Direct Instruction Training

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Direct Instruction Training

• Rockford Public Schools District 205
• September 15, 2008

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What is Direct Instruction?

• Direct Instruction (DI) is an explicit,
  scientifically-based model of effective
  instruction developed by Siegfried Engelmann in
  the 1960's at the University of Illinois and
  later at the University of Oregon.
• Guiding principles of DI include every child can
  learn if we teach him or her carefully and all
  teachers can be successful when given effective
  programs and instructional delivery techniques.
  Thus, ultimately it is the teacher who is
  responsible for student learning students are
  not blamed for their failure to learn. One often
  hears the statement, "If the learner hasn't
  learned, the teacher has not taught" in reference
  to DI programs and instructional delivery (see
  Tarver, 1999 for further details).

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What is Direct Instruction?

• The goal of DI is to "do more in less
  time"accelerating student learning by carefully
  controlling the features of curriculum design and
  instructional delivery.
• There are three main components to the design and
  delivery of DI programs. These include
• (a) program design
• (b) organization of instruction
• (c) teacher/student interactions
• (see Marchand-Martella, Slocum, Martella, 2004
  for further details).

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Why we use DI

• The IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act, reauthorized in 1997 and amended again in
  2004) requires "specially-designed" instruction
  for students with disabilities to meet their
  unique needs at no cost to the parents.
• IDEA 2004 includes an increased focus on the use
  of scientifically-based instructional programs
  for use with students with disabilities.
• One scientifically-based instructional program
  shown to be effective with special education
  populations is Direct Instruction. Direct
  Instruction programs are considered
  scientifically-based but, more importantly, are
  scientifically validated in that they have been
  shown to work through rigorous scientific
  experimentation.

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DI has the following attributes

• Homogeneous Skill Grouping
• Children are grouped according to their
  levels of ability, rather than according to age
  or other factors. If you are going to teach the
  same material to a group of children, they
  clearly benefit most if they are all able to
  follow the material.
• Scripted Class Sessions
• Teachers use pre-designed scripts when
  teaching. The scripts are based on extensive
  research regarding student retention, and every
  aspect of every script is based upon results that
  were demonstrated through research. The great
  advantage of this approach is that every teacher
  using the script becomes the beneficiary of that
  research and will probably teach much more
  effectively than if left to his or her own
  devices.

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Attributes continued.

• Intense, Constant, Consistent Student
  Interaction
• The scripted sessions consist primarily of
  sequences of stimulus/response pairings, wherein
  the teacher stimulates the class with a
  description of a concept, an illustration of the
  concept through an example, and finally a request
  that the class repeat the example. The class
  responds orally, usually as a group.
• Teaching to Mastery
• The group does not move on until everyone in the
  group understands the material.

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Teacher-student interactions include

• active student participation- Increasing
  opportunities for students to respond and receive
  feedback
• unison responding- Increasing students'
  responding by having them chorally respond
• signals- providing a cue to evoke unison oral
  response
• pacing- promoting active student engagement with
  brisk teacher pacing
• teaching to mastery- ensuring firm responding
  over time
• error corrections- minimizing student errors by
  carefully sequencing instruction when errors do
  occur, using careful error correction
  proceduresmodel, lead, test, retest

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Successful teachers of DI

• Teach students to mastery by
• Ensuring students are kept at a high rate of
  success
• Correct errors immediately
• Use appropriate error correction procedures (keep
  them handy and visible)
• Repeat a task until the group/student is firm
  (100 accuracy)
• Start over or go back and repeat the task until
  firm when errors occur
• Add extra structure/practice for skills students
  are not mastering skill (check with DI reading
  coach)

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• Teach efficiently by
• Pre-read the lesson before you present it to the
  class
• Give clear instructions for academic responses
  (follow script in manual informing students how
  to respond)
• Present material using a quick pace keeps
  students on task and engaged
• Gain and maintain student attention (move around,
  call on students in random order, use pause and
  punch, change tone of voice)

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• Motivate students by
• Stating clear expectations for academic responses
• Provide positive feedback for correct academic
  responses
• State clear expectations for acceptable behavior
• Provide positive feedback for acceptable behavior
• Enforce consequences for unacceptable behavior

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• Use data by
• Filling out the pacing guide daily
• Document Rate and Accuracy Checkouts and any
  Mastery Tests
• Give Out of Program Tests when necessary
• Use collected data to modify teaching procedures,
  accelerating or firming student skills
• Analyze and add additional structure where
  necessary

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Remember

• Anything thats worth doing is worth monitoring
  and what gets monitored gets done!

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The DI Learning Paradigm

• Teacher Models- My turn.
• Teacher Leads- Say it with me.
• Teacher Tests- Your turn
• Teacher Re-tests Starting over. When errors
  occur and when giving individual check-outs

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Teaching DI Basics

• Prepare your classroom and materials for the day
• Pre-read the lesson and practice
• Have clear expectations of how the students enter
  and prepare for the class to begin
• Start the lesson as soon as the bell rings
• Begin with the Good bye list
• Proceed with the lesson following the script
  and using signal

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Teaching DI Basics continued

• Correct errors immediately, have corrections
  handy and visible
• Start over section when an error occurs
  immediately after the correction has been given
• Praise consistently for work done correctly,
  especially after a correction has been given and
  re-testing has demonstrated the skill is firm
• Keep a brisk pace, but not to the detriment of
  mastery
• Teach bell to bell

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The goal Teach to Mastery

• All children can learn if they are taught
  carefully and consistently.
• To ensure learning by all children, you must
  teach so that at the end of every task, each
  child in the group is able to perform the task
  correctly and independently.
• The group can be considered firm when 100
  correct response, on signal, with no errors.
• When a skill is taught to mastery, the students
  are able to apply that skill and are prepared to
  learn related skills. (One skills builds upon
  another.)
• Teaching to mastery ensures student success
  throughout the program.

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Mastery continued..

• The criterion for Corrective Reading is 100. If
  an error is made, it must be corrected
  immediately.
• Individual turns are critical. The program
  specifies when these are to be done. It serves
  as a check to see whether or not individuals are
  firm on the skill.
• Do not do individual turns until the group is
  firm.
• Give most of the individual turns to low
  performers (about 50).
• You may give individual turns even when they are
  not specified to determine whether or not the
  students are firm on a skill.
• Seat students who are low performers front and
  center of the group to monitor their areas of
  difficulty.

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A Lesson Presentation

• Watch and note the following items
• Did the teacher start with the Good-bye list?
• Is the teacher following the script?
• Is the teacher using hand signals?
• Does the teacher have all students answering
  together?
• Is the teacher correcting errors immediately?
• Is the teacher verifying correct responses?
• Is the teacher positive with the students?

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Presentation notes continued

• Is the teacher giving individual turns after the
  students have demonstrated mastery?
• Is the teacher adding extra structure to the
  lesson when needed?
• Is the teachers pacing quick and accurate?
• Does the teacher make sure all students are on
  task and together during the workbook part of the
  lesson?
• Is the teacher walking around the room to monitor
  student performance?

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Lets Practice

• Pre-read your script
• Get your pacing set
• Remember to signal when you want students to
  respond
• Verify correct responses
• Correct errors immediately
• Give individual turns when students are firm in
  the skill and demonstrate mastery.