Mentor materials
Gaps and misconceptions
Select a development area
Consider the development areas for this topic (below). Then make a note of the area you plan to zoom in on and when you plan to visit so you can observe your teacher in this area. Familiarise yourself with the focused development areas. You will select one later when you observe your teacher.
Development area 1: Identify and pre-empt gaps, errors and misconceptions
Focused development area
- Teacher, with the support of a colleague, identifies the potential misconceptions that pupils may hold regarding a concept and plans pre-emptively to prevent them occurring.
- Teacher, with the support of a colleague, identifies where pupils may make errors in the subject and plans pre-emptively to prevent them occurring.
- Teacher, with the support of a colleague, identifies where pupils may hold gaps in prior knowledge that may give rise to misconceptions and plans in extra support to fill in these gaps of knowledge.
- Teacher identifies where pupils hold weak prior knowledge around a concept, possibly resulting in misconceptions and plans in extra support in order to prevent or tackle these misconceptions.
Example precise target: Teacher, with the support of a colleague, identifies the potential misconceptions that pupils may hold regarding a concept and plans pre-emptively to prevent them occurring
- Not doing it at all: With the support of a colleague, review the material pupils will be learning and identify a common misconception that pupils may hold.
- Doing it but needs some improvement: With the support of a colleague, identify a common misconception related to the material pupils will be learning and plan how to pre-emptively explain this misconception to pupils, thinking aloud why the thought process or premise behind the misconception is faulty as well as exposing the correct way of thinking or correct premise.
- Doing it well and needs some stretch: Where a common misconception related to the material you are going to teach is likely to stem from a deep-rooted misunderstanding, plan to pre-emptively explain how the misconception is based on a faulty thought process or premise, as well as the correct way of thinking or correct premise, and plan to revisit it multiple times to embed the correct way of thinking.
Development area 2: Assessing to uncover gaps, errors and misconceptions
Focused development area
- Teacher designs questions to ask for formative purposes to uncover gaps in knowledge, misconceptions and errors related to the learning goals of the lesson.
- Teacher sets up and delivers the assessment for formative purposes so that pupils answers are useful for uncovering gaps, errors and misconceptions.
Development area 3: Addressing gaps, errors and misconceptions
Focused development area
- Teacher plans a proportionate response to gaps, errors and misconceptions following targeted assessment for formative purposes.
- Teacher plans and deliver an example or analogy to addresses misconceptions.
Observe
Consider the following questions based on a short (approximately 15 minute) observation of your teacher.
What was your teacher’s previous target? Are they meeting it? How do you know?
Thinking about the development area you have selected for this topic, what is your teacher already doing well in this area? Which focused development area best aligns with what your teacher needs to get better at? What one precise target (bite-sized action) might you work with them on during your mentor meeting?
Reminder: You can choose to stick with this previous target if they have not made enough progress. When moving on to a new precise target, you can select one from the table above or, if this doesn’t fit your teacher’s needs, you can write your own.
How will you model the target to your teacher to show them what good looks like? What questions will you ask to check your teacher understands the model? For example, ‘How it is different from your current practice?’ and ‘What impact might it have on your practice and pupils?’
Reminder: Your model should help your teacher develop their ability in some of the following:
- Identify possible gaps in knowledge, errors and misconceptions and plan how to prevent these forming.
- Be aware of common misconceptions and discuss with experienced colleagues how to help pupils master important concepts.
- Use assessments to check for prior knowledge and uncover errors and pre-existing misconceptions.
Next, meet with your teacher to work through the ‘feedback’ stage of instructional coaching.