A note: This is newsletter 3 of a 3-part series! Read the part one here and part two here.

Your Work Matters

Time is the hottest commodity we have in education. We are constantly trying to figure out how to get more of it. We talk about how to decrease bathroom breaks, how to minimize transitions, how to squeeze in the minimum number of minutes for recess, etc.

These are worthy efforts. We only get to work with our students for approximately 180 days per year, with about 5-6 hours of instructional time. When so many schools are pressured to make gains that require more than a year’s worth of growth, we have to squeeze instruction into every precious second. (That’s if we aren’t battling a chronic absenteeism problem, which has decreased but not to pre-pandemic rates - read more here).

If you’ve been in the Science of Reading world for a minute, you’ve probably heard of Anita Archer and her Archerisms (shown above). Archer is the co-author of Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching, which highlights HOW we can teach the content many of us are learning in our Science of Reading journey. In Archer’s and Hughes’ book (2011, p. 7) , the authors share 8 Ways of Optimizing Instructional Time:

1. Increase allocated time and time spent teaching in critical content areas.
2. Ensure an appropriate match between what is being taught and the instructional needs of students.
3. Start lessons on time and stick to the schedule.
4. Teach in groups as much as possible.
5. Be prepared.
6. Avoid digressions.
7. Decrease transition time.
8. Use routines.

Those in bold are examples of how important it is to consider how we are using our daily schedules. With those considerations in place, how can we maximize instructional time during the time we have? In addition to these, let’s focus on what we are doing DURING instructional time rather than only how to create more of it.

Last month, I alluded to this month's focus on explicit instruction, explaining that:

When we think about who sits in our classrooms and the information we present, it is true that many of our learners are in the novice category. They don't yet have the knowledge needed for partial guidance or discovery learning practices. As someone who learned about constructivist theory and taught using a balanced literacy workshop model I understand the allure. We want children to have time for creativity, questions and discovery. And is it effective? Research says no.

You may be familiar with the "I do, we do, you do" approach to explicit instruction. This is a very simplified version of how to approach instruction in this manner. And yes, it applies, but there is more to it.

Archer and Hughes (2011, p. 2) list sixteen elements of explicit instruction (more than 3):

1. Focus instruction on critical content.
2. Sequence skills logically.
3. Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units.
4. Design organized and focused lessons.
5. Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson's goals and your expectations.
6. Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction.
7. Provide step-by-step demonstrations.
8. Use clear and concise language.
9. Provide an adequate range of examples and non-examples.
10. Provide guided and supported practice.
11. Require frequent responses.
12. Monitor student performance closely.
13. Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback.
14. Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace.
15. Help students organize knowledge.
16. Provide distributed (multiple opportunities over time) and cumulative practice (previous and newly taught skills)

You might read this list and think, "I (or my teachers) do all of these things." Yes, AND how?

Let's set the scene. You visit a classroom and the teacher begins the lesson. "T - Who remembers what we did yesterday during [insert subject area]? Ss - no response. T - No one remembers? It had something to do with [insert clue]. 1 S - calls out something unrelated. T - Remember? We did [explains the activities in the lesson the day prior]. Ss - more guesses (none are correct)." And at this point, 5 minutes have passed.

Were we attempting to "do" number 6, review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction? Yes. Was it effective and efficient? No. What if the teacher simply started the lesson with "Yesterday we learned [insert skill] when we [insert activity or clue]." and then continued to verify that students have the prerequisite skill for today's lesson? This approach maximizes the time the teacher has.

So while this list of 16 elements may be familiar, the way we do them matters.

With an entire book (and other entire books) dedicated to this topic it's hard to expand each of these in a newsletter. But I want to highlight some important considerations as we support teachers in this work.

• Planning with curriculum in hand. Many of us are working with curriculum resources and adjusting to new ways of planning. When we look through the lessons provided, can we identify the elements listed here? You may have a high quality resource that still needs our critical planning eyes to ensure we are maximizing our instructional time. Asking questions about the critical content, sequence of lessons, etc. might require us to shift from fidelity.
• Rehearsing the design of our lessons. Depending on our experience with a lesson, we may need to rehearse how we want it to go. This might not be rehearsal in the traditional sense, but rather making a plan of how we will elicit student responses (white boards? hand signals?) to meet goal of increasing the number of successful responses. Additionally, we might need to "rehearse" providing a clear question and desired response among other parts of the lesson.
• Establishing routines. It is essential that we work on teaching and practicing routines for instruction (and classroom organization). This reduces cognitive load for both teachers and students so that learning the content is the focus. And this is not a small task - Archer and Hughes list 61 situations requiring a classroom routine or procedure. (2011, p. 122-123)
• Sometimes we need teacher talk. There has been a major focus on increasing student talk in classrooms and this is not to distract from that. But if our students are novices with the task and learning, they NEED the teacher to model, think aloud, and work examples.

What we are teaching matters, but so does HOW we teach it. If you haven't started working on this, it's time to begin.

Leadership Moves:

1. Consider the instructional approaches in your classrooms - do you see evidence of explicit instruction?
2. Support teachers with planning, rehearsal, and routines.
3. Focus on the learning rather than the amount of teacher talk.

What does this mean for me?

Maximizing instructional time requires multiple parts of the system to work together. We need leaders to provide the instructional time needed for our content areas in our schedules. We need access to planning time and supports for thinking through the design of our lessons. We need time to rehearse; if this isn't taking place before going live with students, we need room for the SNL version where Keenan can't stop laughing to be ok then try again tomorrow. Use Anna Gillingham's words to guide you: "Go as fast as you can, but as slow as you must."

Recommended Resources

• Explicit Instruction (website with videos)
• MTSS for Reading Improvement Reproducible A2: Elements of Explicit Instruction checklist
  • Directions for accessing: Visit https://go.solutiontree.com/literacy and click on MTSS for Reading Improvement. Create an account (or sign in) to download the free reproducible.
• Just Tell Them by Zach Groshell

Related Newsletters:

• Maximizing Instructional Time (Part 1)
• Maximizing Instructional Time (Part 2)
• The One Thing
• Schedules Reflect Your Priorities

Where have we been?

October means TRL Conference! This year's conference took place in Chicago and did not disappoint! I had the pleasure of wearing multiple hats this year. I was representing The Reading League North Carolina as a chapter leader with my fellow board members. I also introduced speakers and served as a room host which was one of my responsibilities as a Professional Learning Specialist for TRL. Y'all, I introduced JAN HASBROUCK and she gave me a hug! I fangirled over Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden's session who inspired us to bring this focus to the Science of Math.

​ ​ This month's workshop focused on aligning school improvement goals to coaching roles and actions. Watch the recording here. ​ Each month, I'm hosting a workshop for instructional coaches. Each workshop aligns to the indicators in the Coaching System Assessment. Watch the recordings by subscribing to my YouTube channel! ​

Grab my ebook! The Coaching System Assessment Guide: Identifying Strengths and Opportunities, is now available. This guide builds on the Coaching System Assessment, helping you move from reflection to action with practical strategies, real-world examples, and prompts that dig deeper into four key pillars: People, Process, Product, and Culture. If you’re ready to strengthen your coaching system in a way that truly supports educators and improves outcomes for students, this resource is for you. As a thank you for subscribing to my newsletter, please enjoy 20% off using the code: NEWSLETTER Buy the book

​Let's Work Together!

At Linda Rhyne Consulting, we help schools and districts strengthen their instructional coaching and literacy systems so every educator thrives so they can impact student outcomes. From assessing your current approach, to designing strategic plans, to partnering with leaders for long-term implementation, we make sure your systems align with research, state standards, and your unique context. If you’re ready for cohesive, sustainable systems that work for your people, let’s talk.

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