TAPPLE

Is everyone learning?

Checking for understanding - "Students, I want to make sure you're learning what I'm teaching"

Source: Hollingsworth, J. and Ybarra, S. (2009) Explicit direct instruction: EDI: The power of the well-crafted, well-taught lesson. Thousand Oaks, Fowler: Corwin Press ; Data Works Educational Research.

Checking for understanding is the teacher continually verifying that the students are learning what is being taught while it is being taught.

Your student's ability to successfully answer CFU questions determines the pace of the lesson.

Ideally, using the EDI method, you would be using around 15 questions per lesson - each time you ask an EDI question, call on two to three students to respond= 30 - 45 responses per lesson.

This means your lessons are interactive, as you engage ALL students in the learning.

3. Pair-Share: Pair shares are crucial.

Here are some key reasons - see more in the EDI book.

Every student has the opportunity to answer every question.
Wait time is embedded, giving students time to prepare an answer.
Student engagement improves.
Students remember more.

1. Teach first: When you check for understanding, your students can answer correctly because they are applying the information that you just taught them.

2. Ask a specific question: Don't ask students if they think they are learning. Ask specific questions.

"Students, how did I solve problem 31?

"Students, solve problem 32 on your whiteboards"

"Students identify the noun in this sentence"

4. Pick a non volunteer: Use the responses of a few students to represent the learning for all the students. (Marzano, 2017)

How?

NOTE: This must be done after you have:

Taught first
Asked a question
Pair-shared - everyone has had a chance to think about the learning.

NEXT: Call on a non-volunteer...

Use 'smart sticks' with student names
Cold call: Ask the question...pause...call the name of the student to respond.

(This should only occur after students have shared. By asking the question first, the whole room is 'thinking', pause and then target the student for a cold call.)

Ask students to justify their answers - what makes you say that?

5. Listen to the response.

Students should be using:

Public voice - everyone can hear
Use of the correct sentence frame and subject specific language - see the attached chapter of EDI
Are they correct?

6. Effective feedback:

Do you need to reteach any of the key concepts?

Effective feedback - see Chapter 6 of the EDI book.