There is a lot of interest in explicit forms of instruction these days, particularly among districts that want to turn their failing schools into successful ones. While there are many ways to begin the journey into explicit instruction, there are two main approaches. The first is to train staff up in general explicit teaching strategies, such as choral response, brisk pace, modeling, retrieval practice, and so on. This is what I do every day with my own school, and what I provide to districts as part of my consultancy. You can inquire about my trainings, here.
The second approach is to use evidence-based curriculum programs, such as Direct Instruction (DI). I recently began using two Direct Instruction programs, one with my daughter called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and another with small groups of students called Corrective Math. As with all Direct Instruction programs, these use well-sequenced examples, choral responses, and scripts, which makes it so that the load on the teacher is light, and the communication is unambiguous. Most people tell me they shutter at the thought of scripts, but it is rare to find someone who has actually used Direct Instruction (DI) that holds this opinion. People also tell me they don’t like anyone telling them what to do, and that they want to design their own curriculum, and that they don’t really like teaching from the front anyway. So, it is hard to separate whether the disdain flows from the scripts themselves or from something else.
Given the long history of proven effectiveness of Direct Instruction, I thought I’d start a podcast about it: The Direct Instruction Podcast. It is aimed at DI practitioners, but it is also for educators who want to explore ways to take their explicit teaching model to the next level.
To listen to The Direct Instruction Podcast, you can go to the WordPress site it is hosted on, and you can find it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube (above), and wherever you get your podcasts. I will also post each episode on Progressively Incorrect, my main podcast.
I hope you enjoy!
Education Rickshaw 
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