Every profession has established practices, procedures, techniques, and aspects of vocabulary that are unique to their field. These elements serve as shortcuts to deciding the best course of action and performing key tasks and processes, and they help to define a profession and ensure high levels of performance.
Every profession also requires tailored actions or techniques for specific situations, and education is no different. Although in the education profession, guidance regarding when to employ which techniques is not always clear, and the language used to describe techniques is not always consistent.
Consider, for example, the most common and heavily relied-upon approach to teaching: direct instruction. Direct instruction provides a structure to expose students to new content, provide direction for learning, and intervene when students struggle or get stuck. While direct instruction is not always the best choice for nurturing learning, it can play a crucial role in imparting new content and introducing new skills. Despite direct instruction featuring multiple techniques and applications, we typically do not break the practice down into its crucial subcomponents, nor do we name and describe them consistently.
If we hope to gain and maintain the respect our profession deserves and explain our practice in ways that provide guidance and support improvement in practice, we need to become more precise. Consider how the following four components of direct instruction might be helpful to your practice and useful in your communication with colleagues and others. Note that each instructional situation calls for its own unique instructional response, and not all the following pieces of lesson delivery can be planned for ahead of time!
Nano Instruction
What it is: Bite-sized; responsive; ultra-focused on a single element; connected to current context; addresses an immediate need
When to apply it: When students are struggling or stuck and need specific information or guidance to move forward
Duration: Typically lasting a few seconds to a minute or two
Examples:
- Reminding a student of a spelling rule or grammar convention
- Suggesting a useful resource
- Explaining the next step in a problem-solving activity
- Clarifying an instruction or reinforcing an expectation
Micro Instruction
What it is: Narrowly focused content; addresses a few elements; includes limited content
When to apply it: When students are ready for the next step in a cycle of learning, intended for immediate reflection and application
Duration: Typically extends for no more than 5-15 minutes
Examples:
- Reteaching past content
- Introducing a specific process or protocol
- Explaining and demonstrating a concept or skill
- Correcting or clarifying in response to confusion or a misconception
Meso Instruction
What it is: Instruction focused on a set of competencies or skills; may be comprised of a series of micro-teaching modules or organized into a unit of study
When to apply it: When you need to connect past learning to current and future learning; provide broader, deeper exposure to new content; and complete a cycle of learning and teaching
Duration: May be delivered in 10–30-minute segments spread over multiple days, a week, or longer
Examples:
- Reviewing past learning
- Delivering daily lessons
- Preparing for independent practice
- Reviewing in advance of an assessment on a unit of study
Macro Instruction
What it is: Big-picture approach to what students are learning; provides context and showing connections between content and purpose; offers a wide view of a subject or discipline; may encompass an extensive array of elements; connected to larger context
When to apply it: When introducing a new course of study; helping students to see the role, value, and usefulness of what they are learning; previewing competencies and skills to be developed; and closing out major learning efforts to solidify and reinforce retention of what has been learned
Duration: Less likely to be quantified, as content may address a major unit of study, cover the content to be examined and learned throughout the course, or so on
Examples:
- Introducing an extended learning effort such as a major unit, course, or complex learning challenge
- Activating prior knowledge
- Building connections during a learning sequence to help students link what they are learning to a larger context, significant purpose, or application
- Preparing for a major assessment
- Reviewing content at the end of a course
Where else in educational practices do you see opportunities to become more specific and consistent in the application of techniques and processes as well as in the language we use to describe them?
