You deserve the full meaning of “explicit instruction”

The term “explicit instruction” is often used to describe a teacher standing in front of a class giving a clear explanation of a topic.

In the summer of 2017 I had the privilege of attending a week-long training in Eugene, Oregon with Anita Archer, co-author (with Charles Hughs) of the book Explicit Instruction.

We definitely did not spend 40 hours with the renowned Anita Archer to learn how to lecture. And she did not spend 40 hours lecturing us, either! It was fun, engaging, and lively, like explicit instruction should be.

It’s important that teachers understand the fuller meaning of this term if you are to embrace structured literacy in your practice.

And since you don’t have 40 hours or even 40 minutes here, I’m going to be kind and give you the 4 minute version.

Explicit instruction is about content, design, delivery, and practice.

There are 16 “Principles” that Archer and Hughs have laid out within that framework. That’s what the numbers are as you read along. Each principle is backed by solid evidence showing that learning increases when it is put into practice.

 You can use this outline to determine what you’re already doing, and which areas you might want to give a boost in your teaching. You may even want to buy the book.

Content

1. Focus instruction on critical content

The amount of content we can teach is endless, and the amount of teaching time we have in a school day is limited, so it’s really important that we choose content carefully and align it to what is most important for students to know.

2. Sequence skills logically

Take a look at your lessons from the viewpoint of a novice learner. Are there certain skills that need to come before others?

3. Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units

This is easier said than done. In general, teachers err on the side of assuming that learners are more capable than they actually are. This is because we tend to assume that if we have “covered the material” previously, students will know it. More often than not, it has never been broken down small enough or explained well enough for novice learners.

Design

4. Design organized and focused lessons

If your curriculum does this – great. Otherwise you will need to.

5. Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson goals and your expectations

Your goals and expectations should be very simple for each lesson. If you can’t tell your students the goal in 15 seconds or less, you are probably trying to do too much in one lesson.

6. Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction

Taking 2-10 minutes to do this will benefit all of your students, but especially the ones who aren’t learning as quickly. This will get them up and running, like a warm-up in a sports practice. This is so simple and so overlooked sometimes in the haste to begin.

7. Provide step-by-step demonstrations

Many teachers are already good at this part and it’s often what we think of as explicit instruction.

8. Use clear and concise language

The clarity and simplicity of our language can make or break whether student understanding takes place. This is why some programs are scripted. The script isn’t there because teachers are stupid, it’s there because teachers are human and will tend to over-explain, add too much commentary, and confuse students.

9. Provide an adequate range of examples and non-examples

Most teachers already give correct examples, but it’s just as important for students to know what the mistakes or misfits look like in order to understand a concept.

10. Provide guided and supported practice

This is the “We do it” part of “I do it, we do it, you do it.” It can look many different ways depending on the subject area, age level, etc. It involves all students working on the same problem/exercise at the same time and walking through it together.

Delivery

11. Require frequent responses

Part of Anita Archer’s training is learning how to get every student involved in the lesson. It’s important to call on students randomly rather than by raised hands. She teaches methods whereby every student is called on before anyone has another turn. Also, there are lots of opportunities to answer as a whole class in order to keep everyone’s attention on what’s being taught.

12. Monitor student performance closely

Anita would say, “Walk around, look around, talk around”. Explicit instruction requires active teacher participation  – no sitting at your desk while kids work! Actively comment on good student behavior and the learning you see taking place. You also need to see any mistakes that a lot of students are making so you can stop the lesson and do a bit of reteaching if needed.

13. Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback

Immediate feedback has a big impact on student learning. It gives students a chance to correct themselves right away. Getting feedback in the moment is totally different than getting the results of a test, where you see that you made a mistake but you can’t fix it. Feedback and correction is where the most learning takes place.

14. Deliver lesson at a brisk pace

We need to make it as fast as possible without skipping anything. Lively and fun!

15. Help students organize knowledge

It may seem a little odd that this comes under the heading of “Delivery”. But when we learn something new, it needs to be stored in the brain in some kind of “schema” in order to be useful later on. If we don’t see where it fits in to our lives or with other learning, or if we can’t build on it, then it will be forgotten.

Practice

16. Provide distributed and cumulative practice

Distributed practice is periodic review of certain material. Research shows that learning will “stick” more when there is a little time between reviews, because the brain has to work a little more to remember.

Cumulative practice is adding a new skill to a previous skill, and building on previous knowledge.

As I went through the training with Anita, I was thrilled to find that Growing Writers already incorporated all of the principles of explicit instruction. It made me really proud.

I hope this will provide clarity as you learn more about structured literacy and the science of reading (and the related “science of writing”).

 Thank you Anita Archer for all of your contributions to the field of education!