What is explicit instruction teaching?

Explicit, or direct instruction, is a teacher-led teaching method. The way it works is that the educator gives clear, guided
instructions to students from the front of the classroom or lecture hall. This teaching strategy works best for development of
particular skills and not necessarily those that require experimentation.
How does explicit teaching work?
When you adopt explicit teaching practices, you are clearly showing your students what to do and how to do it. You are not
relying on students to construct this information for themselves.
There are several steps to explicit instruction teaching:

1. A teacher decides on a learning intention for a class and sets specific, transparent success criteria. These criteria are
shared with students and explained in detail.
2. The teacher clearly shows students what to do and how to do it through a clear physical demonstration.
3. The teacher checks for student understanding periodically. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will revisit what was
covered to summarize understanding and learning.
4. In the content of an ongoing task or assessment, students are provided with all the information they need to complete this
independently.

Benefits of explicit teaching in the classroom

Fast-tracked performance
Explicit teaching is effective in fast-tracking student performance. Explicit teaching aims to move beyond rote learning and to
attempt to sequence learning for students.

Increased flexibility
Explicit teaching can be done in real-time or with video content, an excellent option for students to then revisit beyond the
classroom. This content can be created from scratch and tailored to your specific class or an existing ClickView video resource.

Clear expectations
Explicit teaching is a useful teaching strategy for making sure all students are clear about the criteria. Part of the process is setting
the scene for each lesson or session, recapping previously taught information and stating aims and objectives moving forward.

Systematic and sequential

Explicit teaching is always systematic and sequential. By directly supporting guided practice using a series of steps, it’s ideal for
teaching practical hands-on skills rather than more abstract concepts.

Explicit teaching ideas for teachers

Explicit teaching involves a high level of teacher-student interaction, incorporating targeted feedback. Teachers need to take an
active role in supporting students to achieve success as they move through the learning process. By carefully monitoring student
understanding, you can offer targeted individual support.
What is explicit instruction?
A
t At a glance
Explicit instruction makes learning crystal clear.

It gives kids lots of opportunities to practice skills and get feedback.

It can be especially helpful for kids who learn and think differently.

Explicit instruction is a way to teach in a direct, structured way. When teachers use explicit instruction, they make lessons crystal
clear. They show kids how to start and succeed on a task. They also give kids plenty of feedback and chances to practice.
Think about a time when you tried to follow a new recipe, only to find that a step is missing or unclear. You may have been able
to guess what to do next. But without explicit instructions, you may have added the wrong ingredient or stopped cooking the dish
altogether.
The same thing can happen when kids learn something new. Some can make inferences to figure out the next steps or to work
through the unknown. But for kids who learn and think differently, one unclear direction or having too many things to remember
can be a deal-breaker.
That’s where explicit instruction comes in. It can be used with students of all ages. And it can be taught with a whole class, a
small group of students, or one student at a time.
Who explicit instruction helps
Explicit instruction can help all students. But it can be especially beneficial for the following students:
Students who learn and think differently. Without explicit instruction, students who struggle with attention or working memory
may not focus on the most crucial ideas in a lesson. With explicit instruction, you cue students in to the most essential
information.
English language learners. When you use consistent and clear language in each step of instruction, English language learners
(ELLs) aren’t overwhelmed with new language demands. Research has shown that explicit instruction can lead to achievement
gains among ELLs. 
For educators: Why to use explicit instruction
There are many reasons to use explicit instruction. Here are some of the most important.
1. Students get opportunities to practice. Explicit instruction helps students who need intensive intervention, including those
with learning disabilities. In your school, you may call this support “Tier 3 intervention.” 
These students usually need to practice a skill 10 to 30 more times than their peers. Explicit instruction can give them those
opportunities to practice. It also gives you a structure to make sure those learners are capable and successful as they practice.
2. It uses data collection and analysis. Each time students practice a skill, you have a chance to collect data. You can use that
data to plan your next lesson, like re-teaching or moving on to the next progression of the skill. This data helps you meet the needs
of each student.
3. It lightens the “cognitive load.” Students who learn and think differently often have trouble with working memory. That
makes it hard to make sense of a long series of directions. 
Explicit instruction breaks up learning into smaller parts. This lightens the “cognitive load,” or how much brain resources a
student needs to process information. A lighter cognitive load frees up working memory. That’s important because learning new
skills requires a lot of working memory.
For educators: How to teach using explicit instruction
Explicit instruction follows a sequence of steps:
 Identify a clear, specific objective.
 Break the information into chunks.
 Model with clear explanations.
 Verbalize the thinking process.
 Provide opportunities to practice.
 Give feedback.
For educators: Explicit instruction and inquiry-based learning
It’s a myth that explicit instruction limits students from engaging in inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, and higher-
order thinking. In fact, it’s the opposite. Explicit instruction gives students who are typically left out of these opportunities the
information and skills they need to engage.

Explicit instruction uses some of the same processes used for inquiry-based learning and project-based learning, including
modeling, practice, and feedback. Students can transfer the processes they learn in explicit instruction to other types of learning.

Also, remember that explicit instruction isn’t just for basic academic skills. Students often need explicit modeling and feedback on
higher-order skills, like decision making and social skills.

Find out how one school engages students who learn and think differently in project-based learning.

For families: How to support explicit instruction at home

You may not be familiar with the term explicit instruction. It’s not something you would commonly use at home.

But there are ways you can practice some parts of explicit instruction at home. The next time you tell your child to clean their
room, try breaking down the task into very clear steps. You can model what it looks like to organize a closet. You can also give
feedback after your child is done.

Explainer: what is explicit instruction and how does it help children learn?

Explicit instruction is a term that summarises a type of teaching in which lessons are designed and delivered to novices to help
them develop readily-available background knowledge on a particular topic.
Explicit instruction emerged out of research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s. Researchers sat at the back of classrooms and
looked for relationships between particular behaviours of effective teachers and their students’ academic performance.
This research found teachers with the best results spent more time reviewing previously learned concepts, checking whether
students had understood concepts and correcting misconceptions during the lesson. Explicit teaching practices involve showing
students what to do and how to do it.
Like baking a cake, explicit instruction is a step-by-step process where deviating from the recipe or omitting ingredients can have
an underwhelming result.
Explicit instruction came out of 1960s research, when researchers observed effective teachers from the back of their
classroom. from shutterstock.com
This is contrasted to a type of learning where, before students are shown the essential information, they are asked to practise a
task, and then discover and construct some or all of the essential information themselves. This is sometimes known as inquiry-
based learning.
It can be useful for someone who wants to conduct an experiment to learn about evaporation and condensation, provided they
already understand the nature of solids, liquids and gases and how to safely use a Bunsen burner.
We remember what we think about
Explicit instruction is also known as “fully guided” practice. Teachers who follow an explicit approach explain, demonstrate and
model everything: from blending sounds together to decode words, to writing a complex sentence with figurative language, to
kicking a football.
While some students achieve success quickly, others need far more opportunities for practice. Explicit instruction teachers provide
daily reviews of previously learned knowledge and skills so they become automatic. Then they can be applied to more complex
tasks such as reading, writing a short story or playing a game of AFL.
Explicit instruction is underscored by a learning theory known as the information processing model. It is based on the assumption
we only remember what we think about, and keep thinking about. If you can still remember your childhood telephone number, it’s
probably because of the number of times you have used and retrieved that information.
It’s well known there is a limit to how much new information the human brain can process and how much can be stored in our
long-term memory. These understandings form something known as cognitive load theory, which adds further value to the
effectiveness of explicit instruction.

Information procession theory suggests we only remember what we keep thinking about. from shutterstock.com
Put simply, knowing precursor maths skills – such as times-tables and the difference between the numerator and denominator –
reduces the strain on the limited space you have in your brain. So it might free up some brain space to learn about more complex
maths, such as simplifying fractions.
Particular models fall under the umbrella term of explicit instruction in Australia and include: explicit instruction, explicit direct
instruction, Direct Instruction and I do, we do, you do. These models are based on similar instructional principles and refer to
specific lesson design and delivery components.
Direct Instruction, for instance, consists of a suite of commercially available teaching resources developed from the work of US
educator Siegfried Engelmann in the 1960s. It is a highly scripted model, which is both a reason some teachers perceive the
approach as inflexible, and the reason it is effective. When followed with fidelity, direct instruction  has been shown to work. The
model has proven quite effective when applied in remote aboriginal communities.
Explicit instruction, however, is not scripted. This means there is often variability between the way teachers use it and of the
component parts of this approach. This also makes definitive statements on its efficacy problematic.
So, what’s the controversy?
Since the late 1970s, more child-centred approaches have been the prevailing orthodoxy in teacher education and curriculum
design in Australia. These approaches include discovery learning and inquiry. They are based on a theory of learning
called constructivism, that sees learning as an active process.
Teachers following a constructivist approach provide learning opportunities that enable students to come to their own unique
understandings of what is being taught. Constructivism is popular and prevalent because it personalises learning, emphasises the
active construction of knowledge and privileges hands-on learning to solve real-world problems.
Critics of explicit instruction typically argue it is a deficit model that sees students sitting passively in rows all day engaging in
rote learning. This is a misunderstanding of explicit instruction, which – when done properly – is engaging and rarely done for
extended periods of time.

It’s true the model requires students to face the teacher. This is because the process involves the teacher asking a lot of questions.
She or he may also ask children to write on mini-whiteboards to show their understanding during the lesson.
Arguments that explicit instruction doesn’t allow teachers to cater for range of student abilities are also ill-founded. Explicit
instruction allows teachers to teach the same concept to students but differentiate at the point of individual practice.
For example, after teaching the algorithm for subtraction, students will have the same time to solve problems of increasing
difficulty. But not all students will follow the same process. While some students will only solve (29-13), others might solve (189-
101) and (1692-1331).
As adults learning to abseil or skydive, we prefer it when information is broken down into manageable chunks, the instructor
checks for understanding and we are given opportunities to practise the skills we’ll need before we step over the edge. There is a
place for explicit instruction in Australian classrooms, particularly when background knowledge is low and the task is difficult.
Planning and Teaching with Explicit Instruction
“Explicit instruction is a group of research-supported instructional behaviors used to design and deliver instruction that provides
needed supports for successful learning through clarity of language and purpose, and reduction of cognitive load. It promotes
active student engagement by requiring frequent and varied responses followed by appropriate affirmative and corrective
feedback, and assists long-term retention through use of purposeful practice strategies” (Hughes, Morris, Therrien, & Benson,
2017, p. 143).

Introduction
Explicit instruction is an evidence-based practice for teaching students with learning disabilities (LDs). This means that a vast
amount of research, conducted over many decades, support the use of this practice with students with LDs.
There are many theories about why explicit instruction is effective for these students. For one, it offers an instructional approach
that reduces cognitive load (Smith, Sáez, & Doabler, 2016). For students who have not consolidated prerequisite knowledge or
skills to the point of automaticity, learning new concepts can put stress on their working memory, as they attempt to hold both the
prerequisite and new material in their minds at the same time. Explicit instruction reduces this cognitive load in a number of ways
that will be explored throughout this article.

Some teachers may be more familiar with the term Direct Instruction. While this approach has many overlapping components
with explicit instruction, it is different in that it usually includes a curriculum outlining what to teach as well as the instructional
approach guiding how to teach (Hughes et al., 2017).

Preparing the Lesson

Explicit instruction requires careful planning. Some educators may be surprised at how challenging it can be to develop
unambiguous instruction for even simple concepts (Stockard, Wood, Coughlin, & Rasplica Khoury, 2018).

First, educators must select the content to be taught using this approach. Any skills or knowledge that are essential to students’
success in the course or in the future are considered “critical content” that should be taught using explicit
instruction (Hughes et al., 2017). For example, the basic mathematical operations, paragraph-writing structure, grammar rules,
collaboration and social skills, research skills, and technology use are all foundational skills for success in the classroom and
beyond.
Next, decide how to chunk complex skills or content into discrete units of instruction, and in what order you will present them in
your lesson. Units should be presented in an order that is logical for the given content. For example, sequencing units from
simplest to most difficult may apply to some concepts but not others. It is also recommended that similar concepts be separated to
prevent confusion (Watkins & Slocum, 2003, as cited in Hughes et al., 2017).
Before your lesson, it is important to verify students’ background knowledge. Some students, particularly those with LDs, may
not have consolidated the prerequisite skills and knowledge to be able to keep up with the new material (Hughes et al, 2017).
Using diagnostic assessment, or assessment for learning, educators can assess students’ readiness and respond accordingly, for
example by teaching the prerequisite content to a small group of students while others engage in independent work.

Beginning the Lesson

Start each lesson by providing students with a clear outline of the learning goals and your expectations of them. Clearly explain
what they will learn, how it is related to past learning, why it is important, and in what contexts they will be able to use the new
skill or knowledge.
Activate students’ prior knowledge, and provide an “advance organizer” to bridge their prior knowledge to the new content to
be covered in the lesson (Agrawal & Morin, 2016). Taking many possible forms (e.g., verbal, visual, physical), advance
organizers offer students a framework to organize and interpret new information. For example, provide a  graphic organizer to
demonstrate the logical organization of the information and help students see the relationships among concepts . The use of
graphic organizers is another evidence-based practice for students with LDs, and have been associated with improved in
vocabulary, comprehension, and inferential knowledge (Dexter & Hughes, 2011). For more information, click here to access the
article Graphic Organizers.

Delivering the Lesson

An essential component of explicit instruction is frequent opportunities for student responses and engagement (Hughes et al.,
2017). Consider how you will elicit student responses throughout the lesson, whether students will be engaging individually, in
dyads, or in groups. Also consider how you will offer accommodations and scaffolding for student responses. For example, you
may phrase your questions with multiple choice answer options, or provide some students with sentence starters (Hughes et al.,
2017).

Stage 1: Modelling
During the modelling stage of the lesson, the educator performs a “show & tell” of the skill being taught.
Show by modelling the skill that students will need to master, following the chunking and sequencing that you determined in the
planning phase. Provide a wide variety of examples to help students understand the various contexts in which the target skill can
be applied. Provide a handful of counterexamples as well to help students understand the common pitfalls or limits of the concept
(Alphonse & Leblanc, 2014).
Tell by thinking aloud while you perform the task, explicitly stating the what, why, how, when and where. Use vocabulary that is:

 Clear: Use words appropriate to students’ developmental stage and comprehension level.
 Concise: Avoid unnecessarily wordy or tangential explanations, which can be particularly difficult for students with LDs
to follow.
 Consistent: Repeat similar terminology throughout the lesson to improve students’ familiarity with the key words.
(Hughes et al., 2017)
Research suggests that a brisk pace is most appropriate for presenting information; note that this does not mean rushed, but
rather quick enough to maintain attention while avoiding digressions, classroom interruptions, or pauses due to a lack of
preparation for the lesson (Hughes et al., 2017).

Stage 2: Guided Practice

During the modelling stage of the lesson, students engage in purposeful practice opportunities of the target skill. Throughout this
stage, provide appropriate levels of scaffolding through physical, visual, or verbal prompts. What is considered appropriate
levels of scaffolding will be different for each student and will depend on the amount of time they have been practicing. Adjust
accordingly, gradually reducing scaffolding as students become more proficient.
At this stage, students may work independently, in dyads, or in groups, each of which offers different opportunities for scaffolding
from the teacher and from peers. Whatever the grouping, remember that practice is most effective when followed by affirmative
or corrective feedback (Hattie & Yates, 2014), and so this must be considered in planning guided practice opportunities.

Stage 3: Independent Practice

Finally, during independent practice, students practice the target skill without the prompts that were available during the guided
practice stage, giving them the opportunity to consolidate their understanding and ultimately achieve mastery of the skill.
Although students practice independently at this stage, educators should still closely monitor students in order to assess their use
of the skills and progress toward mastery. Educators should be particularly attentive to students with LDs, who may require
additional time at the previous stages (Alphonse & Leblanc, 2014).

Conclusion
Given the robust evidence supporting the use of explicit instruction for students with LDs, all educators should gain familiarity
with this approach and evaluate their practice to determine new ways in which it may be integrated to better support all students.
Learning is enhanced only when the information presented is explicit, logically organized, and clearly sequenced. To do anything
less shirks the responsibility of effective instruction (Stockard, Wood, Coughlin, & Rasplica Khoury, 2018).
It is important to note, however, that explicit instruction is not the only teaching approach suited for students with LDs. These
students, like all students, benefit from a variety of approaches judiciously chosen to suit the given content and learning
objectives.

Related Resources on the 

Explicit Instruction: A Teaching Strategy in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics for Students with Learning Disabilities

A Description of the Strategy

Explicit instruction is based on research studies relating to effective teaching practices. This research aimed to identify educational
interventions that were the most effective in supporting the learning of students with learning disabilities (LDs) in the core
subjects of reading, writing and mathematics. Explicit instruction involves using highly structured and sequenced steps to teach a
specific skill. With this approach, the educator intentionally aims to teach students with LDs using a series of actions in three main
stages: preparing for the lesson, interacting with students over the course of the lesson, consolidating the lesson taught (Gauthier,
Bissonnette & Richard, 2013).
It is important that educators take the time to prepare their lessons in advance. During this stage, they should reflect on the
anticipated learning outcomes, on the educational activities to be performed, in the execution of the various stages, on the required
materials, on the estimated time required for each step, and how the anticipated learning outcomes will be evaluated. Ultimately,
the teacher must specify the learning objectives they will pursue with their students with LDs: that which drives planning
activities in reverse (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2010), which consists of determining: the anticipated results, what constitutes as
evidence of learning and educational activities. It is thus apparent that the explicit determination of learning outcomes and
evidence of learning in advance will help to facilitate the learning of students with LDs.
Over the course of the lesson, the implementation of explicit instruction, when planning for educational activities should be
adopted: the educator demonstrates to students with LDs what they must do (modeling the practice); then guides students
through a group activity (guided or directed practice) so that students have the necessary skills to complete the task, and then the
students practice the task independently (autonomous practice).

Research Results
Bissonnette et al. (2010) published an article in The Review of Applied Research on Learning (translated title) entitled  What
Teaching Strategies are Effective in Promoting Fundamental Learning for Students with Learning Disabilities at the Elementary
Level? The article was a meta-synthesis that aimed to identify strategies that promoted reading, writing and math skills for
students with LDs who were at risk for failure. The meta-synthesis grouped results reported in 11 meta-analyses, from 362
research studies over a period of 40 years, involving 30 000 students with LDs at risk for failure, both at the elementary and
secondary levels. These studies were carried out using experimental designs that permitted the researchers to establish
comparisons and to draw reliable conclusions (Bissonnette et al., 2010).
The results of the various meta-analyses showed that structured and guided teaching, also known as explicit instruction, were
those which favoured the learning of fundamental skills in reading, writing and math for students with LDs at risk for failure at the
elementary level. Bissonnette et al. (2010) concluded that explicit instruction should be utilized as the basis for teaching reading,
writing and math, which could also include steps for reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching is an interactive verbal technique
where students with LDs work in small groups and take turns acting as the teacher. An example of this would be in order to
explain and apply the four strategies which result in readers who are able to understand a text, which includes: predicted,
questioning, clarifying and summarizing. It is therefore interesting to see explicit instruction used in combination with reciprocal
teaching, especially during the guided practice stage.
Additional educational supports also support additional effective methods for supporting students with LDs, according to these
researchers. These include tutoring, information available to educators and students with LDs and communications with parents,
which all constitute additional educational support mechanisms that can help improve the performance of students with LDs in the
areas of reading, writing and math. In addition, these methods can be used in tandem with explicit instruction and reciprocal
teaching.
Finally, according to Bissonnette et al. (2010), the effects obtained using a constructivist approach for students with LDs on
reading, writing and math achievement were below the minimum level chosen for this study. Consequently, the authors do not
recommend this teaching strategy when there are other educational strategies that have proven to be much more effective,
including explicit instruction and reciprocal teaching.

Implementing the Strategy: The Three Steps of Explicit Instruction

According to Gauthier, Bissonnette and Richard (2013), explicit instruction can be divided into three sequential steps: modeling,
guided or directed practice, and independent practice. The modeling step promotes the understanding of the learning
objectives for students with LDs. Guided practice allows students to practice using the technique and to consolidate their
understanding through group work. Independent practice provides students with learning opportunities to acquire and master the
target skills.

 Explicit instruction begins with modeling. This step consists of the teacher demonstrating a task for students and
describing exactly what is being done as it is being done. The goal of the modeling step is for the teacher to explicitly
state the what, why, how, when and where of what they are doing. The information is presented in small units, in a
graduated sequence, usually ranging from simple to more complex, not only to meet the working memory limitations of
students with LDs, but also to enhance the connections between new and prior knowledge. The teacher can then use
examples of what to do and what not to do to more directly highlight the skills they are trying to teach to students with
LDs, to facilitate their understanding of the learning objectives and thus improve the quality of modeling.
 After modeling, the next step of explicit instruction is guided practice, also referred to as directed practice, which allows
students with LDs (with the proper supports) to succeed in achieving the desired learning objectives. It also helps
students to gain the confidence and motivation necessary to continue their learning. This step is conducive to group work
activities, which gives the teacher the opportunity to circulate and confirm that all students with LDs have understood the
lesson. It also allows students not only the opportunity to try the tasks that were modeled, but ensures that they receive
feedback on their finished work. Guided practice helps students with LDs to “verify, adjust, consolidate and to deepen
their understanding of the learning taking place, by connecting their new learning with that which is already present in
their long term memories” (translated from Gauthier et al., 2004, p.28).
 Finally, independent practice allows students with LDs to put themselves in new learning situations where they can apply
what they have understood from the modeling and guided practice steps. This final learning step provides students with
LDs an opportunity to test out their understanding in order to obtain the highest level of mastery possible, with the goal
of consolidating their learning. This step also identifies any students with LDs who may be in need of some additional
support before they move on.

Additional Resources
 This video from the Pennsylvania Department of Education describes what explicit instruction is and how it can be implemented
the classroom.
xplicit Teaching
Incorporating explicit teaching is an essential practice that educators should consider in every early childhood learning centre.
Explicit teaching not only helps children understand instruction, but also ensures that they actively comprehend the concepts that
educators introduce. 
Explicit teaching has been identified as a critical pillar in forming an effective teacher. The NSW Government states that it is one
of the eight quality teaching practices that create effective learning environments.
What is Explicit Teaching?
 
Explicit teaching, often called explicit instruction, is a teacher-centred strategy that requires educators to make the desired
achievable learning goals and outcomes clear to the children through a range of strategies.
The process allows children to become actively aware of their learning through establishing a clear understanding of four key
pieces of information:
 How to do the task.
 Why they are doing the task.
 How the task relates itself to, and builds upon previous learning experiences.
 What learning goals and outcomes are expected from the children.
Educational research has found that children can complete tasks more effectively and make significant strides in their cognitive
development by explicitly involving children in their learning development expectations. Therefore, explicit teaching should be a
central pillar in teacher education programs.
While similar in nature to direct instruction, explicit instruction incorporates flexible guided modelling and consistent formative
feedback to ensure the proper child fulfilment of learning objectives.

Direct Instruction
Direct instruction is another teaching strategy that promotes carefully planned lessons around specific learning goals and
outcomes. The philosophy behind direct instruction is that a well-prepared lesson plan should predict any problems or
misunderstandings that could inhibit the learning process. Therefore, through considered preparation, you can script responses to
anticipated problems and therefore accelerate child learning.
Meanwhile, where direct instruction focuses on preparing for intervention with children, explicit instruction is more dynamic in its
approach by providing spontaneous feedback for correction.
Explicit vs Implicit Teaching
Explicit teaching is a much more educator-involved process with the children’s learning process. Meanwhile, implicit instruction
is an approach where you encourage a child’s independent thinking and experimentation. This typically involves the child
developing their own understanding of the set task and finding learning objectives through trial and error.
Cognitive load theory states that explicit instruction is the most effective teaching strategy for novice learners, as research
suggests that in-depth instruction and expectation setting helps affirm concept understanding.
Therefore, explicit instruction is most effective in early childhood education, as children can be considered as novice learners.

Explicit Teaching Framework

To support achievement and ensure proper delivery, a step-by-step framework for explicit teaching. The framework closely
follows a six step procedure, these being:
1. Identify the learning objective
2. Scaffold information into manageable chunks
3. Clear explanations that are supported with modelling
4. Verbalising thought processes
5. Provide opportunities for practice
6. Give Feedback
Why is Explicit Teaching Important?
Explicit teaching is essential in early childhood education because it can help kids comprehend new concepts clearly and
effectively, leaving no room for error with misunderstandings.
Benefits of Explicit Teaching
Student studies have highlighted key benefits that are associated with explicit teaching practices.
Benefits of explicit teaching include:
 Improved speed of learning progress and cognitive development.
 Improved ability to recall previously learnt knowledge.
 Improved instruction-following skills, an essential element for school readiness.
 High rate of task completion through establishing expectations and guidance.
 High rate of children achieving all learning objectives efficiently and effectively.
 Engages children who have learning disabilities.
 Provides flexibility in the classroom, allowing you to intervene in children’s learning processes at any time.
 Easy to apply due to its systematic step-by-step approach.
Who it Helps and When to Use It
The guided nature of explicit teaching can also benefit children who may have issues with working memory or attentional
disorders. Your consistent engagement and reaffirming of the instruction with the child help them keep on track to achieve the
desired learning goals. Furthermore, due to the teacher-involved nature of explicit learning, it also helps you engage the quieter
children for more active and successful participation in activities.
Explicit teaching is most effective when introducing children to a new concept, skill, or idea. This is because the approach ensures
that all kids have the same level of understanding through methodological explanation, modelling, guidance and feedback.
Explicit Teaching Strategies 
 
While explicit teaching is an essential tool for educators in early childhood learning centres, it can be ineffective if implemented
incorrectly. However, academic research (click here for more information) has created 16 explicit teaching strategies to help you
purposefully incorporate the educational method within your educational practices. 
These recommended strategies include:
1. Focus on critical learning goals: establish an instructional target and teach essential elements of the skill that will empower
children to advance their understanding of the concept.
2. Practically order the learning objective: consider the order of progression when wanting to introduce a concept. You should
think about what sequence best suits a child’s thinking pattern. 
3. Breakdown concepts into manageable chunks: breaking up complex concepts allows a better grasp of the skill and motivates
children to advance their learning.
4. Organise tasks with a specific learning focus: plan the task to promote the learning objective in a clear and achievable way. 
5. Introduce kids to the task by clearly stating what you expect from them: set your expectations early and explain to the
children why it’s important. 
6. Remind children of previous skills/concepts associated with the task: review relevant information and reaffirm the skill’s
relationship with previously taught concepts.
7. Give children step-by-step instruction with demonstrations: modelling the task with easy-to-understand instruction and
giving children an idea of the standard of completion. 
8. Use deliberate and explicit language during instruction: use consistent, unambiguous wording and terminology so as to
ensure children receive clear explanations.
9. Ensure well-paced instruction: keep children engaged through short and clear instruction. If children lose focus, they cannot
obtain all the necessary information to complete the task and achieve desired learning outcomes.
10. Give a wide range of examples and non-examples: establish understandings of when, or when not, to apply the task in real-
life situations.
11. Guide and support child’s practice of task: provide supported practice during the task. This requires giving the children
real-time assessment in their performance (including affirmation and correction).
12. Use questioning to promote higher-level understanding: employ open and closed questions to develop higher-order critical
thinking skills within children.  
13. Monitor child completion of task: watching and listening to child performance is essential in guiding them towards desired
learning outcomes. 
14. Give timely affirmative and corrective feedback: immediate purposeful and understandable feedback is essential. Feedback
can either engage children by using corrective language to tweak their performance or using supportive language to build
confidence in their ability to complete the task. 
15. Guide child reflection: use reflection as a time to guide children’s thought process to assess what they learnt, how they learnt
it and why. This strategy is critical to reaffirming child understanding of the desired learning outcomes. 
16. Give distributed and cumulative practice: distributed practice refers to providing repetitive opportunities to practice the new
skill over time to ensure proper comprehension. Cumulative practice refers to providing opportunities to practice the combination
of new skills with previous knowledge. This allows children to understand how chunks of skills come together in cohesion.
Explicit Instruction with Inquiry Based Learning 
Despite differing perspectives, it is untrue that explicit teaching limits the opportunities for inquiry based learning (if implemented
correctly). On the contrary, you can strategically use these two teaching approaches to ensure the best child cognitive
development. 
Explicit instruction introduces a child to new concepts or skills, effectively laying a foundation  for knowledge. Inquiry based
learning then builds upon this knowledge via the application of higher-order thinking and critical analysis. Ultimately, it is the
cohesive strategic use of these two practices that aids children’s rapid cognitive growth and advances their understandings of the
word.
Explicit Instruction and the ‘I Do, We Do, You Do’ Model
Explicit instruction shares an important relationship with the ‘I Do, We Do, You Do’ model, as both have similar processes.
Therefore, explicit teaching strategies can be applied through various stages of this model. 
For example, in the I Do phase, you can make use of: 
 Providing step-by-step instructions
 Using clear and deliberate language 
 Ensuring well-paced instruction
 Providing a wide range of examples and non-examples
Within the We Do phase, you can make use of:
 Guiding and supporting child’s practice of task
 Using questions to promote higher-level understanding
Within the You Do phase, you can make use of:
 Monitoring child completion of task
 Providing timely constructive feedback 
 Guiding child reflection
 Setting distributed and cumulative practice 
Effective teachers are able to incorporate these explicit teaching strategies within the ‘I Do, We Do, You Do’ Model to help build
student learning and improve long term memory retention of the concept. In return, this can guide the student to advance their
knowledge of the concept to a level of independent mastery.

Examples of Explicit Teaching

If you wanted to teach your children about early numeracy skills (as key identified skill of the EYLF), you would need to break
down your approach across the 6 step explicit teaching framework with the correct application of strategies. 
1. Identify the learning objective: First, you will need to identify the specific learning objective when planning the task. For
example, early numeracy skills are too broad a concept for a novice learner to grasp.  Therefore, to lighten the cognitive load,
identify a specific objective that you want to teach the children. For this example, we will focus on the concept that the last
number said when counting a group tells how many are in that entire group.
2. Scaffold information into manageable chunks: Assess this objective and break it down to its most basic form. For example, to
teach children that the last number said when counting a group tells you its total value, you first need to establish that numerals
can be sequenced before advancing to the next phase of understanding.
3. Clear explanations that are supported with modelling: Next, you would introduce the concept of sequencing through
explanation and modelling. This can include counting songs or fingerplays, such as five little ducks or ten in the bed. 
4. Verbalising Thought Processes: Employ open and closed questions to clarify the meaning of sequencing to children. This will
help you check that children have successfully understood the concept, making them aware of the desired learning outcomes.
5. Provide Opportunities for Practice: Provide children with the chance to practice sequencing numbers with their fingers counting
one to ten. During this stage, be sure to observe the children and ensure that they are counting correctly. Next, you can elevate this
practice to a real-world scenario, such as grocery store play which requires children to count different items. 
6. Give Feedback: Provide real-time feedback to the children, whether affirmative: well done, good job, or constructive: maybe try
again, are you missing something do you think? If there is a consistent error across the children, you will have to restart the
process. This direct intervention helps children correct any critical mistakes that may hinder any future understanding of advanced
topics.
Explicit Teaching Practices at Home
While explicit instruction is not something that every parent may use in the family home, it can help get children to complete
small household tasks.
For example, if you want your child to clean up their play area, you can adopt explicit teaching strategies such as breaking the task
down into manageable chunks with clear step-by-step instructions. You can further incorporate explicit teaching by modelling
where the toys are stored, alongside providing affirmative feedback when your child completes the task.  
Not only does this effectively communicate your expectations from your child, but it also further prepares them for real-life
situations and promotes school readiness through their ability to follow instructions.
How to Set Up the Classroom Rules with Explicit Teaching
Explicit teaching can also be made of use when dictating rules. Establishing a clear set of classroom rules is a great way to set
student understanding of the behavioural standards and expectations for learning achievements. This is achieved through explicitly
teaching the rules via explanation, modelling and demonstration. 
You can further build upon this by opening the classroom up for discussion and negotiation of the rules, allowing children to
understand the rationale behind the expectations. To ensure a complete understanding of the rules within the classroom, you can
also use other explicit teaching strategies, such as providing examples and non-examples of good or bad behaviour. 
 In return, by explicitly teaching the rules, you can expect that every child understands what is expected of them every time they
enter the classroom.

We can't expect children to know how sounds link to letters, how to put those together, and then just read and spell proficiently.
Using an explicit model, such as the "I Do-We Do-You Do" model, provides the framework for understanding the importance of
supporting students with their learning, and then, gradually releasing this support.

Explicit instruction makes lessons clearer to students by teaching skills in a sequential way, modeling what is needed, and
providing ample opportunities for practice; all while providing immediate, corrective feedback as needed. This type of instruction
is essential for struggling readers and aligns with what we know students need to break the reading code 📖. It sequentially
provides students with the skills to build a solid foundation for their reading house. 

So, What is the "I Do-We Do-You Do" Model?

The "I Do-We Do-You Do" model is also referred to as the gradual release of responsibility. We want students to apply skills
independently, but we need to provide models and supports along the way. This model sets students up for success and provides
ample opportunity for teachers to monitor students' needs for supports and accommodations. It also provides explicit and
immediate, corrective feedback as students move towards independent application. 

The "I Do"

In the "I Do" phase of this model, the teacher explicitly models and teaches. This is the demonstration phase of the lesson. The
teacher plays a prominent role in delivering the lesson information and providing the necessary knowledge. 

The "We Do"

In the "We Do" phase, the teacher guides the student through the application or practice of the skill or concept that was
demonstrated in the "I Do" portion of the lesson. The teacher provides layers of support as needed and immediate feedback during
this guided practice. As the student acquires new skills and knowledge, the gradual release of responsibility moves them to
independent practice or the "You Do" phase.

The "You Do"

As students rely less and less on the teacher, they begin to apply new skills to their learning. The teacher continues to constantly
monitor learning and moves fluidly back and forth through the model as needed. 

This gradual release of responsibility sets students up for success, explicitly models and teaches the necessary skills and concepts
needed to move to independent practice, and provides ongoing monitoring and teaching. This form of teaching is essential for
struggling students and provides them with a solid foundation to build their reading house upon. 

I hope this post has helped you understand the importance of building a solid foundation for your students' reading success. Do
you use the "I Do-We Do-You Do" model of teaching? Comment below👇 and let me know if you use a different explicit
instructional model (or with your latest Target find 😉). 

What is Explicit Instruction?

Explicit instruction is a purposeful way of overtly teaching students.  Explicit in this case means a clear-cut and finite way of
teaching that includes both instructional and delivery procedures.   Torgesen (2004) described explicit instruction as “instruction
that does not leave anything to chance and does not make assumptions about skills and knowledge that children will acquire on
their own.”  Rosenshine (1987) described explicit instruction as “a systematic method of teaching with emphasis on proceeding in
small steps, checking for understanding, and achieving active and successful participation by all students.”

Explicit instruction is a series of instructional behaviors that increase the likelihood for student achievement.   Think of it as
improving student outcomes with elevating your practice.  The instructional behaviors that we will look at are all about increasing
modeling, providing students with frequent opportunities to respond and providing both guided and independent practice.  
Instruction is explicit when teachers tell students what they need to to do using direct explanations along with sharing and
modeling new knowledge (Flethcer, Lynn, Fuchs & Barnes 2019).

We will explore each of these practices in two way:  individually and in a case study.  We will look at each of the sixteen elements
individually and explore each of their attributes.  We will then apply these sixteen elements to a case study of teacher and her
instruction in the classroom.

Archer and Hughes have provided access to the first chapter of their book “Explicit Instruction:  Effective and Efficient
Teaching.” 

Let’s get started!

List of the 16 Elements of Explicit Instruction – Click Here

The sixteen elements of explicit instruction are describe in Explicit Teaching by Anita Archer and Charles Hughes.  These sixteen
elements are both accessible to teachers and have research to back their impact on student learning.  We are now going to explore
each of the elements and their features individually

Focus instruction on critical content

Teach skills, strategies, vocabulary terms, concepts, and rules that will empower students on the future to match the students
instructional needs (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

If you’re teaching a unit about plants, you wouldn’t focus the content on the different types of plants you would focus on the
critical features of plants and how they keep a plant alive.  The knowledge of the parts of plants and how a plant stays alive are
more critical for students future success than the different types of plants. 

Sequence skills logically

Consider several curricular variables, such as teaching easier skills before harder skills, teaching high-frequency skills before
skills that are less frequent in usage, ensuring mastery of prerequisites to a skill before teaching the skill itself, and separating
skills and strategies that are similar and thus may be confusing to students (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

You wouldn’t teach your students how to do double addition with regrouping before teaching them simple addition.  Ensuring that
students have mastery of the prerequisite skill of addition will increase the likelihood that students will apply the prerequisite
skills to the harder skill of addition with regrouping.
Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units 

Teach in small steps. Segmenting complex skills into smaller instructional units of new material addresses concerns about
cognitive overloading, processing demands, and the capacity of students’ working memory. Once mastered, units are synthesized.
(i.e. practiced as a whole).  (Archer & Hughes, 2011)

Example:

If you are teaching a new science unit on light and sound, you wouldn’t teach all of the content and skills in one day.   You would
break apart the content into smaller units, teach them individually and then once all the smaller units are taught you would review
the entire unit, with all the content, together.

Design organized and focused lessons

Make sure lessons are organized and focused, in order to make optimal use of instructional time. Organized lessons are on topic,
well sequenced, and contain no irrelevant digressions (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

When you create a lesson plan, you have the content you are going to teach, the order in which to teach and any modeling,
opportunities for students to respond, etc. and a place for the order in which you will teach the content.   Doing this means that
your lesson is designed around teaching critical content and focused on how and when you will teach skills. 

Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson’s goals and your expectations

Tell learners clearly what is to be learned and why is important. Students achieve better if they understand the instructional goals
and outcomes expected, as well, as how the information or skills presented will help them (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

When you begin a lesson, you wouldn’t just start the lesson without telling students what they will be learning and why.   You also
wouldn’t just begin a lesson without telling the students the expectations you have for the lesson.   You would explain to students
the skills they will be learning and the reason why they are learning them and what you expect for the lesson you are about to
teach. 

Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction

Provide a review of relevant information. Verify that students have the prerequisite skills and knowledge to learn the skill being
taught in the lesson. This element also provides an opportunity to link the new skill with other related skills (Archer & Hughes,
2011).

Example:

When you begin your lesson on two-by-two multiplication, you would first ensure that students have the relevant multiplication
skills.  If student’s do not have the prerequisite skills, then a review lesson may need to be done first.  Doing so demonstrates to
students that basic multiplication skills connect with higher order multiplication skills like two-by-two digit multiplication.

Provide step-by-step instruction

Model the skill and clarify the decision-making processed needed to complete a task or procedure by thinking aloud as you
perform the skill. Clearly demonstrate the target skill or strategy, in order to show the students a model of proficient performance
(Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:
This portion of the lesson is the “I do, we do, you do.”  Teacher starts by providing extensive modeling of the new skill or content
(I do), practice with students with frequent opportunities to respond built in (we do) and finally the student practice both guided
and independently (you do).

Use clear and concise language

Use consistent, unambiguous wording and terminology. The complexity of your speech (e.g. vocabulary, sentence structure)
should depend on students’ receptive vocabulary to reduce possible confusion.

Example:

When you are teaching a lesson about weather, you wouldn’t just refer to clouds as clouds.   You would refer to them as
cumulonimbus and stratus.  Using concise language for the clouds is part of teaching the content.  When you are teaching, you
keep the same wording and terminology through the lesson and subsequent practice students will do.

Provide an adequate range of examples and non-examples

In order to establish the boundaries of when and when not to apply a skill, strategy, concept or rule, provide a wide range of
examples and non-examples. A wide range of examples illustrating situations when the skill will be used or applied is necessary
so that students do not under use it. Conversely, presenting a wide range of non-examples reduces the possibility that students will
use the skill inappropriately (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

When teaching students about nouns, creating examples and non-examples will help students differentiate nouns from other parts
of speech.  Here is an example and non-example for noun: example would be “a dog is a noun because a dog is a thing” and the
non-example would be “fast is not a noun because it is not a person, place, thing or idea.” Providing students with examples and
non-examples help students to differentiate between the critical features and variable attributes of content and skills.  To learn
more about identifying the critical features and variable attributes, click on this link Creating Examples and Non-Examples for
Words.

 Provide guided and supported practice 

In order to promote initial success and build confidence, regulate the difficulty of practice opportunities during the lesson, and
provide students with guidance in skill performance. When students demonstrate success, you can gradually increase task
difficulty as you decrease the level of guidance (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

Once you have taught a lesson on one digit subtraction without regrouping, you would give your students 100 problems to
practice by themselves.  Instead, you would provide students with 5 examples to do together with you, then 5 problems to practice
with a partner and then 5 problems to practice independently.  Doing this allows students to practice with you, practice with
another learner and then practice on their own.

Require frequent responses

Plan for a high level of student-teacher interaction via the use of questioning. Having the students respond frequently (i.e. oral
responses, written responses or action responses) helps them focus on the lesson content, provides opportunities for student
elaboration, assists you in checking understanding and keeps students active and attentive (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

Creating a high level of opportunities to respond during a lesson ensure that students are actively engaged in the learning process
and provide frequent opportunities for you as the teacher to monitor student progress during the lesson.  Students can offer an
action response, a thumbs up or down, a verbal response, plus or minus for the operation needed, or a written response, using a
small white board to write their answer.  Embedding these into your lesson plan ensures that you know when and in what part of
the lesson you will be asking students to respond.

Monitor student performance carefully 

Carefully watch and listen to students’ responses, so that you can verify student mastery as well as make timely adjustments in
instruction if students are making errors. Close monitoring also allows you to provide feedback to students about how well they
are doing (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

If you ask a student is a car is a noun and all the students answer no, then you can monitor the students progress and go back and
either reteach the content or provide another round of examples and non-examples.  If during guided practice, two students are
struggling with identifying nouns on a worksheet, you can pull those two students to reteach or model the content.  Monitoring
during lesson instruction and practice guarantees that students are not coming to the end of an entire lesson with not knowing the
content fully.

Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback 

Follow up on students’ responses as quickly as you can. Immediate feedback to students about the accuracy of their responses
helps ensure high rates of success and reduces the likelihood of practicing errors (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

Feedback has been proven to be a very effective method in increasing student outcomes (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).  Giving
student immediate corrective feedback ensures that they do not come to the end of a lesson not knowing or using skills or
strategies incorrectly.  Providing immediate and corrective feedback during both instruction and practice increase students positive
outcomes for the lesson.  Providing affirmative feedback is equally as important.  Affirming students learning and providing
specific academic and behavioral feedback ensure that students are recognized for their effort and learning during instruction and
practice.

Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace

Deliver instruction at an appropriate pace to optimize instructional time, the amount of content that can be presented and on-task
behavior. Use a rate of presentation that is brisk but includes a reasonable amount of time for students’ thinking/processing,
especially when they are learning new material. The desired pace is neither so slow that students get bored nor so quick that they
can’t keep up (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

Delivering brisk instruction with frequent OTRs (opportunities to respond) increases the likelihood that students will be engaged
and on-task during your lesson.  Using the modeling practice (I do, we do, you do) along with ensuring wait time for students
responses allows students to be presented and learn new material more effectively.

Help students organize knowledge 

Because many students have difficulty seeing how some skills and concepts fit together, it is important to use teaching techniques
that make these connections more apparent or explicit. Well organized and connected information makes it easier for students to
retrieve information and facilitate its integration with new material (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:

When teaching students about how plants use photosynthesis to feed themselves, connecting the parts of the plant with the
function they serve in photosynthesis will help student make the connection that you must have both for a plant to make food.  
Connecting relevant content and skills together, ensure that students will be able to identify and retrieve content and skills
quicker. 

Provide distributed and cumulative practice 

Distributed (vs. massed) practice refers to multiple opportunities to practice a skill over time. Cumulative practice is a method for
providing distributed practice by including practice opportunities that address both previously and newly acquired skills. Provide
students with multiple practice attempts, in order to address issues of retention as well as automaticity (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example:Providing students with multiple opportunities to practice both prerequisite and current skills helps to ensure that
students will not “lose” skills already learned and have opportunities to practice new skills.  Practice can be distributed before,
during or after a lesson and days or weeks after a lesson has been delivered.  Not only are you providing students opportunities to
practice, but you can also monitor students understanding and use of skills.