S1, EP 26: Explicit Teaching

Why is explicit teaching vital to student success?

Explicit teaching practices involve teachers clearly showing students what to do and how to do it, through the use of clear and explicit structures and practices.

In episode 26, the Teacher Takeaway team discuss the importance of explicit teaching in the classroom, including:

• what is explicit teaching (1:02)
• what does it look like in practice (2:44)
• framing learning intentions and success criteria (10:30)
• modelling language (23:30)

What is explicit teaching?​

Explicit teaching is about making sure, from the very beginning, that the students are aware of where we are going, what am I learning and ensuring that our teaching is very clear, succinct and explicit. It is a systematic practice that has a clear process in place and is scaffolded to support all students. 

Students should be able to reframe the intent of learning, the purpose of learning and the measures of success in their own language when they truly understand the learning and it has been communicated with clarity. 

​As teachers we can often overload students with too much language as we endeavour to explain concepts to students. It is therefore important that we keep it short, sharp and succinct. If students are still not understanding, then we need to refine the language we are using and the way we are explaining, in order to support student understanding. 

There are three questions that we can ask students to help us understand the clarity of our teaching:

1. What am I learning?
2. Why am I learning it?
   
3. ​How will I know I have learned it?
   

Explicit teaching questions

What does it look like in practice?

Direct Instruction approach example might be using Heggarty Phonemic Awareness resources whereby the teacher reads from an explicit script to deliver short, sharp instruction on key phonological skills.

Explicit Instruction approach used K-6 across the school for all curriculum areas is the I Do, We Do, You Do model

• ​I Do: teacher outlines the learning intention, relevance of learning, success criteria and explicitly models the learning process.
• We Do: teacher scaffolds learning and supports student understanding of concepts, offering feedback and gauging students readiness to move to the independent stage. This should reflect point of need for students. It doesn't mean all students are doing the same thing. 
• You Do: students undertake learning tasks linked to the I Do and We Do stages to demonstrate what they know and understand with explicit and timely feedback provided about their learning. 

Source: evidencebased.teaching.org.au

The I do, We Do, You Do approach is a model of explicit instruction that can span a single lesson or is something that might transcend multiple lessons. How quickly you move through each phase of the model depends on:

• stage of learners
• type of content being covered 

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Explicit teaching comes down to knowing our students and what they need.
-Teacher Takeaway Podcast, 2021

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It is important to recognise the needs of all learners within our classrooms. If a group of high achieving students move from the I Do phase to the You Do phase quickly, without doing much in the We Do space, then we haven't done them any justice in terms of growing their skills and understanding. Using the National Literacy and Numeracy Progressions as a key reference point is essential to identifying student skills and where to take their learning next. There is clear commonality with the language used in the progressions which can aid teachers in identifying the core, support and extension skills of a concept. 

Framing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are immensely important to the explicit instruction process. Here are the Teacher Takeaway teams tips for effectively framing learning intentions and success criteria in your classroom.​

Learning Intentions

• examine the relevant syllabus outcome and content indicator
• unpack the language and rephrase it in student friendly language
• is short, clear and easy for students to understand 

Success Criteria

• ​​One way that we can ensure our measures of success are clear and progressive is through utilising the National Literacy and Numeracy progressions.
• ​Rebecca West also suggests including visuals to support our EAL/D learners. 
  

WAGOLL/ Exemplars

The use of exemplars or WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like) helps to support student understanding of success and how they know they have been successful in achieving the intent of learning. 

Modelling Language

It is important to also consider the use of vocabulary in the classroom.

Take a moment to reflect on the type of language you use with students everyday. Are you exposing them to right vocabulary and helping to understand the language? or Are you 'dumbing down' the language for students because of the barriers they might face? 

When choosing the type of language you use in your explicit instruction and day-to-day interactions with students, ensure that you are providing rich opportunities for exposure to a range of language.

Rebecca West mentioned this book when talking about language use and vocabulary instruction in the classroom.

Further Reading:

​Want to read further on explicit teaching? Perhaps start with these papers, books and webinars.

Visit the Thinking Pathways website where Alice Vigors shares more about Learning Intentions and Success Criteria.

Success Criteria and Teacher Clarity webinars from Corwin, presented November 2021 by ​Doug Fisher, John Almarode, Kateri Thunder, and Olivia Amador Valerio