- Houston Independent School District
- Literacy Routines
- Turn the Light On
Professional Development
Page Navigation
- PD Operations / HELC
- Design, Media, and Online Learning (DMOL)
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Effective Practices
- PL Toolkit
- PL-1 Develops Student Learning Goals
- PL-2 Data-driven instruction
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
- I-1 Objective Driven Lessons
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I-2 Check for Understanding
- Assess Mastery
- Begin with the End
- Checkpoints
- Chunking Text
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Exit Ticket
- Graphic Organizer
- Guided Practice
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Randomizing Responses
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student Conferences
- Student-Generated Questions
- Teach Back
-
I-3 Differentiation
- Chunking Text
- Double Plan
- Exit Ticket
- Flexible Grouping
- Graphic Organizer
- Grappling
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- Leveled Text
- Multimedia
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Product Menus
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Take a Stand
- Tiered Assignments
- Workstations
- I-4 Higher Level Thinking
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I-5 Maximizing Instructional Time
- 100 Percent
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Entry Routine
- Exit Routine
- Job Assignments
- Material Organization
- Non-Verbal Interventions
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Pacing Tools
- Right is Right
- Stretch It
- Strong Voice
- Student Conference
- Teach Back
- Tight Transitions
- Work the Clock
- Workstations
- I-6 Communicating Content/Concepts
- I-7 High Academic Expectations
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I-8 Student Engagement
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Engage and Connect
- Graphic Organizer
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- J-Factor
- Job Assignments
- Leveled Text
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Product Menus
- Randomizing Responses
- Real-World Connections
- Reinforcers
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Workstations
- Work Hard, Get Smart
- I-9 Classroom Management
- I-10 Classroom Climate
- Literacy Routines
- Academics
- Swivl Pilot Program
- eLearning
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Turn the Light On
ELPS 1A, 1E, 1H, 2D, 2E, 2I, 4D, 4E, 4F, 4I
IP Rubric I-1, I-3, I-6, I-8
Questions Addressed
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- How do I help my students understand difficult content?
- How can I keep them engaged during direct instruction?
- How do I cover all my content and not lose my students?
Why It Works
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- We can design and deliver direct instruction so that all our students can understand and remember complex concepts.
- Students understand more when we make conscious efforts to increase comprehensible input.
- Delivering information in different modalities increases the likelihood that all students will learn in their own unique ways.
Suggested Strategies
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- Comprehensible Input
- Hook
- Advance Organizer
- Activate Prior Knowledge
- Build Background Knowledge
- Read World Connections*
- Frontloading
- Multiple Modalities
- Chunk and Chew
- Voice Modulation
- Total Physical Response
- Scaffolding
- Native Language Resources
* = PSD effective practices
How to Implement This Routine
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Prep the brain.
Students understand and retain more when we prepare their brains for new learning:
- Hook students with a novel experience.
- Use an advance organizer to preview what students are going to learn.
- Activate prior knowledge, leading students to make connections between what they already know and what they are about to learn. Include real-world connections*.
- Help students understand why the new learning is important to them personally.
When students have little prior knowledge about a topic, build background knowledge, either with the whole class or frontloading for a small group.
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Teach it three ways.
During direct instruction, anchor important ideas and instructions visually, verbally, and in writing. The brain stores information in different locations depending on how it was received, so when you introduce new learning using multiple modalities, students are more likely to remember complex information.
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Drive home key points.
Cue students to focus on the most important information, whether you are presenting information orally, in writing, or both. Mention critical concepts several times, varying your explanations and examples. When you see that some students do not understand key ideas, try another approach.
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Provide processing time.
Pause at natural junctures to let students make sense of new information using the chunk and chew method. Vary modalities, so that students might think silently, discuss with a partner, make notes, sketch a new concept, or add to a collaborative web document. Model for students how to select and summarize main ideas and important details.
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Monitor teacher talk.
Regulate the amount, speed, and vocabulary of your teacher talk to ensure you do not give more input than students are able to process. Modulate your voice and use relevant hand gestures, incorporating total physical response when appropriate. Provide a synonym when using new academic vocabulary.
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Scaffold to ensure mastery.
Provide additional scaffolds to students as needed to ensure they have full access to new learning (either frontloaded or during direct instruction). Scaffolds include relevant videos, native language resources, PowerPoint slide handouts, manipulatives, outlines, and partially completed notes.