Six teaching strategies that really work… (Part 1)

Every school leader and teacher wants the best from their pupils and for them to thrive and reach their potential.  So like many others, I listen to experts, observe excellent teachers and share best practise. However, education is tainted with teaching theories that just don’t add up, theories that are regarded as ‘best practise’ based on little or no evidence. The government is always changing and adapting what we have to deliver, like reciting poetry from rote or teaching roman numerals. Outside agencies and advisers come into our schools with the latest fad or rumour from the Ofsted machine and advise schools how to teach, only for the strategy to be pushed out a term later when the next great idea is cooked up by some Oxford educated politician with little or no experience of education… With this in mind I started reading, finding and reflecting on teaching strategies that have actually come from research based practise and are evidence based. By evidence, I mean large scale projects to one off bloggers, but they do all have something in common, they are reflections of teaching practise from where it really counts… the classroom.

These strategies are the ones that appeared again and again and strategies that I believe really work. They aren't rocket science and you will properly find you already do these to some extent when you're teaching. If you are going to put extra effort into developing your teaching, these are the aspects to focus on... 

In no particular order, here are my top six!

1.      Sharing clear learning objectives

These learning objectives shape and direct the lesson and are what the children will achieve by the end of the lesson. The pupils must clearly understand the objective and as the lesson progresses building blocks are laid to ensure the children achieve the learning objective. They need to be short, sharp and ambitious! In a nutshell, you ‘start at the end’… (think about that one, it does make sense!)

2      Share, model, guide and then do it yourself...

You share the information, model how you use it, work with the children through an example and then it’s over to them… you could use some catchy vocab to develop the routine.

 

Don’t forget the self-verbalize when you model, the children need to know what you’re thinking so they can apply it when it’s their turn!

3.      Feedback

Properly the most important one of the bunch and don’t forget quality feedback is just as important for teachers as well as the pupils. Giving quality, timed and meaningful feedback is a high quality skill on its own  and takes years of practise and CPD to become great at it. However, the process put basically is simple… tell the children how they have performed and then what they should do next!

Three ideas to get you started, number 4 – 6 next time!

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Great Leaders! What qualities do they all have?

When you think of a successful leaders from the world of education or business there are traits and ways of thinking that are shared by all these individuals, irrelevant of their field or profession.

  1.       They believe they will be successful

  2.       They set ambitious  goals

  3.       They make the goals the everyday vision 

  4.       They carefully plan to reach these goals

To be a successful teacher you also have to have these traits and more importantly you have 30 young minds to inspire and motive to also believe they can be successful. So the big question is, as a leader or teacher, what mind set and perspective do you need to truly believe and be successful?

These perspectives and ‘ways of thinking’ are broad and complex, how they are interpreted depends on your approaches to leadership and motivations, they should get you think and question what you do every day…

  1.       I will do something every day that makes a difference!

It doesn’t matter how small or simple – just do it! Supporting a teacher with a tiny aspect of her provision, supporting a parent to access parenting support or make a strategic discussion to develop the school. Whatever it is just make sure when you finally put your feet up at the end of a long day, you can say to yourself ‘I made a difference’.

  2.       I will make lasting connections not meaningless networks

No one succeeds by themselves, the connections (networks) you develop ensure you’re successful and make quality and inform decisions. It also helps you develop as a teacher and leader. Professional dialogue and sharing of best practice is the life blood of quality education. Start by signing up to twitter and have those professional conversations with educators and leaders from around the world – find me at @MrB_online (#SLTchat is always worth taking part in - 8pm every Sunday on Twitter)

  3.       The quality of my leadership will be measured in years… not days!

Play the long game while addressing short issues and developments. Sticking plasters will only do so much. Culture shift and embedded practice is what makes the real difference (this is easier said than done with Ofsted inspections and league tables defining what we prioritize)  

  4.       I will ‘plan my work’ and then ‘work my plan’!

Strategic thinking and planning is important but it’s all about how you execute the plan. Just as every great teacher response to the students and adapts their approach so must leaders as they tackle whole school developments.

  5.       My failure will breed success!

Every great leader and successful individual has failed at some point and in most cases these are monumental failures. Success is based on perseverance, when others give up… resilient, hardworking and strong individuals will success!

  6.       Only once I  have succeeded will I actually know I have been successful

You read autobiographies and life maps of successful leaders assuming choices made were simple and planned. No chance… pick a goal and measure yourself against it, that is what really counts, and expect to stumble and hit brick walls along the way!

  7.       I will make history!

You will always be at the forefront of change, this may be tiny or massive, on a local scale or national. You just need to try new things, think outside the box and think ‘blue sky’.

Further reading: Teacher presence - have you got it?

Teacher presence, the key to excellent pupil behaviour and attitudes to learning!

With student behaviour high on the government and many schools priority list it’s important that as leaders and teachers we understand the impact different factors make on the behaviour of children in our classrooms. It’s not rocket science that stimulating lessons, clear boundaries and mutual respect will improve attitudes to learning and therefore improve behaviour for learning. It’s important that as leaders we give teachers the opportunities to reflect on their relationships with the class and individual pupils and how this might affect how they engage with school.

A simple activity that you can complete is to plot your approach to teaching and how you present yourself in the classroom on the matrix below and ask the class teachers to do the same...

Where do you fit on this matrix and where would you like to be?

One thing is clear, leaning too much in any direction on the matrix will hinder progress but where is the best place to be?

It’s important to start by understanding what each term means and how these traits will impact on teaching and learning…

Dominant
• You have a strong sense of purpose in pursuing clear goals for learning and behaviour
• As a leader you tend to guide and control
• You will discipline without apology
• You need full control to feel comfortable and productive

Submissive
• Lack of clarity of purpose
• Keeps a low profile within the classroom and extended learning
• Tendency to submit to the will of the class or individuals
• Entirely unassertive and can be apologetic

Cooperative
• Great concern for the needs and opinions of students and colleagues
• Helpful, friendly, approachable
• Avoids strife and seeks consensus

Preventative
• Treats students as the enemy
• Expresses anger and irritation, can be sarcastic
• Need to ‘win’ if there is a disagreement between teacher and students

So now you understand in more detail these aspects, where do you fit on the matrix? Where do you think your staff fit and do they agree with you? Educators and leaders need to access elements of all these traits at times but the best place for a teacher to be is...

The best teacher find themselves in an optimum balance between dominance and cooperative. The next phase of this reflection is to understand that if you’re not sitting in the optimum zone how can you develop your dominance and cooperative skill sets?

Some ideas to develop your dominance (and leadership) might include, creating clear rules and boundaries for the students and adults, ‘selling’ learning through effective and persuasive justification of learning outcomes and processes, setting rules and objectives with student ‘buy-in’ and being highly organised with learning and day to day organisation.

Some ideas to develop your cooperative aspect might include, dealing with concerns, issues and behaviour in your direct control through a positive and fair approach, negotiating clear rules and boundaries with students, being patient and understanding and removing your emotion from a simulation in order to make rational decisions.

Through coaching and reflection this simple matrix could improve behaviour and attitudes to learning within the classroom. Sometimes teachers need to reflect on their own behaviour before pointing the finger at the children… we have all experienced the same class or individual respond well and make great progress with one teacher and not with another!

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