Explicit Teaching - What it is...and why it's not really a 'thing'!
- Susan de Lautour
- Sep 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 10
People talk about ‘explicit teaching’ like it’s the next great thing but it’s not a 'new strategy'! It’s not really a ‘thing’. It’s just TEACHING! EFFECTIVE teaching!
We’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Why? How did this happen?!
Perhaps there’s a lack of basic training in teachers’ colleges, or at least, teaching (yes, explicitly) is not promoted as the most important thing!
Perhaps, because the sheer volume of administrative and pastoral care these days, teachers have little time for planning and creating.
Perhaps the push to ‘engage reluctant learners’ and ‘form relationships first’ have turned us into performing seals trying all the new tricks with all the new toys (cough, cough, technology).
Perhaps with all the new fandangled ‘pedagogies’ and demands from our government departments (#peoplenotintheclassroom), we’ve forgotten that keeping it simple is best!
What is explicit teaching?
Explicit teaching is when a teacher takes a concept or skill and TEACHES IT. Explicit teaching is focused, deliberate work with a class in an attempt to have every student understand and be able to use that skill. Explicit teaching IS teaching! Explicit teaching requires common sense. That is:
Having your end-point in mind. Know what you want students to understand/be able to do by the end of this lesson/set of lessons.
Breaking that end-point (concept/skill) into manageable chunks, then teaching these chunks in a logical sequence – aka: scaffolding. (Tip: Do it yourself first so that you appreciate the steps and struggles. Eg: Write an essay yourself first!)
Student’s knowing what they’re learning this lesson – aka: clear learning objectives.
A pre-planned lesson sequence – and let’s keep it real, this can be ‘in your head’! And by lesson, I mean the teaching of that chunk – it might take 2-3 periods/lessons/class sessions. Good lessons involve:
i. Teacher first – provide notes which students copy into books), explain/model. (And yes, you could give a starter first (eg: a ‘big question’) to get students thinking/’warming up’.)
ii. Students work in pairs/small groups.
iii. Students have a go on their own.
Being on your feet - checking students’ work – is it neat, complete, ‘sweet’? – aka: feedback, formative assessment.
What else needs to work in the background?
If students don’t know/can’t do something, think of it as YOUR problem. YOU’VE got to find a way to teach that to them.
Routine. Routine. Routine.
Getting back to basics – keeping it simple.
Small steps – ones that students can achieve before moving on to the next step.
Planning - it doesn’t have to be flash, but do map out your scaffolding on a bit of paper first. Do the activity yourself first (eg: write the essay, write a short story, write a persuasive speech). Empathising with students means:
Experiencing/working out the steps needed to meet with success – “Whoops, they probably need to do this first!”
Appreciating the bits they’ll find tricky.
Working out a better way to do ‘this bit’.
Once you know the chunk you’ll teach next, you can probably just keep your Teacher-Pairs-On their own sequence in your head! #keepingitreal
Students’ notebooks/1B5s need to be cared for.
Keep them in class and the class doesn’t go until those books are filed neatly and carefully in a box.
Have students write the date in full, underline it with a ruler and red pen.
Have students write a title/heading, underlined with a ruler and red pen. Notes go underneath.
Push for work to be “neat, complete, ‘sweet’” (Sweet? It’s correct/done well.)
Model the previous three steps on your whiteboard/screen.
Check/mark (whatever you want to call it) those books!
Explicit teaching is NOT about:
Finding new tricks – playing the ‘performing seal’ to engage reluctant learners. You’re not here to entertain; you’re here to teach. Your students aren’t here to be entertained (they’ve got TikTok and Netflix for that); they’re here to learn and retain that learning.
Trying out all the flash techie things you see the instagrammers and TikTokers doing – you can’t Kahoot your way to learning.
Leaving things to chance. For example:
Simply ‘discussing’ a poem, then believing students now understand:
The vocabulary, figurative meanings, context and connections with their own world.
How to analyse a poem so that they can do it themselves in their exam next month.
Asking students to produce an essay about their novel study, believing that the reminder to include an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion means you’ve taught students how to write an essay.
Students completing activities via Google Classroom, lesson after lesson, but not being able to articulate what they’re learning and not having any physical notes to show for it (or study from).
Examples of pre-planned lesson chunks where the teacher is TEACHING:
Chunk examples | 1. Teacher | 2. Pairs/small groups | 3. Individual |
How to write an essay introduction. | Writes notes on board/screen about what an essay introduction is/why it’s important as well as an example that’s annotated so that students see the parts of it. STUDENTS COPY INTO BOOKS. | Students are given a question and three key points that will be used in an essay. They work in pairs to write an introduciton. As you roam: check, mark, give feedback, let what you see inform next steps.* | Give students another question and three key points. They have a go at writing the introduction on their own. They have steps 1 and 2, plus you to help them. As you roam: check, mark, give feedback, let what you see inform next steps.* |
How to use possessive apostrophes | Writes notes on board/screen about the rule of using possessive apostrophes as well as annotated examples. STUDENTS COPY INTO BOOKS. | Students work in their own books to put apostrophes into sentences the teacher has added on the board/big screen. They can consult their friends. As you roam: check, mark, give feedback, let what you see inform next steps.* | You could:
|
The political setting of the class novel. | Writes notes on board/screen about what a political setting is and the political setting in their novel. Probably bullet pointed. Teacher includes one relevant quotation (textual evidence), emphasising the use of quotation marks for that quotation. STUDENTS COPY INTO BOOKS. | Students find evidence (quotations) from their novels – perhaps one/two chapters per pair. They write these in their books / on the whiteboard / on paper you’ve tacked up around the room. As you roam: check – are the quotations relevant and have they remembered those quotation marks. Let what you see inform next steps.* | Students choose their three favourite quotes by moving around others’ books / checking the classroom display. They copy these into their books under their earlier notes about the political setting. As you roam: check, mark, give feedback, let what you see inform next steps.* |
* The technical term is formative assessment, of course. If your checking shows that students just aren’t getting it, have a quick word, reteach or find a better way or discuss with the students why they might be having trouble and what they feel they need. Explicit teaching – teaching – means not giving up.
STAY IN THE KNOW!
✿ Subscribe to our YouTube channel
✿ Follow us on TikTok
✿ Follow us on Instagram
✿ Follow our Facebook page
✿ Follow us on TPT.
📬Add some joy to your inbox📬
🥝 NZ Teachers, click here to subscribe for teaching tips and our latest products (or log in to the website then you can access our Freebies library too)!
🌎 Teachers from other parts of the world, click here to subscribe for teaching tips and our latest plus get instant access to our bank of freebies!
Comments