EDI & Engagement Norms

Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI)

At Mundaring Primary School, we adopt the Explicit Direct Instruction model (Ybarra and Hollingsworth).

Learning Objective – Clearly communicate learning intentions and success criteria to provide purpose and clarity of expected learning.
Activating Prior Knowledge – Review prior learning to provide opportunities for students to recall learning from previous lessons and life experiences.
Daily Review – A short revision of concepts that have already been covered.
Concept Development – Teachers demonstrate and/or model using clear and concise language to introduce the new concept or skill.
Skill Development – Teachers provide scaffolds and direction to engage students in using new concepts or skill development during focussed instruction.
Guided Practice – Students consolidate understanding through discussion, working with peers, while the teacher provides support and feedback.
Independent Learning – Students apply the learning from the lesson to independent practise activities.
Relevance – Teachers connect the new information to previous learning to make meaning for the students.
Closure – Teachers link the learning intention to the plenary. Teachers need to ensure the children are coming away with exactly the learning they have intended for the lesson with a final check for understanding. It can also be a time of student reflection about the lesson and how well the students feel they have achieved the lesson outcomes.

Continuous Checking for Understanding (CFU), implemented properly, is the backbone of effective instruction. Most educators are already familiar with the words “Checking for Understanding.” In fact, almost every observation, coaching, or evaluation form ever written contains words to that effect. In Explicit Direct Instruction, there is a very explicit method of Checking for Understanding that will make teaching even better as teachers monitor student learning in real time.

Engagement Norms

Research states that teachers CREATE engagement in classrooms when the ASK STUDENTS TO DO SOMETHING.

For this reason, the Student Engagement Norms should be used in every class, during every lesson, all day long.

Each of the norms facilitates the learning process. Pronounce, track , read, gesture, and pair-share are all ways that students will interact with the content in a meaningful way. The last three items on the engagement norms are specific classroom management techniques that support all this teacher-student interaction.

Pronounce with me – Supports all students with help pronouncing difficult vocabulary
Track with me – Help students begin to read new words by connecting the words they hear to the written words
Read with me – Give students opportunity to read the words
Gesture with me – Stores information in multiple pathways in the brain by incorporating a kinesthetic movement
Pair-share – Processes information by sharing with a partner. Provides students with an opportunity to vocalise their response in their own words
Attention signal – Helps cut down lost instructional time by refocusing the class with a simple command
Whiteboard-check – Determines if students are learning and thinking so that the correct effective feedback can be provided.
Complete sentences – Require students to respond using the newly introduced academic vocabulary