Direct Instruction

BlendEd Best Practices: Direct Instruction

The Direct Instruction segment of BlendEd Best Practices promotes effective differentiation responsive to student needs. A key question, however, emerges when we think about effective differentiation. If I'm effectively differentiating instruction, that implies I'm working with a smaller group of students -> If I'm working with a smaller group of students, what are the others doing?

Below you will find:

- A webinar discussing Differentiation during Direct Instruction

- More Guidance on 3 Models of BlendEd Learning

- An Interactive Table with Artifacts Illustrating the use of Multiple BlendEd Models over the course of a Unit

Webinar: How to Differentiate Direct Instruction using BlendEd Instructional Practices

3 Models of BlendEd Learning

Before continuing, it is important to remember three points:

1) BlendEd Instructional Practices involve an effective mixture of online and offline activities purposefully scaffolding student understanding of a specific set of learning objectives.

Unpacking this a bit, BlendEd is not strictly computer-based learning. The educator plays an integral role in the BlendEd classroom - at times the Sage on the Stage, at times the Guide on the Side.

BlendEd is not a hodgepodge of unconnected learning activities. Online and offline activities help students toward a specific set of learning objectives.

2) There is no one "right" way to do BlendEd. BlendEd looks different in every classroom.

Below, we cover 3 Models of BlendEd learning. Examples are meant to illustrate possibilities, not prescribe activities. For more information on getting started with BlendEd, Click Here.

3) The BlendEd Model you choose to use may change according to where you are inside of your Unit Cycle. It is not expected, or potentially desired, that you engage students with the SAME Model every day.

Whole group rotation looks and feels most similar to traditional, non-BlendEd Instruction.

The diagram illustrates how this might look. Students transition together through the offline and online components of the lesson.

After a Whole Group Opening, students might complete a processing activity (ex. think-pair-share) before transitioning to the Practice segment of the lesson.

During Knowledge Deepening, students might all be expected to complete an offline activity (ex. worksheet) before moving to a supplemental online activity. This ensures that all students have something purposeful to do throughout the duration of the time allotted.

Next all students might be directed to an online spot like Seesaw / Flipgrid to create a Worked Example (multimedia explanation of student thought process when completing the learning objectives).

Finally, students might come back together as a whole class to engage in an offline exit ticket.

We tend to see the Whole Group Rotation most in the Math content area (where the curriculum pushes us to address a new skill each day) and at the beginning of an instructional unit (when the need for differentiation is comparatively lower).

The Station Rotation model of BlendEd still involves opening as a whole class to engage in an anticipatory set and potentially some whole group direct instruction.

Afterwards, the class is split into multiple groups (generally 3-5 groups) that will move through activities together.

Typically we see three types of stations: Teacher-led, Independent, and Collaborative Stations. Each of these station types may include online or offline activities.

Allowing for greater differentiation, Teacher-led stations allow educators to tailor the delivery of instruction to a smaller group of students.

Independent Stations allow students to demonstrate their ability to accomplish either the learning objectives of the day - or potentially to move at their own pace, working on objectives that may be more or less advanced. Examples include independent practice, summarizing supplemental input, or creating worked examples.

Collaborative Stations require students to develop a shared understanding of the day's learning objectives. These can be game-enhanced practice sessions (ex: I solve a problem; you check my work; if we agree the answer is correct, I take my turn playing), a collaborative processing activity (ex: create a diagram showing the steps involved in a given process), or

Finally, the class might end in a whole group setting. The teacher might elicit the day's learning objectives from students and ask them to indicate how confident they are they can do each objective (5 fingers = Confident; 1 finger = Still Unclear).

Note: A difficulty when engaging students in Station Rotation can be thinking through the Station activities in a non-linear fashion. Because students might start at any given station, the expectation cannot be that they have done one before the next. Each activity must be independent from the others.

A further difficulty involves structuring Station Activities to take roughly the same amount of time to accomplish. This is addressed in the conversation below on the Flex Model.

We tend to see the Station Rotation Model most in elementary classrooms. It is a fairly intuitive transition for elementary teachers used to structures like the "Daily 5" - with the enhancement being a focus on each of the activities (online and offline) addressing shared learning objectives. We also see Station Rotation utilized in Middle School / High School classrooms that have entered the Knowledge Deepening segment of Cyclical Unit Design.

The Flex Model of BlendEd looks similar to the Station Rotation, except that there are effectively only two groups: those that are working with the teacher to receive instruction tailored to their needs and those that are working on something else (most typically a Choice Board of some kind).

The class period still starts with a whole group opening to establish the learning objectives for the day. However, students then transition to working on their Choice Boards. Choice Boards are explored more deeply in the section on Knowledge Deepening, but involve identifying what students Must Do to process / practice / produce and also what students May choose to Do to process / practice / produce. Choice boards might include a variety of online / offline and independent / collaborative activities.

While the whole of the class is working on their Choice Board, the teacher is able to pull groups of (or individual) students aside for targeted small group instruction. Addressing the difficulty around time in Station Rotation, when engaging students in the Flex Model teachers have a large degree of control over how much time they spend with any given group of students. High flyers might cover the same amount of information in 5 minutes as it takes those struggling 15 minutes.

The class period might end with the teacher giving everyone a five minute warning to wrap up what they are doing and then bringing students back together for a whole group exit ticket of some kind.

Note: When beginning with the Flex Model it is important to help your students understand what is expected of them. Depending on the age / experience of your students, it may be appropriate to limit the number of choices you provide on the choice board. Examples of teacher-created Choice Boards can be found here.

We tend to see the Flex Model in upper elementary through High School classes most. It can be difficult for lower elementary students to understand the expectations included on Choice Boards. The Flex Model is most prevalent during the Knowledge Deepening and Knowledge Application segments of Cyclical Unit Design.

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