My name is Christine Emerson and after much thought I decided that I could help teachers with powerpoint lessons using the up-to-date method of Explicit Instruction teaching by creating this website.

In this blog I will explain the steps of each power point slide and their purpose.

 

My story

I am a teacher of 30 years and have taught explicit instruction to students for 11 of those years.

I was first introduced to explicit instruction by my principal when I was informed that it was going to be the preferred instruction in Australia in the future.

I decided then and there I would investigate and start to formulate my teaching in the explicit instruction method.

I was fortunate to find online, the planning outline of explicit instruction written by Lorraine Hammond who is now a professor at Edith Cowan University in Perth.

I continued developing lessons on my own for a number of years using the planning document (you will find this in resources) and I will admit at first I thought the pre-able was time consuming but I persevered and after massive improvements in my students results I realised it did work.

At first I delivered my lessons on an word document with the overhead projector. But as time passed I decided they would look better as a powerpoint and make them much more interesting for students.

From the responses from students this was confirmed. The powerpoint production enabled me to embed you tube clips and visual stimulus to direct students.

Now I have developed lessons for Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Art.

In the next blog I will start to explain each powerpoint slide and the reasons for their design. 

signing off on the 1st July 2023.

 

Title at the beginning of every powerpoint lesson

Slide 1

The title is used by students to write into their files as a heading. This enables them to find the information later when studying for tests. 

I ask students to write down the title at the beginning of every lesson.

 

See below.

The next page has the syllabus statement or student outcome - In Western Australia these statements can be found on the SCASA website. I choose to have this statement at the beginning of every lesson as it makes sure I cover every SCASA discripter or Scope and Sequence which are mandatory in Western Australia.

I also explain to the students where the statements come from and that they are directed for teachers to use. This stops any objections about topics. Once students understand the accountability of the statements they understand more.

I do not labour the point however because once explained students soon pick up that this is the case for every slide produced like this at the beginning of a lesson. 

The debate about what you call this slide syllabus or student outcome? I would suggest that for upper school that Syllabus be used and perhaps primary school student outcome. It really is up to the teachers discretion. Signing off on the11th July 23.

Please see slide for example below.

WALT: What am I learning today?

This slide informs the student as to what they are going to be learning in the lesson. It is best to keep it simple in the lower grade levels especially, as students progress you can lengthen the WALT statement.

It is best to put the statement in the first person, its is more personal and has strength of ownership of what the student is about to accomplish. And of course the statement gives the student a clear understanding of what is ahead of them in the lesson.

An example of the WALT - What are we learning today? is below.

The students read the statement above aloud and in unison. Then you take out the key words for the second slide and then the answer in the third slide. This repetition helps students to remember what they are about to do in the lesson.

Activate Prior Knowledge

Activate Prior Knowledge is to place new knowledge, skills, strategy, in the context of what students already know.

It also reviews previously learnt lessons.

When starting a new topic, you don't have any learnt lessons to revise on so it is best to use a KWL chart which enables you to find out what students already know.

It is my belief that activate prior knowledge is extremely important to students because it engages them immediately - it also reduces their cognitive load by repetition.

To the teacher it is also important because it is formative assessment (finding out if students are understanding the content and concepts) And the feedback from the students is immediate.

So how do you do this? 

You can verbally ask questions, but I prefer to have prepared questions on my power point, I use previous lessons that students have had to create my questions for them. I also prefer multiple choice questions because it is quick and easy to assess what the students know.

Students can indicate their choice of answer by number on a mini whiteboard or cards that are numbered. I laminated cards and put them on a metal clip ring to attach them together and students keep these cards in their pencil case.

I use the review questions every lesson and I create questions that are central to the core curricula. This of course prepares students for tests and assessments.

See below for some examples of Activate Prior Knowledge. Signing off on the 16th December 2023.

Previewing the Lesson

This slide informs students about the activities that are going to be completed during the lesson. The length of the preview will vary from lesson to lesson depending on the content of the curricula.

A side advantage of the preview is that the teacher can briefly view the preview to remind them of the lesson content.

I have included a number of previews from lessons in the website.

 

The next section of the lesson is the activities, and practice section by students.

So using Hattie's I do, We do, You do we continue with the lesson. 

This method of teaching has been used for many years. Look back into your school days and you will remember the teacher demonstrating whilst you listen and watch and then you would try to so the same. for example a science experiment - the teacher demonstrates and explains, then you have a try this supervision. (I do and We do)

 

Marzano and Hottie both believe this part of explicit instruction is most effective.

 

I do - What is it?

This phase explains and demonstrates to the student the things they need to know to be able TO DO.

It involves teaching strategies like, informing, explaining, modelling and providing examples.

I rely on verbal, written, maps, diagrams on power points to cover the I DO section.

In more practical subjects like sport, woodwork - you would also demonstrate the technique.

Find below some examples of for the I DO section in lessons. (signing off on the 4th February 2024.)

This is the first slide for I DO - Students are referred to a page number in their text book which shows and guides the student how to create a timeline. Some information is on the slide which the students need to write down as they are the basic instructions on how to create a time line.

 

To the left are the next three slides which show the steps the students will take to create their timeline. 

If you wanted to you could write an example on the board as the students are introduced to writing a timeline.

WE DO - is the next stage in student practice. 

In some topics these phase may take several lessons.

WE DO, is the second phase of I DO, WE DO, YOU DO.

This section of the learning process is when the teacher guides the student to complete activities to consolidate the new information they have just been introduced to. By working together you can help the students use the steps they need to follow to complete tasks for example writing a letter.

To assist students in practicing you can use graphic organisers. In my class I use these all the time and have workbooks I have developed for each lesson (you can order these in the web shop under workbooks)  The workbooks have tables, and scaffolded graphic organisers to already drawn up to save time. 

 

By practicing the new skill or new concept helps the student reduce the cognitive load and deposits the information into the long term memory.

 

The more you support the student in this phase the better their knowledge and understanding.

Hattie presents the notion that the tasks should be challenging  and not mindless boring tasks.

So to recap, WE DO - teacher watches and guides, practice is with the teacher, students master skills, teacher gives feedbackk, teacher scaffolds with graphic organisers. Starting sentences are useful to get the student writing. These are the practical aspects of WE DO.

 

Hattie also talks about student confidence. He talks about the student confidence in their own ability is ofter low and underestimated. He believes increasing students confidence and belief in themselves has a big effect size. I personally believe that student confidence is the biggest mindset that holds back student progress. I will often say is "All I ask of you is to try." and "Im here to help". Often once a student discovers they can do the activity they will begin to take more interest in their learning.

See below for some sample slides on WE DO.   (signing off 16th February 2024.)

 

Final Slide for the lesson - Plenary

Plenaries are the final slide in an explicit instruction lesson. There are many different ways to approach. I suggest you google online as there are 100;s of Ideas online.

 

I will add some of these in future blogs. 

 

Plenaries are formative assessment and can also be called checking for understanding.

 

Lorraine Hammond refers to plenaries as review of critical content (plough back).

 

I will show you a number of slides as examples, but my favourite is the exit slip. My students will wait to see if their response is correct. If time I will give general feedback on the exit slips.

 

If the exit slips are largely incorrect its important to reteach the concept or skill. This rarely happens.

You can make your own exit slips or find some online.

Please find examples of plenary slides below.

 

 

How can you support students during activities: It is highly recommended that you make or use scaffolding methods of supporting students in their learning. I also saves time in the classroom.

I have posted some supporting scaffolds below.

1st April 2024

 

Different Ideas for Plenaries

I personally use exit slips but occasionally I change it up by something different to check for learning.

 

idea number 1

Students rate their own learning on a scal 1-3

1 being excellent - I understand

 

Idea number 2

Give me five

Pupils draw around their hand in their file or on paper. Write the following on each finger - Thumbs up: What have you learnt, What do you understand.

Pointing finger: what skills did you use today?

Ring finger: How did you show commitment to todays learning? Who did you help today?

Pinky Promise: What will you make sure you remember from todays lesson?

This is a way of structuring pupils reflection time. It allows the weakest to celebrate what they have done well and encourages the brightesst to think about the next steps in their learning.

 

Idea 3

A quiz

Play who want to be a millionaire. By getting students to create their own quiz cards it will consolidate their knowledge and allow you to assess their understanding. Signing off : 12 May 2024

example of a complete lesson below: 

 

Vocabulary

It is important to teach vocabulary of the content and skill specific words of the subject.

Every teacher is a teacher of language (the language of your subject). Many different technical terms are used in different topics

 

Students need these words to be able to learn and understand the topic.

Choosing the important vocabulary is part of the process to enable learning by the students.

There are core academic words - common across subject areas.

There are content specific words - in your subject area vocabulary.

Students must actively participate in the vocabulary learning. The must also have opportunities to read, write, speak, and hear

using the vocabulary.

Teaching vocabulary required immersion in rich oral language and wide reading.

We must also teach spelling

Syntax (using words in sentences).

Semantics (relationship between words).

Word attack skills (how to work out what a word means.

See slides below for examples in exploring vocabulary. 12th July 2024.

 

Activate Prior Learning - sometimes referred to as review

When starting a new topic I use KWL - What I Know, What I want to know and Like to know

Another method is think/pair/share.

Once you are further into the learning ie lesson 2, I use multiple choice to check learning. Multiple choice is quick and definative.

I make cards for the students to hold up with 1-4 on and they hold up their answer. Student whiteboards are another option. But if you dont have access to these methods you can ask the students to hold up their fingers. I think the cards are best as they are more discreet.

12 July 2024. 

To support teaching explicitly its important to support students with graphic organisers. There are hundreds to choose from but some examples are Think-pair- share, brainstorm, concept map, KWL chart, cause and effect, fishbone, flow chart, flow chart, 4W's and H, paragraph graphic, placemat, venn diagram, Ychart.

These are the ones I use the most but there are many more.

Find following a lesson on visual literacy which uses think/pair/share. (posted 5th September 2024)