Active Learning Strategies for Effective Direct Instruction

1. Active Learning Strategies for Effective Direct Instruction PLC Late Start PD March 4, 2009

2. Essential Questions and the Learning Objective Why is it important for students to be in the Foveal Zone during your direct instruction? What active learning strategies can teachers use to improve student engagement during their direct instruction? Teachers will apply their knowledge of active learning strategies by revising the direct instruction portion of their lesson for the day to include at least one active learning strategy.

3. Anticipatory Set: Whole Group Discussion Question: Who has had a college class in which the professor lectured for the entire 60-90 minutes? Did you try to take notes, listen and process the information at the same time? Were you successful at learning the material covered in the lecture? Why or why not? Think about the students in your class: Are they supposed to listen to your input, take notes and process the information at the same time? How successful are they at “learning” the material?

4. Input: Zones of Attention How do you know when a student is attentively listening? Three Zones: Foveal Zone: Center of Attention Peripheral Zone: In and Out Zone of Inattention: On another Planet Synonyms/Descriptions During a lecture what percentage of the time are you in the Foveal Zone? Peripheral? Inattentive? How do the Zones of Attention relate to student engagement?

5. Input: Small Group Discussion of the Mel Silberman Reading Discuss in your group the following questions: What parts of the reading did you find most interesting/important? Why? What are the implications of this reading? How “active” is your direct instruction? What strategies do you use to increase student engagement?

6. Attention Check Foveal Zone = 1 finger Peripheral Zone = 2 fingers Zone of inattention = 3 fingers Why did you give this rating? What factors contributed to your attention/inattention?

7. Input: Whole Group Share Out Whip Around: Be prepared to share one important idea and one implication.

8. Synthesis of the Silberman (1996) Reading Students in Foveal Zone hear about one-half of what a teacher says!! Attention and Retention decrease rapidly. Adding visuals ? increases retention The brain must “process” (compare/contrast, question, summarize, classify…) in order to retain/learn Teachers need to “chunk” info into discrete parts while giving students an opportunity to actively process the info Students need multiple opportunities to process info Increasingly, students prefer to be involved with immediate, direct, concrete experiences rather than learning basic concepts first and applying them later. Collaborative learning activities drive active learning

9. Direct Instruction and EEEI Direct Instruction: Input Modeling Checking for understanding New Lesson Template: Student Actions Is note taking enough to ensure/maximize student learning during direct instruction? Does note taking ensure that students are in the Foveal Zone?

11. Four Active Learning Strategies for Effective Direct Instruction Cornell Notes/Note Taking Have students generate questions to ask their table partner(s) Have students generate brief summaries to share with their table partner(s) Attentive Lecture Give 2 or 3 minutes of Direct Instruction while students actively listen. Then give the students to discuss the input with a partner. Finally, the student writes the notes in their own words.

12. Four Active Learning Strategies for Effective Direct Instruction Clozed Notes Prepare notes a head of time with missing words and phrases that students must complete as they actively listen to your Direct Instruction. A-B Partner Teach Either partner is required to teach the other how to do something. The other partner will be asked to share out to the whole group.

13. Proving Behavior Think about the direct instruction portion of your lesson for the day. What opportunities are available to incorporate one or more of the active learning strategies? Write an explanation of how you will use one or more active learning strategies during your direction instruction today.

15. Closure In your own words, explain why it is important for students to be in the Foveal Zone during your direct instruction? What questions do you still have about student engagement during direct instruction? Do you have any other active learning strategies that you find effective during your direct instruction? If so, what do you use?

16. Next Steps and Expectations All teacher will utilize at least one active learning strategy during their direct instruction for each lesson. Administrators will be focusing on this aspect during our informal observations.