DISTAR

1. DISTAR Direct Instruction System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading

2. Outline: • Direct Instruction & DISTAR • Scope of Use & Theoretical Background • DI in Theory • Educational Vision • Advantages & Disadvantages • Teaching Techniques • Schedule & Activity

3. What is direct instruction? Direct Instruction (DI): a specific model of instruction within a larger more generic category of teacher-directed instruction which is a highly structured to break down skills into specific components and teach them in a controlled and scripted sequence.

4. DISTAR • DISTAR is an acronym for Direct Instruction System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading, a trademarked program of SRA/McGraw-Hill(Science Research Associates), a commercial publishing company

5. Scope of use; Direct Instruction; • developed in the 1960s • has beenrevised and renamed over the years • first branded as the Direct Instruction System forTeaching Arithmetic and Reading (DISTAR), which includedDISTARReading, DISTAR Arithmetic, and DISTAR Language I

6. DISTAR Reading; uses explicit strategies to teach childrenthe skills they need to learn how to read (skills like blendingand rhyming

7. DISTAR Arithmetic; uses explicit strategiesto teach children basic math skills necessary to learningdifficult concepts later on (such as ratios, proportions, and dataanalysis).

8. DISTAR Language I; focuses on teaching syntactic, semantic,and pragmatic skills. Instruction is teacher-directed, withstudents responding to teacher instructions, questions, andvisual cues and with teachers providing verbal praise for correctresponses.

9. Theoretical Background • DI was developed by Siegfried Engelman, a professor at the University of Oregon. The oldest version of the program, DISTAR, was developed in the 1960s.

10. Siegfried Engelmann; born November 26, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, a passionate philosopher who has dedicated the past forty years to advancing the theory and practice of instruction, completed his Honors BA in Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, raised four children with his wife, worked from 1955 to 1960 as a self-employed investment counselor, served as the creative director, vice-president and holder of various other positions in advertising agencies from 1960 to 1964

11. Programs included high school students from poor backgrounds, preschoolers with Down Syndrome, and disadvantaged youngsters attending the Bereiter-Engelmann Program. It was during this period that he formalized the logic and methods for Direct Instruction.

12. DI in theory; developed in a whole different fashion, started with a behaviorist ideathat the effectiveness of a teaching strategy can be measured by changesin behavior, In his view, when kids fail to learn, it has nothing to do with brain wiring. His goal was to design a program that was clear enough to teach any beginning learner.

13. According to Engelmann's theory, children learn by working through the sequence of tasks with carefully timed comments from the teacher

14. Educational Vision

15. The goals of DI; • accelerate learning by maximizing efficiency in the design anddelivery of instruction, • emphasize priority concepts critical for student success, • include every piece that was necessary to make the lessons successful, • move from basic skills to integrated, sophisticated skills • develop learning strategies and their application in new situations, • help you make a measurable difference in classroom achievement, • create successful, confident learners

16. DI Methodology involves; • Scripted lesson plans – Teachers use pre-developed scripts to teach skills. These scripts are field-tested and revised to ensure students learn the material quickly and accurately. • Rapid-paced, intense interaction with students – The teacher directed instruction is replaced with group and individual student responses.

17. DI Methodology involves; • Correcting mistakes immediately –This should prevent students from learning bad habits or incorrect skills. • Homogeneous skill grouping – Students are grouped by performance or ability level. DI proponents say homogeneous grouping allows students to progress at the fastest pace while ensuring no students fall behind.

18. DI Methodology involves; • Frequent assessment – It enables teachers to ensure all students are learning the material and regroup children when needed. • Teaching to mastery – A group does not move on until all the children in the group have learned/understood the material.

19. 3D of Direct Instruction • Design • Delivery • Documentation

20. Design • Break concepts into manageable steps • Use clear, concise language • Model skills and steps needed • Give guided practice • Provide multiple examples in a carefully plannedsequence to build independence • Integrate previously learned knowledge and skills • Incorporate continuous assessment

21. Delivery • Give placement tests • Follow scripted lessons to ensure consistency • Use quick pacing and group responses • Implement planned correction procedures toprevent errors from becoming learned habits • Provide positive reinforcement

22. Documentation • The results of more than 50 independent researchstudies show the effectiveness of the direct instruction.

23. Advantages of DI • The teacher has control of the timing of the lesson. • The teacher has control over what will be learned, and who will learn. • Students are physically easy to monitor. • The curriculum can be covered, so the teacher can say that s/he taught the material. • Some material should be taught this way! Any information for which there is one right answer, and for which that answer is relatively simple, can be taught efficiently and honestly by using direct instruction.

24. Disadvantages of DI • It is based on old learning theories: that we must learn simple tasks before complex ones, and that only measurable learning is worth while. • Students do not have a sense of the overall purpose of the simple steps.

25. Teachers cannot assess what the students’ prior knowledge is, so will be unaware of why particular students cannot learn. • Retention of how to solve the problems is low, because the students have not struggled with the problem themselves.

26. Direct instruction as an instructional method works for only a small percentage of students, not for a great variety. The students who have other than verbal “intelligence”, or who come from different cultural world views will fail.

27. Teaching Techniques

28. Positioning Equipment, Materials, and People • Scheduling • Demonstrating • Describing • Prasing • Feedback • Listening • Modelling • Reading • Telling and Instructing • Reinforcing • Task Analysis

29. Positioning Equipment, Materials, and People • There should be an environment in which teacher can control children’s action and behaviors and direct their learning and development. • This can be supplied with good interaction and developmentally appropriate materials and equipment.

30. Scheduling • There is a scripted lesson plan with a pre-defined schedule in order to provide a sense of confidence about what will happen during the day.

31. Demonstrating • Step-by-step technique is used with clear verbal instructions to make tasks to be done appropriately.

32. Describing • During application of the activity in classroom, each step is described by teacher clearly so that children know what they are supposed to do.

33. Praising • To keep children’s interest and attention, praises are usedin each opportunities. • Praise is specific and relevant to the task at hand, offering useful information to the student. • Praising is unavoidable teaching technique.

34. Feedback • Immediate feedback is given during the activity if there is needed.

35. Listening • Teacher listens to children as much as possible in order to correct any mistakes and make them reach their full potential.

36. Modelling • Teacher should be a role model for children’s learning like the other curriculum models. Moreover, DI is a teacher-directed model so modelling gets more importance.

37. Reading • As it can be understood from the acronym of DISTAR, this model was based on improving children’s reading skills so this technique is a must.

38. Telling and Instructing • Like reading, these teaching techniques are basements for a teacher-directed model.

39. Reinforcing • Two types of the reinforcement are used to control children’s individual behaviour by teacher.

40. Task Analysis • The main issue in task analysis is step-by-step strategy. • In DI, subjects, concepts and lecturers are given by dividing into its steps.

41. Special Techniques in DI Signals and Pacing

42. Signals • The basic routine for eachactivity includes harmony responses followed byindividual practice. • Visual and auditory signalsare used to initiate whole-group responses. • Usingsignals is an effective technique to get students toinitiate their own response, and helps you controlpacing and provide appropriate think time beforestudents answer.

43. Pacing • Fast pace throughout each lesson and transition are maintained seamlessly from activity to activity. • Studentsreceive more practice time and have an increasedopportunity for achieving success.

44. Error Correction Procedure • My turn - Show students how to do it • Do it with me - Show students how to do it by doing it withstudents OPTIONAL • Your turn - Have students do it on their own • Review - Do a starting over; start over at the beginning of the activity to ensure that students can demonstrate the correct response

45. Schedule for a 4-5 years-old Preschool Class

46. (Schedule continued)

47. Watching Time

48. Activity Time

49. Reference List • Direct Instruction Methodology SRA/McGraw Hill • National Institute for Direct Instruction – NIFDI • Scientific Research Association http://sradirectinstruction.com/ • Association for Direct Instruction http://www.adihome.org/ • The McGraw-Hill Companies • http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/ • Siegfried E. Engelmann Biography http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/387/OpenModules/Engelmann/Engelmannbio.html • Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

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