Direct Instruction Works – Part 1, The Ticking Clock

Kevin Surrey is the Director of Direct Instruction (Maths), Direct Instruction South Hub, UK.

This blog has been re-posted and published with kind permission of Kevin Surrey and the Direct Instruction South Hub Team. Find out more about the work of Kevin and his team at: https://www.direct-instruction.co.uk/

In the first instalment of this 3-part blog, find out why DI is the most powerful tool against the ticking clock for students who are falling behind in reading or maths, particularly as students transition from Primary to Secondary School.

There has been much written regarding Direct Instruction after extensive scientific research into its ability to provide accessible learning for all, that was pioneered over many years by Siegfried Engelmann. There have been several pilot studies of the programmes conducted, edited, and refined before DI was finally launched in the current form we use today. I am not going to divulge too much on the research or science behind this pioneering work as it has been done many times before. However, I do feel the need to emphasise, based on all the studies and my own teaching experience that Direct Instruction does work. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds, have accelerated progress that inevitably closes the attainment gap with their more advantaged peers.

Nevertheless, DI is more than just a programme of work constructed so meticulously by Siegfried Engelmann that it can also support the more able students through the comprehensive scripted teaching strategies that facilitate knowledge retention embedded into every lesson. More so, nor is it just about raw attainment data but more about how it nurtures children’s natural desire and enthusiasm for learning through its brilliantly written scripts allowing whole class and individual chanting to enhance the children’s learning experience. As a teacher of DI, I always like to compare myself to the role of Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act; if you have seen the film you will know what I mean. But she inherits a choir of mismatched nuns singing dud notes with poor synchronisations and turns them into the beautiful, harmonised gospel choir that performs in front of the Pope at the end of the film. My apologies if you have not seen the film and I have put in a spoiler!

So why do I love this analogy? Because is Year 7 not like this? We inherit children who arrive with a substantial range of abilities, based on national testing scores, reading ages, predicted grades and baseline tests and many, through no fault of their own are not at the expected level for their age. It is at this stage when we must, and I say this respectfully, identify the ‘dud notes and poor synchronisation’ that is among them and pull these students out, fine tune them into the finished harmonised choir that perform to their very best. If Whoopie can do it, then so can we!

The Ticking Clock

So, we rely on these scores and baseline tests to bring together this mismatch of ability and compress them into classes to embark on their Secondary School learning journey. They then follow a quite frankly rigorous spiral curriculum, moving at one hundred miles an hour, to cover all the content required and that for some of our children leaves them spitting dust. They only emerge from this dust cloud in Year 11 when so much crammed intervention is needed to help them on their final push for exams.

Hasten to say, before I am chastised, that none of this is the fault of schools or teachers who work extremely hard but from an education system that puts that intense pressure on teachers to cover so much content in such little time. The system in my view is not designed for the learners who need time to catch up and plug knowledge gaps, it is a system that fails our more disadvantaged children in allowing these gaps to grow by the sheer pace content is delivered. I will quote Siegfried Engelmann, “Time is a teacher’s worst enemy, and every time the clock ticks it ticks in favour of the advantaged students and against the disadvantaged students.”

To find out more about DI Programs and how they work, please visit our website at: https://www.mheducation.com.au/schools/direct-instruction

For Year 7 students who are behind their Grade Level in Reading or Maths, please refer to the Corrective Reading https://www.mheducation.com.au/schools/literacy/corrective-reading and Corrective Mathematics https://www.mheducation.com.au/schools/numeracy/corrective-mathematics programs.

Check in next time when we will continue this Blog as Kevin goes on to talk about his journey with DI.

If you would like to connect or comment on this blog post, please send an email to schools_anz@mheducation.com. This in-box is monitored regularly, and we will respond as soon as possible to your email.