1. Module 7: Directions and Feedback
Effective Teacher Practices Supporting the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development 2018
Module 7: Directions and Feedback

2. Review of Pre-learning Assignment
Review instructional practices from self-assessment and share strategies.
Why is engagement important?
What does the research tell us about why engagement in learning is critical for a child’s success in school?
Describe a recent classroom activity and how you used these facilitation techniques to engage children:
providing a clearly stated purpose,
giving explicit directions,
providing needed materials, and
giving feedback.

3. Following Directions Think about times you followed directions.
What helped you follow the directions?
What was not so helpful?
How did you feel when you understood the directions and were able to follow them easily?
How did you feel when you didn’t understand the directions?

4. AHA Moment

5. Objectives
Understand how to use instructional practices related to giving directions and feedback that promote children’s learning
Understand how to involve families in practices related to giving directions and feedback that promote children’s learning

6. Objectives
Understand how to conduct formative assessment related to giving directions and feedback that promote children’s learning
Understand how to articulate the relationships between targeted instructional practices, NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development, and NC Professional Teaching Standards

7. The “Big 5” Rules of Giving Directions

8. Instructional Practices Checklist
Giving Directions – The “Big 5”
Instructional Practices Checklist

9. Following Classroom Directions

10. Instructional Practices Checklist

11. Teaching Standards

12. Following Classroom Directions

13. Foundations

14. iPoints

15. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Kindergarten
Children confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally … by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood
Older Preschool
Children ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

16. Home-School Partnerships

17. Feedback

18. What is Feedback?
Feedback is a response that follows a behavior which encourages children to persist in an activity. It also increases future occurrences of the behavior. We have all experienced the young child who repeats a funny action over and over simply because adults laughed or clapped when he or she initially performed the action. In our classrooms, feedback informs the child about the task he or she is performing and the process of learning. Feedback fills the gap between what the child understood and what we wanted the child to understand. In this section we will discover how to use hints or cues to help the child improve performance and how to individualize those hints or cues to match the child’s current developmental level. Doing so results in more autonomy and relatedness within the classroom. Research indicates that “the emotional quality of the classroom, including … the adult’s ability to respond to children in a sensitive and individualized manner, is a consistent predictor of both reading and math skills” (Pianta, Belsky, Vandergrift, Houts, & Morrison, 2008).

19. Important Elements of Feedback
Review the scenario given to your group.
Choose two people in the group to act out the scenario.
Update the scenario by replacing the current feedback with high-quality feedback.
Now act out the new scenario.
Authentic
Descriptive
Contingent

20. Instructional Practices - Feedback

21. Feedback

22. Instructional Practices Checklist

23. Teaching Standards

24. Foundations
Now let’s shift our attention to the children as we watch the video again. We’ll make notes about what the children are doing and how they respond to the teacher’s directions and feedback.
Take out your Foundations document again. We will divide into groups with this group looking at Language and Communication Development, this group looking at Health and Physical Development, this group will look at Emotional and Social Development, this group can take a look at Approaches to Play and Learning, and this group will look at Cognitive Development. What early learning and development standards were they working toward? Talk about your assigned domain in your groups and we’ll come back together in 5 minutes.
[Divide participants into groups or pairs to discuss subdomains, developmental goals, and indicators addressed in the video. Allow about 5 minutes for group discussion. Note – the purpose of this activity is for participants to continue to explore Foundations and through different lenses. In the video activities for this module, participants are exploring Foundations through the lens of directions and feedback.]
Okay – let’s come back together. What do you think? What skills under language development and communication did you identify?
[Have some participants report out. Prompt as needed to include:
LDC-1: Children understand communications from others (Children watch visual cues of teacher to determine appropriate group behavior. Some children respond to 2-step directions while other children need directions broken down into single-step directions).
LDC-3: Children ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood (Some children answer questions related to the directions for appropriate use of the sand table spontaneously while other children need visual cues and repetition of the question.)
LDC-7: Children respond to and use a growing vocabulary (Many of the children appear to understand the concept of “before” within the context of the question while at least one child needs the question repeated with emphasis placed on the word “before” in order to understand and respond correctly.)]
What skills under approaches to play and learning did you identify?
APL-2: Actively seek to understand world around them (Children imitate the gesture for washing hands when the teacher demonstrates. One child says, “Look at me” while modeling how he is sitting appropriately in group.)
APL-8: Maintain attentiveness and focus (Most of the children are focused on the teacher during the group activity. They are able to shift their attention to peers when they are talking. We do see at least one child become distracted by blocks behind him but he is able to reengage.)]
What skills under health and physical development did you identify?
HPD-6: Children develop awareness of their needs and the ability to communicate their needs (One child has apparently asked for help getting the mulch from his shoes as he is directed to get assistance from the teacher’s assistant.)
HPD-8: Children develop awareness of basic safety rules and begin to follow them (Children demonstrate an awareness of the need to wash hands because they are dirty. Some of the children demonstrate basic self-control over impulses by not shouting out answers while other children need reminders to wait until the teacher calls on them.)]
What skills under emotional and social development did you identify?
ESD-1: Demonstrate a positive sense of self-identity and self-awareness (One child says, “Look at me” while modeling how he is sitting appropriately in group.)
ESD-2: Express positive feelings about themselves and confidence in what they can do (Many of the children raise their hands to respond to the questions asked by the teacher showing confidence that they can respond correctly. One child states, “I know.”)
ESD-3: Form relationships and interact positively with familiar adults who are consistent and responsive to their needs (Children appear to be comfortable with the teacher during group time as evidenced by their attention and responsiveness to questions. At least one child is observed to transition with assistance to get help from the teacher assistant with his shoes.)]

25. Feedback

26. Formative Assessment - Feedback
Discuss each of the formative assessment process steps:
1) determine clear learning targets,
2) define criteria for success,
3) collect, document, and analyze evidence,
4) provide clear descriptive feedback, and
5) change or adjust instruction

27. iPoints

28. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Kindergarten
Children apply measures for cleanliness and disease prevention
Older Preschool
Children develop awareness of basic safety rules and begin to follow them

29. “If there is anything that we would wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”
Carl Jung, Psychiatrist

30. Post-learning Activity
Think about the learning target: following directions in large group activities.
What accommodations might your classroom need to help ALL children meet the target? Including:
1-children with health and medical needs related to hearing, seeing, and moving
2-children with challenging behaviors, and
3-children who are dual language learners?
Review the article: The Universal Design of Early Education: Moving Forward for All Children.
Consider the six components of the universal design framework:
physical environment,
health and safety,
social-emotional environment,
teaching environment,
assessment (formative), and
family involvement.

31. Questions?
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

32. References
Conn-Powers, M., Cross, A. F., Traub, E. K., & Hutter-Pishgahi, L. (2006). The universal design of early education: Moving forward for all children. Young Children, 61(5). Retrieved from
Gartrell, D. (1997). Beyond discipline to guidance. Young Children, 52(6),
Hemmeter, M. L., Fox, L. K., & Snyder, P. (2014). Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT™) for Preschool Classrooms Manual, Research Edition. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Company.
Iowa State University Department of Human Development & Family Studies. (2013). Train-Coach-Train. Retrieved from
Jablon, J. R., & Wilkinson, M. (2006). Using engagement strategies to facilitate children’s learning and success. Young Children, 61(2), 12–16. Retrieved from
Jung, C. G. (1939). The integration of the personality. New York, NY: Farrar & Rinehart.
Mendelson, L. (Producer), & Roman, P. (Director). (2008). It’s the Easter beagle, Charlie Brown! [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Home Video.
NC FALCON. (n.d.). North Carolina’s formative assessment learning community’s online network. Retrieved from
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. (2012). North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process. Retrieved from
North Carolina Foundations Task Force. (2013). North Carolina foundations for early learning and development. Retreived from
Pianta, R. C., Belsky, J., Vandergrift, N., Houts, R., & Morrison, F. (2008). Classroom effects on children’s achievement trajectories in elementary school. American Education Research Journal, 45(2), pp
Ritchie, S. & Gutmann, L. (Eds.). (2014). FirstSchool: Transforming PreK-3rd grade for African American, Latino, and low-income children. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.