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’
teaching
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
Building Culture: how to shape character through daily interactions
First day as a Year 7 form tutor. "I want you all to be the kind of people who have integrity. I say, you say: "Integrity!" "Integrity!" the 11 year olds all shout back, with enthusiasm. What do I mean by 'integrity'? It means to do the right thing, even when no-one is watching. When … Continue reading Building Culture: how to shape character through daily interactions
Do your pupils work hard enough?
Let's indulge in two thought experiments. Scenario 1. Imagine you have no data about a class you start to teach in September. You have no knowledge about their prior attainment and no knowledge about what they have learned before. You don't know what their behaviour is going to be like or what they are predicted … Continue reading Do your pupils work hard enough?
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
The Three Phases of Questioning
Have you ever delivered a really clear teacher explanation and used lots of checks for listening to ensure your class was paying attention, only to find that when you ask your class a question to check for understanding they respond with: "I'm not sure, sir" or "I think [completely wrong answer], sir" or "Is it … Continue reading The Three Phases of Questioning
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
Achieving 100% Student Attention: Why?
At any given moment in a lesson students are either engaged or they are coasting. When they are engaged, students are paying attention, thinking hard and learning. When they are daydreaming, off-task or inattentive, they are not learning. Our job as teachers is to ensure that 100% of students are engaged 100% of the time. … Continue reading Achieving 100% Student Attention: Why?
Curricular Narrative
It is tempting for science teachers to dive into each topic as it comes and teach its ideas as discrete lessons. Learning about Punnett squares? Let's just focus on teaching how to draw them for a few lessons and then move onto selective breeding in the following week's lessons, which is the next topic on … Continue reading Curricular Narrative
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
Bunsen Blue 