Growth Requires Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone: researchED & Rosenshine's Principles in Action!

This magnet is at the top of my refrigerator - a gift from another leader reminding me of the importance to seek growth. The critical reminder that has made for more intentional reflection and development around the teaching & learning cycle. My current instructional leadership role allows for the opportunity to daily encourage all Educators to step out of their current mindsets and lean in to unlearn, learn, and/or relearn evidence based strategies and skills. 

Recently, I made another big leap that required airport layovers (I hate when the flights have layovers; historically, I have refused to fly - haha) and the opportunity to be in the room with experts and researchers that left me pretty much speechless in their expertise (nothing like sitting in the room with Holly Lane and competing against her in a game about literacy -- whaaa???!! Thanks for that memory, Judy & Faith!)  

My favorite resource from the researchED Conference was (without a doubt) Tom Sherrington's book Rosenshine's Principles in Action. I had read through this article just before leaving for New York with some of my students and shared it on my social media as the graphic of the Principles of Instruction aligned with our discussion of Dr. Anita Archer's Explicit Instruction.  What I truly enjoy about this new book resource is how Sherrington chunks the work for maximum understanding and impact for all of us! 

Here are just three best-practice strategies from Sherrington's resource that were especially impactful for me:

1. Daily Review and Retrieval Practice

• What it is: Begin lessons with a short review of previous learning (e.g., questions, quizzes, discussion). Thanks to Anita Archer and Patrice Bain, I had already started this practice in the fall with my undergrads! It was a simple change that has yielded big results. 

• Why it matters: Reinforces prior knowledge, strengthens memory through retrieval, and helps identify gaps in understanding. It holds participants responsible for the content -- they have to do all the work!  It's fun for me to see the retrieval!

• Best practice: Use low-stakes quizzing or short, focused retrieval tasks at the start of lessons. Mix in questions from several weeks back to promote long-term retention (spaced retrieval). Share & discuss answers. The goal is LEARNING, not a grade. Personally, I allow them to review their answers and share their thought processes. 

2. Modeling with Worked Examples

• What it is: Teachers explicitly model how to approach problems or tasks, thinking aloud to demonstrate processes. Not only am I doing this now for Undergrads and my Professional Learning sessions, but I'm asking teachers to partner up after modeling a strategy. I'm giving them space to reflect on and immediately practice the learning. Sometimes, it is hard to switch from the teacher hat to the student hat and vice versa, so we have this discussion of being able to switch. 

• Why it matters: Reduces cognitive load and gives a clear understanding of what success looks like. Although it can be uncomfortable to model in front of peers, students have become better at providing feedback to each other. It is also refreshing to see the Gradual Release Model in action with fellow educators in professional learning environments.

• Best practice: Use visualizers or whiteboards to walk through examples step-by-step. Start with complete worked examples before gradually increasing student independence. I model every part of my expectation so that others feel comfortable modeling the strategy with their colleagues.

3. Guided Practice with Scaffolding

• What it is: Structured opportunities to practice new material with support, before being expected to apply it independently.  I'm now very intentional with providing time for reflection and practice during my professional learning sessions. 

• Why it matters: Avoids errors and builds confidence by gradually removing support. Monitoring discussions to provide feedback and praise also builds the motivation for success.  

• Best practice: Use tasks like “I do, we do, you do” – where the teacher models, the class works together, and then students try on their own. Scaffolds (like prompts or sentence starters) are slowly faded as students grow more proficient.  Afterwords, you will find us ending our professional learning sessions with the following graphic (or something similar):

What are you thinking about changing now? How does this push your teaching & learning brain?