Teaching article
Give the instructions to someone who has not seen the task
Test whether another person can carry out a short paper-based task using the instructions provided.
An author may leave out a step because it feels obvious from experience. A partner trial exposes those assumptions: follow the written procedure literally, then discuss where quantities, order or conditions needed to be clearer.
To hand: Paper shapes and three instruction spaces.
- Write or dictate the intended sequence.
- Let a partner follow it literally.
- Revise a missing or ambiguous step.
Watch where the reader has to guess
An instruction to fold needs a location or reference edge if several different folds are possible.
Try the procedure literally using suitable materials. Missing quantities, order or conditions often become visible when a new reader follows it.
Which revision changed the partner's result? Use pictures and spoken directions together.
A failed trial may reveal unclear instructions, not an uncooperative reader.
Resources
- Reflection Journal Template — Use the editable prompt space to record the text, question and response; it is a blank recording aid rather than a reading programme.
Further reading
Read next
- Ask a question that belongs to this particular text
- Let children tell the story before they write it
- An inference needs a clue you can point to
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