Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, November 12, 2010

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Leanna Prater, a district technology resource teacher, explained the technology resources in participants' goody bags.

Teachers in Fayette County Public Schools are learning and practicing the 5E model of instruction to better reach their students and incorporate more technology in their classrooms.

This model – Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate – is “an easy way to plan, an easy way to think,” said Lori Bowen, the district’s elementary science content specialist.

She’s among a handful of leaders guiding teachers through the three-day professional development series, which stretches over three months. Substitutes take care of their classes during the release-day sessions, call DRIVE (Discovering Revolutionary Instruction using the 5E model). The teachers meet altogether in the morning and then reconvene after lunch via videoconference from their respective schools.

Crystal Holland and Lindsay Payne, who teach fourth grade at Cassidy Elementary, are excited about developing these techniques with their students.

“We apply it in the classroom already, but it makes such a difference when you’re so intentional,” Payne said. “If you can grab their attention at the beginning, you’ve got them for the whole lesson.”

Holland also noted how the nonlinear 5E model engages students throughout so that they really “get it.” “It builds enthusiasm for the whole unit,” she added.

Rhonda Fister, the principal at Cassidy, signed up about 10 staff members, including grade-level, special education and ESL teachers. She also is sold on the 5E model, which fosters cohesion among collaborating colleagues.

“It provides a good framework for any teacher to take back and use,” Fister said at a recent session, held in the former Johnson Elementary School cafeteria. “It doesn’t matter what type of teacher you are – you can fit your own style into this framework.”

In the 5E approach, teachers can take traditional resources and use them a tad differently. For instance, when participants asked for help applying it to language arts, the leaders designed a how-to session around the classic “Charlotte’s Web.”

“Anytime kids are reading for a specific purpose, that’s ‘exploration,’” Bowen noted. “Anytime we ask them to practice a writing skill in a new context, that’s ‘extend’ or ‘elaborate.’”

In an earlier meeting, participants used a Flip video camera and Windows Live Movie Maker to plan, film and edit a digital story explaining one of the E’s to the rest of the group.

“The teachers only had a short amount of time to complete their videos, and we were all so impressed with their finished projects. A number of teachers felt more confident about having their students create digital stories in the classroom,” said Jamie Burch, a district technology resource teacher.

Bowen also has worked with fourth-grade teachers on a reading/science lesson using online resources and earth, sun and moon models. And Burch and colleague Leanna Prater introduced fifth-grade teachers to Mission US, an interactive history resource that can be played online or downloaded for local play.

“We are sharing lots of ways to integrate technology while engaging our students and planning with the 5E model,” Burch said.