MyView Learning Letter #29-Explicit Instruction - How well I teach = How well they learn!

 

Uffda. That is big responsibility. How well I teach = How well they learn. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that the way we are teaching isn’t working for our students. Don’t feel discouraged if this is the case for you. 

Instead, work on improving how explicit you are with your instruction. Explicit instruction is "systematic method of teaching, proceeding in small steps, checking for student understanding, and achieving active participation by all." It's using the gradual release method of I Do, We Do, You Do. 

Teach first, then ask the questions. Be clear with your instruction. 

Or, work on improving the organization of your lessons to achieve higher levels of engagement. Be intentional with your instruction and don’t be afraid to adjust your approach when needed. Ask your literacy coach for ideas. Check out the engagement page on our website. 

No matter what, don't just stay in the land of students not learning. You have the power to control what you do and the impact of that will be outstanding! We are the adults. If kids aren't learning, we can't blame them. I leave you with this quote...

MyView Learning Letter #26-Engagement

One of the biggest things I hear with MyView is that it is not engaging. I am just going to put my opinion out there to start and get it over with. I do not believe engagement equals fun. Engagement means participation. Kids should participate and engage in their learning. Sometimes, their participation can be super fun, but fun isn't the goal. Participation is the goal so kids learn. 

Alright. Now that is out of the way, let's talk about how we ENGAGE kids in THEIR learning! I kept the "Archerisms" here because two of them relate to engagement. The first is that learning is not a spectator sport. You should not be doing all the work. Yeah, you have to model, but that should be a small part of your lesson. The rest is kids working WITH you and you giving feedback on how they are thinking and doing and learning. If at the end of your lesson, you feel you worked and talked more than the kids, it's time to reflect on how you could have them participate more. 

The second is that everyone does everything. There are times where one student is talking or writing or doing something. How could you have ALL students doing the work all the time? Could they ALL write on white boards? Could they turn and talk to a partner so they are all answering? 

Here is one quick strategy to help with both of these! 

Choral Practice (Give instructions then check for understanding.) This straegy also makes me think of Mirror from Whole Brain Teaching. 

1. Give instructions or share facts-

2. Students finish the teacher’s sentence, or repeat instructions, in unison to a teacher question, such as,

“The first vocabulary word is...it means..." 

Look for the next blog post where I present engagement, or participation, strategies for each Day's Routine! 

MyView Learning Letter #25 -Scaffolding Instruction

I know we have ALL felt how rigorous our new literacy curriculum is. The end result is going to be AMAZING for our students, but uffda. It's a lot right now in the messy middle. Here is a fantastic blog post from Timothy Shanahan on how to teach above a student's reading level. May it offer you some helpful tips as you scaffold for your students to help them achieve great things! 

In the meantime, let's talk about what scaffolding is. Scaffolding is what teachers do FIRST to help students. 

                             

Scaffolds don't stay forever. They are only there as long as a student needs them and the goal is for them to do things on their own.

Scaffolds also aren't complicated. Here are some quick ways to scaffold for student success. 

1) Model EXACTLY what kids need to do. 

2) Talk about what kids know about the topic BEFORE they learn it. 

3) Provide talk time. HAVE KIDS TURN AND TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING. 

4) Pre-teach the vocabulary. Thankfully, MyView does this for us. However, make sure you have images and time to talk about the word. 

5) Create anchor charts WITH the kids, otherwise it is just a poster and won't be as meaningful. 

6) Give kids wait time. Let them think. 

What scaffold are you going to try first? Which ones do you already use? 

Stay tuned for more information and tips on how to scaffold for student success as the year goes on. 

MyView Learning Letter #24 - Explicit Instruction

                               

Anita Archer is well known for her expertise in explicit instruction. Above is an image of her "Archerisms" and in order to help support the rigor and lack of engagement some are experiencing when teaching reading and writing with MyView, we are going to focus on each "ism" one at a time and do a deep dive. 

The first is quite common and I am sure you have heard it a lot. In fact, it's listed in the MyView Teacher's Edition and we talked about it when using American Reading Company's materials. You might also know it as the gradual release of responsibility. It's I Do, We Do, You Do. This is the heart of explicit teaching. You are clearly telling kids what they are going to learn and how to learn it. 

What I have found that when I am teaching, I think I am doing this in this order. I think I am doing an I Do. But really, I am doing a We Do. It happens more often in teaching that you think. We are in the modeling section or the I Do part of the lesson, but we start asking the kids about how to do "it" instead of explicitly telling or showing them. We jump right into We Do and then send them on their way to You Do. However, they never really saw how to do it or heard the think aloud about how to do in a good I Do. 

In order to make sure the I Do happens the way it's supposed to, you have to be intentional with the planning. You have to actually think about what it is that you, the teacher, are going to show how to do. And a lot of the times, this HAS to involve a think aloud. You have to think and share what you are thinking. The beautiful thing is, MyView has this already listed for you. It's the blue section that has what you should say so that it is explicit. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Here is a graphic to help you be more intentional with the I Do, We Do, You Do so that you are explicit in your teachers so that kids LEARN! :) 

 

Explicit (adj.) means stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.

 …explicit instruction is helpful for all students, harmful for none, and crucial for some (Snowling & Hulme, 2005).  

Mary Stowe, our SIM strategy instructor, had this quote in her email signature. I loved it the moment I first saw it and it lead me down a learning path that I was excited to share with you. It's been on my heart for a while.  

I have questioned my own explicit talk when teaching. Sometimes, I think I use too many words and what I am saying is not clear. Brene' Brown would tell you that unclear is unkind. And that is so true. It is unkind to be teaching others something and have it be confusing. That leads to frustration and no learning. Definitely not the goal of this instructor. 

But how does one get better at explicit teaching? We have heard it said. Good instruction is explicit and systematic. As a systems girl, I get that part. But how do I become more explicit? 

In my own personal quest to learn more, here are some resources I have found. My heart is that you have found them as helpful as I have and will grow your skills as a teacher. #knowbetterdobetter

1) Teach Explicitly—I do, You Watch & Listen video by Smekens Education (5:32 minutes). 

2) To start, watch this Explicit Instruction video from VLP (Virginia Literacy Partnerships, new PALS) (3:12 minutes).  Then, view the Module from VLP  on Explicit Instruction (28:56 minutes). This will go more in-depth. Here is an infographic from VLP as well that complements both resources. 

3)  Anita Archer is the queen of explicit instruction. Here is a blog post from The Measured Mom, describing Archer's elements from her book shown below. I absolutely LOVE her elements....like there are too many that would be my favorite. 

Anchor Charts

My favorite definition of an anchor chart comes from this Learning for Justice. "An anchor chart is an artifact of classroom learning. Like an anchor, it holds students' and teachers' thoughts, ideas and processes in place. Anchor charts can be displayed as reminders of prior learning and built upon over multiple lessons." 

Anchor charts are a fun, visual reminder for the students who, quite frankly, haven't learned what you are teaching yet. They are a scaffold to support a student who needs the reminder of what you are teaching. In fact, it's one of my favorite teaching tools to display around the room. 

Want to learn more about the BEST way to use them in your classroom for EVERYTHING?? Check out this post by We Are Teachers. Since this is a post about favorites I guess, my favorite line is, "It’s very important not to create the entire poster ahead of time. They are best used as an interactive tool." When created with the kids, they view it as their own and will actually use it rather than that grammar poster you bought and displayed. No offense. They are just not my favorite. ;) 

Reflection is a MUST!

Congratulations! You have just finished another hard year in education. While you may NOT want to think about school at all (I truly get it; avoidance can be amazing), I urge you to pause. And reflect. Reflect means to think deeply or carefully about something. You care deeply about teaching, otherwise you wouldn't be in this profession. So...before you completely block out the year ask yourself these questions. 

What do I want to keep doing next year because it worked?

What do I want to stop doing next year because it didn't work? 

What do I want to start doing next year because you have always wanted to do it?

What do I want to change next year because it didn't quit work but it has potential? 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blavandmaster/51360759097

I actually reflect on these questions throughout the year as well. I have a running list titled "Next Year". But you gotta start somewhere. Please pause. Today is a great day to start. 

Happy reflecting! :)