Explicit Teaching & Modeling

Professional Learning › Instructional Strategies › Explicit Teaching & Modeling

Clear instruction that builds understanding: modeling, worked examples, gradual release, and scaffolding.

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Checking for understanding means gathering evidence of what every student knows right now, so you can adjust before moving on.

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Modeling & Worked Examples

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Students cannot copy thinking they cannot see.

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Gradual Release

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Gradual release moves responsibility from teacher to student on purpose: I do, we do, you do.

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Scaffolding

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Scaffolding is the temporary support that lets a student do now, with help, what they will soon do alone.

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Explicit & Direct Instruction

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

For new or complex material, explicit instruction, clear explanations, worked examples, guided practice, and checking for understanding, is one of the most effective approaches, especially before students are ready to work independently.

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Activating Prior Knowledge

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

New learning sticks when it connects to what students already know.

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Teaching With Analogies

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

A good analogy can make an abstract or unfamiliar idea instantly clearer by connecting it to something students already understand.

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Multiple Representations

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

A concept understood only one way is understood shallowly.

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Nonexamples & Contrasting Cases

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

To truly understand a concept, students need to know not just what it is, but what it is not, and how it differs from near-neighbors.

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Manipulatives & CRA

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Abstract ideas, especially in math, become far more learnable when students first build them with their hands.

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Think-Alouds

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Expert thinking is invisible, and students cannot copy what they cannot see.

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Expertise Reversal

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

Supports that help a beginner, worked examples, heavy scaffolding, step-by-step guidance, can actually hinder a more advanced learner.

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Checklists & Procedural Scaffolds

15 / 45 min or half-day · Teachers

For complex, multi-step tasks, even capable students forget steps, skip parts, and make avoidable errors.

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