O Check for Understanding and Providing Feedback

Quick Guide

Explicit Instruction

Definition

Explicit Instruction (or Direct Instruction) is a teacher-directed instructional approach, which incorporates structured lesson sequence, explicit and clear instruction, and active learner engagement.

Key Elements

· Engaging students in learning

o Use questioning techniques (e.g., choral responses, random questioning, signaled responses, partner responses, group responses).

o Check for understanding and providing feedback.

o Provide prompts.

· Instructional routines

o Get students’ attention.

o Introduce lesson objective.

o Use informed instruction.

· Preparation for instruction

o Recall prior knowledge.

o Review related previous content.

· Modeling/Demonstration (My turn)

· Guided Practice (Do it together)

· Independent Practice (Your turn)

· Monitoring learning

· Closure

Procedures of Implementation

· Get students’ attention.

· Introduce lesson objectives and briefly explain what to learn and why it is important to learn.

· Review what have been taught related to this new lesson, or ask students what they’ve known about the topic.

· Teach a math concept or a math skill with direct and explicit instruction.

· Model or demonstrate a correct response or a math skill by using “think aloud”.

· Guide students to practice, monitor learning and provide corrective feedback.

· Have students practice independently.

· Give a closure of what have been taught to end the class.

Teaching Tips

· It is important to get students’ attention and engage them in learning, such as using questioning techniques to involve learners, and making lesson content relevant to their life context and interests.

· A complex task should be broken into small steps and be taught following the instructional sequence of my turn – together – your turn.

· Provide procedural prompts or scaffolded instruction to facilitate learning when teaching difficult concepts or tasks.

· Monitor students’ understanding and make decisions of reteaching, more guided practice or one-on-one tutoring.

· Different instructional formats can be used, including one-on-one instruction, small group instruction and large group instruction.

Recommended Reading

Goeke, J. L. (2009). Explicit instruction: A framework for meaningful direct teaching. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill.

Scaffolding Instruction

Definition

Scaffolding Instruction is "the systematic sequencing of prompted content, materials, tasks, and teacher and peer support to optimize learning." (Dickson, Chard, & Simmons, 1993, p. 12)

The purpose of scaffolding instruction in Mathematics is to provide students who have math learning difficulties with optimized support and fade support to facilitate them transition from performing a math skill with support to performing independently.

Key Elements

· Hierarchical levels of direction (Beed et al., 1991).

· Instructional sequence: teacher demonstration - teacher demonstrates with student response - student demonstration with teacher faded prompt - student demonstration with natural cues or no prompts.

· Feedback and positive reinforcement.

Procedures of Implementation

· Teacher models/demonstrates a concept/skill several times by using “Think Aloud” – Self-question and answer.

· Teacher models/demonstrates by asking questions and students give response.

· Students demonstrate with teacher direction and prompts, which are faded in a sequence of cueing specific steps, cueing strategies, and using general cue.

· During the instruction, the teacher provides immediate, specific and direct feedback and positive reinforcement.

Teaching Tips

· When modeling with student input, teacher can use several questions and increase student input gradually.

· To make decisions of using fading directions, teacher should monitor students’ understanding through their response accuracy and response fluency.

· When students give wrong response, teacher should praise the student for courage and effort followed by modeling correct response.

· When students do not give immediate response, allow them some time (e.g., 5 seconds) to think.

Recommended Resource

Scaffolding Instruction (by Florida Center for Instructional Technology) http://fcit.usf.edu/mathvids/strategies/si.html

References:

Dickson, S. V., Chard, D. J., & Simmons, D. C. (1993). An integrated reading/writing curriculum: A focus on scaffolding. LD Forum, 18(4), 12-16.

Beed, P. L., Hawkins, E. M., & Roller, C. M. (1991). Moving learners toward independence: The power of scaffolded instruction. The Reading Teacher, 44, 648-655.

Systematic Instruction

Definition

Systematic Instruction is to “Define a specific response or set of responses and teach to mastery using defined, consistent prompting and feedback and explicit prompt fading” (Browder et al., 2008, p. 426).

Key Elements

· Prompting and fading (e.g., a system of least prompts and time delay)

· Shaping

· Modeling/Demonstration

· Task analysis

· Chaining

· Reinforcement and schedules of reinforcements

· Corrective feedback

Procedures of Implementation

· Teacher presents an instruction or a question

· Use prompting strategies to obtain a response

o Constant time delay (CTD)

o Progressive Time Delay

o Least intrusive prompts

· Provide immediate feedback by praising and confirming correct response or correct errors.

· Provide positive reinforcement to reinforce correct responses.

Teaching Tips

· Use both prompting and systematic fading strategies to make systematic instruction effective.

· Prompt fading strategies listed from simple to complex are constant time delay, progressive time delay, and least intrusive prompts.

· CTD is easy to implement and can be used in one-on-one instruction, group instruction and peer tutoring.

· Corrective feedback must be direct, immediate, and actively involve students.

· Choose effective reinforcers and avoid satiation.

· Use intermittent schedules and schedule thinning to decrease student dependence on artificial reinforcers.

Recommended Reading:

Westling, D. L., & Fox, L. (2000). Teaching students with severe disabilities (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

References:

Browder, D., Spooner, F., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Harris, A., & Wakeman, S. (2008). A meta-analysis on teaching mathematics to students with significant cognitive disabilities. Exceptional Children, 74(4), 407-432.

Opportunities to Respond

Definition

The practice of Opportunities to Respond means to provide students with numerous opportunities to learn and practice a new concept/skill (Browder et al., 2008).

Key Elements

· Massed/Discrete Trials

o Break a complex task/skill into small steps

o Teach each step with systematic instruction

o Follow a sequence:

o Repeated practice

· Skill Maintenance

o Skill overlearning

o Distributed practice

o Building on learned skills

o Developing a maintenance schedule

· Skill Generalization

o Teach functional skills and use in vivo instruction

o Multiple exemplar approach

o General case approach

o Stimulus Equivalence

Procedures of Implementation

· Present an instructional trial: teacher presents a question or an instruction, uses prompting to make students respond, and uses positive reinforcement to reinforce the correct response.

· Repeat a cycle of trials in succession many times or sessions with explicit and systematic instruction strategies.

· After an initial skill acquisition, students are taught to practice the skill numerous times to maintain it by different methods, such as practice a skill over and over again in particular sessions (i.e., skill overlearning), practice a skill across activities (i.e., distributed practice), and practice a skill when learning other skills (i.e., building on learned skills).

· Use a maintenance schedule to plan for maintenance and keep a record of how often a skill is practiced.

· While maintaining a skill, students are also taught to generalize the skill into new situations. Students can be taught with in vivo instruction which means to teach them functional skills in the real life context. Students can also be taught with various examples in a sequence until they can generalize the skill to different examples. Stimulus equivalence can also help students to generalize skills.

Teaching Tips

· Teach skill acquisition by using explicit and systematic instruction strategies, including engaging students, prompting and fading strategies, positive reinforcement, and feedback.

· Using different activities to teach a skill is more effective than having students practice a skill repeatedly.

· Universal design of instruction can facilitate skill generalization in terms of providing multiple representations, such as different types of teaching materials (e.g., concrete or representational), and different forms of demonstration (e.g., physical modeling, graphics and videos).

· The goal of opportunities to respond practice is to realize sequential phases of learning: acquisition-fluency-maintenance-generalization.

References:

Functional Math and In Vivo Instruction

Definition

Functional math skills are to apply basic math concepts/skills to other skills that can be used when performing daily activities, such as money skills, telling time and using calendars.

In vivo Instruction, also known as community-based instruction, is an instructional strategy that make teaching take place in an actual community setting involving a real-life activity (Snell & Brown, 2000).

Key Elements

· Functional math skills involve:

o Basic counting, numeral, place value and computational skills

o Money skills (e.g., counting money, using money combinations, and computing changes)

o Telling time (e.g., clock identification, telling time to the hour or the minute, using different ways to expressing time, and following schedules)

o Using a calendar (e.g., telling day, date, week, month and year, and using a calendar)

· In vivo instruction

o Class simulated training

o Community-based training

o Generalization

Procedures of Implementation

· Decide what functional math skills are to be taught based on the individual students’ IEP goals and math standards, and develop corresponding instructional objectives.

· Use systematic instruction and other instructional strategies to teach tasks/skills, and make sure each phases of learning are addressed (i.e., acquisition, maintenance and generalization).

· Based on student’s special needs, decide to use traditional teaching sequences of math skills, or use alternative methods to teach. Many times, students will need adaptations and accommodations to perform a functional skill.

· Use in vivo instruction to teach functional math skills in real life situations. Plan to give instruction in school buildings, at home or in the community where a student can learn a skill while applying it.

· In vivo instruction begins with in classroom simulated learning. Teach students a task with several trials or sessions with systematic instruction by using simulated materials similar to real life materials.

· Schedule community-based training for students where they learn and practice in real life activities.

· Once students demonstrate acquisition of skills, keep students practice those skills in order to maintain the skills, and also use different training sites to lead to skill generalization.

Teaching Tips

· Use real money to teach money skills, so that students can feel the size, weight, material, and texture.

· Each student will need individualized instruction and learn different functional math skills according to IEPs and math standards.

· Identify student’s priority needs and balance between community-based instruction and general curriculum learning.

· When planning an in vivo instruction, it is important to make plans to facilitate activities. Factors to be considered involve instructional settings, accommodations, and transportation.

· Various instructional formats can be used in the in vivo instruction, such as one-on-one instruction, small group instruction, and facilitating observational learning.

References:

Snell, M.E., & Brown, F. (2000). Instruction of students with severe disabilities (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

CRA Instruction

Definition

CRA (i.e., concrete-representational-abstract) instruction is a three-stage sequential teaching method, which promotes learning by engaging students, extending learning and retaining knowledge.

Key Elements

Procedures of Implementation

· First start with the “C” stage – teach by using concrete or hands-on activities or models and have students manipulate with concrete materials.

· Follow a 6-step sequence to teach students a number skill and apply the skill to solve word problems, in terms of free exploration, purposeful exploration, number cards, number sentence, mathematical word problems and verbal explanation (Howell & Barnhart, 1992).

· In the representational stage, replace concrete manipulatives with picture or drawings. First, use materials in the semi-concrete level such as pictures, photos or drawings of concrete objects. Then use materials in the semi-abstract level like use abstract symbols (e.g., tally marks, stars, and abstract shapes).

· After students are able to complete a task with representational materials, teacher will ask them to work with materials or problems in the abstract level, such as writing a number sentence for a word problem.

Teaching Tips

· There are a variety of concrete models that can be used to teach mathematics. Teachers should carefully select what might work for students and have students pick whatever they would like to use. By allowing them to make choices and decisions, students can be more engaged and their self-determination skill is also enhanced.

· Using a variety of concrete models and materials to teach students, so that they will be able to generalize their skills.

· There are two stages in the representational level, including semiconcrete and semiabstract level. Teacher often neglect one of these levels. It is important to include both stages in CRA instruction in order for students to make a successful connection and transition.

· In order to facilitate math learning, teachers will need to preteach some basic math vocabulary (e.g., add, subtract, multiply, and divide) which can be done at the beginning of the explicit instruction – preparing students’ knowledge for the following lesson.

· After students acquire some basic concepts, teacher should use alternative math vocabulary purposefully for the same concept to help students generalize learning (e.g., by, times, multiply).

· The use of technologies (e.g., PowerPoint animation) can facilitate CRA instructional sequence by visually showing students the connections between each stage.

References:

Howell, S. C., & Barnhart, R. S. (1992). Teaching word problem solving at the primary level. Teaching Exceptional Children, 1992(winter), 44-46.

2010 Region 3 Education Service Center / Texas A&M University