“There are two types of Principals. One who focuses on Operations or one who focuses on Instruction. You want to be an Instructional Leader if you want to change instruction and ultimately classroom results.” –John Hollingsworth, Co-Author of Explicit Direct Instruction Administrators Can Become More Effective Instructional Leaders Instructional Leadership programs usually involve a series…
How Chat AI will end homework and make classroom instruction more important Let’s begin with the purpose of homework; Educators assign homework for different reasons and purposes. Homework is assigned either as practice, preparation, extension, or integration of grade-level skills and concepts. Practice Homework reinforces learning from the skills and concepts already taught in the classroom.…
Learning ObjectivesvsStandards Standards are often confused with Learning Objectives. Standards are the content and skills students need to know by the end of a school year. Learning Objectives are the content and skills students need to know by the end of a lesson. Perhaps most importantly, a Learning Objective defines the purpose of the lesson,…
The California EL RoadmapNavigating the EL Roadmap through your use of Instruction The English Learner Roadmap was adopted by the California State Board of Education in July 2017. It is a document that encompasses many needs of the English Learner. The Roadmap consists of 4 main principles, each of which forms a pivotal part of…
The Secret to Differentiation with EDI:Making Better Decisions at Choice Points Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI), an interactive teaching strategy developed by Ybarra and Hollingsworth, involves the use of specific lesson delivery and lesson design components. The goal is for teachers to develop automaticity with the teaching strategies so they can focus more on how students…
EDI Activates 18 of the Top 30 Influences on Student Achievement, As Measured by Hattie John Hattie, a professor of education from Australia and New Zealand, published Visible Learning in 2009 (with additional books in 2012 and 2015). The purpose of his research was to identify what works and what doesn’t in education in statistical…
Checking for Understanding by Calling Non-Volunteers. When addressing the idea of selecting non-volunteers for the purpose of asking students questions, one needs to consider two things: 1) Do students know the answer? and 2) Are they ready to give the answer? Here’s why we should NOT call on students who raise their hands. Typically, teachers…
How to Differentiate and Scaffold – after teaching including RTIPlan for success after teaching All students successful Suppose you have already retaught, and a few students still aren’t ready. You have reached 80% success but are worried about the last few students. Naturally, you want all your students to be successful, but it’s not efficient…
How to Differentiate and Scaffold – while teachingPlan for success during the lesson In a prior blog, we talked about differentiating and scaffolding when designing lessons. Differentiation refers to the idea of modifying instruction to meet a student’s individual needs and learning styles. Scaffolding refers to modifications you make while designing and teaching lessons that…
How to Differentiate and Scaffold – before teachingPlan for success before the lesson There are differences between differentiation and scaffolding. Differentiation refers to the idea of modifying instruction to meet a student’s individual needs and learning styles. Scaffolding refers to modifications you make while designing and teaching lessons that allow all students to be successful…