Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods 6th Edition Chapter 7 Teaching Strategies for Direct Instruction

Chapter Overview Categories of Teaching and Learning Introduction to Direct Instruction Strategies When is Direct Instruction Appropriate? An Example of Direct Instruction Daily Review and Checking the Previous Day’s Work Presenting and Structuring Guided Student Practice Feedback and Correctives Independent Practice Weekly and Monthly Reviews Direct Instruction in the Culturally Diverse Classroom

Categories of Teaching and Learning Two categories of learning outcomes are: Type 1: Facts, rules, and action sequences. Type 2: Concepts, patterns, and abstractions. Type 1: Represent behaviors at lower levels of complexity in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Type 2: Behaviors at the higher levels of complexity in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Processes used to learn facts, rules, and action sequences are different from those used to learn concepts, patterns, and abstractions.

Categories of Teaching and Learning (continued) Effective strategies for teaching the Type 1 and Type 2 categories of learning outcomes differ. Direct Instruction is a group of effective strategies for teaching Type 1 outcomes (facts, rules, and action sequences). Indirect Instruction is a group of effective strategies for teaching Type 2 outcomes (concepts, patterns, and abstractions). Strategies for both types of learning, taken together and used appropriately, can provide a menu of teaching strategies that help learners solve problems, think critically, and work cooperatively.

Introduction to Direct Instruction Strategies Direct instruction is a teacher-centered strategy in which you (the teacher) are the major information provider. The direct instruction model includes presentation and recitation, as well as teacher-student interactions. Aspects of the direct instruction model will vary depending on the audience—a lecture presented to younger learners will differ from one presented in a college classroom, taking into account the audiences’ differing attention spans, interest levels, and motivation.

An Example of Direct Instruction (1) You clearly present goals and main points. State goals or objectives of the presentation beforehand Focus on one thought (point, direction) at a time. Avoid digressions. Avoid ambiguous phrases and pronouns.

An Example of Direct Instruction (2) You present content sequentially. Present materials in small steps. Organize and present material so learners master one point before you go to the next point. Give explicit, step-by-step directions. Present an outline when the material is complex.

An Example of Direct Instruction (3) You are specific and concrete. Model the skill or process (when appropriate). Give detailed and redundant explanations for difficult points. Provide students with concrete and varied examples.

An Example of Direct Instruction (4) You check for student’s understanding. Make sure that students understand one point before you proceed to the next. Ask students questions to monitor their comprehension of what has been presented. Have students summarize the main points in their own words. Reteach the parts that students have difficulty comprehending—either through further teaching or explanation or by having students tutoring each other.

When is Direct Instruction Appropriate? When content in texts and workbooks does not appear in appropriately sized pieces. When you wish to arouse or heighten student interest. When content mastery or overlearning of fundamental facts, rules, and action sequences may be essential to subsequent learning and remembering what was learned long afterwards. Note: Review and active student practice are important ingredients of mastery learning.

How to Instruct for Mastery (1) Clearly state the objective of the unit. Divide the unit objective into lessons, each with its own objectives and assessment. Identify the most effective combination of learning material and instructional strategies for each lesson, such as presentation, recitation, modeling, questioning, discussion, etc.

How to Instruct for Mastery (2) Each unit or lesson starts with a brief diagnostic test or formative assessment of what students know or don’t know about the topic. The results of the diagnostic tests are used to provide instruction and corrective activities in a review, present content, practice, and feedback order. This cycle is used first with the whole class and repeated, as needed, with the whole class or individuals. No student proceeds to new material until basic material is mastered.

Figure 7.3. The direct instructional sequence for mastery learning Insert figure 7.3 here: The direct instructional sequence for mastery learning

When Direct Instruction Is Inappropriate Teaching situations that need strategies other than direct instruction include: Presenting complex material having objectives at the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels of the cognitive domain. Presenting content that must be learned gradually over a long period.

Figure 7.2. Strategies for Direct Instruction Insert Figure 7.2 here:

Daily Review and Checking the Previous Day’s Work The first strategy in the direct instruction model is daily review and checking of work. Techniques include the following: Having students correct each other’s homework at the beginning of class. Having students identify difficult homework problems in a question-and-answer format. Sampling the understanding of a few students who are good indicators of the range of knowledge possessed by the entire class. Explicitly reviewing the task-relevant information that is required for the day's lesson.

Presenting and Structuring New Content The second strategy in the direct instruction model consists of presenting and structuring new content. Ways to structure content include: Establishing part–whole relationships. Identifying sequential relationships. Finding combinations of relationships. Drawing comparative relationships.

Presenting and Structuring Methods Whether you use one method or a combination to organize a lesson, divide the content into bite-sized pieces. When combining rules and examples, note that rule-example-rule order is usually more effective than rule-example order. In rule-example-rule order the teacher gives the rule, followed by an example of the rule, and then repeating the rule.

Guided Student Practice The third strategy in the direct instruction model is guided student practice. Techniques for guiding student practice include the following: Elicit a response in as nonevaluative an atmosphere as possible (freeing students to take risks with answers). Use covert responses (students write answers prior to seeing the correct response on the overhead). Check for student understanding, and prompt to convert wrong answers to right ones.

Prompting One guided student practice is providing prompts, hints, and other stimuli to help learners make the correct response. Types of prompts include: Verbal prompts, including cues, reminders, or instructions. Gestural prompts which model or demonstrate a skill. Physical prompts (such as hand-over-hand assistance in helping a learner form the letter a correctly).

Prompting (2) Many educators recommend using least-to-most intrusive prompting. Full class prompting includes: eliciting responses from all students privately, then asking encouraging them to ask for individual help; calling on students whether they raise their hands or not; calling on them randomly; or in ordered turns.

Modeling Modeling is a teaching activity that involves demonstrating to learners what you want them to do or think. Four psychological processes need to occur for learners to benefit from modeling: Attention (demonstrations are only of value if learners are looking/listening to them). Retention (The learner should repeat the action when the teacher is not present). Production (Learners should do what the teacher demonstrates). Motivation (Learners should experience desirable outcomes following their performance).

Feedback and Correctives The fourth strategy for direct instruction involves providing appropriate feedback and correctives. This strategy involves knowing how to respond to answers that are: correct, quick, and firm correct but hesitant incorrect but careless incorrect due to lack of knowledge.

Feedback and Correctives Techniques For a correct, quick, and firm response: Acknowledge the correct response and either ask another question of the same student or quickly move on to another student. For a correct but hesitant response: Provide a reinforcing statement and quickly restate the facts, rules, or steps needed for the right answer. For a correct but careless response: Indicate that the response is incorrect and quickly move to the next student without further comment. For an incorrect response that is not due to carelessness but to a lack of knowledge: Engage the student in finding the correct response with hints, probes, or a related but simpler question.

Feedback and Correctives (continued) For most learning involving knowledge acquisition, the steps between successive portions of your lesson should be made small enough to produce approximately 60% to 80% correct answers in a practice and feedback session. Reviewing, re-explaining, and prompting are effective until approximately 80% of your students respond correctly, after which correctives should be made briefer or students should be guided to individualized learning materials.

Independent Practice The fifth strategy for direct instruction is independent practice. It provides the opportunity to make a meaningful whole out of bits and pieces. Facts and rules should come together under the teacher’s guidance in ways that: Force simultaneous consideration of all of the individual units of a problem (unitization). Connect the units into a single harmonious sequence of action (automaticity). Design independent practice so the learner puts together facts and rules to form action sequences that increasingly resemble applications in the real world. Make opportunities for independent practice as soon after the time of learning as possible.

Weekly and Monthly Reviews The sixth direct instruction strategy is conducting weekly and monthly reviews—these ensure that instruction has been successful in teaching the required facts, rules, and sequences. Reviews should be conducted until student responses are quick, correct, and firm approximately 95% of the time. An advantage of reviews is that they strengthen correct but hesitant responses. It is important that reviews be conducted regularly, and not “every so often.”

Other Forms of Direct Instruction in the Culturally Diverse Classroom Student engagement in the culturally diverse classroom is promoted by accepting unique learner responses, reducing competitiveness, promoting peer interaction, and conveying a sense of nurturance and caring. In classrooms where the range of individual and cultural differences is great, there are often differences in fluency and oral expression during presentation-recitation. Teacher metacommunication (body posture, eye contact, etc.) may be very influential on learner hesitancy in responding.