Direct instruction: not dirty words

 

 

Often, ‘direct instruction’ gets a bad rap. 

Evidence of its effectiveness are numerous:

• Better reading and maths skills

• Boosts attainment for students with additional needs

• Increases student confidence in their understanding and ability

Still, direct instruction gets a bad rap. It is associated with a didactic, lecture style approach, in classrooms with strict discipline and silence. None of these are bad things, of course. But they’re not by themselves an accurate depiction of effective direct instruction.

Not to be confused with Engelmann’s Direct Instruction (DI), a model of learning that involves carefully defined lessons with prescribed teaching tasks, the general term ‘direct instruction’ or ‘explicit’ direct instruction involves:

• teaching skills and concepts in small steps;

• using examples and non-examples;

• using clear and unambiguous language;

• anticipating and planning for common misconceptions; and

• highlighting essential content and removing distracting information.

Gary Aubin, EEF blog: What exactly is explicit instruction?

What sets direct instruction apart from other, perhaps more popular teaching methods, is the focus on teaching only the most essential knowledge and not leaving learning up to the student to discover alone. 

That means lessons are very much teacher led, independent work is exactly that, done independently - which often means in silence - and learning is closely monitored by the teacher.

Lessons are structured, consistent and therefore predictable. Yawn. Amirite?

Wrong. The most effective teachers who use explicit direct instruction know how to inject energy, pace and anticipation into their lessons. 

Here are 3 easy ways to make sure direct instruction is synonymous with excitement, energy and definitely learning…

1 How to create pace

Countdowns: at Community Schools Trust (CST) we start and end our lessons with a 10 second countdown. Aside from being a consistent and predictable start to lessons for all students, whatever their subject and whoever their teacher, a pacy 10 second countdown means a flurry of learning focused activity to start the lesson.

The best countdowns are interspersed with teacher commentary; I like to think of it like a football commentary:

10 - the front row is well on their way to the starter…9…8…thank you James and Abdul for helping hand out our books today….7 - I think Maria might take the first merit - she’s already seated… oh wait - Aaliyah is close behind! 6 - who will be the slowest? 5…

Counting down in this way not only creates that important pace to begin and end your lessons, but such commentary, involving both personalised and collective praise, calls attention to the correct behaviours you want to amplify in your classroom.

2 How to create energy

Brightening lines: this is one of my favourite techniques from Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion because of how easy but effective it can be when injecting energy across a class. Brightening lines is when you ‘make transitions between lesson activities bright and clear’ (Lemov).

For example, at CST, we may say something like, ‘when I say go and not a second before, you will write down the first answer on your mini whiteboard. Ready? Go!’

The phrase, ‘Ready? Go!’ will result in the whole class moving in unison to the correct behaviours. When done regularly, it creates a culture when these correct behaviours are normal and desired.

But the key to creating this crisp transition is your intonation and being deliberately upbeat. I have heard many Robocop sounding ‘Ready? Go.’ renditions and you can guess the amount of energy it incites: zero.

Whether it’s first thing in the morning, or your final lesson of a full teaching day, intonation and being deliberately upbeat is key to effectively creating energy.

3 How to create anticipation (and participation)

At the core of explicit direct instruction is checking for understanding (CFU). Unlike perceptions of long lecture style teaching, effective direct instruction will involve checking for understanding after every new concept or skill is taught. These checks will inform the teacher’s next steps: to move on, to correct, to re-teach or a combination.

Cold calling is a common and effective way to check for understanding. When done correctly, the whole class is required to think hard - the best indicator for learning. But the best CFU will combine different strategies. 

I will call them CFU sandwiches. These CFU sandwiches are great ways to create anticipation and participation:

Some CFU sandwiches you might try:

• A cold call - ‘I say, you say’ choral response - cold call sandwich

• A cold call - turn and talk - cold call sandwich

• A turn and talk - ‘stop and jot’ - cold call sandwich

This is not an exhaustive sandwich list. There are many more combinations. What CFU sandwich do you deploy?

Summary

Direct instruction - they’re not dirty words. It can be more engaging than it is made out to be.

1. Create pace with countdowns

2. Use intonation and be deliberately upbeat

3. Use CFU sandwiches to create anticipation and participation in your lessons

Have a fabulous week.

Thahmina