This course explains that an effective teacher uses a plan for curriculum that includes a weekly plan and daily schedule. The course teaches about routines such as student schedules and morning messages. It provides a deep dive into the elements of a direct instruction lesson plan.

This course provides definitions and characteristics of the seven multiple intelligences suggested by Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. It explores how people with each intelligence learn best. The second step of the gradual release of responsibility is the focus, as the course provides activities for students to do during guided practice that incorporate the multiple intelligences.

This course explores perspectives on learning as school leaders, teachers, and students. It instructs teachers to develop an effective learning environment, which includes the setting and culture of a classroom. The focus of the course provides different paths for students to master a lesson plan objective by challenging, reviewing, or reteaching during guided practice.

This course introduces Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy by investigating its six levels of thinking. It suggests that Bloom’s Taxonomy is useful to classroom instruction to ask questions of students and to write lesson plan objectives. The third step of the gradual release of responsibility is the focus, as the course provides tasks for independent practice that relate to each of the levels of the Taxonomy.

This course explores formative assessment used throughout the three steps of the gradual release of responsibility. Learners review ways to check for understanding during direct instruction. They learn how students can self-evaluate during guided practice. And they investigate a teacher checklist during independent practice. Equally, the course focuses on creating a summative assessment to determine if a student mastered the direct instruction lesson plan objective.

This course instructs school leaders how to develop and maintain a process to become a culture of improvement within their schools. Learners have access to a tool to review cases studies of three schools. It explores how a school develops a self-review, a shared vision, and a plan of action.