The Four C’s of Effective Instruction
“The key to effective teaching is to remember how you learned.” — Clive James
This quote resonates with me. I often find myself reflecting on my own learning journey. What was easy, what was hard? When am I most engaged as a learner? As a person that has difficulty staying focused and on task, I have to be very intentional and conscious to what I am doing and not doing when learning is at its peak for me. I am truly a learning geek. I sit an analyze myself and others all the time to see what works and what doesn’t work. If it isn’t working, what adjustments need to be made to make the learning environment optimal. Master teachers are always monitoring and making adjustments moment by moment during the day to try and achieve the best learning environment for students.
What instructional practices need to be present to make learning optimal? I saw a graphic that summed it up for me. The four C’s of effective instruction. So what are the four C’s? Effective instruction needs to be: clear, consistent, corrective and connected.
CLEAR: Instruction needs to be clear or another C word is concise. I learned LONG ago from a wise ELL teacher that taught me to use economy of language. What I mean by that, is the goal is to get the point across in as few words as possible so it is easier to process the message. English Language Learners need as few words as possible. It is much easier to process information when the message is stated clearly in as few words as possible.
CONSISTENT: Make sure the message is consistent. The brain likes patterns and looks for them. When instruction is consistent and predictable it makes it easier for students to know what is expected. Also, any directions that will be shared with students need to be consistent as well. One way to ensure this is to think through what to say during lesson planning. While learning to do this, write down exactly what you want to say on a post it note. Keep doing it over and over until it is internalized. Directions are often clearest when given in a step by step format. Walk through the steps with students one by one and make sure they understand the expectations. As you do this each day the consistency will carry over and children will know the process and what to do.
CORRECTIVE: This is an important step in the process. Building positive muscle memory is key to student success. To insure this happens sometimes corrective measures need to be taken as quickly as possible. We do not want to reinforce negative muscle memory and bad habits. Set clear expectations, watch for them to be carried out and if there is a problem, correct it right away. Make sure to correct in a supportive and encouraging manner. Often this can be accomplished through modeling. DO NOT single out students or embarrass them. One way to ensure students know what is expected of them is to use a foot vote at the end of instructions. Ask students, if you understand the directions and are comfortable to go get started, go and stand by the whiteboard. Once the group is there, send them off to get started working. Next, ask, if you are a little unclear, go stand by the door. While they are moving ask the remaining students, if you don’t have any idea what you are supposed to do stay here on the rug. Move to the group that is unsure and check in and ask what they think the directions are and clear up any misconceptions quickly and send them off to get started working. Then move to the group on the rug and go over the directions and expectations and make sure they knew exactly what to do. Then release them to go start working. Foot vote is an indicator as to how clear and concise the directions are. This method also eliminates children getting back to their seats and wasting precious work time not knowing what to do.
CONNECTED: For learning to be cemented, it is helpful to show children how to connect their learning. For example, you can say to a child, when you wrote that word cat, you said it slowly to write each sound. When you are reading you can say words slowly to help you read them too. The more connections we can make for students the more imprinted in the brain their learning will be. Remember, the brain looks for patterns so showing students how to do this will help them on their journey to be problem solvers and thinkers! That is the ultimate goal of learning for each and every student.
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“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
― Frederick Douglass
The joy is in the journey!
Blessings and Peace,
Mary
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