'Building relationships' with the pupils we teach can sound nebulous and vague in contrast to crafting our explanations, implementing strategies informed by cognitive science & evaluating our curriculum. I believe the two of the strongest way to build relationships with pupils in lessons include: Winning hearts: praising pupils when it is earned with real warmth … Continue reading Oscar celebrations: building relationships in lessons
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Two Ways to Supercharge Your Teaching
I've been working on two exciting projects recently to support teachers supercharge their teaching practice for free. For teachers wanting to get better, reaching for research can feel quite abstract and far-removed from the classroom. In contrast, learning about concrete actions that have been tried and tested in classrooms with high success rates is much … Continue reading Two Ways to Supercharge Your Teaching
What Your Children Are Really Seeing in Group Chats
Being pastorally responsible for a group of 30 children as their form tutor is perhaps the greatest privilege and source of joy that teaching can bring. At one stage in my career, I became the form tutor of a class of 11-year olds as they began secondary school. I vividly recall meeting them on their … Continue reading What Your Children Are Really Seeing in Group Chats
Choral Response and ‘I Say You Say’
The longer a teacher talks for, the more likely it is the number of pupils paying attention decreases. The trick to sustaining attention is to ask pupils questions and to expect 100% participation DURING an explanation. Questions interrupt the loss of attention. If done well, questions do not interrupt the flow of your explanation, as … Continue reading Choral Response and ‘I Say You Say’
Becoming Better People
Are your pupils more polite at the end of Year 7 compared to the start of Year 7? Do pupils in Year 8 work harder than pupils in Year 7 because their habits of working have improved over their time at school? Are your pupils in Year 11 better at taking responsibility for their actions … Continue reading Becoming Better People
Turn and Talk
'Turn & talk' is one of the techniques I use most in my classroom - perhaps 20 or more times in any given 50-minute lesson. I recently shared a clip of what this might look like on Twitter (click here). My strategy for explicit instruction involves asking questions in three phases. Phase 1 questions include … Continue reading Turn and Talk
Checks for Listening: 100% Participation
It is natural for students to lose attention during an explanation. In this post, I share two of the highest leverage strategies you can use to secure 100% attention. I explain why this should be our goal in my previous post. Strategy 1: All Hands Up Cold Calling I disagree with the way lots of … Continue reading Checks for Listening: 100% Participation
Clear Teacher Explanations 2f: Dual Coding Mistakes
As dual coding becomes more popular, its definition also expands. This post intends to clarify the difference between dual coding and graphic design. The key idea is that aesthetically pleasing diagrams do not necessarily translate into better learning. If teachers invest time adding lots of diagrams to their resources with the mistaken belief that it … Continue reading Clear Teacher Explanations 2f: Dual Coding Mistakes
Clear Teacher Explanations: 2e – Visual Models
Analogies & models are excellent tools for delivering clear teacher explanations when used judiciously. Diagrams can prove very useful at explaining the different parts of the analogy and how they map onto the knowledge they represent. Some models act as lenses through which pupils can appreciate the same idea from different perspectives. For example, in … Continue reading Clear Teacher Explanations: 2e – Visual Models
Clear Teacher Explanations 2d: Faithful Diagrams
Diagrams can help an explanation in two ways. Firstly, to organise a complex web of information such as: A process or sequence in time Multi fact definition Complex concept Some procedures Secondly, to depict things: either faithfully from real life or as models. I call this type of dual coding 'representative visuals'. Diagrams are powerful … Continue reading Clear Teacher Explanations 2d: Faithful Diagrams