Mentor materials
Establishing the learning environment
Learning intentions
Your ECT will learn how to:
Demonstrate consistently high behavioural expectations by:
- Creating a culture of respect and trust in the classroom that supports all pupils to succeed (e.g. by modelling the types of courteous behaviour expected of pupils).
- Teaching and rigorously maintaining clear behavioural expectations (e.g. for contributions, volume level and concentration).
- Applying rules, sanctions and rewards in line with school policy, escalating behaviour incidents as appropriate.
- Acknowledging and praising pupil effort and emphasizing progress being made.
Develop a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils by:
- Establishing a supportive and inclusive environment with a predictable system of reward and sanction in the classroom.
- Working alongside colleagues as part of a wider system of behaviour management (e.g. recognising responsibilities and understanding the right to assistance and training from senior colleagues).
- Giving manageable, specific and sequential instructions.
- Checking pupils’ understanding of instructions before a task begins.
- Using consistent language and non-verbal signals for common classroom directions.
- Using early and least-intrusive interventions as an initial response to low-level disruption.
- Responding quickly to any behaviour or bullying that threatens emotional safety.
Topic introduction
In their self-directed study this week, your mentee learned about strategies for establishing and maintaining the learning environment. This session builds on week 2 content and draws on the ‘learn that…’ statements addressed there (1.1–1.5, 7.1–7.2).
In this session, you will support your ECT to observe a colleague’s teaching and see, in action, some of the strategies discussed in the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials. You will reflect together on this observation and you will work with your ECT to script and rehearse a strategy of their own.
You might find it practical to split this session across a number of shorter meetings in this week. For example, the lesson observation (‘Plan’) may take place before you and your ECT meet (when you would begin with the ‘Review’ activity and then move on to ‘Theory to Practice’.
Meeting activities
Throughout the session, try to refer explicitly to the Learning Intentions, and encourage your mentee to record key points in their Learning Log. Tailor your use of the Theory to Practice activities below in response to the Review and Plan sections of this session.
Review: 5 mins
- Start this session by briefly following up the actions that the mentee set at the end of last week’s session. Ask your mentee to summarise
- what they did
- the impact of this on pupil learning (including how they are evaluating this)
- what they will do going forward to build on these actions
- Clarify the Learning Intentions for this session with your mentee.
Plan: 10 mins
Observe a colleague– arrange for your mentee to observe a colleague for 10 minutes as they demonstrate some of the strategies covered in the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials. Ask your mentee to make brief notes against the following prompts during the observation:
- What strategies does the teacher use to communicate and maintain their high expectations of pupils’ behaviour? (e.g. for contributions, volume level and concentration)
- How do pupils respond to the teacher? Which strategies appear to be most effective in this classroom?
- What strategies does the teacher use to develop a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils? (e.g. giving instructions, use of reward and sanction, verbal and non-verbal signals for common classroom directions, early and least-intrusive interventions, responding to negative behaviour or bullying)
- How does the teacher implement the reward and sanction policy of your school?
To support the impact of this activity you should:
- if possible, accompany your mentee for this observation, so that you can help them to make sense of what is observed
- consider carefully which colleague will offer the most fruitful learning experience for your mentee by modelling some of the strategies covered in the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials. (this could be you if you feel you are best placed to do this)
- wherever possible, brief the colleague who is being observed about the focus of the observation, so that they can tell your mentee which would be the most useful part of the lesson to see
Theory to Practice: 35 mins
- Discussion with mentor
Discuss with your mentee what they saw in their observation and how this helps them to make sense of the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials.
You could address the following questions:
- how do the strategies in use reflect the good practice outlined in the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials?
- how do the strategies in use reflect the characteristics of the pupils, the context of the class and the content being taught?
- which strategies does your mentee already use in their own practice?
- what would your mentee like to add to or change in their own practice, having completed this observation?
- how do the strategies, sanctions and rewards observed reflect your school’s behaviour policy?
- Scripting
Drawing on your discussion in activity 1, work with your mentee to script the details of a strategy that your mentee would like to add to their practice. This should draw on the content of the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials.
To make this as useful as possible, address these points as you complete this activity:
- clarify explicitly the purpose of the strategy (e.g. gaining pupils’ attention, giving clear instructions for a common routine in the classroom)
- be specific about whether this script is for use with all pupils, a specific pupil or group of pupils
- make use of examples provided in the research and practice summary, adapting these as required for your mentee’s context and pupil characteristics
- include within the script specific language that your mentee could use (e.g. rather than noting ‘I will use a standard routine for getting pupils’ attention’ you could note ‘I will count down from 3 with positive actions for pupils, saying, ‘3…stop writing, 2…pens down, 1…show me that you’re listening’)
- Rehearsal
Now work with your mentee to rehearse the strategy that has been scripted. To support this process you can:
- play the part of a pupil and ‘act back’ appropriately to help your mentee rehearse the strategy
- give feedback on how well your mentee’s rehearsal aligns with the script as planned in activity 2 (this could include non-verbal aspects as well as the words spoken)
- highlight aspects of strength in your mentee’s performance, connecting these to this week’s research and practice summary
- model aspects of the script to your mentee if this is helpful in sharpening their enactment of it
- repeat the rehearsal a few times until your mentee is confident that they are able to use this in their practice going forward
Next Steps: 5 mins
Agree with your mentee how they will now put their learning from this week’s session(s) into practice in their teaching. Help your mentee to clarify:
- the action(s) they will take and how these action(s) are expected to contribute to improved pupil learning
- what success will ‘look like’ in relation to these action(s)
- how they will evaluate their success in taking these action(s)
Note the date of your next mentor meeting, when you will check on your mentee’s progress.