“What will they know and be able to do?” You know this line, but do you know this one: What declarative and procedural knowledge will your students acquire and integrate? The second version is a little longer, but essentially it’s a more defined version of the first question. In previous posts we established several challenges with using Gradual Release of Responsibility or G.R.R.–one of them being that we don’t consciously analyze the type of knowledge we are teaching. Some would say that teachers don’t think this way because they don’t think it’s important. I argue that many of us don’t simply because we are not aware. When you know better, you do better. When you know better, you unleash!
Learner Focused Teaching
Unleashing your inner teacher means increasing your ability to teach effectively daily so that you improve student learning daily. It means focusing on the learner. It means thinking about how the learner learns so that you can plan to use teaching strategies that match how they learn. That being said, you want to think about the knowledge type you are teaching in order to plan for efficient learning.
Different knowledge means different learning, which means different teaching strategies. You’ll see the strategies used to teach declarative and procedural knowledge appear similar, but they are definitely different. Let’s see how.
Teach So They Acquire and Integrate “The Know”
When learning declarative knowledge (key fact, concepts, episodes, etc.), making connections and finding patterns helps the learning stick. We can’t take for granted that students automatically know this, so we must help them recognize the value in making connections and finding patterns. While learning, learners actively process content by trying to reconcile the new information with the old (a.k.a. prior knowledge). Think about it: even now while you are reading my post, more likely than not you are actively thinking about what you already know about teaching and learning. If I’m doing a good job, you are reconciling the old with the new– finding patterns and making connections! Now if you are doing it, guess what? You’re students do it also. So let’s take a look at how to teach “The Know” knowledge effectively.
Help student learn declarative knowledge efficiently by teaching in this order: construct meaning, organize information, store knowledge. Click here to see how.
Teach So They Acquire and Integrate “The Do”
When learning procedural knowledge–processes and skills–it is important to remember that more complex skills and processes build upon simpler ones. This is like the toddler who learned how to assemble a puzzle with 8 large puzzle pieces, then grew up and learned how to assemble 1,000 small puzzle pieces. If the toddler never learned how to perform the simpler process, learning the more difficult one could prove frustrating and almost impossible. It’s important then that you make no assumptions and be explicit about every step. You can ensure you do this if you rehearse out loud when planning. Also important to remember is learning does not occur by mimicking. Watching Serena play tennis hasn’t made me a great tennis player. But practicing with a coach, receiving on-the-spot correction on form and technique, and mentally rehearsing the process has made it possible for me to actually play the game. Finally, help your students acquire and internalize by offering multiple ways for them to see how the skill or process is done.
Help students learn procedural knowledge efficiently by teaching in this order: construct models, shape steps, internalize the procedure. Click here to see how.
Putting it All Together
Over the last three posts, we’ve refined our understanding of G.R.R., which is really an opaque rendition Direction Instruction. Next time, we will put all of the pieces together. We’ll start with an objective based on the common core, deconstruct it to identify the knowledge types, decide how best to teach to make learning efficient and plan a lesson. In other words, we’ll unleash your inner teacher!
P.S. Remember that Direct Instruction is only one of many teaching methods.
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