Explicit Instruction: Where is the Engagement?!

As an administrator, my favorite moments included walk throughs! I was able to stop in, leave a positive note for the teachers, and observe the learning taking place.  It also allowed me the chance to notice if our professional development was carrying over into the classroom instruction. I remember quickly implementing the Turn & Talk from Lemov's Teach Like a Champion but as observations continued, I started noticing the same patterns - such as only certain students were talking, others were unassigned designated listeners. Dr. Archer came into my life about 3 years ago. I started watching some of her webinars on Explicit Instruction and then a year later I met her during the Plain Talk Conference hosted in New Orleans.  Have you ever been in a room filled with magical instruction? It happened that day as I witnessed a standing only room filled with over 100's of adults engaged in a literacy lesson about the migration of birds! Migration!  She had us - hook, line, and sinker!  After returning home, I started reflecting on my own courses, teaching, and learning and true engagement really started to catch my eye. We don't spend enough time teaching administrators about good instruction. I think there is an automatic assumption that if you are going to take the leader's seat, you know what it looks like, but I'm not sure that is always true since so many managerial tasks steal away our days. If you know, you know!  But if I could go back, professional learning would include a thorough analysis of student engagement starting with the old Turn & Talk. As noted in this article, T&T is an instructional strategy that can be utilized with any grade level but the game changers are assigning partner numbers & requiring certain responses from each partner (Stewart, A. A., & Swanson, E. (2019). Turn and talk: An evidence-based practice. Teacher’s guide. Austin, TX: The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk).  For example, after reading an article for class, I have my college students pair up with their "Reflection Partner." Partner 1 may be charged with finding evidence to support the claims of the case study and the impact on student learning. Partner 2 listens and has an opportunity to respond, but when the timer goes off, Partner 2 begins with finding one key problem and evaluating the solutions recommended in the study. The discussion ends with a 10 word summary of the discussion (often used as the exit slip). Does every Turn & Talk lend itself to this cycle? No way. However, I've learned that by assigning roles and responsibilities, I've eliminated confusion, provided clarity of my expectations for response, and provided an environment where "everyone does all the things" (Dr. Anita Archer). And excitedly enough, I've been able to share this training with over 500 teachers to date! Even more exciting: their updates on how things are going in the classroom with student engagement!  How many T&T do I plan for in each of my own sessions?  Great question for another day!