'Building relationships' with the pupils we teach can sound nebulous and vague in contrast to crafting our explanations, implementing strategies informed by cognitive science & evaluating our curriculum. I believe the two of the strongest way to build relationships with pupils in lessons include: Winning hearts: praising pupils when it is earned with real warmth … Continue reading Oscar celebrations: building relationships in lessons
Two Ways to Supercharge Your Teaching
I've been working on two exciting projects recently to support teachers supercharge their teaching practice for free. For teachers wanting to get better, reaching for research can feel quite abstract and far-removed from the classroom. In contrast, learning about concrete actions that have been tried and tested in classrooms with high success rates is much … Continue reading Two Ways to Supercharge Your Teaching
What Your Children Are Really Seeing in Group Chats
Being pastorally responsible for a group of 30 children as their form tutor is perhaps the greatest privilege and source of joy that teaching can bring. At one stage in my career, I became the form tutor of a class of 11-year olds as they began secondary school. I vividly recall meeting them on their … Continue reading What Your Children Are Really Seeing in Group Chats
Choral Response and ‘I Say You Say’
The longer a teacher talks for, the more likely it is the number of pupils paying attention decreases. The trick to sustaining attention is to ask pupils questions and to expect 100% participation DURING an explanation. Questions interrupt the loss of attention. If done well, questions do not interrupt the flow of your explanation, as … Continue reading Choral Response and ‘I Say You Say’
Becoming Better People
Are your pupils more polite at the end of Year 7 compared to the start of Year 7? Do pupils in Year 8 work harder than pupils in Year 7 because their habits of working have improved over their time at school? Are your pupils in Year 11 better at taking responsibility for their actions … Continue reading Becoming Better People
Building Culture: how to shape character through daily interactions
First day as a Year 7 form tutor. "I want you all to be the kind of people who have integrity. I say, you say: "Integrity!" "Integrity!" the 11 year olds all shout back, with enthusiasm. What do I mean by 'integrity'? It means to do the right thing, even when no-one is watching. When … Continue reading Building Culture: how to shape character through daily interactions
Do your pupils work hard enough?
Let's indulge in two thought experiments. Scenario 1. Imagine you have no data about a class you start to teach in September. You have no knowledge about their prior attainment and no knowledge about what they have learned before. You don't know what their behaviour is going to be like or what they are predicted … Continue reading Do your pupils work hard enough?
Turn and Talk
'Turn & talk' is one of the techniques I use most in my classroom - perhaps 20 or more times in any given 50-minute lesson. I recently shared a clip of what this might look like on Twitter (click here). My strategy for explicit instruction involves asking questions in three phases. Phase 1 questions include … Continue reading Turn and Talk
The Three Phases of Questioning
Have you ever delivered a really clear teacher explanation and used lots of checks for listening to ensure your class was paying attention, only to find that when you ask your class a question to check for understanding they respond with: "I'm not sure, sir" or "I think [completely wrong answer], sir" or "Is it … Continue reading The Three Phases of Questioning
Set Them Up for Success: Four Whole-School Strategies
Achieving 100% student attention is not easy. But there are lots of things school leaders and teachers can do to make it easier. In the first post in this series, I explained why 100% attention from 100% of students is important. In the second post, I discussed two key strategies for achieving this: 'All hands … Continue reading Set Them Up for Success: Four Whole-School Strategies