'What Do You Need' Wednesday

"...every tiny thing by one percent..."

🎁 What Do You Need? (The Wednesday Post)

What Do You Need? is a weekly touchpoint for educators committed to professional growth and excellence. A spinoff of our longstanding internal newsletter, these posts provide a handpicked assortment of current research, timely resources, and inspiring content. Covering a broad spectrum of topics relevant to teaching and learning, WDYN aims to be a go-to guide for educators who are devoted to their own continuous improvement and that of their students. The ultimate aim? To collectively shape the future of education, one Wednesday at a time.

A classroom scene illustrating direct or explicit instruction. The setting includes a teacher standing at the front, delivering a lecture with clarity and focus. The students are seated in rows, attentively listening and taking notes. A chalkboard or whiteboard is visible, filled with neatly written key points or diagrams relevant to the lesson. The atmosphere is one of structured learning, with the teacher as the central figure guiding the educational process. This image captures the essence of a traditional, teacher-centered educational approach.n...

🤔 Direct Instruction vs. Inquiry Methods—Why Not Both?

With the recent release of PISA data showing marked declines in student performance in many western countries (particularly in Math), longstanding debates around the efficacy of direct instruction versus inquiry methods flared up immediately. The data is (unsurprisingly) complex and might be best seen as an important starting point for discussion, rather than an end.¹ The following paper offers a useful consideration of direct instruction and inquiry models in STEM education, concluding that “combinations of both approaches are probably the most effective.” Earlier this year we wrote about Tom Sherrington’s exploration of what he calls Mode A and Mode B teaching, and the aforementioned paper certainly exists in a similar orbit. The key here is to understand things such as, but not limited to, your classroom context, the amount of previous knowledge students possess, and the end goal of the specific lesson. Considering when to deploy DI versus Inquiry methods needn’t be a ‘this or that’ approach. 

A classroom scene showcasing inquiry learning. The room is bustling with activity, with students actively engaged in hands-on projects and collaborative group work. They are exploring, experimenting, and discussing ideas among themselves. Some students are working with scientific equipment, while others are gathered around tables, brainstorming or constructing models. The teacher is present, but instead of leading from the front, they are moving around, facilitating discussions, and guiding students' explorations. The atmosphere is lively and interactive, emphasizing student-driven learning and discovery.

📚 The Inclusive Classroom Library as a Window

Too often, resources related to building inclusive classrooms point to upper division grades or even the college and university level. So too do these resources often overlook aspects of neurodiversity that we might take for granted in the lived lives of learners. Which is why this recent resource list of Children’s and YA literature, meant to promote inclusive classroom libraries and exploring neurodiverse characters and stories, from Dr. Marie Havran caught our eye in CTL. It might seem small at first, but when students see themselves represented in the curriculum, and in the books on the shelves of their classroom, it goes a long way in promoting inclusion and belonging in areas that sometimes go unconsidered by folks in their respective DEIB journey. 

🧭 Eyes on AI

Navigating a World of Generative AI: Suggestions for Educators, a recent report from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, authored by leading thinkers Lydia Cao and Chrise Dede at The Next Level Lab, offers something like a kind of road map ahead for teaching and learning in the age of artificial intelligence. Calling for teachers and learning environments to promote things like AI literacy, a focus on process over product, learner agency, and the cultivation of skills that AI cannot perform, the report reads a lot like what we’ve witnessed on the ground at EA here over the last three months. While the landscape remains uncertain, there are aspects of pedagogical foundations beginning to crystalize that offer some semblance of a path forward, even amidst likely shifts in the coming weeks, months, and years. We encourage you to take a look at the entirety of this brief, accessible report. You’ll likely come away feeling buoyed by our collective learning thus far. 

1. Don’t worry. We went back and forth on the “data is” versus “data are” debate for roughly 7 hours. The AP stylebook suggests “data is” for a general audience and “data are” for an academic audience. This is a Substack. We don’t want this debate to get in the way of the learning. We do, however, want you to know that we’ve thought long and hard about it. Thanks for reading.