The text Explicit Instruction by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes outlines a systematic and engaging instructional delivery method called explicit instruction which is appropriate for all children, including those who may be struggling or who may have a disability. Explicit instruction is useful across many of subjects and grade levels. To read the first chapter of the book free of charge, click here.
| Sixteen Elements of Explicit Instruction from the text Explicit Instruction, p. 2-3 |
| Focus instruction on critical content |
| Sequence skills logically |
| Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units |
| Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson’s goals and your expectations |
| Review prior skills and knowledge before instruction |
| Provide step-by-step demonstrations |
| Use clear and concise language |
| Provide an adequate range of examples & nonexamples |
| Provide guided and supported practice |
| Require frequent responses |
| Monitor student performance closely |
| Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback |
| Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace |
| Help students organize knowledge |
| Provide distributed and cumulative practice |
Archer, A., & Hughes, C. (2011). Explicit instruction: effective and efficient teaching / Anita L. Archer, Charles A. Hughes. New York: Guilford Press.
The following elements may be helpful to incorporate in a distance learning scenario.
Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson’s goals and your expectations.
When starting a new lesson or activity, tell the learner what he or she will learn and why this is important.
Example: This math activity helps you practice addition facts. This is important because we add all the time in life, like at the grocery store or in restaurants or when playing games.
Distance Learning Suggestions
- State the goal of the lesson or activity for your child and have him or her repeat some or all of it.
- Label worksheets with the goal for your child.
- Talk about ways in which the skill your child is practicing will be useful in other parts of life (sports, chores, activities with friends, etc.)
- If teachers have provided you with activities for your child to do at home, ask them to share the lesson goal or activity with you as well.
More information: Register for a free account at triad.vkclearning.org and watch the Instructional Goal Statements course
Provide step-by-step demonstrations.
Model exactly how to do a skill or strategy for a learner by showing them the steps to complete the work and describing why you are doing what you are doing.
Example: When teaching a learner how to draw an array for multiplication, describe how to set up the array and why you are doing that.“The multiplication problem is 4 x 3. So I am going to start by drawing 4 dots going across the page. That is the 4 in the multiplication problem. Then I will make 3 dots down. That represents the 3 in the problem. Then I will fill in the rest of the dots and count how many there are. I see that is 12. That shows what 4 x 3 is, or 4 rows of 3.”
Distance Learning Suggestions
- If you are completing a worksheet with your child, do the first question or problem together, talking through each step of what the answer is and how you know that is the answer.
- If teachers have provided you with activities or lessons to do with your child at home, ask them for a few worked examples that you can use to help you model a skill or strategy step by step.
- Use video modeling of strategies to help explain step-by-step processes to your child. Khan Academy and Teacher Tube cover a variety of topics.
More information: Register for a free account at triad.vkclearning.org and watch the Clear Model course
Require frequent responses.
Encourage the learner to engage with the teacher/instructor frequently to maximize attention. Use methods like oral responses, written responses, or action response to check for student understanding.
Example: When reading aloud, have the student repeat the last word you read while you point to it; when explaining the steps of a process you are teaching, pause and have students answer questions to previously learned information or repeat back the new information.
Distance Learning Suggestions
- When showing your children how to do an activity or reading aloud, ask them questions to keep them engaged.
- If you are watching an educational video with children, pause the video every so often to ask questions about what is happening.
- If teachers have provided you with activities to do with your children at home, ask them to give you 2-3 questions to prompt your children with while they are doing the activity.
More information: Register for a free account at triad.vkclearning.org and watch the Eliciting Responses course
Help students organize knowledge.
Learners can often have difficulty organizing and connecting information they learn from one day to the next. Try using graphic organizers to help learners organize newly learned information consistently.
Distance Learning Suggestions
- Pick 1-2 basic graphic organizers for fiction and nonfiction text to use when your child reads.
- Show your child how to fill out the graphic organizer when reading and do it together at first.
- If your child’s teacher has provided you with books or organizers, ask for a completed example to use as an answer key.
More Information
- Nonfiction organizers for younger students (p. 6, 9)
- Fiction organizers for younger students (p. 9, 16)
- Nonfiction organizers for intermediate students (p. 8, 15, 26)
- Fiction organizers for intermediate students (p. 3, 18, 30)
‣ VKC Resources
[April 2020]