Teaching structure can take many forms

I have learned as an educator and parent that kids thrive on consistency and structure. So, what does structure look like nowadays, especially in a classroom? Teachers face a difficult challenge of delivering instruction to students with a wide range of abilities and interests. So how do you get 15-20 individual students what they need to progress in their learning? It is a daunting task. Teachers need to be familiar with the needs of the student, the curriculum, and resources needed to teach the lesson.

With all that in mind, the teacher develops the lesson plan in which he/she needs to know what structure, or learning model, best fits for that lesson. It could be that the students need direct instruction. This is typically used when the material is new, or the students do not have any familiarity with the material being taught. It is probably the structure we are most familiar with. This is where the teacher provides the instruction to the students and the students take in the instruction and apply their learning so the teacher knows the student understands. That is just a very quick, simple description that doesn’t go into all the elements needed for a good direct-instruction lesson.

Another structure a teacher might use is for an inquiry-based model of instruction. Basically, the teacher sets up the lesson without directly telling the student what they are learning. The teacher will go through the lesson and at the end the objective is “figured out.” Many teachers use this instructional structure when they are teaching science or doing a lesson that is “hands-on.”

A structure that is widely used by our elementary teachers is called the workshop model of instruction. In this structure, the teacher gives a mini lesson to everyone, usually 10-15 minutes, then students go off into small groups and work in various stations doing different tasks that the teacher has laid out. One of the groups is the teacher, who provides small-group instruction to a set of students. The groups of students then rotate through the different stations or centers. The teacher meets with each group of students working on a skill that the group may be having difficulty with. Each station or center has an activity that the students need to practice in order to become more proficient with that concept. For example, a teacher may give a mini lesson on multiplication. He/she would take a group that might need more instruction on that concept of multiplication. The stations or centers may include place value, fact practice, working on word problems, and additional practice with subtraction with regrouping. These stations or centers are based on what the needs of the class are. The benefits of this model are the teacher can meet with most of the class each day in a small group setting to assess the needs and adjust instruction to each group of students. The teacher can work with a smaller number of students to make the instruction more focused, and the stations or centers can be used to reinforce concepts that students may need more time working on. A limitation of this model is that while the teacher is working with a small group, students at the stations must be somewhat independent to do the work at the station. It does present the opportunity for students to collaborate with each other and work on things together, but the teacher is not right there to clear up any misunderstandings. Students must be comfortable letting the teacher know of anything they do not understand. This model is typically used after direct instruction has been done so the students do have a base of knowledge. There is also the question of how motivated the student is to work independently. Again, the teacher needs to know when it is appropriate to use this model of instruction.

I’ve tried to share with you some different instructional structures teachers, especially elementary school teachers, use in their classrooms to deliver instruction. This certainly is not an exhaustive list. There is a lot of thought that goes into what is the appropriate way to deliver instruction and when it should be used. As you can see, there are a lot of factors that go into making a lesson. This is a part of the work teachers do to deliver the best instruction possible.

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Eric Johnson is principal of the Woodland Heights School in Laconia.