Design of instruction

Summary

Learn about the design of instruction in the elementary school classroom and how it can benefit your students.

Easy Steps to Design Instruction to Personalize for Students

A teacher works with a student. Text on the left reads: easy steps to design instruction in the elementary classroom. — Thoughtful design of instruction allows research to guide teachers in making decisions that will benefit their students.

It’s time for a reading lesson…your least favorite time of day. You gather your students onto the carpet and begin talking about the main idea for the day: perspective. You’re pulling out all the stops to engage your students yet nothing is working. They continue to zone out, talk to each other, and pace around the room. Day in and day out you wonder: how can I help my students engage with what I am teaching? You can design instruction to personalize for your students.

Now, I know you just went: “WHAT?! I can’t possibly design instruction to meet the needs of 30 individuals!” and the truth is personalizing instruction is most effective through the use of systems in your classroom. With systems in place, students take ownership of their learning and personalize their own learning experience.

What is the Design of Instruction?

On the surface level, the design of instruction is exactly what it sounds like designing instruction. While many often think of materials to assist in instruction it incorporates all aspects of instruction including how students learn, methods and materials that will enhance the learning experience, and even neuroscience! Thoughtful design of instruction allows research to guide teachers in making decisions that will benefit their students. Many often consider the four pieces of instructional design to be: learning tasks, supportive information, procedural information, and part-task practice. When teachers use these pieces in conjunction with universal design for learning, they can deliver meaningful and accessible curriculum to all students.

A group of three students sit behind a desk working. Text above reads: create systems in your classroom to personalize instruction. — Thoughtful design of instruction allows research to guide teachers in making decisions that will benefit their students.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Universal design for learning aims to eliminate barriers for students in the curriculum while asking teachers to thoughtfully plan and reflect upon the lessons delivered. It asks teachers to provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression to allow students various ways to interact with the given content. These areas examine the why, what and how of learning respectively. The creators of UDL, CAST, have created quick guides for teachers as well as expansive resources to support teachers in their delivery of curriculum. UDL focuses on the delivery of the instruction, while the design of instruction focuses on the creation and sequence of curriculum. A subtle but important difference!

Creating An Effective To Do List

I get it you’re thinking “Sounds like a lot of time and effort but I’m already tapped out with a to do list a mile long”. Teachers are burnt out left and right but the importance of the design of instruction is to replace the to-do list, not add to it. When teachers are intentional about their design and delivery, they can create effective systems to use their time (and their students’ time!) more effectively.

A teacher sits at her desk with a laptop and lots of paper. — When teachers are intentional about their design and delivery, they can create effective systems to use their time (and their students’ time!) more effectively.

There are simple ways you can personalize instruction in your classroom without creating a specific plan for each student. Have a choice board of graphic organizers? Personalization. Or, maybe your classroom has math manipulatives accessible to students at all times? That’s also a form of personalizing instruction. Or, maybe you’ve thoughtfully planned two ways to show students how to complete a task. You guessed it, that’s also personalizing instruction.

The Importance of Personalized Instruction

Using the design of instruction helps teachers think critically about the content they are delivering to their students. As classes change each year, so do the priorities of the teacher to align with the needs of the group more closely. It is important to personalize instruction because it creates a more engaging learning experience for students, increasing their access and decreasing behaviors.

Designing Instruction is the Key to Inclusivity

Kids come in all different shapes and sizes. Each has their unique strength and weaknesses along with learning in various ways. This individuality is important and can be overwhelming to teachers. However, when you design your instruction around choice and systems it takes the personalization off the teacher’s plate.

When teachers intentionally design their instruction and their classroom systems, they are able to incorporate the various learning styles and needs of their students. Differentiation requires thinking critically about instruction and its’ delivery. Are you interested in learning more about differentiation? Learn about what differentiation is and why it’s effective!

A group of students lean over a table working collaboratively on a project. Text above reads: personalizing instruction increases student engagement. — When teachers intentionally design their instruction and their classroom systems, they are able to incorporate the various learning styles and needs of their students.

Taking Boxed Curriculum and Personalizing It

As teachers, we are often given a box and told “Use this”. While the road map is extremely helpful, students don’t fit into a box. Boxed curriculums are wonderful in many ways, and make teaching easier. When they are research-based, they provide teachers with materials and a road map to help students achieve various academic goals.

The issue comes when students inevitably don’t fit into the box. What do you do? This is where the art of teaching comes in, and, where the importance of teachers learning the latest research and methods of learning comes in.

How to Personalize Design of Instruction

Teachers are not mind readers. We have no way of knowing what is going on in our students’ brains. With younger students, it is important to vocalize observation so they can self-reflect up on what methods of learning might be successful for them. Our students are the only ones who truly know what they are learning.

Steps to Design Instruction

To personalize curriculum, teachers must be knowledgeable not only about the content they are teaching but also about cognitive learning methods. They must be able to provide multiple means of instruction. Knowledge and experience are two key factors in the successful personalized design of instruction.

Once you have, or are working on, knowledge and experience check out the steps below to streamline your design of instruction in the elementary classroom!

Step 1: Build a Relationship

Before designing instruction for any student, you must build a relationship. What are their likes or dislikes? What are they working on? Many psychologists, such as Maslow, have shown that learning is a higher-level skill. For students to access the ability to learn, first they must have a strong foundation of trust.

Step 2: Collect the Data

After building a relationship, begin to collect the data. Where does the student succeed? What helps them when they falter? Use this data, along with knowledge of development and curriculum scope and sequence, to think about where the student may go next.

Step 4: Reflect & Collaborate

Once you have your data, take a look and think about it. Look at individual skills and larger group trends. What stands out to you? What is missing? This is great to do as a grade-level team or even building-wide to think about how you can better tailor the design of instruction to meet the students of your population.

Step 5: Get Creative!

In my opinion, this is the best part of teaching! Get creative with your design of instruction for how you deliver the curriculum to your students. Ask your students, what helps you learn? What does that look like? Not everything has to or will be, a raging success. There will be massive failures but, like our students, teachers will get up and try again.

Check these out to learn more about the design of instruction in the elementary classroom!