BHS Secondary Literacy Map

INSTRUCTIONAL AGILITY Intentional Maneuvers to Make in Response to Evidence of Student Learning

Teacher agility, as defined by Tom Schimmer (2014), is an intentional maneuver that a teacher makes in response to evidence of student learning. In order to make these intentional maneuvers, teachers must teach and assess simultaneously. As teachers gather evidence from informal assessments, they make flexible and precise decisions about which maneuvers to make and where to spend more instructional time. The instructional priorities are the tools teachers use to become agile when moving students through the instructional hierarchy (acquisition, automaticity, application.) Teachers utilize Opportunities To Respond (OTRs) to check for student understanding often, and to provide feedback to students. The information obtained through OTRs allows teachers to determine where a student is in the instructional hierarchy, and what strategies to employ for student success. Do students need more explicit instruction so they can acquire or become automatic at a skill? Should a different scaffold be used during explicit instruction since most students aren’t understanding? Which students have become automatic and are ready to go to the application phase? etc.

Critical Actions for Educators *Incorporate informal assessment (OTRs) regularly. *Feedback from students determine teachers’ next instructional steps.