might help you to develop your direct instruction techniques, prompt ou to reflect on some of the important issues in teaching and provide a window into Cie literature so that you can explore these issues in greater depth. In recent years there has been a proliferation of literature on Direct Instruction (with a capital `D' and capital '1'). This literature is usually referring to the specific approaches to instruction described by Engelmann and Carnine (1991). Their approach incorporates the general approaches to direct instruction described in this chapter coupled with carefully designed lesson sequences that focus on small learning increments and clearly defined and prescribed teaching tasks (often based around prescribed curriculum materials).This chapter_ is advocating a broader view of direct instruction.

Some advantages of direct instruction In a comprehensive review of research linking teacher behaijiour to student achievement, Brophy and Good (1986) emphasise the following points: • In general, academic learning is influenced by the amount of time that students spend engaged in appropriate academic activities. • Learning is easier for students when their teachers carefully structure new information. • Teachers should help students to relate new information to what they already know. • Teachers should monitor learner performance and provide corrective feedback. These claims were reinforced by Hattie's findings of (2009). Kirschner, Sweller and

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Clark (2006:76) make the additional point that the most effective guidance that teachers can provide is 'guidance specifically designed to support the cognitive processing necessary for learning'. All of these things are possible through direct instruction, and often it is the most appropriate way to achieve them. Direct instruction can be used to help students achieve many types of learning outcomes, particularly those that are based on knowledge, attitudes and values. Direct instruction can also be used to demonstrate skills to students, but skill development requires practice by the learners. Some of the advantages of direct instruction and some of the situations in which it is likely to be an appropriate choice of teaching strategy are summarised in the following list. • Direct instruction can be an efficient way to introduce students to a new area of study by giving them a broad overview that defines key concepts and shows how they are interrelated. This helps students to develop the foundational knowledge that they need for later learning (possibly using student-centred strategies).This is particularly useful if important information (including relevant examples and results of recent research) is not • • •

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highly structured (Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986). Compared with discovery approaches to learning, direct instruction reduces the cognitive load on students' working memory (Kirschner, Sweller & Clark, 2006). Direct instruction allows you to convey a personal interest in the subject (through an enthusiastic presentation) and this can stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of the students. Direct instruction can allow you to provide a role model of a scholar in a particular field (e.g., showing students how to think like a geographer). You can show how problems can be approached, how information can be analysed or how knowledge in your specialist field is generated and structured; however, you need to heed the warning of Kirschner. Sweller and Clark (2006) that presentation and explanation of knowledge are often more useful to students than demonstrating the methods of a specialist field.

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Direct instruction allows you to highlight important points or possible difficulties for students so that their exposure to these things is not left to chance. Direct instruction can be equally effective with large and small classes and with students

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from most cultures. Direct instruction is one of the most effective approaches for teaching explicit concepts

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otherwise readily available to students. Direct instruction can be a very effective way of teaching factual information that is

and skills to low-achieving students (Berliner, 1982; Ross & Kyle, 1987). Lectures can be a useful way to provide information for students who are poor readers or who are not very skilled at locating, organising and interpreting information. Direct instruction can be an effective way of demonstrating to students that there are alternative perspectives on issues. Direct instruction (particularly demonstrations) can provide opportunities to challenge students to consider apparent disjunctions between theory (what they predict should

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happen) and observation (what they actually see). This is the first step towards helping students to overcome misconceptions or misunderstandings. Demonstrations allow students to concentrate on the results of some event, rather than the technicalities of achieving the result.This is particularl/ important when the students lack the confidence or skills to perform the task well. Direct instruction lends itself well to teacher reflection so that you can evaluate your presentations and refine them. Many students learn more deeply from strongly guided learning than from discovery

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(Moreno, 2004). Generally, direct instruction allows you to create a non-threatening (reasonably stress-

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free) learning environment for students. Those who are shy, not confident or not knowledgeable are not forced to participate and become embarrassed.

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Review your learning experiences

Think about some of your learning experiences at school where your teacher used direct instruction. Did you enjoy these lessons? Why? Did you learn very much from these lessons? Why? Do you think the teacher used direct instruction for any of

the reasons given above, or for some other reason? Are your v ews about direct instruction at university E ny different from your views about direct instruction in schools? Why?

Some limitations of direct instruction Direct instruction is not always the most effective way to help students to learn. Some of its limitations are summarised in the following list: • Because of the teacher's central role in direct instruction, success of this strategy depencs heavily on what I have referred to as the 'image' that the ieacher projects (Killen, 1990). If the teacher does not appear to be well prepared, knowledgeable, confident, enthusiastic and well organised, the students will become bored or di s tracted and their learning will be hindered. Some of the student-centred strategies dealt with in later chapters are less dependent on the image of the teacher. • Direct instruction relies heavily on students being able to assimilate information througa listening, observing and note taking. Students who are nc t very good at these skills will find it difficult to learn from direct instruction.

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When the material to be learned is very complex, detailed or abstract, direct instruction (particularly in the form of a lecture) may not provide students with sufficient opportunities to process and Understand the information being presented.

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It is very difficult to cater for the individual differences between students' abilities, prior knowledge, interest in the subject, rates of learning, levels of understanding or learning styles during direct instruction, particularly in large classes. Because students have limited active involvement in direct instruction, there are few opportunities in this type of lesson for them to develop their social and interpersonal

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skills (such as their communication skills). There is some research evidence that the high level of structure and teacher control that is characteristic of direct instruction may have a negative impact on students' problemsolving abilities, independence and curiosity (Ross & Kyle, 1987). Direct instruction presents learners with the teacher's view of how the content is (or can be) organised and synthesised.This will not always be a view that students can easily understand or one with which they agree, and they may have limited opportunities to

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explore or debate these issues. If the direct instruction does not involve some student participation (such as asking and answering questions), their interest will be lost after 10-15 minutes, and they will remember little of the content. If used too frequently, direct instruction can lead students to believe that it is the teacher's job to tell them all they need to know – they may not be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Because direct instruction (particularly in the form of lectures and demonstrations) involves a lot of one-way communication, there may be limited opportunities to gain

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feedback about strident understanding.The teacher may not be aware that some students have developed misconceptions. Demonstrations rely heavily on students' observation skills and, unfortunately, many

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students are not skilful observers. Hence, they may not see what you want them to see in a demonstration. Some things, such as psychomotor skills, cannot be taught through direct instruction alone.

Some difficulties with direct instruction Think about the learners you have taught as a teacher or student teacher. Did some of them respond to direct instruction more positively than others? Why do you think this happened?

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What are some of the problems that students might experience when they are watching a teacher demonstration? How could the teacher minimise these problems?

Use direct instruction if:

Do not use direct instruction if:

• Learners have limited prior knowledge of the topic.

• Learners are highl y motivated to work independently or :ollaboratively.

• The concepts and relationships you want students to understand are very complex and difficult to identify.

• The content to be learned requires a lot of time to assimilate.

• You want learners to focus on learning rather than on the procedure of learning. • You want to introduce learners to a broad range of ideas and examples in a short time.

• There are extreme variations in learners' prior knowledge E nd/or abilities. • You want learners to develop their social skills while learnirg academic content. • The content requi -es individual interpretation anc adaptation.

• Learners lack the skills to learn independently or collaboratively.

What does research tell us about direct instruction? In chapter 1, the Quality Teaching model was described Ls one way to summarise the research on effective teaching. Our exploration of these ideas :ontinues with a consideration of the specific teaching techniques that help to make direct ir.struction an effective teaching strategy through which to implement the elements of Quali :y Teaching.

Some key aspects of effective direct instruction There are several aspects of direct instruction that consistently receive research support as important contributors to student learning. These variables are highlighted in reviews such as Brophy and Good (1986), Rosenshine (1995), Borich (20(2) and Hattie (2009). Some of these indicators of effective direct instruction are outlined below.

Teacher clarity A clear teacher is one who presents information in ways that make it easy for students to understand. In the research literature there are two disiinct approaches taken to the investigation of teacher clarity. The first approach describes clarity in terms of things that

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teachers do to bring about learner understanding.This is often referred to as cognitive clarity, To be cognitively clear, you need to: • Tell students what you want them to learn or be able to do (i.e., tell them what outcomes you want them to achieve). • • • • • • • •

Present the lesson content in a logical sequence (so students can follow it easily). Present the lesson content at a suitable pace (not too fast or too slow). Give explanations that make sense to students. Emphasise important points (so that learners can see what is important). Use appropriate examples to support your explanations (examples from the students' world if possible). Ask questions to check students' understanding. Re-explain things if students get confused.

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Explain the meanings of new words (every subject has jargon that students must master if they are to make sense of your explanations). Give students time to think about new information.

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Answer students' questions satisfactorily.

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Give an adequate summary of the main points of the lesson. The second research approach describes clarity in terms of things that teachers say and how they say them. That research generally focuses on things that make the teacher's message unclear — for example, using vague expressions such as 'a lot', or using incomplete sentences. Not surprisingly, this aspect of clarity is often referred to as verbal clarity or vagueness. (Since vagueness and clarity are opposite, this can be a bit confusing.) Although Land (1987) considers vagueness and clarity to be aspects of the same general variable, Cruickshank and Kennedy (1986) suggest that they are quite distinct phenomena. More recent research (Coulson, 1998, 2006) suggests that verbal clarity, cognitive clarity and the teacher's communication style are all very closely related, but nonetheless distinct, aspects of teaching. It seems that clear and unambiguous speech (verbal clarity) is an essential part of the teacher behaviours, usually referred to as 'cognitive clarity'. It makes sense that if you are to give students a clear explanation of something you need to use language and speech patterns that will not confuse them. This is particularly important when the language of instruction is not the students' first language. If your presentations are unclear it will be very difficult to engage students in any of the elements of the intellectual quality dimension of Quality Teaching. Clarity of presentation has been shown to positively influence student achievement (Land, 1981; Hines, Cruickshank & Kennedy, 1985; Killen, 1991; Hattie, 2009) and student satisfaction with their instruction (Hines, 1981). There is some suggestion in the research literature that the relationship between cognitive clarity and student achievement is stronger than the relationship between verbal clarity and student achievement (e.g., Hines, 1981; Killen, 1990).

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If you want to teach clearly, it is important to do the following: Plan your instruction well in advance - refer to chapter 3 and to Killen (2005). Make sure that you have a deep understanding of whatever you want the students to • • •

understand. Prepare a written plan for every lesson. Make sure that students understand what outcomes they are supposed to be achieving and what criteria you will use to assess their learning. Write carefully worded key questions in your lesson plans and use them to guide students' thinking. Make sure that you have clear definitions and explanatior s for all key concepts in your lesson plan. Include appropriate examples in your lesson plans. Be conscious of your vocabulary - define all new jargon and don't use vague expressions. Make deliberate connections between lessons and between key points within each

lesson. Reflect on every lesson. It is relatively easy for teachers to improve their clarity - they simply have to identify the practices that are making them unclear and then change flese practices. One very good way to identify the things that make your teaching unclear is to get feedback from your students. A simple way of doing this is described in the following activity box; for more detailed feedback from senior students you can use the student questionnaire in Appendix 1. These techniques were developed by Killen (1990) and Killen, Meade, Yli-Renko and Fraser (1996).

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tine Getting feedback on your teaching

If you are not teaching clearly, your students will not understand - your explanations will not make sense to them. One way to find out how you could teach more clearly is to ask students two simple questions at the end of a lesson: • •

What did I do in this lesson that helped you to understand? What did I do in this lesson that confused you or made it difficult for you to understand?

With young learners you can ask these questions verbally, perhaps even have a short class discussion about them. With older learners you might want to have them write answers to the questions - this is a good idea because it also gives you feedback about the stud Has' ability to express their ideas in writing. You will probably find that some learners are quite good at identifying things that help them to understand (such as your drawing

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diagrams to illustrate complex ideas) and the things that confuse them (such as your using words that they do not understand). Do not be disappointed if the learners are reluctant to give you feedback at first; they have to get accustomed to the idea that you value their comments and that you are

simply trying to find ways to make it easier for them to learn. As you think about the feedback that the students give you, try to work out how you could do more of the things that help students to learn and fewer of the things that make it difficult for them to learn.

Instructional variety The main reason for deliberately varying your approaches to teaching was highlighted in chapter 2 — not all students learn the same thing in the same way (Spady, 1994). Because students perceive and gain knowledge, form ideas and think differently, and have different background knowledge, skills and dispositions, a one size fits all approach to teaching is unlikely to be very successful. The second reason for using a variety of teaching techniques is that we all get bored if we are doing the same thing for too long. This is especially true if we are inactive, such as when we are sitting passively in a classroom. To cater for the different needs, abilities and learning preferences of students, and to avoid boring them, you should deliberately vary the following aspects of your direct instruction: • The way you commence your lessons (e.g., stating the outcomes, asking a question, posing a problem, showing an object to arouse learners' curiosity). • •

The way you check students' prior knowledge (e.g., pre-tests, brainstorming, surveys). The way you give students access to information (e.g., lecture, handout, PowerPoint presentation, Internet, stories, television).

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The way you emphasise main ideas. The way you ask questions and the type of questions you ask. The types of feedback and reinforcement that you give learners. The type of examples you use to illustrate points. The type of thinking you expect from students. The challenges that you present to students. The activities in which learners are engaged (e.g., listening, reading, writing, speaking). The types of instructional materials you use.

Each student will have different expectations about what will or should happen in your classes. Some students might, for example, expect you to write detailed notes on the board; others might expect you to give detailed explanations and put just a summary on the board. You will also have certain expectations about how students should respond to the way you teach. For example, you might expect students to develop their own summaries of the

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information you present. It is likely that your preferred teac.aing style mirrors your own preferred learning style. When your expectations or preferences don't match those of the students, there may be a problem. If some students are constantly required to work outside their preferred learning style they will quickly lose motivation. You need to be aware of this and try to find ways of aligning your expectations with a ose of the students. This will inevitably mean using a variety of teaching techniques. If you use appropriate variety in your teaching, this can expand students' views of what they are learning and how they can learn, challenging them to think in new ways. Variety can positively influence student achievement (Brophy & Good, 1986), reduce the amount of student disruptive behaviour (Evertson et al., 1984), increase student attention (Lysakowski & Walberg, 1981) and maintain students' motivation and their engagement in learning (Kindsvatter,Wilen & Ishler, 2000) — all factors that contribute to a quality learning environment.

Task orientation In any form of instruction, both the teacher and the learners should have a clear focus on the outcomes that students are trying to achieve. The students' task should be to achieve these outcomes to a high standard in a reasonable time.The teacher's task is to assist learners to systematically work towards achieving the outcomes. For this to happen through direct instruction, there must be a well-organised and structured learning environment in which the teacher is concerned with: •

Helping students to achieve specific learning outcomes to :learly stated standards.

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Providing students with the opportunity to learn by preser ting relevant information. Asking questions to prompt student thinking and check their understanding.

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Encouraging students to think independently.

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Reminding students of what they are trying to achieve. Encouraging and rewarding students' efforts. Successful task orientation starts with effective classroom management — you have to organise and manage the learning environment so that it is easy for all students to focus on learning. Then you have to ensure that the interactions between you and the students are focused on intellectual content and achievement of predefined goals -- not simply control. Once you establish the basic organisational structure that allows you and the students to be task-oriented, it will be easier for you to monitor t1-. e activities of students and encourage them to be constructively occupied and working towards planned outcomes. Task orientation can be considered as the key feature of direct instruction because it places an emphasis on clear goal setting, active teaching, close monitc ring of student progress and teacher responsibility for student learning — all factors that R Dsenshine (1995) and Spady (1994) emphasise as important for student achievement. Task orientation is essential for the engagement, student self-regulation, higher-order thinking and deep understanding elements of Quality Teaching.

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Engagement in learning Although task orientation by the teacher provides the opportunity for students to learn, it does not guarantee that the students will be engaged in learning. To be engaged, students must be actively thinking about, working with, or using the ideas and information that the teacher has presented – they must be trying to understand. The importance of student engagement in learning is illustrated well in the review of research on teacher behaviour and student achievement by Brophy and Good (1986). They claimed that overriding all findings in their review was the fact that academic learning is influenced by the amount of time students spend engaged in appropriate academic tasks. This engagement is sometimes referred to as academic learning time (Huitt, 2005). Engagement, and the related factors of concentration and persistence, were found by Hattie (2009) to have a strong influence on student learning. One way to maximise student engagement is to have a system of class rules that allows students to attend to personal and procedural matters without the need to seek the teacher's permission, thus encouraging students to remain engaged in learning for the maximum possible time. Students should know what to do if, say, they finish an exercise before the rest of the class.To maintain engagement it is important for you to monitor the seatwork of students who are working independently, and to communicate to them that you are aware of their progress. Once you have created an environment that will encourage students to be engaged, you then have to use instructional strategies that will enhance this engagement.Your basic task is to engage students in learning activities that challenge them to construct understanding.This can be achieved through problem solving, through encouraging students to make choices and take the initiative in their learning, by challenging students to search for underlying causes, explain their thinking and justify a position and by making all learning relevant. There is a simple basic rule: If you want students to engage in learning, you must tell them what you expect them to do and you must make it easy and interesting for them to do it. When students know what the goals are, and when they see these goals as attainable and useful, they will want to engage in learning. If the students do not know what they are supposed to be learning, or why it is important, or they see the goals as unattainable or unimportant, you cannot expect them to be enthusiastic and engaged.

Learner success When students engage in learning tasks, they may experience high success (understand the content and make only occasional careless errors), moderate success (partially understand the content and make some substantive errors) or low success (not understand the task at all). Several studies (e.g., Fisher et al., 1980) have shown that instructional techniques that allow students to experience moderate-to-high success rates in class activities produce greater levels of student achievement in later tests than instruction that results in low student success rates on class activities.

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Instruction that produces high success rates can be a powerful motivational force (Ausubel, 1968) and can lead to high levels of self-esteem and to positive attitudes to school (Bennett, Desforges, Cockburn & Wilkinson, 1981; Wyne & Stuck, 1982). When students believe that they can learn (because of earlier learning successes) it allows teachers to challenge them with higher-level tasks – one of the key indicators of effective teaching identified by Hattie (2009). As well as producing mastery of the lesson content, moderate-to-high success rates on learning tasks provide opportunities for students to apply their learned knowledge in other classroom activities, such as answering questions and solving problems. In this way, success encourages further engagement in learning.These ideas are consistent with one of the basic principles of outcomes-based education – success leads to further success (Spady, 1994). As the Quality Teaching model emphasises, it is difficult for :Indents to be successful if the criteria for success are not explicit. When students are successful in their learning it is helpfu_ to use that success as a guide for further learning.You can do this by helping learners to reflect on the processes that led to their success. If students understand why they were succe ssful in learning, they will be more likely to be successful in the future, even if they choo ie to use a different approach to learning.

Behaviours that support the key aspects of effective teaching The above summary suggests that to be an effective teacher you need the knowledge and skill to present information clearly, using a variety of strateg. es that encourage learners to remain task-oriented and to engage the students in learning processes in which they can experience reasonably high levels of success. From this, it she uld be apparent that effective teaching is the result of patterns of teacher behaviours rather than isolated behaviours, and that the aspects of effective teaching briefly described above Jo not provide a total picture of teacher effectiveness.The literature contains evidence of n any other teacher behaviours that, in various circumstances, have been shown to contripute to learner achievement: (and hence teacher effectiveness). They are sometimes referred to as enabling behaviours (or supporting behaviours) because they enable you to incorporate effective teaching practices into your lessons. Some enabling behaviours with strong research support are use of student ideas, structuring, questioning, probing and enthusiasm.

Using students' ideas One of the best ways to maintain students' interest is to involve them actively in the lesson and you can do this during direct instruction by using the stu :lents' ideas as an integral part of your lesson. Flanders (1970) suggests that students' ideas can be used in five basic ways: acknouvledging (repeating students' main statements), nio4cying (rephrasing a student's idea in the teacher's words), applying (using the student's idea to tike the next step in solving a

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problem), comparing (showing similarities and differences in the ideas of several students) and summarising (using what was said by students to revise key points). Although there does not appear to be any strong evidence that using these strategies will directly enhance student achievement, they do appear to promote learning by increasing students' engagement in the learning process (Emmer et al., 1984). Brophy (1981) makes similar claims and Borich (2003) suggests that use of students' ideas can increase the clarity and variety of a lesson, and encourage student engagement in learning. Your personal experience probably tells you that learners are encouraged when their ideas are valued. The most important reason for using students' ideas is that it enables you to build explicitly on the students' prior knowledge. The process of soliciting ideas from students can give you insight into the attitudes, understandings and misconceptions that they bring to the learning episode — vital information that you need to help them learn.

Structuring You should not expect learners to be able to make sense of new information unless it is organised and presented in ways that make it easy to understand. Imagine how difficult it would be to understand the information in this book if it were not divided into chapters and if there were no headings or subheadings! This organisation is referred to as structuring. Good lesson structuring starts with a well-planned introduction — something that will grab the learners' attention and spark their curiosity. Four of the common ways of doing this are: 1. Start the lesson with a question (to prompt learners to think about a particular issue). 2. Provide a brief overview of where the lesson will take learners (to help them develop a framework for the lesson). 3. Use an advance organiser (to create a general context into which more specific information can be integrated). 4. Simply tell the learners what outcomes they will be achieving in the lesson (so that they have clear goals for their learning). The most effective introductions show the learners where the lesson will take them and how they will get there. The various forms of structuring that you can use at the beginning of your lessons are sometimes called 'pre-instructional strategies' (because they come before the main instruction).The chief purposes of pre-instructional strategies are to get the students interested in the lesson and to help them focus on the main points of the lesson. These techniques have been researched and reviewed extensively; refer to some of that literature for more detailed guidelines on how to use them (see Ausubel, 1960; Hartley & Davies, 1976; Kang, 1996; Coffey & Callas, 2003). Once the learners know where the lesson will take them, show them how they will get there. With young children you might have to just tell them what they will be doing. With older students you might be able to use a flowchart, or simply list the main points that you will be discussing in the lesson. If this map is written on the board, you can refer to it as you move from each main point to the next, thus helping the learners to understand the structure and sequence of your lesson and to see how all the main ideas are related.

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As your lesson progresses, you can often provide a useful structure by making comments such as 'There are three main points to consider when selecting a tool for this job. They are or 'Before you try to calculate ... it is necessary to ...' or 'We will be looking at t he issue of global warming from two perspectives. First wr will consider ...'. Statements such as these prepare the learners for what is to follow — thi:; is sometimes called giving the learners a 'mental set'.You can also use comments to link parts of your lesson. For example, 'The main problems that our discussion has identified so Far are ... so now we need to or 'The next step in this process is ...' or 'So far we have considered ... so now we need to consider several other perspectives'. At appropriate Joints in the lesson you should sunamarise important information. So that learners know ei ,cactly what you are doing, you should make statements such as 'The most important things you have learned in this lesson are ...' or 'That completes our investigation of this problem. Next lesson we will ...'. Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is tF at the structure of your lesson must make sense to your students. If they lose the plot, they t re unlikely to learn much from your lesson. You will make learning easier for your students if you highlight main points, proceed in small steps at an appropriate pace and give them opportunities to check that they understand what you are talking about. In a more general consideration of structuring that g Des beyond individual lessons, Rosenshine and Stevens (1986) identified six instructional activities that they claimed a) be essential to well-structured teaching. They were regular reviews of past learning, wellorganised presentation of each lesson, guided practice for stuients on new tasks, feedback students on their learning, independent practice for students once basics have been mastered and systematic weekly reviews of course content. All of these teacher activities place a clear focus on what we want students to learn — and that it one of the basic principles of outcomes-based education. Without appropriate structuring, effective teaching is difficult because it is hard for the teacher to remain task-oriented and because students a :e unlikely to be appropriately engaged in learning. In an unstructured lesson there may he variety, but it probably will not be purposeful. Consequently, it is unlikely that the lesson will be clearly presented, or that intended learning will occur (Kindsvatter,Wilen & Ishle r, 2000). Careful structuring of each lesson is essential if you want students to engage in h4;her-order thinking, and if you want to deliberately guide them to deep levels of understanding.

Questioning Doenau (1987) claims that classroom studies of questioning were taking place as early as 1912. Early research focused primarily on describing when or how teachers asked questions. Around 1970 the research into questioning started to place more emphasis on the types of questions that teachers asked. The major reviews in this area (Gall, 1970, 1984; Rosenshine, 1971; Dunkin & Biddle, 1974; Redfield & Rousseau, 1981; Brophy & Good, 1986; Cazden & Mehan, 1989) indicate that the aspects of questioning that have been investigated most

Chapter 5: Using direct struction as a teaching strate

frequently are the cognitive levels of questions, the difficulty levels of questions and teachers' patterns of questioning.The research findings have been quite mixed. However, questioning is still regarded as an important part of teaching because (a) it stimulates student thinking and learning and (b) it provides the teacher with valuable information about student learning. Cotton's (1988) summary of research on questioning suggested that teachers could use questions for the following purposes, all of which are relevant to direct instruction: • To develop interest and motivate students to become actively involved. • To evaluate students' preparation and check on homework or seatwork. • To develop critical thinking skills and inquiring attitudes. • To review and summarise previous lessons. • To nurture insights by exposing new relationships. • To assess achievement of instructional goals and objectives. • To stimulate students to pursue knowledge on their own. Questioning forms an integral part of most strategies for effective teaching. It is an important component of teacher clarity because it is a means by which teachers can gain feedback on learner understanding. Questioning can be used to keep the students on task and to encourage them to engage in meaningful learning. Questioning can be a vehicle for introducing variety into lessons and a means of enabling even slow learners to experience some success in their learning (Martin, 1979). However, as Sanders (1966) points out, questioning has little effect on student learning unless it requires students to use ideas rather than just remember them. Although there is some research support for the idea that questions can and should be used to stimulate learners to think at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001), Cotton (1988) cautions that the research is not conclusive. Cotton's summary of this research suggests that: • Higher-order questions are not categorically better than lower-order questions in eliciting higher-level responses or in promoting learning gains. • Lower cognitive questions are more effective than higher-level questions with young (primary level) children, particularly the disadvantaged. • In most classes above the primary grades, a combination of higher and lower cognitive questions is superior to exclusive use of one or the other. • Lower cognitive questions are more effective when the teacher's purpose is to impart factual knowledge and assist students to commit this knowledge to memory. • In settings where a high incidence of lower-level questions is appropriate, greater frequency of questions is positively related to student achievement. • Increasing the use of higher cognitive questions (to considerably above the 20 per cent incidence noted in most classes) produces superior learning gains for secondary students. • For older students, increases in the use of higher cognitive questions (to 50 per cent or more) are positively related to increases in: • On-task behaviour. • Length of student responses.

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Effective teaching strategies

Enthusiasm An enthusiastic teacher conveys to students a feeling of involvement, excitement and interest.This message is transmitted in a variety of ways, including facial expression, gestures, body movements, eye movements and vocal characteristics. Many writers (e.g., Borich, 2003) consider enthusiasm to be part of a larger group of behaviours referred to as 'teacher affect' (behaviours that derive from attitudes, values and emotions), but enthusiasm is the particular affective teacher behaviour that appears to have the greatest research support (see Rosenshine, 1970; Bettencourt, Gillett, Gall & Hull, 1983; Brigham, Scruggs & Mastropieti, 1992). Faull (2009) claims that enthusiasm is one of the dispositions that characterises exceptional teachers. While it seems logical that enthusiastic teachers will motivate their learners more than unenthusiastic teachers, it is difficult to obtain research evidence that teacher enthusiasm makes any direct difference to learner achievement. One reason is that enthusiasm may be displayed in many different, often quite subtle, ways -- making it difficult to measure. However, there is evidence that when learners think a teacher is enthusiastic this influences their perceptions of other teacher behaviours (such as clarity) and this in turn influences their learning (Killen, 1991). There is also some evidence that the enthusiasm of teachers is influenced by the enthusiasm of their students (Stenlund, 1995) — which creates a chickenand-egg situation. Enthusiastic teachers are usually seen by students as 'setter communicators (Coulson, 2006) and they are more successful than unenthusiastic teachers at engaging students in learning. For this reason, there seems little doubt that enthusiasm is an important, if not essential, aspect of effective teaching. If you are going to be enthusiastic about the things that you teach you must first be clear about what you want learners to learn and about why those things are important.You must also have a genuine interest in your subject and in helping students to understand your subject. If you ever -:ell students 'This topic is boring and difficult but you have to learn it for the exam' you should not expect students to be any more enthusiastic about it than you are.

Summary There is considerable research support for using student ideas, structuring, questioning and probing as important support mechanisms for the teache: behaviours that are more direct indicators of teacher effectiveness. These support behaviours are likely to be particularly helpful when used by an enthusiastic and well-organised -:eacher. There are many other teacher behaviours that have some research support as elements of effective teaching (e.g., particular classroom management strategies, praise of students, use of small group activities and so on). These aspects of teaching will not be dealt with here, but a good starting point for a more detailed coverage of this literature is Wittrock (1086) and Hattie (2009).

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Ef ctive teaching strategies

Planning and implementing direct instruction Chapter 3 outlined the main choices you have to make when planning; here those ideas will be expanded as we consider some of the specific things you need to do when planning to use direct instruction. Recall that at the start of this chapter I emphasised that when using direct instruction the things you want students to learn are made very explicit. The students are not left to explore ideas on their own in order to learn something – they are guided by the teacher to learn something specific. As a consequence, direct instruction lessons require very careful planning and preparation.The following planning steps are particularly important for direct instruction.

Writing lesson outcomes As we saw in Chapter 3, all planning should start with a clear statement about the outcomes that you want students to achieve, and for each lesson these outcomes should be derived directly from the longer-term syllabus outcomes. Often when planning a lesson in which you will use direct instruction there is a temptation to think about outcomes as something you will achieve (e.g., I will explain the principles of effective communication.) Avoid this mistake. Always think of the outcomes in terms of what students will be able to do as a result of your direct instruction (e.g., Students will be able to use the principles of effective communication to report the results of their science investigation). Be realistic about the lesson outcomes.There is a finite limit to what students can learn in each lesson so the outcomes should be specific enough to be attainable in that lesson. The things that students learn in each lesson are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that you will help them to construct over time. Therefore, you need to deliberately build on their prior knowledge and deliberately lay the foundations for their further learning.You have to help the students see how the outcomes of each lesson are linked.

Selecting lesson content You should think of the content of the lesson as a vehicle to help students achieve the lesson outcomes. The content must be directly related to the outcomes and be at an appropriate cognitive level. In chapter 1 you saw the importance of focusing your lessons on significant knowledge rather than trivial details and this should be the prime determinant of the content you use. When you are selecting content you should always try to use examples that will make it easy for students to understand the concepts and principles you present to them. Do not assume that students will always understand why you are using particular examples. Take the time to explain the purpose of each example before, or immediately after, you give it (e.g., 'This example will help you to see why ...' or 'This example is slightly different from

Chapter 5 • Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy 135

the previous one because I want you to see what happen when we change ...'). Make sure that you think carefully about your examples when plan zing your lessons; don't wait until you get into the classroom.

Organising the lesson content One of the main reasons for using direct instruction is that it allows you to organise the lesson content and present it to students in a manner and ;equence that will make it easy for them to understand. Therefore, a lot of your planning will involve structuring, organising and sequencing the content so that students are systematically exposed to new ideas and encouraged to think about them in particular ways. Students assimilate material more easily when they a n see a clear structure and logical sequence in it — that is, when they can see how the ideas are linked and related and why you are presenting the ideas to them in a particular sequence.The structure and sequence of your lesson will, of course, be determined primarily by the nature of the subject matter, but this does not mean there is only one way (or necessarily a best way) of presenting some specific content.You will have to consider the students' prior knowledge, their learning styles, the resources you have available and so on. However, there ar.. some general principles thai: you should try to follow: • Make sure students understand the purpose of each lesson and its general scope. If they have little idea of what they will be learning, or why they are learning it, your carefully • •

planned lesson structure and sequence may be lost on them. Try to start by explaining ideas that are relatively easy to understand and progress to the more difficult ideas. Help the students to make connections between what they already know and what you want them to learn, and between the various parts of the new information that you

•

present. Break the material into meaningful chunks — sections that are small enough to be assimilated easily and then pulled together to make a cohesive whole. Emphasise the things that are important and help students to see the logical connections between these important ideas. Use analogies and examples to help the students understand. Give students time to think about what they are learning and encourage them to ask questions. Provide summaries at appropriate points in your lessen.

•

Whenever possible, use visual means to support your presentation — for example, a

•

picture, chart, diagram or model. Organise your material in a way that will make seise to your students (not just to you). Take the time to explain to students why you have sequenced the material in a

• • • •

particular way. •

Organise your lesson so that it challenges students tc think beyond their current level of understanding.

136



ective teaching strategies

You will make learning easier for your students if you organise the lesson content in a way that makes it easy to remember. This idea is the basis of a learning theory called schema theory — a schema being an organisational framework for information. Schemata (the plural of schema) are complex knowledge structures that learners develop through experience, which, in turn, become the basis of a student's prior knowledge in new learning situations. When a learner encounters some new information it is processed according to how it matches the learner's schemata — if it seems to fit, it is accepted and understood. If the new information appears not to fit the learner's schemata, several things might happen: the learner may be confused and reject the new information, or the learner might be confused but accept the new information without much thought or the learner may deliberately try to revise existing schemata to accommodate the new information. It is this later outcome that you should try to encourage — thus helping students to deliberately build on their prior knowledge and extend their understanding. In schema theory, the knowledge that students build is meaning-driven; it is not simply the accumulation of isolated pieces of information. If, for example, a photography teacher is explaining how to manually set the exposure controls on a camera, students need to develop a schema of the basic principles of how the image is formed and recorded before the individual steps in adjusting the aperture and shutter speed will make sense. This fits well with the suggestion in chapter 1 that teachers should help students develop deep understanding rather than just memorise details. As you can see from this example, many schemata will be context-specific. Because schemata are important for interpreting and decoding information, it is crucial to present students with information in ways that make it easy for them to develop and use schemata. Direct instruction can be a very effective technique for helping students to develop schemata and to activate these reference frameworks as the basis for developing new understanding.

Preparing lesson notes In chapter 3 I suggested a format for your lesson plans that contained a 'Lesson content' section. In your early years of teaching, you will probably need to prepare detailed notes to help you organise this content, decide on how much detail you will need to present to students and develop suitable examples.You might find the following basic formats useful.

Verbatim notes This is a word-by-word script of the content you want to present. Writing lesson notes with this amount of detail has the attraction (particularly for new teachers) that it reassures you that you have thought about everything you need to say and how you will say it. It reduces the number of things that you need to think about during the lesson presentation and may

Chapter 5 * Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy 13

help you to overcome some of your nervousness. However, there are some problems with this approach, such as:

• • • •

• •

If you simply read your notes, the presentation will at-pear very formal and uninsp-rin9., to the students. If you read your notes, you may not use appropriate in :onations, pauses, etc., and this can make your presentation sound very false. Sentences that read very well do not necessarily sound mural, particularly long, complex sentences. It is easy to lose your place if something distracts you and this can make you more nervous than if you had no notes at all! This type of presentation discourages students frcm asking questions or making comments because it gives students the impression tha: all you want to do is get through the lesson. It can give students the impression that you lack confidence and, perhaps, knowledge. It can give students the impression that all they need to do is listen, not think. For the above reasons, I strongly caution against preparing lessons as verbatim notes.

Outline notes It is very useful to prepare a summary of the information on which you will base your presentation, expressed in point form rather than complete sentences. As you become riore experienced and confident you should start to feel more comfortable using this approach. The main advantage of this form of notes is that it forces you to construct sentences on the run so your presentation becomes less formal and appears to be based more soundly on your own knowledge and experience. It also helps to ensure that your delivery (voice) matches your message. If you work from a summary, it is much easier to keep track of your progress and it allows you to easily omit or embellish points to suit the time remaining in the lesson.Very importantly, if you use a summary rather than verbatim notes you will leave more freedom to move about the classroom. Sometimes you may find it useful to base your summary notes around diagrams, charts. pictures, mind maps or other pictorial representations, and you might find it useful to put these on overhead transparencies or build them into a PcwerPoint presentation. However. summary notes have some disadvantages: • If you lack confidence, you may become nervous and forget what you wanted tc say about each point. • If your summary is too brief, you may forget to discuss the ways in which the main points are connected or interrelated.

38

Eff .ctive teaching strategies

Helping students to master the language of your subject Each subject or discipline has its own special language to describe the concepts and relationships that are unique to that area of study. For example, words such as 'integration' and 'equality' have quite different meanings in Mathematics and in Social Science. You cannot avoid the fact that every subject has its jargon, but you cannot expect learners to understand the ideas you are presenting if the things you say confuse them. Therefore, you must help the learners to master the language of your subject at the same time as they strive to understand its content. It might seem like stating the obvious, but unless learners master the language of your subject they will not be able to understand it. A simple first step is to explain to students that they will be learning some new words during the lesson, and tell them why it is necessary to understand and use these words. When you do have to introduce new terminology make sure that you write it on the board or show it on the overhead projector, so that the students will see the correct spelling of the word(s). This is particularly important when the language of instruction is not the students' first language. If you do not do this, students may think that they know what word you are using, but actually confuse it with some other word.You might then have students saying things such as 'Water can be purified by passing it through a filter and then forcing it through an air rater' (rather than an aerator). Don't expect students to understand words just because you use them frequently. And do not assume that because students use words, they know what they mean. People often use words when they have only a vague idea of what they mean (e.g., criterion, paradigm), or use incorrect words (e.g., alternate rather than alternative). Both of these practices can interfere with students' understanding. You will help students to understand your subject if you take the time to explain why technical terms are necessary, and why particular words are used to describe the concepts you are presenting. Often, it will help to tell students the derivation of the term. For example, if you explain to students that the prefix `ortho' means straight, rectangular, right or correct, it will help them to see why the term orthogonal is used to describe a drawing containing mainly right angles. It will also help them to understand why an orthodontist has that title, and it might even make them curious enough to investigate the meanings of other words they come across in their studies. There are four particular traps to avoid when you are attempting to explain new terminology to students. The first trap is to confuse students by using a definition that contains even more terms that they do not understand.The second is to use the same words in the definition as the concept you are trying to define. Both these traps are illustrated in the following definition of a polar robotic arm: 'A polar robotic arm uses polar coordinates to specify positions in terms of rotation at the base combined with an elevation angle and linear extension of the arm'. (The definition will not make sense to anyone who does not already know what a polar robotic arm is.) A third trap is to provide a non-definition – a

Chapter 5 • Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy139

long explanation that never really defines the term. Man'T authors fall into this trap when they try to define the term 'curriculum'. (Look at any text )ook on curriculum and see how clearly the term is defined.) A fourth trap is to use word; that have an everyday meaning and a meaning specific to the subject, without explaining the special meaning. There are many examples of this in the computing field (e.g., boot, bus, monitor).

.e

Jargon

At the start of your next lesson, ask your

Students are often reluctant to admit

students to keep a record of all the words that you use in that lesson that they do not understand. Collect these lists at the end

that they do not understand some of the words that they hear during a lesson. How can yen encourage your students to

of the lesson and see what surprises they

overcome this reluctance?

hold. How could you make this exercise an ongoing part of your students' learning strategies?

Helping students to take notes If you present interesting and stimulating lessons, it is easy for you (and hopefully your students) to get so involved in the excitement of the lesson that no time is allowed for the students to take any notes. This can be a problem because it is difficult for students to remember details of things they have merely listenec to or discussed. Students need some record of what they were learning so that they can revise it, follow up ideas in their own time and prepare for future lessons. Merely copying; notes from the board does not necessarily help students to learn. Don't assume that your students will have appropriate note taking skills. Make it easy by emphasising main points, making the structure of your lesson clear and by giving them time to record notes. Simple statements such as 'There arc three important reasons for .. alert students to the fact that you are making a point th it is worth recording. But don't go overboard; dictating notes is rarely a productive use of time. Chapter 13 outlines some techniques you can use to increase the accuracy and usefAlness of students' notes. Make a habit of reading some of the notes that your students make — you might be surprised at what they think you said.

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Eff ctive teaching strategies

Note taking Are you a good note taker? Why?

Choose a university lecture in which you

Make a list of ways in which you can make it easy for your students to take adequate notes in your lessons. Discuss your

believe you took good notes and a lecture where you found it difficult to take notes. Identify what the lecturer(s) did that made

list with a colleague.

your note taking task easy or difficult.

Checking learner understanding During any instruction, it is extremely important that you know whether or not students are learning (Hattie, 2009). Sometimes, you might be able to judge this informally from the looks on their faces, the questions they ask and the answers they give to your questions. However, there are advantages in checking their understanding in a more formal way by giving the learners a short test during, or at the end of, your lesson.This can be an integral part of the learning process, provided that the questions are carefully chosen to address the key concepts in the lesson.You should explain to learners that the tests are designed to help them learn, not just to test what they have learned.

Bringing it all together If you follow the guidelines on direct instruction in this chapter your lessons will have the following basic structure. An introduction/overview in which you: • Help students to review what they have already learned to prepare them for the current lesson. • Tell students what they will learn in the current lesson and why they will be learning it. • Tell students how their learning will be applied and assessed. A presentation/learning phase in which you: • Give students clear explanations of the things you want them to learn. • Provide opportunities for students to think about and apply the things they are learning. • Give students opportunities for guided practice. • Monitor students' learning and gain feedback on their understanding.

Chapter 5 ■ Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy

141

• •

Encourage students to self-evaluate their learning an:I ask questions to improve their understanding. Provide feedback and encouragement to students.

A structured conclusion in which you:

• • •

Make a formative evaluation of what students learned in the lesson. Briefly explain what will happen in the next stage of students' learning. Give students learning tasks to be completed before the next lesson.

It might be difficult to do all these things in every lesson, but the above points are a useful guide for planning your instruction. You should also keep the following points in mind: • Always communicate clearly and avoid using unnecessary or repetitive words, such as •

`OK', 'right' and 'you know'. Vary your speech rate, volume and pitch to match the message you are delivering and to

•

help maintain students' interest. Don't go too fast. Students need time to think; even good note takers cannot write at more than about 20 per cent of the rate at which you can speak. Always direct your presentation at the students, not at the board, the overhead screen or

• •

the floor. Don't try to be a comedian. Make eye contact with as many students as possible.

•

Use appropriate gestures and physical movements, bui do not wander aimlessly around

•

the room. Avoid distracting mannerisms, such as scratching your head or pulling your ear.

•

Try to minimise the barriers between you and the students.

•

1Determinin whether your

direct instruction was effective If you want to evaluate your teaching it is necessary to gather some evidence upon which to base your value judgements. Some of this evidence will come from the products that students produce: the outcomes they can demonstrate, their scores on quizzes, their answers to questions in class and so on. Other evidence will be less tangible, since it will relate to the learning process rather than to the products of that learning — such as engagement in learning and enjoyment of learning.You have to gather as much evidence as possible in order to decide whether you should be satisfied with the results of your instruction, and to decide what changes you will make next time you teLch that class or use that teaching strategy.

ective teaching strategies

Whatever teaching strategy you use, your first evaluation question should be 'Did the students achieve the outcomes I wanted them to achieve?' If you do not start with a very clear idea of what learning outcomes you wanted students to achieve, you will have very little chance of determining how well you taught or how much your students learned. As a consequence, you will find it difficult to improve your teaching or to make it easier for students to learn. When you use direct instruction as your main teaching strategy, you should ask questions such as the following. Thinking about what you did: • Did I tell the students what I expected them to learn and how they would be able to use their new knowledge? • Did I tell students the criteria I would use to judge the quality of their learning? • What did I do to help the students relate their new knowledge to things that they • • • • • • •

• •

already understood? Did I do everything in this lesson that I had planned to do? If not, why not? Did anything (positive or negative) happen in this lesson that I had not expected? Did I use any terminology that the students did not understand? How can I be sure that they understood all the words I assumed they understood? How much time did I spend talking and how much time did students spend thinking? Did my organisation and sequencing of the content work effectively to help students learn? What opportunities did I give the students to ask questions? How often did I check to see that the students understood the lesson content? Was I confident and enthusiastic in my presentation? What did I do to help students see the relevance of the lesson?

•

What happened in this lesson to confirm or contradict my beliefs about teaching and learning?

•

What things would I change if I had to teach this lesson again tomorrow?

Thinking about the students: • • • • • • • •

What evidence do I have that the students achieved the outcomes? Did all students achieve these outcomes, or only some students? Why? Did the students react to the lesson in the way that I anticipated that they would? Did the lesson contain an appropriate amount of information, and was that information organised in a sequence that seemed logical to the students? Were the students engaging with important ideas and trying to develop deep understanding? What evidence do I have that the students enjoyed this lesson? At the end of the lesson, were students curious and enthusiastic about learning more? In what ways did this lesson influence the beliefs and values of my students? How can I justify this outcome?

Chapter 5 ■ Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy

143

• Was direct instruction the best choice for this lesson, more if I had used a different strategy?

Dr

would students have learned

Evaluating your lessons involves reflecting on what you did as well as on what your students did and what they achieved. Remember, whatever happens in your classroom is your responsibility, and if you don't take the time to ink about your teaching it will probably never improve. On occasions, you will want to obtain formal feedback from your students to help you evaluate your teaching. A form that you can use for that purpose is given in Appendix 1; it has been adapted from the teac ter clarity research reported in

Killen (1990).

* Review and reflect on your learning Develop answers to each of these questions and discuss your answers with another learne- or with an experienced teacher. 1. To what extent is direct instruction

structure of your lessons if you are

based education proposed by Spady

teaching high- or low-ability students%

(1994, 1998) and described in chapter 2

9. What are the main differences you would

of this book? How does direct instruction

expect to see in a direct instruction lesson

help you to apply the principles of OBE?

for very young children and for senior

2. What are the main steps in planning a direct instruction lesson? 3. Which aspects of the Quality Teaching

high school students? 10. Arrange to observe an experienced teacher who is using direct instruction.

model described in chapter 1 are

Compare what they do with the

consistent with the principles of direct

suggestions in this chapter. After the

instruction? 4. Why do Kirschner, Swelter and Clark (2006) argue that direct instruction is strongly supported by current theories of memory and cognition? 5. What is the difference between

lesson, c iscuss your observations with the teacher rvith a view to understanding why they teach the way they do. 11. Being able to give students clear, concise explana:ions is an important part of teacher :larity. Develop a template that

jargon and metalanguage? Why is this

you can use as a guide to preparing

distinction important when you are using

explana :ions in your specialist teaching

direct instruction?

area. Hcw will your explanations differ

6. Describe three different ways of helping students to focus on the most important ideas in a topic. 7. What are the main things to consider

144

8. How might you need to vary the

consistent with the model of outcomes-

if they are focused on 'what', 'why' or 'how'? 12. From your specialist teaching area, select a topic that is frequently difficult for

when giving students feedback on their

student!. to understand. Plan a lesson in

learning?

which you could teach this topic using

Eff -ctive teaching strategies

direct instruction. Ask an experienced

instruction with a Kindergarten

teacher to review your lesson plan and

class. How will these lessons lay the

help you to improve it.

foundations for the children's later

13. Some critics argue that direct instruction

learning?

is not suitable for helping students achieve the higher level outcomes

Weblinks

described by Bloom's taxonomy. Develop arguments for and against this point of view. 14. Develop an argument to support

•

For information on the structured approach to direct instruction advocated by Englemann, refer to

(or refute) the point of view that direct instruction is compatible with

•

constructivist theories of learning.

instruction with a Year 8 class and a Year

achievement of school-aged students. A summary of Hattie's findings is available at www.raufkaalltraist.org.nz/Nuthall.ppt. •

instruction (particularly in Primary

What important differences are there

schools) is available in the Teacher

between these two lesson plans?

that would enable you to use direct instruction with a Year 4 class, with one lesson focused on literacy and the other lesson focused on numeracy. What important differences are there between these two lesson plans? 17. If you are an Early Childhood education student, prepare two lesson plans

A range of useful resources and suggestions for the use of direct

12 class in your specialist teaching area.

16. If you are a Primary teacher education student, prepare two lesson plans

Hattie (2009) synthesises over 800 meta-analyses of factors influencing

15. If you are a Secondary teacher education student. Prepare two lesson plans that would enable you to use direct

www.nifdi.org/.

Resource section of http://k6educa.toxs.

about.com/. o

The Western Australian Department of Education and Training website at wviw.

detwa.edu.au/educationicurrieulura/ CIP2/Espiesp_TeacherStrat.asp discusses a range of teaching strategies (including direct instruction) that are useful forteachers working with students with disabilities.

that would enable you to use direct

ChapterI ■ Using (Urea instruction as a teaching strategy

145