You Have the Big Idea, Concept, and Some Examples ... Now What?

Twyman and colleagues wrote a how-to guide for teachers. They list five rules for picking and ordering examples when you teach a new concept.

The rules come from Direct Instruction. The paper is a map, not an experiment. No kids, no data, just the blueprint.

The five rules are called juxtaposition principles. Start with examples that are easy to tell apart. Slowly mix in close-in, tricky examples. End with the student telling new examples yes or no without help.

The goal is one clear picture of the concept in the learner’s head.

Sherman et al. (2021) took these rules and trained teachers with Behavioral Skills Training. After a few short sessions the teachers hit near-perfect fidelity on signals, praise, and error fixes while they used DI.

Vidovic et al. (2021) used the same sequencing logic for two years in a charter school. Kids with ASD moved their reading scores up on the KTEA-II.

Twyman (2021) adds the idea of faultless communication. Make the wording so clean that only one meaning is possible. Together the two Twyman papers give you both the script and the staging order.

You now have a plug-and-play checklist for concept lessons. Pick examples that differ on one key feature first, then sneak in the hard ones, and finish with novel tests. If your staff need polish, run a quick BST package like Sherman did. If you serve kids with ASD, follow Vidovic and run DI reading daily. Monday morning, open your next lesson plan and reorder the examples using the five rules. Watch how fast your students say, “Oh, I get it.”