Our Teaching Practices use the Highly Effective Teaching Education Model

The Highly Effective Teaching model, HET for short, is a brain-compatible model grounded in the biology of learning, effective instructional strategies, and the development of conceptual curriculum. Formerly known as ITI (Integrated Thematic Instruction) and developed thirty years ago, the HET Model has been successfully replicated nationally in educational institutions serving rural, urban, and suburban communities. It includes proven strategies and methods for student learning, teaching, and administrative management. Independent research has provided evidence of significant gains in student achievement using the Highly Effective Teaching Model.

The Highly Effective Teaching (HET) Model provides a way of conceptualizing the orchestration of a BodybrainCompatible learning environment by implementing the science of learning (how the brain learns) and its implications within the classroom for schoolwide improvement. Originally developed by Susan J. Kovalik as the ITI (Integrated Thematic Instruction) Model and continually updated, the Highly Effective Teaching Model is currently used in hundreds of school districts across the United States and locations throughout the world. Regardless of the language, culture, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status of the student community, its outcomes are the same: quantum leaps in student achievement and a lifelong love of learning.

The HET Model information is copyright protected. © Susan Kovalik/The Center for Effective Learning. All rights reserved.

Lifeskills, Lifelong Guidelines, and Connections to Tribal Values

The Highly Effective Teaching (HET) model includes lifeskills and lifelong guidelines that provide specific behavioral opportunities for learning. There are 19 lifeskills which include concepts such as friendship, resilience, curiosity, perseverance, and humor. The six lifelong guidelines make up our PARTTS and are personal best, active listening, respect, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and safety. They form an emotional foundation for learning both in and out of the classroom and for life in general. From a brain-based learning perspective, promoting and following the lifeskills and lifelong guidelines aids in having a classroom that is free of threat.

The lifeskills and lifelong guidelines also align with the Southeast Traditional Tribal Values. More information on the lifeskills, lidelong guidelines, and their connection with Tribal Values can be found here.