The purpose of the following assignment is to make a coherent evaluation of main ideas coined in chapter one and chapter 2 of “Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners” and “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” respectively. At the same time, the paper is going to make an in-depth review of the key findings of the scholarly paper – “High performing primary schools: What do they have in common?” by William Louden. More specifically, it is to say that the objective of the present paper is to concentrate on the instructional strategies elaborated in each of the above-mentioned texts. The aim is thereafter to make comparison and contrast of chapter 1 and 2 of the mentioned books and to identify the most relevant as well as valuable context of instructional strategies.
However, prior to accomplish the above-described aim, it is significant to denote that the argument of chapter one of “Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners” says that there is a high dependency on the individual standard of schooling among diverse learners. The argument is indicative of the fact that the quality of schooling is the prime facet that determines whether a diverse learner can upgrade herself/himself from the shackles of illiteracy, innumeracy as well as invisibility. On the other hand, in the second chapter of “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson”, the authors illustrated the fact that for the struggling learners, direct instructions, which are teacher-centered are effective.
Nevertheless, following the main motive of present assignment, it is necessary first to review and reflect on the key ideas emphasized by William Lauden in his paper – “High performing primary schools: What do they have in common?”. It has been identified that the key purpose of William Lauden in his paper has been to identify both the similarities and differences among varied primary schools under Western Australian government who are steadily performing high than the expected result set by the NAPLAN (Louden, 2015). After going through Lauden’s paper thoroughly it has been understood that among all the chosen schools have long-term leadership with explicit agendas for school improvements. More precisely, from the paper it has been identified that all the selected schools, which have progressed with high performing standards have reading programs according to the concept of direct teaching of synthetic phonics (Louden, 2015). Most significantly, it can be noted from the paper that almost seven of the considered schools of high performing arts have adopted the “lower variation teaching” method and following it they have mandated text books coupled with school-based sequence plans.
Furthermore, it has been understood that in accordance with the “lower variation teaching” system, seven of the high-performing schools are maintaining formal timetable based literacy as well numeracy blocks. Most significantly, according to William Lauden’s findings, most of the high-performing schools have intervention programs, which are set in direct intervention style (Louden, 2015). Therefore, it is easy to understand that teachers of these schools have a more practical approach towards teaching, they have proved the fact that use of lectures, and demonstrations of various relevant materials help the learners in acquiring knowledge (Luke, 2014). It has been also understood from the research paper that professional development of the teachers is a necessary component for accomplishing high performance from the students. The particular understanding has been built by Lauden’s findings, which say that all the seven high performing schools, which have adopted “low variation teaching” method, have implemented and are maintaining in-class coaching, study tours and Peer observation programs.
Moreover, it has been identified that the professional development program of explicit instruction designed by John Fleming has been also applied by most of the high performing primary schools. Therefore, it is indicative of the fact that direct instructional teaching approach is gradually being replaced by explicit instructional approach, which refers to a more teacher-centered instructional approach that concentrates on the transparent behavioral as well as cognitive outcomes (Pressley & Allington, 2014). However, Lauden’s research paper has also made evidence of the truth that most of the West Australian primary schools with high-standard performances are independent public schools. On the other hand, the paper refers that success of these schools is dependent upon their selection of local human resources. Therefore, two significant understanding can be built on the acquired information and evidence, which are high-performance of the primary schools are more becoming dependent upon explicit instruction and lower variation teaching style (Louden, 2015). The second is in terms of successful lower variation teaching strategy, “timetabled literacy and numeracy blocks” is becoming more successful.
From the very first chapter of the particular text, it has been understood that the authors desired to indicate that the contexts or utilization areas of the fundamental curriculum features, which are supposed to be social, economic, educational, demographic and cultural, are extremely critical. Most significantly, it has been identified that along with elaborating six teaching instructions, the chapter has justified the fact that teaching instructions, which are based on “quality design tools” are most beneficial. According to the author’s perception, chief aspects of curriculum design are sensitivity to differences in the prior knowledge, mediated scaffolding, conspicuous strategies, and effectiveness of review (Coyne, Kame’enui & Carnine, 2011). It has been understood by going through the chapter that there is an essentiality of teaching the teachers about big ideas and therefore under the set of apt curriculum design, the act of “teaching big ideas” should be enlisted. It is interesting to denote that the authors have suggested that developers of instructional educational approaches need to take the responsibility to pursue a beta test prior to publish the designed instructions (Coyne, Kame’enui & Carnine, 2011).
It has been understood that within the inaugural chapter of “Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners” the authors have mainly focused on the effective instructional strategies, which should be applied by the educational institutions for better teaching practices. It has been understood that among the six prime instructional strategies, the most explicit or transparent one is considered as the “primed background knowledge” (Coyne, Kame’enui & Carnine, 2011). It has been further identoified that among the other components of instructional strategies, big ideas, mediated scaffolding and strategic integration are relatively complex. The authors have specified that primed background knowledge is more straightforward and easy to comprehend. On the other hand, it has been understood from the underpinnings made by the authors in chapter one says that judicious review in terms of one of the potential instructional strategies, possess four critical dimensions (Coyne, Kame’enui & Carnine, 2011). The authors have denoted that a judicious review in terms of an instructional strategy for teaching should be distributed over time as well as it should be cumulative. Moreover, the authors have implied that the existing critical dimensions of judicious review implicate that judicious review needs to be sufficient to an extent, which would help the students in making fruitful performance without any hesitation. In addition, it has been also implied that judicious reviews should be varied as per the reason that the instructional design of judicious review needs to illustrate the wide application of the understanding level of the learners.
On the other hand, it has been also mentioned that the need for strategic information is a systematic process that integrates essential information, which end up in a comparatively complex form. It is to contemplate in this context that through the chapter, the authors have highlighted one significant aspect of teaching, which is every teacher has the accountability to accommodate individual needs of the learners and consider them as their own child. It can be therefore said that the chapter does not only explains and elaborate the six fundamental instructional strategies but also teaches some essential attributes, which should be pursued by dedicated teachers (Liem & Martin, 2013). Most significantly, each of the instructional strategies underpinned by the authors, have been justified with valid points and relevant evidences. For example, for establishing the fact that primed background knowledge is most transparent and significant, the authors have said that in order to understand “convection cell model” from the premise of earth science, it is essential to have the background information about all the aspects regarding earth science, like heat, pressure and density. Therefore, it can be said that the chapter has not only enlightened about the fundamental instructional strategies regarding teaching approach but also has helped to understand their individual necessity.
In the particular chapter, Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2009 have primarily focused on effective instruction and prior to give an explicit overview of EDI or explicit direct instruction, the authors have elaborated certain crucial premises, like the essential need to send children school, learning dilemma and two essential philosophies of education (Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2009). Initially, it has been identified and understood that teachers generally feel a particular difficulty while teaching. The chapter is indicative of the fact that currently most of the teachers are finding it difficult to decide whether to speed up in order to complete all the contains in syllabus, or to slow down and focus first on the students’ ability and support them to acquire ability to understand the concept of the standard. Therefore, the authors are indicative of the fact that there is a compulsion for the teachers for both covering up all the chapters and supporting each of the students to grasp all the contents and skills of the standard (Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2009). On the other hand, the chapter has indicated the truth that presently academic institutions should consider giving equal attention to each of the students for maintaining high standard of educational quality. Therefore, the previously mentioned predicament seems to have a justified reason to occur.
However, it has been also identified from the chapter that in the present era of high educational performance, satisfying and successful teaching approaches depend upon two particular philosophies. The first philosophy, which is teacher-centered and direct instruction, says that educational contents are to be decided and designed by teachers (Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2009). The second philosophy, which is progressive, believes in a contradictory statement that says instead of the teachers, students should also be responsible for deciding what exactly to learn. It has been identified that the predominant instructional guidelines says that the lesson planning needs to be explicit at first and the instructional approach should be designed after thorough research. Therefore, it seems that the second philosophical approach is indicative of the explicit instruction system. The instructional approach of explicit instruction system has delivery and design methods derived from behavior analysis as well as effective school research (Ku et al., 2014).
Nevertheless, the chapter has implied the fact that there is the necessity of an explicit teaching but in a way where teachers will be in front of the classroom. Henceforth, the authors are indicative of the fact that the philosophy of teacher-centered direct instruction is more effective and fruitful, as several educational researches have pointed out that teacher-based direct instruction strategy works efficiently in every kind of social level. Moreover, researches have implied that teacher-based direct instruction system has proved successful with students with disabilities. Most significantly, the particular approach is effective for students at-risk or students with lack of preparations and the individual approach had been successful in the initial period with African-American learners (Clark et al., 2012). Nonetheless, it has been found that through the second chapter, the respective authors have attempted to establish effectiveness of the new teaching approach, which is “Explicit Direct Instruction”, which has the aim of helping more than 80% students to achieve correct answers. It has been understood from the penultimate part of the chapter that the explicit direct instruction is considered as one of the most efficient and strategic set of instructional practices for designing and delivering appropriately crafter lessons for every students. The particular teaching approach is known to possess explicit and grade level contents for teaching (Taguchi, 2015).
It has been understood that the authors have focused on both the instructional designs of the EDI or explicit direct instruction at the last section of the chapter. However, it has been identified that prior to outline the design components and lesson delivery strategies of EDI, the authors have reviewed and denoted some of the most successful and frequently used strategies, which are used by teachers to get high performance. Such strategies are starting new lessons after reviewing prerequisite learning, delivering brief statement of goals, maintain detailed instructions, asking so many questions and providing explicit instruction along with constant feedbacks. However, it has been understood from the point of view of the authors that they have a positive support for the instructive strategies of EDI, which consists a set of components of lesson design. These are found to be learning objectives, act of activating prior knowledge, development of concept and skill, highlighting lesson importance, guide proper practice, lesson closure and independent practice (Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2008). On the other hand, it has been understood that the EDI’s lesson delivery strategies include four distinct strategies, which are continuous verification to determine whether students are having explicit understanding, explain every chapter with easy words, modeling strategic thinking for students and demonstration of lesson through objects.
Therefore, it can be definitely said that the instruction strategies of EDI seem apt for teachers and effective for students of all social standard. On the other hand, it can be also said after reviewing the chapter that the EDI instructional strategies are found to have a fundamental connection with the essential components of explicit instruction system, which are known to be design components and delivery strategies. The EDI instruction system covers both the components and at the same time relies on the fundamental principle of DI or direct instructions.
After getting through the respective chapters mentioned-above, it has been understood that instead of having different contents, both of the chapters have chiefly focused on the instructional strategies of teaching. However, the main difference that has been found out between two of the chapter is in the types of the instructional strategies (Szeto, 2015). Prior to outline the differences, it is significant to contemplate that both of the chapters have focused and explained some similar instructional strategies. For example, both of the chapters have pointed out that, in terms of instructional or educational tools, there should be strategies, which would help the teachers in identifying the needs of the students. Most significantly, both of the chapters have focused and elaborated the set of instructional strategies, which are applicable for students of all social level. However, it has been identified while reviewing both of the chapters, that the chapter one of “Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners” has given more in-depth elaboration about the instructional tools, while chapter two of “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” have given relatively less analysis about the instructions. The main difference that is significantly identifiable between two of the chapters is that the second chapter of “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” have focused on to establish the effectiveness of Explicit direct design. Further, following the particular purpose, the authors of the book have given a brief elaboration about the instructional designs and tools.
Nevertheless, it is required to mention that instead of the reason that the considered chapter of the textbook is helpful for any reader to achieve a coherent understanding about the ideal teaching process, chapter two of the other considered book has contents that are more relevant. It is because, the second chapter of “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” has given brief yet understandable accounts regarding the fundamental philosophies of teacher-centered approach. At the same time, the authors have given detail about the issue of mandatorily covering all the content standards, whereas the first chapter of the textbook has not particularly pointed out any problem that occurs frequently with the teachers and students in time of covering any lesson. However, it is also to mention that the second considered chapter has mentioned that there is the necessity for demonstrative teaching or use of various objects in time of teaching. According to the chapter’s implication and following the new trend teaching approach, it is essential to use the demonstrative objects for teaching as the technique enable the teachers in making the entire process for learning interesting.
However, in the first chapter of textbook, there is no mention of the need of using demonstrative objects in particular. Therefore, it can be said that the common aspect about both of the chapters is the strategic instructional procedures, which are convenient for both of teachers and students.
After considering both of the chapters as well as the key findings portrayed by William Lauden, it can be said that the second chapter of the book – “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” has been found more relevant in the present high performance educational era. In this context, it is important to give a brief outline about my current teaching scenario. I presently work in a primary school that is under the west Australian government and I have been engaged in a second language acquisition class for over last one year. I have come across to experience that it is essential to make the lesson learning explicit and at the same time, it is essential to bring the students to their comfort zone. Furthermore, I have been seen that the school authority is focused on making and maintaining long-term educational goals. Most significantly, it is to mention in this respect that the schools where I work prioritize the need of making professional development of the teachers; therefore, the teachers are provided annual training from the schools authority. Recently, the teachers have been given a through training regarding the EDI.
Regarding this brief, it is to mention that both of the chapters along with the article by William Lauden have been found relevant and helpful. However, the second chapter of “Explicit Direct Instruction: The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson” have been found more valuable as per the reason that a training regarding EDI has been currently given. Nevertheless, this is not only the dominant reason due to which the distinct chapter has been found more helpful than the other is. The second chapter has focused on a particular teaching approach, which is teacher-based explicit direct instruction, whereas the other chapter has prioritized the strategies, which are dependent upon the quality of schooling. Most significantly, the second chapter has drawn the need of demonstrational teaching, which is essential for second language acquisition teachers. On the other hand, it is to say that Lauden’s findings are also helpful evident as per the reason that most of the high-performing schools of West-Australia are now adopting the “low-variation” teaching styles. Mandated textbooks and school-based sequence plans as per Lauden’s findings are found to be part of explicit teaching instructions, which in reality are helping the teachers in assisting the students in acquiring proper knowledge.
Nevertheless, it is to mention in this respect that the second chapter has been found more retable in comparison with the other due to the reason that the chapter has initially outline the most frequent issue encountered by the teachers. The issue has been found common and thereafter the instructional strategies outlines in terms of explicit direct instructions have been recognized to be helpful for avoiding such issue.
References
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Clark, R., Kirschner, P. A., & Sweller, J. (2012). Putting students on the path to learning: The case for fully guided instruction. American Educator, 6?11. (available on BB)
Coyne, M.D., Kame’enui, E.J., & Carnine, D.W. (2011). Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Hollingsworth, J. R., & Ybarra, S. E. (2008). Explicit direct instruction (EDI): The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson. 116 S. Seventh Street, Fowler, CA 93625: Corwin Press & Data Works Educational Research
Ku, K. Y., Ho, I. T., Hau, K. T., & Lai, E. C. (2014). Integrating direct and inquiry-based instruction in the teaching of critical thinking: an intervention study. Instructional Science, 42(2), 251-269.
Liem, G. A. D., & Martin, A. J. (2013). Direct instruction. In Hattie, J. & Anderman, E. M. (Eds). International guide to student achievement, 366?368. Hobeken: Taylor and Francis. (Digital Text from ECU)
Louden, W. (2015). High performing primary schools: What do they have in common? Department of Education Western Australia. (Available on BB)
Luke, A. (2014). On explicit and direct instruction. Australian Literacy Association Hot Topics, 1-4.
Pressley, M., & Allington, R. L. (2014). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. Guilford Publications.
Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of Instruction: Research?based strategies that all teacher should know. American Educator, Spring, 12?39. (Available on BB)
Szeto, E. (2015). Community of Inquiry as an instructional approach: What effects of teaching, social and cognitive presences are there in blended synchronous learning and teaching?. Computers & Education, 81, 191-201.
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(01), 1-50.
Blomberg, G., Sherin, M. G., Renkl, A., Glogger, I., & Seidel, T. (2014). Understanding video as a tool for teacher education: investigating instructional strategies to promote reflection. Instructional Science, 42(3), 443-463.
Clark, R., Kirschner, P. A., & Sweller, J. (2012). Putting students on the path to learning: The case for fully guided instruction. American Educator, 6?11. (available on BB)
Coyne, M.D., Kame’enui, E.J., & Carnine, D.W. (2011). Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
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Hollingsworth, J. R., & Ybarra, S. E. (2008). Explicit direct instruction (EDI): The power of the well?crafted, well?taught lesson. 116 S. Seventh Street, Fowler, CA 93625: Corwin Press & Data Works Educational Research
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Ku, K. Y., Ho, I. T., Hau, K. T., & Lai, E. C. (2014). Integrating direct and inquiry-based instruction in the teaching of critical thinking: an intervention study. Instructional Science, 42(2), 251-269.
Liem, G. A. D., & Martin, A. J. (2013). Direct instruction. In Hattie, J. & Anderman, E. M. (Eds). International guide to student achievement, 366?368. Hobeken: Taylor and Francis. (Digital Text from ECU)
Louden, W. (2015). High performing primary schools: What do they have in common? Department of Education Western Australia. (Available on BB)
Luke, A. (2014). On explicit and direct instruction. Australian Literacy Association Hot Topics, 1-4.
Pressley, M., & Allington, R. L. (2014). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. Guilford Publications.
Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of Instruction: Research?based strategies that all teacher should know. American Educator, Spring, 12?39. (Available on BB)
Szeto, E. (2015). Community of Inquiry as an instructional approach: What effects of teaching, social and cognitive presences are there in blended synchronous learning and teaching?. Computers & Education, 81, 191-201.
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(01), 1-50.
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