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  • Support for early career teachers
  • Teach First
  • Year 1: First half-term: what makes classroom practice effective?
    • Spring week 4

    Mentor materials

    Observation discussion - guided and independent practise

    Teaching techniques to focus feedback on

    Interaction:

    Observation

    Outcome:

    To have practised planning guided and independent practise.

    Observe your teacher during guided and independent practise and consider:

    • Is the appropriate level of guidance and support provide during the early stages of practice – are pupils achieving a high success rate?
    • Does guided practice prepare pupils for independent practice?
    • Does independent practice focus on the material the teacher wants pupils to learn?
    • Are scaffolds provided for independent practise where necessary? E.g. worked/partially completed examples, checklists

    Praise, probe and set precise actions

    The following practise should be focused around the outcomes of the probe and precise actions, so that it is specific to your teacher’s developmental needs. However, below are some practise ideas based on the online study content to support you if needed.

    Plan and practice ideas

    Work with your teacher to support them to improve their guided practice and independent practice. When doing so, you can use the points outlined under ‘stimulus’ to support you.

    Key questions and talking points

    1. How can you utilise collaboration to support pupil practise?
    2. If pupils are demonstrating a low success rate during guided practice, what might you do?
    3. If pupils are demonstrating a low success rate during independent practise, what might you do?
    4. Why is it important to remove scaffolds over time, when pupils are ready?
    5. How could you expose potential pitfalls?
    6. How could you use homework as a form of practice? N.B: Homework can improve pupil outcomes, particularly for older pupils, but it is likely that the quality of homework and its relevance to main class teaching is more important than the amount set.