SOME BASIC LESSON PRESENTATION ELEMENTS

Madeline Hunter Direct Instruction: Mastery Learning

AN OUTLINE OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION

1. objectives
2. standards
3. anticipatory set
4. teaching
o input
o modeling
o check for understanding
5. guided practice/monitoring
6. closure
7. independent practice

[The above outlines what is generally referred to at the Madeline Hunter Method; it is only a small
part of her "method." An explanation of the meaning of the terms follows here and a fuller
development of the Hunter Method follows this section.]

1. Before the lesson is prepared, the teacher should have a clear idea of what the teaching
objectives are. What, specifically, should the student be able to do, understand, care about as
a result of the teaching. informal. Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives which is
shown below, gives an idea of the terms used in an instructional objective. See Robert
Mager [library catalog] on behavioral objectives if writing specificity is required.
2. The teacher needs to know what standards of performance are to be expected and when
pupils will be held accountable forwhat is expected. The pupils should be informed about
the standards of performance. Standards: an explanation of the type of lesson to be
presented, procedures to be followed, and behavioral expectations related to it, what the
students are expected to do, what knowledge or skills are to be demonstrated and in what
manner.
3. Anticipatory set or Set Induction: sometimes called a "hook" to grab the student's attention:
actions and statements by the teacher to relate the experiences of the students to the
objectives of the lesson. To put students into a receptive frame of mind.
o to focus student attention on the lesson.
o to create an organizing framework for the ideas, principles, or information that is to
follow (c.f., the teaching strategy called "advance organizers").
o to extend the understanding and the application of abstract ideas through the use of
example or analogy...used any time a different activity or new concept is to be
introduced.
4. Teaching/presentation: includes Input, Modeling, and Checking for Understanding.
 1. Input: The teacher provides the information needed for students to gain the
knowledge or skill through lecture, film, tape, video, pictures, etc.
2. Modeling: Once the material has been presented, the teacher uses it to show students
examples of what is expected as an end product of their work. The critical aspects are
explained through labeling, categorizing, comparing, etc. Students are taken to the
application level (problem-solving, comparison, summarizing, etc.)
3. Checking for Understanding: Determination of whether students have "got it"
before proceeding. It is essential that students practice doing it right so the teacher
must know that students understand before proceeding to practice. If there is any
doubt that the class has not understood, the concept/skill should be retaught before
practice begins.

Questioning strategies: asking questions that go beyond mere recall to probe for the
higher levels of understanding...to ensure memory network binding and transfer.
Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives provides a structure for questioning
that is hierarchical and cumulative. [See the end of this section for a summary of the
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.] It provides guidance to the teacher in
structuring questions at the level of proximal development, i.e., a level at which the
pupil is prepared to cope. Questions progress from the lowest to the highest of the six
levels of the cognitive domain of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives:
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
[LINK PENDING See section following this outline for an exposition of the
cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of educational objectives.]

[For questioning strategies, such as Wait Time (allowing all pupils the time necessary
to process and develop a response to a question before placing the question with a
specific pupil) see GESA materials. GESA/TESA provide a practical model for
questioning.]

2. Guided practice: An opportunity for each student to demonstrate grasp of new learning by
working through an activity or exercise under the teacher's direct supervision. The teacher
moves around the room to determine the level of mastery and to provide individual
remediation as needed. [Fred Jones'"praise, prompt, and leave" is suggested as a strategy to
be used in guided practice.]
3. Closure: Those actions or statements by a teacher that are designed to bring a lessor
presentation to an appropriate conclusion. Used to help students bring things together in
their own minds, to make sense out of what has just been taught. "Any questions? No. OK,
let's move on" is not closure. Closure is used:

o to cue students to the fact that they have arrived at an important point in the lesson or
the end of a lesson,
o to help organize student learning,
o to help form a coherent picture, to consolidate, eliminate confusion and frustration,
etc.,
o to reinforce the major points to be learned...to help establish the network of thought
relationships that provide a number of possibilities for cues for retrieval. Closure is
 the act of reviewing and clarifying the key points of a lesson, tying them together
into a coherent whole, and ensuring their utility in application by securing them in
the student's conceptual network.

5. Independent practice: Once pupils have mastered the content or skill, it is time to provide
for reinforcement practice. It is provided on a repeating schedule so that the learning is not
forgotten. It may be home work or group or individual work in class. It can be utilized as an
element in a subsequent project. It should provide for decontextualization: enough different
contexts so that the skill/concept may be applied to any relevant situation...not only the
context in which it was originally learned. The failure to do this is responsible for most
student failure to be able to apply something learned.

Summary: You told them what you were going to tell them with set, you tell them with
presentation, you demonstrate what you want them to do with modeling, you see if they
understand what you've told them with checking for understanding, and you tell them what you've
told them by tying it all together with closure. [For a detailed treatment of this topic, see Cooper et
al, Classroom Teaching Skills, 4th ed., D.C. Heath &Co., Lexington, Ky.]

The Madeline Hunter "seven step lesson plan." The basic lesson plan outline given above
contains the so-called "Hunter direct instruction lesson plan elements:" 1) objectives, 2) standards,
3) anticipatory set, 4) teaching [input, modeling, and check for understanding], 5) guided practice,
6) closure, and 7) independent practice. If you count input, modeling, and check for understanding
as three steps, there are nine elements...not the seven in the usual title.

Madeline Hunter did not create a seven step lesson plan model. She suggested various elements that
might be considered in planning for effective instruction. In practice, these elements were compiled
by others as the "Seven Step Lesson Plan, "taught through teacher inservice, and used as a check list
of items that must be contained in each lesson.
This application is contrary to Dr. Hunter's intent and its misuse is largely responsible for
objections to "direct instruction" and to Madeline Hunter's system of clinical supervision. Used as
Dr. Hunter's intent and its misuse is largely responsible for objections to "direct instruction" and to
Madeline Hunter's system of clinical supervision. Used as Dr. Hunter intended, the steps make a
useful structure for development of many lesson plans...including non-behavioral ones. Not all
elements belong in every lesson although they will occur in a typical unit plan composed of
several lessons.
[Those who have an evaluator who uses the elements as a check list and records a fault for each
element missing from a lesson are referred to Patricia Wolfe, "What the 'Seven-Step Lesson Plan'
Isn't," Educational Leadership, pp. 70-71, Feb., 1987.]
 ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION
"The Madeline Hunter model"
SUMMARY
Teaching to an objective
[lesson objective--not a "step." See below for how to write a behavioral objective]
1. Objectives
2. Set [hook]
3. Standards/expectations
4. Teaching
o Input
o Modeling/demo
o Direction giving [see below]
o Checking for understanding
5. Guided Practice
6. Closure
7. Independent Practice

Behavioral Objective format:

Students will demonstrate their [knowledge, understanding, skill, etc.] of/to [concept, skill, etc.] by
[activity performed to meet the lesson objective] according to [standard].
Example: Each student will demonstrate achievement of the skill of addition of whole numbers by
adding columns of figures with paper and pencil accurately nine out of ten times individually in
class.

Four step instructional process

1. Watch how I do it [modeling]

2. You help me do it (or we do it together) [together]
3. I'll watch you do it or praise, prompt and leave [guided practice]
4. You do it alone [independent practice].

Motivation "TRICKS"

1. Feeling Tone
2. Reward [extrinsic/intrinsic]
3. Interest
4. Level of Concern
o accountability
o time to produce
o visibility
o predictability
5. Knowledge of results
6. Success
Ways of monitoring

1. Oral individual
2. Oral together
3. Visual answers, e.g., "thumbs"
4. Written
5. Task Performance
6. Group sampling

Questioning Guidelines

1. Place signal [get their attention], then ask question

2. Ask question before designating the person to answer
3. Do not repeat nor rephrase the student's response. May ask for agreement by class or for
others to respond. [GESA suggests that you should explain why the answer is good,
however. ]
4. Ask question then wait for 50% of hands [or "bright eyes," knowing looks]
5. Never ask a question of a student who you know cannot answer.
6. If the student is confused or can't answer, calmly repeat the same question or give a direct
clue.

Retention, Reinforcement

1. Meaning/understanding (the most effective way to learn)

2. Degree of original learning. Learn it well the first time. [And don't practice it wrong!]
3. Feeling tone. [positive or negative will work but negative has some undesirable side effects.]
4. Transfer [emphasize similarities for positive transfer and differences where there might be
an incorrect transfer.] [See Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for levels of
learning. Transfer implies all of the higher levels. See Barak Rosenshine re.
decontextualizing following this summary of the "Hunter Model"--which is essential for
effective transfer of knowledge and skills to the real world.]
5. Schedule of Practice. [Mass the practice at first, then create a regular follow-up schedule.

Creating Directions

1. break down into parts/steps.

2. Give only three at a time, one if the behavior is new.
3. Delay giving instructions until just before the activity.
4. Give directions in the correct sequence.
5. Plan dignified help for those who don't tune in. [no put-downs]
6. Give directions visually as well as orally (Visual representation of the task) [cf. Fred Jones'
VIP]

Giving Directions

Give the planned directions [creation above].

 Check the students' understanding ["Any questions?" does not check understanding.
Have a student model the behavior. [I.e, on the board or orally.]
If needed, remediate and recheck. [It is essential that students do not practice error.]

The Madeline Hunter "Seven Step" lesson design may be used for more than just direct instruction
in the behavioral mode. It can be used as a shell for any instructional lesson or unit.

One use in an inquiry mode suggested by Dr. Hunter appeared in Educational Leadership,
December-January 1990-91, pp. 79-80: "Anticipatory set and objective: Let's review the
procedure in making slides because today you'll be making your own slides to be used in
developing a hypothesis to explain_________ and support your conclusions....Objective: Today
your group will work with magnets to see how many generalizations you can develop and
support...Input: Remember what you've learned about modifying only one variable at a time,
observing results carefully and checking whether or not the data supportyour hypothesis. Your
information today will be derived from your own observations while you experiment with these
materials.... (Input can come from observation, experimentation, computers, films, videos, books,
etc., not just from teachers.) Modeling : Observe what I do, and be ready to state whether my
conclusions are valid or invalid, and why.... Checking for understanding: Look at your data to
determine and be ready tostate which could be used either to support or refute yourhypothesis....
Guided or monitored practice: I'll becirculating among your lab groups. Signal me if you have
questions or need assistance.... Independent practice:Identify a question that you have
about___________. Then designand conduct an experiment (alone/ group) that would answer your
question...."

Not each of the "seven steps" need be in every lesson nor should every lesson be based on the
seven steps; however, the seven steps make a good check list of elements in planning a lesson.
The instructional purpose and the best way to involve the learnerare the guides for what to
choose in planning a lesson.

DECONTEXTUALIZING LEARNING
Decontextualization for transfer and general application

Barak Rosenshine, in a presentation to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum

Development, Spring 1990, reported on recent research on direct instruction. Direct instruction (as
addressed by Rosenshine) applies to skills, not to the teaching of content.
Most of the research on teaching effectiveness has been on the teaching of well-structured skills:
how to add, how to focus a microscope. His new work addresses research on how effective
teachers teach less-structured skills: how to summarize, how to take notes, how to ask
appropriate questions, etc. Other continua that are similar/parallel to well structured-less
structured are: explicit-implicit, algorithm-heuristic, and concrete-abstract.

The strategies he has recently reported provide scaffolds for learning the less-structured skills.
They:
 Regulate the difficulty [escalate after learner gets it]
Anticipate difficult areas [then provide lots of support]
Model: talk out loud about the process you are going through.
Provide procedural facilitators [procedural facilitators are to content as advance organizers
are to process]
Provide appropriate student practice in varied contexts.

All of these apply to the teaching of well-structured skills as well but they are specifically indicated
for the teaching of less structured skills: things for which discrete procedural steps are hard to
identify. They are less relevant to the teaching of content because prior/background knowledge is
key to the teaching of content.

Learning takes place in the zone of proximal development [ZPD] where the student's development
is advanced enough for the pupil to learn but will need help to get there.

A scaffold[outline, model, visual instruction plan (VIP), diagram, or figure that provides an image
to hang ideas on] makes it easier for the learner to "get it" in developmental skills subjects where
background knowledge is not key and so is not applicable for non-progressive content like social
studies or literature. ZPD is not critical for most content in English or social studies but is more so
in science or math. [Note: writing an essay, at least in the initial learning stages, is a less-structured
skill that has steps that can be taught, e.g., start with an attention-grabber, then a topic sentence, then
a statement followed by supporting information, then another statement with support, then a third
statement with support, then a summary statement tying the three statements to the topic.]

Most things in math and science, especially skills, are taught in a context. For transfer to broader
applicability it is necessary to decontextualize the learning. One way to do this is in guided practice
by giving attention to decontextualizing the skill by providing lots of varied practice and spaced
practice. [Ed.note: And to have students manipulate the ideas/skills, e.g., "Have you ever seen
something like this down town?" or "How many ways can you think of to use this concept/skill?" or
"Can you explain how you arrived at that answer" (metacognition).]

[Ed. note: It is likely that decontextualization of learning is the most important and least practiced
function of teaching for latter application. The lack of transfer of knowledge/skills to "real life" is
likely the main reason why graduates do so poorly on state-wide and national tests [even when they
"know" the answers: the questions aren't asked in the context in which they were learned. It is
important that we present and re-represent the material to be learned in as many different
ways/contexts as we can...and at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.]
Mastery Learning
http://www.humboldt.edu/~tha1/mastery.html

Ref: John B. Carroll, Benjamin Bloom, and Madeline Hunter

Notes from Benjamin Bloom lecture [ACSA, April, 1987]:

With traditional instruction, the correlation of pupil

performance from grade-to-grade is 80%+. The variation within

each grade is greater each year. The range is double the second

grade in the fourth grade, triple in grade 6. Rank order

is already fixed by third grade for the next 8 years for 90% of

kids. Similarly, self-concept drops grade-by-grade for the

bottom 20% while it rises year-by-year for the top 20%. This is

true of most countries, not just the US.

Home environment is the major key for elementary success

[k-6],only a small percent recover. It is possible to change the

instructional effect, even though we may have little success

directly changing the home effect. The mid-point for

conventional instruction is the 50th percentile. For individual

tutoring, it is the 98th percentile. For whole class mastery

learning instruction, it is the 84th percentile. It is unlikely

that an inherited characteristic can be change in one term--but

altered learning conditions can make a fantastic change.

CORE IDEA OF MASTERY LEARNING: aptitude is the length

of time it takes a person to learn not how "bright" a person is,

i.e., everyone can learn given the right circumstances.

How to instruct for mastery:

1. Major objectives representing the purposes of the course

or unit define mastery of the subject.

2. The substance is divided into relatively small learning

units, each with their own objectives and assessment.

3. Learning materials and instructional strategies are

identified; teaching, modeling, practice, formative evaluation,

reteaching, and reinforcement, etc., and summative evaluation

are included.

4. Each unit is preceded by brief diagnostic tests.

5. The results of diagnostic tests are used to provide

supplementary instruction to help student(s) overcome problems.

 Time to learn must be adjusted to fit aptitude. NO STUDENT
IS TO PROCEED TO NEW MATERIAL UNTIL BASIC PREREQUISITE MATERIAL IS
MASTERED.

There is a difference between "80% of students will master the

material" and "each student will master at least 80% of the
material" before proceeding.]

Bloom, Block, and Carroll believe that mastery learning can be

handled in a normal classroom. Another group has developed a

comprehensive curriculum system for use in reorganized schools.

Ref: Individually Prescribed Instruction [IPI--Learning Research

and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh]

provides for organization of schools and classes to provide for

more individualized instruction than is possible in most systems.

Benjamin Bloom also asked students to "think out loud" while

answering exam questions. He found that many students who could

answer short-answer questions were befuddled by thought

questions. They did not know how to solve problems [not limited

to math problem solving--including questions like, "Give the

reasons which would have influenced a typical Virginia tobacco

farmer to support the ratification of the Constitution of 1789,

and the reasons which would have influenced him to oppose the

ratification." A good problem-solver reasoned like this:

"...what rights did the Constitution give him? From the

standpoint of money, which one would be more to his advantage?

Prior to the Revolutionary War, he would have to pay taxes to

England.... He might approve of it for patriotic reasons and

from the standpoint of money, he wouldn't be limited to shipping

his tobacco to England...so he wouldn't have to pay those

taxes...etc." Another student, who could respond readily to

true/false, multiple choice questions, was stumped. A poor

problem-solver, he thought, "Well, to tell the truth I never had

anything on that in class and I can't think of any."] Tutoring

has been proven as a successful way to remedy this sort of

deficiency. Tutors are hard to come by. However, group

discussions, where good problem-solvers tell how they reason an

answer, are good substitutes. ["metacognition"]

Bloom suggests that at the end of an instructional unit,

[about every two weeks], the teacher give a formative [not used

for grading] test to find out what has been learned and not been

learned...determine corrective instruction for the common errors

...reteach--perhaps in a different way/style...and test again on

the same items using altered questions. Grading for mastery is

not on the curve. Rather it means that every student can get an

"A" if they master the material. Using his methods, the average

student of Bloom's mastery class passed at the 95th percentile of

traditionally-taught classes.
Related topics: Language Labs, Direct Instruction, Practice

Theory, Head Start.

Additional Bloom suggestions:

Give a pre-test and review at the beginning of a semester

those essential, basic facts, skills, concepts that are

necessary to later success.

Give two chances to succeed on each quiz/final exam.

[Bloom's not sure whether you should take the average or the

better of two scores.] But he is sure you should reteach the

areas missed in the first test...use a different explanation/

example/demonstration than the first time or a different style of

instruction [e.g., coop. learning vs. direct instruction]. Then

use a different form of the test.

If this process is repeated every 2 or 3 weeks, those who

follow mastery learning vs. a control [conventional instruction]

group achieve these results:

Mastery learning 85% in top 10% vs. 45% in conventional.

Time on task, 45% of time in conventional instruction.

 Mastery learning 85%. Tutoring, 95% time on task.

Mastery learning fits sequential subjects best, e.g., math,

foreign language, etc. where prior knowledge is essential to

progress. But it is adaptable to episodic subjects, like

history, as well.

Suggestions for parents: 1. Household responsibilities,

i.e., one chore to be done one time. 2. Regular times for

eating, studying, sleeping, working, playing. 3. School work

and reading come before play--even before other work. [Musicians

practice regularly or they don't make it!] 4. Praise for good

school work--occasionally before others. 5. A quiet place to

study. 6. Family exchange on what pupil is doing...listen to

the child's report. 7. Visit libraries, zoos, museums, etc., as

a family. 8. Encourage good speech habits. At dinner or

another time when everyone has a chance to talk. 9. Discuss

what is being studied, materials used, etc. 10. Give special

help when needed. 11. Talk replanning for future, prep. for

college, vocation, etc. There is a very high correlation between

home environment/attitude toward education and school success.

5 Keys to success:
Mastery Learning.
Home environment.
Pre-requisite enhancement.
Make reading automatic, beyond decoding.
Emphasis on creativity, higher mental processes [upper
levels of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,
critical thinking, etc.

MASTERY LEARNING
DIRECT INSTRUCTION BASIC PRACTICE MODEL
1. Orientation

2. Presentation

3. Structured practice

4. Guided Practice

5. Independent practice.

The Basic Practice Model of Teaching [Joyce and Weil]:

Phase one: framework for the lesson is established.
a. provide objective of lesson and level of performance
required.

b. describe the content of the lesson and relationship to

prior knowledge/experience.

c. discuss the procedures of the lesson--the different

parts of the lesson and student's responsibility during each
activity.

Phase two: explain the new concept(s) or skill(s), demonstration

and examples--orally and visually. For a concept, include
attributes (characteristics), the rule or definition, and several
examples. For a skill, identify the steps of the skill with
examples of each. It is important that pupils have a visual
representation of the task (VRT) in the early stages of learning.

Phase three: Structured practice. Lead students through

practice examples working in a lock-step fashion each step of the
task as it appears in the VRT. [e.g., use an overhead projector
doing practice examples on a transparency so that students can
see the generation of each step. Then provide a visual
instructional plan (VIP)--in which each step is detailed--to
pupils to use when they get stuck in individual practice or
independent practice.] Refer to the VRT while working practice
examples as a group.

Phase four: Guided practice [in class "seat work." With the
teacher circulating [e.g., "praise, prompt, and leave"]. Monitor
students' work, providing corrective feedback as necessary, and
assess performance of the group in determining whether the class
is ready for the next instruction. Additional time for those
whose aptitude calls for a longer learning period can be provided
by giving "extra credit" assignments, supplementary activities,
etc.

Phase five: Independent practice [additional class time or

homework] begins when students have achieved an 85 to 90%
accuracy level. To insure retention and develop fluency,
students practice on their own without assistance and with
delayed feedback [e.g., comments on graded papers]. Five or more
brief practice activities distributed over a month or more may be
required to "fix" the new concept/skill.