Mentor materials
Promoting deep thinking
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: Planning tasks for deep thinking
Focused development area
- Teacher, with the support of a colleague, identifies the essential knowledge, skills and concepts they want pupils to think deeply about and plans for them to be revisited with added complexity, e.g. by removing scaffolding or introducing more elements.
- Teacher plans a range of questions that get pupils to think with increasing complexity once they have the relevant subject knowledge.
- Teacher plans to explain abstract concepts using concrete examples, drawing links and alternating between concrete and abstract, until the concrete examples can be faded and the abstract concept is understood.
Example precise target: Teacher plans a range of questions that get pupils to think with increasing complexity once they have the relevant subject knowledge
- Not doing it at all: When pupils have the relevant subject knowledge, increase the complexity of their thinking by planning or adapting questions that enable them to practise and retrieve knowledge, skills and concepts.
- Doing it but needs some improvement: When pupils have the relevant subject knowledge, plan a set of questions that increase in complexity, e.g. by increasing the amount of knowledge, skills or concepts pupils need to use and/or retrieve.
- Doing it well and needs some stretch: When pupils have the relevant subject knowledge, plan a set of questions that increase in complexity, e.g. by gradually removing scaffolding.
Development area 2: Variation
Focused development area
- Teacher uses a range of examples and non-examples to support pupils to understand concepts.
- Teacher supports pupils to use knowledge and skills across a range of contexts and problems to help pupils apply existing knowledge in new situations and to new questions when they have the relevant subject knowledge.
Development area 3: Supporting deeper thinking
Focused development area
- Teacher plans questions and follow-up questions that support pupils to think more effortfully about essential concepts, knowledge and skills.
- Teacher gives pupils time to formulate a response to questions that require deep thinking.
- Teacher gives pupils time to rehearse their thoughts and responses when questions require deep thinking.
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:
- Set tasks that stretch pupils, but which are achievable, within a challenging curriculum.
- Ensure pupils’ thinking is focused on key ideas within the subject, drawing explicit links between new content and core concepts and principles in the subject.
- Revisit the big ideas of the subject over time and teaching key concepts through a range of examples.
- Increase challenge with practice and retrieval as knowledge becomes more secure (e.g. by removing scaffolding, lengthening spacing or introducing interacting elements).
- Use concrete representation of abstract ideas (e.g. making use of analogies, metaphors, examples and non-examples), slowly withdrawing concrete examples and drawing attention to the underlying structure of problems.
- Include a range of types of questions in class discussions to extend and challenge pupils (e.g. by modelling new vocabulary or asking pupils to justify answers) and provide appropriate wait time between question and response where more developed responses are required.
Next, meet with your teacher to work through the ‘feedback’ stage of instructional coaching.