The Power of Explicit Teaching and Direct Instruction

by Greg Ashman

Direct instruction and explicit teaching can offer you a shorter, straighter route to developing effective learning in your classroom. In this smart and accessible book, Greg Ashman explores how you can harness the potential of these often misunderstood and misapplied teaching methods to achieve positive learning outcomes for the students you teach. It investigates key foundational principles, combined with thoughtful commentary on what these mean in classroom practice and an examination of relevant research and theories from cognitive psychology that substantiate these approaches to teaching and learning.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Psychology, Childrens

152 pages, Hardcover

Published March 9, 2021

About the author

Greg Ashman studied Natural Sciences (Physics) at Cambridge University before completing a teaching qualification at the Institute of Education in London. He worked in comprehensive schools in London for 13 years, the last two of those as Deputy Headteacher. In 2010, Greg moved to Australia with his young family. He now works as head of maths and head of research at an independent school in Victoria. He is also studying for a PhD in instructional design.

Reviews

[Eric Kalenze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have known Greg and his work for some time, so I had a pretty good idea of what I'd read in this book.

That said, I'm not sure there's anyone writing in education that I agree with more than Greg Ashman. Highly recommended.

[Seán Mchugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren’t many books that I have read that I would say should be included in that essential canon of ‘books that every teacher should read’, but this is one of them.

Greg writes in a really accessible way, this ensures that the book is concise and to the point so the book is a nice short read, and reassuringly supported very clearly by authoritative sources at the end of each chapter so that if you wish to explore any of the foundations for his arguments further this is easy to do.

Even if you are one of those unfortunate teachers who is working in a school where the decision about whether or not to teach explicitly as opposed through enquiry has been effectively taken away from you, there’s a great deal to be learned from Greg’s concluding words, which I include here for your convenience:

“School leadership is rarely about managing the complex details of implementing a well thought through plan but about introducing – but rarely fully implementing – a funky sounding initiative that may be mentioned on a future resume.

And that’s why the classroom door is also an opportunity. It’s not as if all the ideas that school leaders and bureaucrats introduce are good ideas. The chances are most of them are pretty flawed. Bad ideas are constantly reborn in the initiative churn of schools as ambitious people seek flags to wave. And so the classroom door may also act as a shield, protecting teachers and their students from a tyranny of ineptitude.”

The ultimate leader in your classroom is you, so utilise your autonomy to teach in a way that you know is most effective, use that classroom door.

[Anna rzk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not sweep me off my feet but it should a mandatory Reading at teacher’s colleges.

[Mackenzie Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the counter-arguments to much of what I believe when it comes to education. I view myself as a modernist when it comes to instructional methods - there is a time and place for direct and explicit instruction as there is for project or inquiry-based. Not a great book in terms of actually applicability to the classroom, but some good theory.

[Guanhui · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book when I first started teaching.

So much of the content corroborates with what I see in the classroom.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Exactly what I was looking for - effective research based teaching without the nonsense being taught in tertiary teaching courses.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a PME student this book was a life line. I felt like I was going mad, and this helped reassure me that I wasn’t.