Differentiating Explicit Instruction and Direct Instruction / Teaching in the Web 2.0 Era

Differentiating Explicit Instruction and Direct Instruction

The difference between explicit instruction and direct instruction involves the instructional strategies and how mastery of concepts is determined in learners. The role of the educator in instruction and how content is delivered are addressed in discussing these instructional methods. 

In explicit instruction, learning strategies are modeled, explained, and applied through practice (Joyce et al., 2003). This method of instruction follows a more holistic model and is more focused for Tier 2 Response to Interventions (RTI). These comprehension skills resist segmentation and operate as a whole. According to Joyce et al. (2003) the learner acquires skills by degrees as opposed to assembling them from subskills. The teacher models during the instructional process by demonstrating skills as opposed to telling students what to do. 

In explicit instruction of comprehension, meta-cognition in which students are able to think about what they are thinking, students should be able to communicate their understanding of content. According to Joyce et al. (2003) the best readers have a metacognitive mind that operates as they read. Demonstrating the strategies of high comprehension learners is significant in developing the metacognition skills readers need. Strategies like practicing summarizing material that was just read, re-telling, and making predictions are an important practice in developing metacognition. Students need to have an awareness of themselves as they are reading and be able to self-monitor their comprehension as they read. A poorer reader lacking the metacognitive train of thought is probably a passive recipient of parts of the text that are readily understood and lets other parts remain as gaps (Joyce et al., 2003). 

In direct instruction, the principles being focused on are conceptualizing learner performance into goals and tasks that are segmented into smaller tasks to ensure mastery of subskills (Joyce et al., 2003). After achieving mastery in subskills, it is then that student can move on to more advanced learning. This model of instruction follows the “I do, We do, You do” practices and is guided by the teacher throughout the entire process. This method of instruction should be employed when focusing on Tier 3 RTI when students require a more intensive teaching program. Joyce et al. (2003) explains that the approach should not be used all the time for all educational objectives or for all students. 

The Role of the Teacher in the Web 2.0 Era

The role of teachers in the web 2.0 era is to facilitate learning through technological applications that make instruction more accessible through supplementing primary instruction. Technology has made learning accessible to all types of learners by supporting multiple modalities of learning, access to content outside of the classroom, and varying means of communication. Using technology in the classroom is a means for differentiating instruction to make learning more accessible and develop skills that students are already using outside of the classroom. 

Digital learning programs will never be able to take the place of formal schooling in the future in our society. The systemic structure of the workforce in which adults are expected to dedicate 8+ hours of labor daily in their respective positions and lack of autonomy of children to direct their own learning means there must be a facilitator and support system for students learning. Teaching is a social construct that requires a dynamic support system for children that is non-existent in a fully digital learning program. The students I have seen successful with a fully digital learning program have certain factors working in their favor including a motivated and supportive adult to check-in and facilitate learning or students are at an age in which  they have acquired a level of self-awareness that they can self-direct their own instruction. Even when a mature student has the self-actualization to be an advocate in their learning they have had an adult that has supported them to develop these skills. Research into the factors that promote success in fully digital programs are required to determine the ways in which students are able to learn outside of the traditional classroom alongside with success in their respective careers. My personal experience had been that when students came back from fully digital programs they had significant gaps in learning and difficulty in self-directing their learning. 

References

Joyce, B., Weil, M., & Calhoun, E. (2003). Models of teaching.