Curriculum Framework

Overview

Direct instruction supports concept and skill development in content areas across curriculum. High-impact practices such as prior knowledge activation, foundational skill building, gradual release of responsibility, modelling, formative assessment, and targeted intervention/acceleration ensure learners grow their knowledge and varied skill sets efficiently and in developmentally appropriate ways.

Elements

When teachers adopt explicit teaching practices, they clearly show students what to do and how to do it. The teacher decides on learning intentions and success criteria, makes them transparent to students, and demonstrates them by modelling the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach. The teacher checks for understanding and at the end of each lesson, revisits what was covered, and ties it all together (Hattie, 2009).

Strategies

Using a gradual release of responsibility model (modelling, shared, guided, and independent), teachers employ high-impact practices such as:

• Selecting learning and teaching targets
• Activating existing knowledge
• Building prerequisite knowledge
• Embedding metacognitive strategies
• Using effective questioning
• Applying formative assessment practices to provide meaningful feedback
• Using targeted intervention/acceleration as outlined in the teaching process and intervention map

Resources

• Make Learning Visible | Collection of John Hattie resources
• Formative Assessment | EECD resource
• Balanced Assessment | EECD resource
• Scaffolding to Support Language Development
• Teaching Process and Intervention Map | EECD resource
• What Are Marzano’s Instructional Strategies for Teaching and Learning? | teachthought