Posted on

Teach Like a Champion

NQT and Trainee teachers at Roding Valley High School gave presentations on the renowned book ‘Teach Like a Champion ‘ by Doug Lemov

We discussed the practical impact of some of his techniques on teaching and learning. Each student teacher reviewed a part of the book and fed back to the group.

Dear Ms Jenner,
 Please find attached my feedback from last Thursday’s NQT/PGCE Training Session.
 I thought the training session was extremely useful and I really enjoyed it.
Hanna Emrith-Small    (Science  PGCE from IOE here at Roding Valley )

Teach Like a Champion

I thought that some of the techniques mentioned from the book Teach Like a Champion during the NQT/PGCE training session would be beneficial to use in lessons for both myself (as a teacher) and for the students. I think the book provides you with a different perspective of how effective specific activities/tasks can be and the importance of using certain techniques with respect to behaviour management.

The following are a few examples of the techniques I found useful.

The “Without Apology” technique. (Not apologising to the students for having a boring lesson)

This technique would be very useful to use in Science, as some of the topics that are taught are perceived as being boring and or pointless by the students. By apologising to students for having to teach them a particularly boring or pointless topic, the students from the start of the lesson will expect to be bored and show little interest in what is being taught. The excitement of the lesson will have been taken away. This technique also reinforced the importance of being enthusiastic about all the topics I will be teaching, as this can have a positive impact on how the students view the topic and how well they learn it.

The “Threshold” Technique. (Greeting students at the door as they enter the classroom)

This technique could potentially have a positive impact on the students, teacher and the quality of the lesson. It would help to ensure that the students come into the classroom efficiently which could potentially lead to the lesson starting quicker as the students are more organised with getting prepared for the lesson. Importantly, it could lead to better teacher-student relationships as the teacher would have the opportunity to make contact with each student for that lesson, which is not always possible

The “ Positive Framing” Technique (Correcting mistakes in a positive manner).

By positively correcting students’ mistakes, the students feel more confident in answering questions, especially in front of the whole class, and will potentially work harder to correct their mistake. This technique is important, as it creates an environment in which students feel comfortable  and safe to learn.

Posted on

Launch of ‘Closing the Gap’

Teachers at Roding Valley High School discuss how they have adopted the ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative into their faculties.

Please view to find out more..

[wpvideo UkZhsbEV]

Posted on

7 Basic Questioning Tools

 Notes from session hosted by John Sullivan

 – use singly or in combination

1. Cold-call replaces “hands up who can tell me” as default mode. Keeps everyone on their toes – reduces risk of passengers and avoids domination by a few.

How to do it: say “no hands”, then Pose – Pause – Pounce.

Ideal for: most questioning episodes

Requires you to: personalise and deliberately target students to draw them in

Resources: often none, though some like lollipop sticks (see Dylan William)

2. Bundles of questions to pairs.

How to do it: rather than firing a sequence of closed questions to the whole class and hearing answers from individuals, give a bundle of questions to pairs and some time to answer them.

Ideal for: recap or quick knowledge check

Requires you to: plan ahead, monitor robustly

Resources: mini-whiteboards are ideal but not vital

3. Pair – Share and variations as default mode. A great default for almost all questioning episodes.

How to do it: rather than firing questions to individuals, give students time to think and talk it through before asking for answers.

Ideal for: getting everyone involved – can be used for most questions. Lots of variations and combinations

Requires you to: monitor robustly and target least-likely-tos

Resources: often none

Some variations:

  • Pair-Share (“30 seconds, with the person next to you, get an answer”) – quick and easy
  • Think-Pair-Share. Allows individual reflection for more complex or challenging questions
    • Think-Pair-Think. Great for complex ideas that need deeper thinking. With the right question and the right class you can keep going with this for a while.
    • Think-Pair-Write. Gets students to reflect (as in Think-Pair-Think) then log their thoughts individually. You can add some extra Pair talk after writing, ad infinitum. Superb for revision lessons or preparing for writing.
    • Think-Pair-Move. Similar to snowballing. Students move and share with a new partner after sharing with their first one. Again, this can continue for as long as it seems to be developing thinking.
    • Think-Deepen-Share. Student A gives his view, then, regardless of her own views, student B has to help A develop his thinking by asking questions such as: “How do you know? What evidence have you got for this? How does this link to….?” etc. Use CRAVE Q to support this
    • Think-Challenge-Share. Student A gives her view, then, regardless of his own views, student B has to challenge A by occupying an opposing viewpoint. “I disagree because….I don’t think you’ve considered….What about….? “ Use CRAVE Q to support this.

4. Two-step questions that ask for justification.

How to do it: rather than saving the reasons for follow-up, ask what and why at the same time. You could try “every answer has ‘because’ in the middle”.

Good for: pushing for understanding as well as knowledge

You need to: anticipate your follow-up and build it in

Resources: none, though whiteboards can help

5. Badger or Bounce.

How to do it: don’t take the first plate. Get students to develop their own or each other’s answers. Badger one student to extend their answer, or bounce it to another student: “tell me more…go deeper…what can you add…?” This works best if you don’t comment on their answers – let them do the work.

Try Pose-Pause-Pounce-Bounce.  If answers are detailed, you may need to Summarise and Bounce: “so, Jack’s saying Macbeth was ambitious. Tell me more, Maxine…”

Good for: flushing out current knowledge, extending thinking, exploring ideas, co-constructing learning

You need to: listen very carefully, exercise careful judgements, target key students

Resources: none

6. ACE the question (aka SDC). A simple AFL strategy that forces all students to engage and get an opinion while giving you vital feedback.

How to do it: in response to an answer or statement, students hold up one finger to Agree, two to Challenge, three to Extend. You then cold-call students you want to hear from.

Good for: harvesting opinions, open or closed questions, quick hinge checks, working out who to ask next

You need to: listen carefully

Resources: none

7. Total Physical Response (TPR). Gets students on their feet, sharing and justifying opinions.

How to do it: Allocate different opinions to different sides of the room. Students move to the place that corresponds with their opinion, share ideas with the like-minded students near them, then meet someone who holds an opposite view in the middle of the room to justify. You then cold-call pairs or individuals to hear their arguments. You can push for synthesis too: “with the person who holds the opposite view, rehearse a paragraph that begins – ‘one hand, it could be argued that….’

Good for: harvesting opinions, exploring issues, justifying, practising synthesis

You need to: listen carefully

Resources: none