What to Do When Directions Aren't Directing

"Guys, just follow the directions." "The directions are right there."

"Just read the directions!"

How many times per day do you repeat one (or all) of those phrases? It is incredibly frustrating when you have to keep repeating yourself in your classroom, and when you feel like your words are going in one ear and out the other.

I always assumed that this was the result of distracted tweens and teens who simply didn't want to listen. However, over the last few years, I've had a change of heart. Sure, some students just aren't paying attention, but I started to notice something that made me rethink my position and practices. It was a very particular blank stare.

I wish I could somehow show you a picture of it, because it's so distinct when it crosses my students' faces, but describing it as a blank stare is perhaps the best I can do at the moment. Sometimes it comes with a nod, and sometimes it comes with a quick glance back to their papers, but this particular look is what made me realize that there was a subset of my students (a larger group than I would have ever thought) who were not understanding much of the academic terminology commonly used in assignments and instructions.

So, I made a change. Instead of becoming exasperated and repeating myself, I started asking questions.

• "Do you know what I'm asking for when I ask you to analyze the character's response?"

  
  

• "If the directions are asking you to eliminate two options, what are they asking of you?"

  
  

• "The directions are asking you to state your opinion and justify your position. So, let's break that down. What should we do first?"

• "It says here to establish the setting of your story first. How would I do that? Do you remember what it means to establish something?"

Asking these questions helped me identify terms that I assumed my students knew, but didn't! And that's when I started to make progress.

I've come to realize that many students are listening when directions are read aloud and are rereading them independently, yet they are still confused because they lack the academic vocabulary needed to understand the task.

We could talk about the cause of the academic vocabulary knowledge gap all day long. However, all teachers can address the issue by taking the following two easy steps.

Step 1:

Start asking questions that will help you identify the exact academic terms that are causing confusion, so you can teach the meaning of unknown terms as you go.

• "What word are you unsure of here?"
  

• "If I'm asking you to paraphrase what you've just read, what do you think that means?"

  
  

• "Can you show me where in the directions you started to get confused?"

Or, better yet, when reading the directions aloud for the first time in front of the class, clarify words ahead of time that you think students may struggle with.

Step 2:

Provide visual supports.

Asking questions will help you identify unknown terms while reading directions, but having a go-to resource to help you teach those terms and get their meaning to stick is the next step.

We all have learners with diverse needs in our classrooms. Visual supports help close gaps in understanding and help students make connections that they might not otherwise make. So, incorporate them!

After seeing how much visual support has helped my own students, I wanted a consistent, accessible way to reinforce these terms throughout the year. So, I created this!

Academic Vocabulary Terms of the Week | Simplified Visual Definitions for ELA

• This resource includes 40 ready-to-print terms with simplified, visual definitions to support all learners.

• All of the text is in Open Dyslexic font. (Again - I'm all about accessibility!)

• Print and display one term per week in your classroom to help increase your students' academic vocabulary all year long.

• Click the link below to see the full list of included academic terms in the product description.

Click Here to grab a copy for your classroom!

Until next time, happy learning!

Lauren