Why Explicit Instruction?
Summary
TLDRThe video script emphasizes the importance of explicit instruction in education, which is direct and unambiguous teaching aimed at ensuring student understanding. It clarifies misconceptions about explicit instruction versus discovery learning, suggesting a continuum rather than a dichotomy. The script highlights that explicit instruction is particularly beneficial for novice students and those learning new subjects, as well as for struggling students. It outlines the design and delivery of explicit instruction, advocating for a structured approach involving demonstration, guided practice, and checking for understanding. The necessity of deliberate, spaced practice, and interactive teaching methods is also discussed, concluding with the importance of maintaining the 'teach' in 'teacher' to support student success.
Takeaways
- 📚 Explicit instruction is direct and unambiguous teaching aimed at ensuring student understanding and learning.
- 🔍 The concept of explicit instruction is often misunderstood and should be seen as part of a teaching continuum rather than an either/or choice with discovery learning.
- 👨🎓 Novice learners and those encountering new subject matter greatly benefit from explicit instruction to build foundational knowledge and skills.
- 🧩 Explicit teaching is particularly effective for students who are struggling, as they require clear guidance more than the opportunity to discover concepts on their own.
- 📈 The design of explicit instruction involves selecting important content, breaking it into manageable parts, and organizing lessons for optimal learning.
- 👩🏫 A key pedagogical approach in explicit instruction includes demonstration, guided practice, and checking for understanding, often summarized as 'I do it, we do it, you do it'.
- 💡 There is a common misconception that practice in explicit instruction is 'drill and kill', but research supports the necessity of deliberate and spaced practice for cognitive development.
- 🔁 The practice should be purposeful, allowing students to retrieve and apply information, enhancing their learning and retention.
- 🤝 Interactive engagement is crucial in explicit instruction, with teachers actively involving students and providing immediate feedback throughout the lesson.
- ⏱ Maintaining a lively pace during instruction helps keep students attentive and promotes an effective learning environment.
- 🌟 Explicit instruction lays the groundwork for students to tackle real-world problems, generalize knowledge, and apply what they've learned in various contexts.
Q & A
What is explicit instruction?
-Explicit instruction is direct and unambiguous teaching with the goal of ensuring students understand and learn the material presented.
Why is there confusion around the term 'explicit instruction'?
-There is confusion because it is often seen as being in opposition to discovery learning, creating a false dichotomy between the two approaches.
How does explicit instruction relate to discovery learning?
-Explicit instruction and discovery learning should be viewed as a continuum, with explicit instruction being particularly beneficial for novice learners or when introducing new knowledge.
What is the role of explicit instruction for novice learners?
-For novice learners, explicit instruction is crucial as it provides clear guidance and structure, helping them to understand and master new knowledge or skills.
How does explicit instruction benefit struggling students?
-Struggling students benefit significantly from explicit instruction because it provides clarity and direct teaching, which they may have missed out on, leading to their struggles.
What are the two areas of explicit instruction mentioned in the script?
-The two areas of explicit instruction mentioned are the design of the instruction and the delivery of the instruction.
What are the three major steps in teaching children skills and strategies as mentioned in the script?
-The three major steps are demonstration, guided practice, and checking for understanding, often referred to as 'I do it, we do it, you do it.'
Why is deliberate practice important according to the script?
-Deliberate practice is important because it allows students to practice with a purpose, spaced over time, and to retrieve information, which enhances learning and retention.
How should explicit instruction be delivered to be effective?
-Effective explicit instruction should be interactive, with students actively engaged throughout the lesson, and maintain a perky pace with continuous feedback and monitoring of student responses.
What is the ultimate goal of explicit instruction as per the script?
-The ultimate goal of explicit instruction is to prepare students to solve authentic problems, be successful, and generalize information to other situations.
What does the speaker emphasize about the importance of explicit instruction in a teacher's role?
-The speaker emphasizes that teachers should not forget the research on explicit instruction and must provide the teaching that students need to achieve learning goals.
Outlines
📚 Explicit Instruction: The Key to Student Success
The first paragraph discusses the concept of explicit instruction, which is direct and unambiguous teaching aimed at ensuring student understanding and learning. It addresses the misconception that discovery-based learning might be more motivating, suggesting instead a continuum where explicit instruction is crucial for novice learners or when introducing new knowledge. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of explicit teaching for struggling students and outlines the components of effective explicit instruction, including well-designed lessons with demonstration, guided practice, and checking for understanding. The speaker also stresses the need for deliberate and spaced practice, as well as the importance of interactive and engaging delivery to enhance student learning.
🚀 From Explicit Instruction to Authentic Problem Solving
The second paragraph builds on the foundation of explicit instruction to emphasize the teacher's role in preparing students to solve real-world problems and apply their knowledge to various situations. It underscores the necessity of maintaining a strong teaching component, even as students become more independent learners. The paragraph concludes with an encouragement for educators to embrace the research on explicit instruction as a means to achieve the ultimate goal of student learning and success in their careers.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Explicit Instruction
💡Continuum
💡Novices
💡Discovery Learning
💡Struggling Students
💡Design of Instruction
💡Deliberate Practice
💡Interactive Instruction
💡Pace
💡Generalization
Highlights
Explicit instruction is direct and unambiguous, aiming for student understanding and learning.
There is a common confusion between explicit instruction and discovery, which should be viewed as a continuum.
Explicit instruction is particularly beneficial for novice students learning new knowledge.
Students new to subjects like Algebra or word decoding benefit from explicit teaching of information and strategies.
Discovery becomes a viable option after a foundation of explicit instruction has been established.
Struggling students gain more from explicit instruction than from discovery-based learning.
Explicit instruction involves the design and delivery of teaching, focusing on important and obtainable content.
Teaching often follows a three-step process: demonstration, guided practice, and checking for understanding.
There is a need for deliberate and spaced practice, not just 'drill and kill', to reinforce learning.
Cognitive science and learning research support the importance of practice for student success.
Explicit instruction should be interactive, engaging students actively throughout the lesson.
Instructor feedback and a perky pace are essential for effective explicit instruction.
Explicit instruction sets students up for solving authentic problems and generalizing information.
The role of the teacher is to provide the necessary explicit instruction for student learning.
Research on explicit instruction is crucial for educators to achieve the goal of learning.
Educators should thrive by incorporating explicit instruction into their teaching practices.
Transcripts
[MUSIC]
So I have the gift today of talking to you about explicit
instruction.
Explicit instruction simply is instruction that is quite
direct, it is unambiguous, with the goal that the students
would get it, would understand it, and would learn.
We have a lot of confusion around the term explicit
instruction, so let me sort of augment and add to that.
One question I'm often asked is, wouldn't it be
more motivating for students to learn it on their own,
to discover it, to use authentic problems to discover it?
And it's as if we have set up a total dichotomy between
explicit instruction and discovery.
But we really should view it as a continuum.
And when we look at the research on instruction,
we learn what are the attributes of that continuum.
For example, if you are teaching children that are novices, that
have just never learned this body of knowledge in the past,
it appears that they do much better if we explicitly teach
them the information, whether it's knowledge or skills or
strategies, that we teach it.
If they are learning a body of knowledge that they've not
learned in the past, they're brand new to Algebra,
they are new to decoding of words,
then they really benefit from very explicit instruction.
So those two things, when the student is a novice, when
the knowledge is new, explicit instruction would be desirable.
But then after you've gained lots of information,
you've gained lots of skills, then discovery is much more
a viable option, but only after you've had explicit instruction.
So one of the things that I also would be reminded of
is the research, if you happen to be a Special Ed teacher,
an Interventionist,
and you are working with struggling students.
We definitely know that they are going to gain more with very
explicit instruction than discovery.
If they had discovered it, they would not have been struggling,
and so we need to have very explicit instruction for them.
And what would that mean?
Well, we could actually take explicit instruction
and put it into two areas:
one is the design of the instruction,
and the other is the delivery of the instruction.
And the design of the instruction means that we pick
important content to teach them,
we break it down into obtainable pieces, but then our lessons
are organized so that more learning could occur.
For example, I often talk about three major steps in teaching
children skills and strategies, where I do demonstration,
guided practice, checking for understanding.
I do it, we do it, you do it.
And many of the skills and
strategies we teach would follow that pedagogy.
But it also means that the students are not only directly
taught it, but they have practice.
And actually, I'm gonna tell you,
my concern is often that we're not giving adequate practice.
I constantly hear people say, well, you know, Anita,
that is just drill and kill, drill and kill.
And I can tell you we have no reported incidents of children
dying of practice.
Instead, look at the research, the abundant research,
from cognitive science and from learning, on practice.
The students need deliberate practice,
where they're practicing with a purpose.
They need practice that is spaced over time,
not all in one session.
And they need to retrieve information in that practice.
So it's a combination of very explicit instruction,
with I do it, we do it, you do it, followed with deliberate
and spaced practice and retrieval.
But here's what I've noticed.
I've had the great blessing of teaching for 52 years
and do demonstrations all throughout every year.
And what I have noticed is that students need better
delivery skills than we've done in the past.
For example, all instruction needs to be interactive.
I say something, you say something.
I write something, you write something.
All explicit instruction would be very interactive,
with students actively engaged throughout the entire lesson.
And we'd monitor and watch their responses,
give them feedback on the responses,
and we would maintain throughout the whole lesson
a very perky pace.
So those are some of the attributes of having
very explicit instruction.
And we know that then I set you up
for your ability to solve authentic problems.
I set you up for being successful.
I set you up to generalize information to other situations.
But this means we've gotta keep the "teach" in "teacher",
and we have to provide the teaching that our students need.
So let us never forget the research
on explicit instruction, because if learning is our goal,
then a lot of explicit instruction
needs to occur there.
Bless you in your career, may you thrive as an educator.
[MUSIC]
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