Teacher (T) Knowledge Base

(3100-T) The Madeline Hunter Seven Step Lesson Elements

The Madeline Hunter’s seven step lesson elements with the addition of continuous assessment. The basic lesson plan outline given below contains the direct instruction element: 1) objectives, 2) standards, 3) anticipatory set, 4) teaching [input, modeling, and check for understanding], 5) guided practice, 6) closure, and 7) independent practice.

Not all of the elements will unnecessarily need to be in every lesson. However, they should occur in a typical unit plan composed of several lessons.

  1. Objectives
  2. Anticipatory Set (Hook)
  3. Standards/expectations
  4. Teaching
    • Input
    • Modeling/demo
    • Checking for understanding
  5. Guided Practice
  6. Closure
  7. Independent Practice
  8. Assessment- Formative or Summative

The above outlines what is generally referred to at the Madeline Hunter Method; below is the explanation of the meaning of the terms and the basic structure of a lesson plan and assessment.
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    Objectives

    Students learn more effectively when they know what they are supposed to be learning and why. Teachers also teach more effectively when they have the same information. (Tell what/how/why/the students are going to learn.)
     
    The purpose or objective of the lesson includes why students need to learn the objective, what they will be able to do once they have met the criterion, how they will demonstrate learning as a result. The formula for the behavioral objective is: The learner will do what + with what + how well?
  2. 2

    Anticipatory Set (Hook)

    Also referred to a “hook”, grabs the student’s attention. These are the actions and statements by the teacher to relate the experiences of the students to the objectives of the lesson.

    To put students into a receptive frame of mind.
    • to focus student attention on the lesson,
    • to create an organizing framework for the ideas, principles, or information that is to follow,
    • to extend the understanding and the application of abstract ideas through the use of example or analogy…used any time a different activity or new concept is to be introduced
  3. 3

    Standards/Expectations

    • The teacher needs to know what standard(s) of performance are to be expected and when pupils will be held accountable for what is expected. The student should be informed about the standards of performance. 
    • Standards: an explanation of the type of lesson to be presented, procedures to be followed, and behavioral expectations related to it, what the students are expected to do, what knowledge or skills are to be demonstrated and in what manner.
  4. 4

    Teaching / Presentation

    Input, Modeling, and Checking for Understanding
    • Input: 
      • The teacher provides the information needed for students to gain the knowledge or skill through lecture, text, maps, illustrations, graphic organizers, pictures, video clip etc.
    • Modeling:  
      • Once the material has been presented, the teacher uses it to show students examples of what is expected as an end product of their work. The critical aspects are explained through labeling, categorizing, comparing, etc. Students are taken to the application level (problem-solving, comparison, summarizing, etc.)
    • Checking for Understanding:
      • Determination of whether students have “got it” before proceeding. It is essential that students practice doing it right so the teacher must know that students understand before proceeding to practice. If there is any doubt that the class has not understood, the concept/skill should be retaught before practice begins.
    • Questioning Strategies: 
      • Asking questions that go beyond mere recall to probe for the higher levels of understanding…to ensure memory network binding and transfer. Using the Socratic method and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives provides a structure for questioning that is hierarchical and cumulative. [See the end of this section for a summary of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.] Questions progress from the lowest to the highest of the six levels of the cognitive domain of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
  5. 5

    Guided Practice

    An opportunity for each student to demonstrate new learning by working through an activity or exercise under the teacher’s direct supervision. The teacher moves around the room to determine the level of mastery and to provide individual remediation as needed.
  6. 6

    Closure

    Those actions or statements by a teacher that are designed to bring a presentation to a conclusion. Used to help students bring things together in their own minds, to make sense out of what has just been taught. Closure is used:
    • to cue students to the fact that they have arrived at an important point in the lesson or the end of a lesson,
    • to help organize student learning,
    • to help form a coherent picture, to consolidate, eliminate confusion and frustration, etc.,
    • to reinforce the major points to be learned
    • to help establish the network of thought relationships that provide a number of possibilities for cues for retrieval.

    Closure is the act of reviewing and clarifying the key points of a lesson, tying them together into a coherent whole, and ensuring their utility in application by securing them in the student’s conceptual network.
  7. 7

    Independent Practice

    Once the students have mastered the content or skill, it is time to provide for reinforcement practice. It is provided on a repeating schedule so that the learning is not forgotten. It may be home work or individual work in class. The failure to do this is responsible for most student failure to be able to apply something learned.
  8. 8

    Assessment - Formative or Summative

    This may be either formative or summative.  Formative assessment shall be done at points throughout the lesson or unit to assess the students continued understanding of the content or skill being taught.  Summative should be the assessment at the end of the lesson or unit.
  9. 9

    Four Step Instructional Process

    1. Watch how I do it [modeling]
    2. You help me do it (or we do it together) [together]
    3. I’ll watch you do it or praise, prompt and leave [guided practice]
    4. You do it alone [independent practice]
  10. 10

    Ways of Monitoring

    1. Oral individual
    2. Oral together
    3. Visual answers- “thumbs” up or down or white board response
    4. Written- summary, short response or reflection on paper
    5. Task Performance
    6. Group sampling
  11. 11

    Questioning Guidelines

    1. Place signal (get their attention), then ask question
    2. Ask question before designating the person to answer
    3. Do not repeat nor rephrase the student’s response. Ask another student to restate response or ask for agreement or for other students to respond. You should explain why the answer is good, or ask why or how the respondent got/chose that response.
    4. Ask question then wait for 3- to 5 second.  Call on random students even those without hands raised.  Help apprehensive respondent to think through the question.   Get help from another student and then go back to initial respondent and ask for that student to restate the answer.   Don’t let “I don’t know” end the thinking.
    5. Never ask a question of a student who you know cannot answer.
    6. If the student is confused or can’t answer, calmly repeat the same question or give a direct clue.
  12. 12

    Creating Directions

    1. Break down into parts/steps.
    2. Give only two or three at a time, one if the behavior is new.
    3. Delay giving instructions until just before the activity.
    4. Give directions in the correct sequence.
    5. Plan dignified help for those who don’t tune in (no put-downs).
    6. Give directions visually as well as orally (a visual representation of the task reduces teacher need to repeat multiple times).
  13. 13

    Giving Directions

    1. Give the planned directions (created above).
    2. Check the students’ understanding (asking “Any questions?” does not check understanding)
    3. Have a student model the behavior. (i.e., on the board or orally).
    4. If needed, re-mediate and recheck. It is essential that students do
       not practice error.
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    The Madeline Hunter Model of Mastery Learning Articles

    Please see attachment with the following articles:
    • Basic Hunter Vocabulary
    • Summary
    • De-contextualization for transfer and general application
    • Summary of the Summary
    • What the “Seven-Step Lesson Plan” Isn‟t
    • Fish Bone Organizer of Lesson Design
    • Mental Set - Brief Description
    • Sharing the Objective and Purpose
    • Input or Information: A Brief Description
    • Modeling/Demonstration: A Brief Description
    • Checking for Understanding: A Brief Description
    • Practice: Guided & Independent: A Brief Description
    • Closure: A Brief Description
    Attachments
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    Sources

    1. The Madeline Hunter Model of Mastery Learning