Interactive Instructional Time
High success time can be positively affected by the degree to which students are engaged and interacting with the teacher, a category that researchers label in- teractive instructional time. Instructional time is that portion of allocated time when the teacher is actively focusing in some way on instruction and facilitat- ing learning as opposed to attending to management issues. Engaged time is the portion of time the student is focused and attending to academic learn- ing. Students may be on task but working independently (for example, doing seatwork, written assignments, or silent reading) while the teacher is work- ing with other learners. Hence, interactive instructional time is yet a smaller portion of both of those—the amount of engaged time in which an individual student actually experiences direct interaction with a teacher, whether it is in whole-group, small-group, or individual situations. When it comes to interac- tive instructional time, research findings have indicated the more, the better. The point is that when teachers are teaching, students are more likely to be learning. Workbooks and other solo assignments that occupy students’ class time don’t teach. This is not a surprising finding when one considers the im- portance of teacher feedback, knowledge of results, degree of guidance, and other principles of learning.
In the past, this finding led some to advocate for the direct instruction pattern of teaching for whole-class groups as the most efficient form of instruction (Rosenshine, 1981). This recommendation really misses the point. In the di- rect instruction model, an individual student is not necessarily engaged and interacting with the teacher. For this model to maximize interactive instruc- tional time, the teacher needs to draw extensively on strategies from outside the model. This means checking for understanding and building in process- ing and summarizing time for students in pairs and small groups so that the teacher can circulate and engage with individuals.
Furthermore, the direct instruction pattern (the “sage on the stage” model) is only one way to get teacher-student interactive time, and suitable to only one kind of teaching. There are learnings for which this pattern is clearly not the
When teachers are teaching, students are more likely to be learning; workbooks and other solo assignments that occupy students’ class time don’t teach.
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R90
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | TIME
only or the best way—like teaching students to provide evidence for positions or teaching the scientific method. All the models of teaching in Chapter 13 can provide interactive teaching time, as can peer tutoring. Therefore, it is impor- tant to put direct instruction in perspective. Direct instruction is effective for teaching skills, and it works to the degree that it provides high proportions of interactive instruction time. But there are other learnings besides skills and two dozen other models of teaching that can provide interactive instruction.
Another way to maximize interactive instructional time is by engineering les- sons so that students are actively engaged in all phases of the learning expe- rience (input, processing, and output). The teacher’s role then is cast as the guide on the side: mediating, monitoring, and facilitating the learning process by providing guidance as needed, clarifying directions, responding to ques- tions, posing questions to check for understanding and to stretch and extend students’ thinking, and providing prompt and continuous feedback. For ex- ample, this would be what we would see in the most effectively designed and implemented cooperative learning experiences. What this actually sounds like is recorded in the Bodner scripts reproduced in Chapter 11, “Clarity.”
Individualized programs are at high risk here. If they are poorly managed, stu- dents, though active and involved, may get only a few minutes a day with the teacher, and that is not enough. Teachers in this situation either need to do more group work or manage individualization so students get more feedback and guidance. It is the attributes of interactive instruction that are important any way you can get them. It seems to us those attributes are clear explanations, prompt feedback, knowledge of results, and appropriate degree of guidance. Good computer-based learning systems can provide these features.