Barak Rosenshine (Education Professor, University of Illinois), Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies that All Teachers Should Know (Spring 2012).

Following up on last week’s Element of Effective Teaching , which mostly drew on the teaching and learning literature, this week’s post details principles of instruction drawing on research from cognitive science and the classrooms of excellent teachers.

This article presents 10 research-based principles of instruction, along with suggestions for classroom practice . . .

The following is a list of some of these instructional principles . . .

1. Begin a lesson with a short review of prior learning.
2. Present new material in small steps with student practice after each step.
3. Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students.
4. Provide models.
5. Guide student practice.
6. Check for student understanding.
7. Obtain a high success rate.
8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks.
9. Require and monitor independent practice.
10. Engage students in weekly and monthly review.