On any given day we have but finite time with our students. Students get off of their buses at 8:50 am and are called to board them again at 3:25 pm.Cognitive learning solutions this yields a maximum of six hours and thirty-five minutes of possible instruction time. Though, sandwiched between these two bookends are a slew of other times that are non-instruction based.Cognitive learning solutions

Students spend five minutes in the lunch line and thirty minutes eating. This is further exacerbated by the time that it takes to walk from the classroom to the cafeteria and back; on average, I would say that this takes three minutes.Cognitive learning solutions students spend thirty minutes at recess along with the three minutes commute time each way. Just lunch and recess expend an hour and twelve minutes of time (time very well spent I may add).Cognitive learning solutions this whittles instructional time down to five hours and thirteen minutes.

Each day students spend thirty to forty-five minutes at specials with the lion’s share of specials clocking in at thirty minutes.Cognitive learning solutions factor in six minutes of round trip travel time and students spend fifty-one minutes of their daily schedule in special classes. This brings a new daily maximum instructional time to four hours and twenty-two minutes.Cognitive learning solutions

We cannot simply allow students who are struggling to continue to struggle without aims to improve their foundational understandings underpinning their academic struggles, so our building provides AIS.Cognitive learning solutions both ELA and math are allotted thirty minutes of instructional time for student remediation for a daily total allowance of an hour. Our new daily maximum instructional time is three hours and twenty-two minutes.Cognitive learning solutions

It would be foolhardy to think that as soon as students get off of the bus and immediately before they get on the bus instruction is taking place.Cognitive learning solutions it would be safe to bet that instruction starts around 9:15 am, which takes another 25 minutes off of our instructional time. Getting packed to go home is another story altogether.Cognitive learning solutions while some classes commence end of day procedures at 3 pm, many other give only fifteen minutes to this practice. Preparing for the day and preparing to leave then subtract another forty minutes from instructional time, which we now arrive at two hours and forty-two minutes of instructional time.Cognitive learning solutions

For every new initiative that we put into place in supplement of our core curriculum, we lose time from our core instruction. It doesn’t take high level algebra or a degree in accounting to figure out that we cannot continue to inundate our days with more items.Cognitive learning solutions for every new item that we install, we need to selectively abandon practices to garner more instructional time to make it all fit in.

John hattie sought to find the answers to the question of what instructional practices provide the greatest increases in students outcomes.Cognitive learning solutions he did a meta-analysis of previously conducted research studies to provide a hierarchy of instructional strategies. You can read all about these practices in his book visible learning.Cognitive learning solutions listed below are a short list of the instructional strategies examined. Please note that the larger the number, the greater the impact upon student learning.Cognitive learning solutions strategy (click to learn more)

A greatest majority of our lessons utilize the lecture style of instruction, which has an effect size of 0.6 (direct instruction).Cognitive learning solutions while lecturing has faced harsh criticism, there is a reason why it has become a mainstay of status quo education; it’s not terribly great, but it’s also not terribly bad.Cognitive learning solutions the best way to augment a lesson that you felt wasn’t horribly effective is to start at the 0.6 mark and look upwards. Do any of the strategies above direct instruction fit into this lesson?Cognitive learning solutions increased efficacy is only the improvement of the instructional strategy away.

By going lesson by lesson to reflect and refine, one can’t help but increase educational impact.Cognitive learning solutions it costs nothing to improve the instructional strategy and can often be done in a day’s notice. It is in this lesson refinement that we will see better outcomes, one lesson at a time.Cognitive learning solutions brick by brick these lessons will build the augmented outcomes of scale scores and state test scores.