Classroom practice

Area 1: Using high-quality models

By trying this activity, you will…

Learn that:

• 4.3 Modelling helps pupils understand new processes and ideas; good models make abstract ideas concrete and accessible.
• 4a. Using modelling, explanations and scaffolds, acknowledging that novices need more structure early in a domain.
• 4i. Narrating thought processes when modelling to make explicit how experts think (e.g. asking questions aloud that pupils should consider when working independently and drawing pupils’ attention to links with prior knowledge).
• 4j. Making the steps in a process memorable and ensuring pupils can recall them (e.g. naming them, developing mnemonics, or linking to memorable stories).

If this is successful, you will see…

• Pupils having a clear grasp of what they need to do.
• Pupils able to ‘get on’ with tasks with success.

Practise…

Using a pre-prepared model answer

Choose a lesson where you will ask pupils to complete an independent piece of work, e.g. an exam answer or extended piece of writing.

For example, you may want pupils to complete a GCSE exam answer which requires extended writing. Use the mark scheme to write a model response which allows the pupils to see what is required. For GCSE and A-level, the exam boards often produce ‘Examiners Reports’ which contain real student responses to questions. It can be useful to share pre-prepared responses that are different levels of quality – support pupils to be able to differentiate between what high-quality and low-quality look like. Something you can do is to ask pupils to re-write a poorer-quality response using a higher-quality response as a guide.

A top tip is to make sure you save the pre-prepared models that you develop so that you can use them in future years/classes. Another thing you can do is to photocopy/scan good quality responses produced by your pupils which you can use with other classes in future years.

Narrate your thought process

Narrating your thought processes when modelling can help to make explicit how experts think - remember you are trying to move your pupils from novice to expert. This should allow pupils to see the steps you take, but also the kind of metacognitive strategies you use.

Examples of times you might to do this:

• Completing a piece of extended writing
• Revising a piece of writing
• Balancing an equation
• Completing an experiment in science

You could either do this on the board or using a visualiser.

Modelled example

Look at the following modelled example which has been broken down into sections to help you.

Task

Mason and Jasmine have £5 between them. Mason has 90p more than Jasmine. How much money does Jasmine have?

Okay so this is a tricky one. So firstly I need to think about how we have solved equations like this before and choose the best strategy. I know that word problems can often be solved by expressing them as equations….so I am going to start with writing out the problem as an algebraic equation.

Has this helped me? Yes, it now looks like the type of problem I’m familiar with. I can now have a go at working it out.

So £5 is 500p which will be easier to work with.

Firstly I need to take the extra 90 away so 500-90=410

Now I need to divide this by 2 so 410/2=205

So I know that one of the answers is 205.

Now I need to add the extra 90 to 205. 205+90=295

To check my answers I can put my answers into the word problem to see if they work.

So now I know that:

Jasmine has £2.05

Mason has £2.95

Develop mnemonics and memorable stories

A mnemonic is a system such as a pattern of letters or associations which assist in remembering something.

In history, a helpful mnemonic is C-O-P-E. It helps pupils COPE with analysing sources:

C - Content

O - Origin

P - Purpose

E - Evaluate

In maths or science, a helpful mnemonic is RUCSAC (as in, keep your problem solving tools in your rucksack):

R - Read

U - Underline

C - Choose

S - Solve

A - Answer

C - Check

It would be useful to talk to colleagues in your subject/phase to see if there are any helpful ones they already use with pupils.

Another strategy is to use a memorable story to help pupils remember something complicated. For example, you could link a sequence of events to familiar sequences from your life (e.g. walking around your house).

In your notepad

Reflect on your practice:

• which idea(s) for practice did you try?
• what did you do?
• what happened?
• what will you do next?

Area 2: Practice makes perfect

By trying this activity, you will…

Learn that:

4.8 Practice is an integral part of effective teaching; ensuring pupils have repeated opportunities to practise, with appropriate guidance and support, increases success.

If this is successful, you will see...

• Pupils can remember information
• They develop confidence, accuracy and speed when retrieving key knowledge

Practise…

Low-stakes quizzing

Low-stakes quizzing is a helpful tool for you to check your pupils’ understanding and to develop their recall of key ideas. The fact that it is low-stakes means that pupils will not feel threatened to ‘have a go’ in case they get it wrong.

Be explicit that the quiz is low-stakes, i.e. “I will not be recording your score”; “This is not an assessment”.

For younger pupils, or those with EAL or SEN needs – or where you know that the knowledge is new or insecure – you may need to provide support in order for them to be able to succeed. You might do the following:

• Use closed questions more than open questions
• Use multiple-choice questions
• ‘Push’ questions which guide towards a certain idea
• Partially completed sentences
• Cloze-type activities (e.g. gap fills)
• Partially completed concept maps

You can find more useful information here: https://www.retrievalpractice.org

‘Brain dumps’

A ‘brain dump’ is when you ask pupils to write down everything they know about a topic. You could do this in a number of ways:

• Individually
• In pairs
• In groups
• A combination of the above - e.g. on your own first, now share with your partner, now pool your information as a group

You could also do this in a number of mediums:

• Mind map
• On paper
• On the board
• On whiteboards
• On their table using a wipeable pen
• On poster paper

You could also do this at various points:

• Beginning of the lesson in one colour - “What can you remember about”
• End of the lesson in another colour - “What else can you now remember”
• At the end of a topic unit
• As revision

Doing this encourages pupils to try to remember information which supports transfer to long-term memory.

Exit tickets

Give pupils a slip of paper, ‘a ticket’, at the end of the lesson. On the ticket should be a series of questions (around 2 or 3) about what they have learned that lesson. In order to be able to ‘exit’ the lesson, they need to complete the ticket. This encourages pupils to reflect on what they’ve learned and actively process it.

In your notepad

Reflect on your practice:

• which idea(s) for practice did you try?
• what did you do?
• what happened?
• what will you do next?

Area 3: Adapt your teaching

By trying this activity, you will…

Learn that:

• 5.1 Pupils are likely to learn at different rates and to require different levels and types of support from teachers to succeed.
• 5.2 Seeking to understand pupils’ differences, including their different levels of prior knowledge and potential barriers to learning, is an essential part of teaching.
• 5.3 Adapting teaching in a responsive way, including by providing targeted support to pupils who are struggling, is likely to increase pupil success.
• 5.4 Adaptive teaching is less likely to be valuable if it causes the teacher to artificially create distinct tasks for different groups of pupils or to set lower expectations for particular pupils.
• 5a. Identifying pupils who need new content further broken down.
• 5e. Adapting lessons, whilst maintaining high expectations for all, so that all pupils have the opportunity to meet expectations.

If this is successful, you will see…

• Pupils who are sufficiently challenged in their learning
• Pupils are able to ‘get on’ with the task they are set
• Pupils are successful in the tasks

Practise…

Assertive monitoring

The core idea of assertive monitoring is:

• By systematically checking pupils’ work during a lesson a teacher can see what they have or have not understood.
• They can respond ‘in the moment’ when pupils have got things wrong or are not meeting success criteria and get them to ‘fix it’.

How to do it:

• Decide what ‘good work looks like’

  • In advance of the lesson, make sure you know what you are expecting in terms of ‘good work’

• Plan your laps:

  • What will you be looking for in each round of monitoring?
  • Name your laps as you circulate - ‘now I will be looking for’

• Plan a monitoring pathway:

  • Create a seating chart
  • Monitor the fastest workers first, then those needing more support

• Pen in hand – mark pupils’ work

  • Give feedback (tick, star, circle, code)

• Cue pupils to revise answers with minimal intervention (name the error, ask them to ‘fix it’, tell them how you’ll follow up)

• Record monitoring feedback

  • Check pupils’ work
  • Track right / wrong answers or trends in the class as you circulate.

Reshape instruction

Being prepared to make adjustments within a lesson to provide support or challenge to individuals, groups of pupils or the whole class as appropriate. Use this when you notice that either a pupil has not understood something, is confused or they have mastered the new content and are ready to consider more complex material.

Ideas for support might include:

• Revising explanations - providing examples, breaking down information into smaller steps
• Re-teach a piece of content or key concepts
• Use questioning to guide pupils’ practice

Ideas for challenging might include:

• Ask pupils can they think of a non-example or a time when it is not true?
• Amend tasks such as removing scaffolding or using more difficult numbers
• Add extension tasks to provide further challenge
• Move onto the new material. If for just a small group, teach on a table so they can move on whilst you support others.

Make effective use of resources, including additional adults

1. For a lesson or sequence of lessons you are going to teach, review the resources you plan to use. Use the following questions to guide your thinking:
   • Who might need additional resources?
   • What kind of additional resources might be needed?
   • Have I got enough written structures in place for this lesson, e.g. sentence stems?
   • Have I used word banks or glossaries to support vocabulary?
   • Are there any concrete resources, such as props or models that might help aid understanding?
2. Plan how you will deploy any additional adults you have in the classroom:
   • Who will they work with?
   • What information might they need prior to the lesson?
   • What misconceptions might they hold which you do not want to pass onto pupils?
   • When should they withdraw their support and how?

You do not need to create distinct tasks for different pupils. Think about how you can provide support to pupils so that they can all achieve and reach a high standard.

In your notepad

Reflect on your practice:

• which idea(s) for practice did you try?
• what did you do?
• what happened?