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Blog | Teach Like a Champion

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Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

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Aiming for – if not quite getting, 100% – what happened when I tried to get all my students doing what I wanted? – Improving Teaching

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Cancelling the noise – Dr C's Science Classroom (wordpress.com)

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Cold Calling: The #1 strategy for inclusive classrooms – remote and in person. – teacherhead

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Cold Calling: The #1 strategy for inclusive classrooms – remote and in person.

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Based on my experience working with hundreds of teachers in numerous contexts, I’d suggest that one of the strategies with the biggest impact on the overall effectiveness of lessons is the ro…

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Controlling Focus – 5 Practical Ways to Remove the ‘Blur’ of Learning from the Classroom. | by James Bullous | Medium

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Incorporating (Good) Active Learning in the Classroom — The Learning Scientists

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Our latest digest provided several resources related to active learning. This trend in education has gotten a lot of press, but there has also been considerable push-back. Is active learning one of a number of education fads or is there evidence to support its effectiveness? In today's blog we attempt to break down the various factors that may contribute to the effectiveness of active learning, and offer useful tips for incorporating active learning in the classroom.

First, it is important to note that active learning does not refer to any one particular thing. Instead, it refers to any number of activities through which students participate in the learning process instead of passively listening to or watching transmitted information. These activities might include discussion, problem-solving, answering questions, reading, or writing. In studies examining active learning, these activities are usually compared to a condition of pure lecture-based instruction where students are taught via lecture with none of the above activities included. In some cases, including active learning activities can improve learning above pure lecturing or passive studying. However, not all "active" activities promote learning. Here are some factors that can make studying more active while promoting learning:

Attention: One of the primary ways in which active learning may promote better retention is through attention (1). If students are actively working with material, they are more likely to be focused and paying attention to that information. In order for any information to be committed to memory, students must first attend to it and therefore increased attentiveness promotes increased retention.

Dual Coding: Dual coding is the process of combining verbal materials with visual materials. Previously, we discussed how students can use dual coding to aid their studying. Practice with multiple formats or representing information can promote learning, although it is important to avoid cognitive overload, which can result from the presentation of irrelevant multimedia (2).

Retrieval Practice: Because many of the activities involve students using the information they have studied, these activities necessarily require students to retrieve relevant information. Through this process of retrieval, students gain all of the benefits of retrieval practice that we have outlined previously. But, be careful! If students do not yet know the material well enough to retrieve it at all, then this form of active learning is not likely to help in the classroom. Quizzing, or asking students to bring information to mind, should be accompanied by instruction from the teacher.

Elaboration: Elaboration can mean a lot of different things, and there is debate as to whether elaboration in general produces learning (3). But one form of elaboration that has a fair amount of evidence supporting its effectiveness is elaborative interrogation. During elaborative interrogation, students ask themselves questions about how and why things work, and then they produce the answers to their own questions.

However, as we mentioned before, not all learning activities automatically improve learning just by virtue of being "active". In fact, some "active" activities can actually hurt learning. For example, decades of research have examined discovery learning, where students are free to learn on their own or in groups of other students with very little guidance from instructors (4). While students can certainly be very active participants during activities like these, research shows that discovery learning is not the best method for producing learning in the classroom. Instead, guided discovery - where the students receive structure and guidance from their teachers - produces more learning than the pure discovery methods, even though students might be more "active" during pure discovery than they are in the guided discovery. The take-away message is that while active learning can sometimes promote knowledge acquisition, the most "active" activity does not always produce the most learning. Active learning on the students' part should not replace active teaching. The research suggests that students need some guidance, and in some cases this may include lectures or lessons that are less overtly active for the students.

Finally, we want to leave instructors with some concrete tips for incorporating active learning into their classrooms. First, though, analyze your class as it currently stands. Even a class that is primarily lecture-based probably also contains active learning components. Do you ask questions during lectures? Do you have students participate in group work? Do you quiz your students or have them write papers? All of those activities are "active". Given that you are already probably incorporating active learning in the classroom, the following are simply ideas for incorporating more.

1. Increase attentiveness by including activities that will be enjoyable to students. You can break up a lecture by showing occasional videos, having a quick think-pair-share activity, or having students write a minute-paper. Note that an engaging lecture without these additional elements can increase attention in and of itself - so incorporating good presentation skills (e.g., eye contact, enthusiasm, humor when appropriate, etc.) will also increase attention and therefore retention.

2. Ask students to take information represented in one format and represent it in another format. For example, students might draw a diagram or a timeline to represent information that they previously read about in a book or heard about during a lesson.

3. Ask questions throughout class and have students jot down their answers in the margin of their notes so that everyone is practicing retrieval. Consider including daily quizzes over the most important topics, or weekly low-stakes quizzes in your lectures. Here we have a list of resources showing how other instructors incorporate retrieval practice in their classrooms.

4. Get students to form groups and ask each other questions about how and why things work, and how different concepts work together. Then, the group should work together to find the answers. If students need help, the teacher should be available to answer questions or correct misconceptions.

5. Always ask yourself whether students know and understand enough of the material to engage in the activity that you have planned. Make sure active learning is paired with active teaching, even if that means the students aren't as active in the classroom for a while.

References:

(1) Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the literature. Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 223-231.

(2) Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist, 38, 43-52.

(3) Smith, M. A. (2014). The process of elaboration and implications for retrieval processes. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 76(5-B)(E). Link to Dissertation Abstract

(4) Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59, 14-19.

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Our latest digest provided several resources related to active learning. This trend in education has gotten a lot of press, but there has also been considerable push-back. Is active learning one of a number of education fads or is there evidence to support ...

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Top Three High-Impact Questioning Strategies

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Top Three High-Impact Questioning Strategies

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Top Three! High-impact, inclusive questioning strategies. – teacherhead

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When I'm invited to support schools and colleges with CPD around teaching and learning - or I'm simply asked to nominate my favourite high-impact strategies - these three strategies are what usually come to mind as key areas to focus on. Cold Calling; Think Pair Share and Check for Understanding.

They work incredibly well in themselves and even better in combination - in my experience.

Where teachers have all three working really well, there are numerous benefits:

every student is involved in all questioning exchanges; everyone feels warmly invited to take part - it's inclusive and challenging at the same time.

every student can rehearse their thinking, engaging in generative recall and self-explanation, working out what they know and don't know; there's plenty of space for uncertainty and tentative first steps.

there's a depth to classroom exchanges, beyond the surface of short responses; we can get into the details.

the teacher gets good information about student learning for them to base dynamic decisions on during the lesson: it makes instructional teaching highly interactive and as responsive as it should be.

Before you cry 'common sense', 'obvious' or do your ' teachers do this already ' eye-roll, I'd just invite you to take a mental walk with me on my travels around schools. The truth is, it just isn't absolutely solid common practice for these things to be done really well - separately or in combination. It's actually very patchy - despite all the benefits that follow. Sometimes teachers don't do any of these things routinely... and it shows. So, I advocate these strategies because I see so much mileage in improving teachers' default practices in relatively straightforward ways.

Cold Calling

Essentially this means 'no hands up and no calling out'; the teacher chooses students to respond and establishes the routine that this could be anyone for any question. You ask everyone the question, pause, giving thinking time and then warmly invite someone to give their answer or share their thoughts.
(To the whole class): What are the main factors that made this a significant change?
Pause
Jonah... what were you thinking?
Then you engage with Jonah's response and, after a brief exchange, invite someone else to contribute. It keeps everyone involved, thinking; it stops some people dominating and it prevents the habit of opting out - that students develop in a hands-up classroom. In the right spirit, this a highly inclusive strategy - but it also embeds high expectations about engagement with the material in hand.

(If you don't like the name, you really just need to get over that - or call it something else. Don't let it be a barrier to actually doing it!)

Think Pair Share

On its own, Cold Calling isn't enough. Why? Mainly, it is because it is a sampling process - although everyone can be thinking about the questions, you only get to hear a few responses from a whole class; this means that not everyone gets the opportunity to rehearse their thinking out loud. It is just so powerful to enable everyone to have a chance to think their ideas through by sharing them with a talk partner. The process of verbalising your ideas tells you a lot about gaps in your own understanding - try it! Do you have the conceptual framework, the vocabulary, a way to put ideas into a sequence? Pair share provides everyone with this opportunity - in a little safe bubble of two where you may admit to uncertainty and doubt much more readily than you would alone. (I've written about this more extensively here.)

Where pair-share is rare, it's just so much harder for all students to express uncertainty; it's also more difficult to make sure everyone can rehearse using ideas, words, explanations. Some don't.. they never really fully explore ideas in detail and they mask their struggles. There needs to be some simple routines around it:

Everyone has a talk partner pre-established (especially important in a socially distanced space but important any time.)

The talk should have a goal; a focus -eg to list five advantages or to decide which of two options is better or to formulate a clear explanation of a concept as if for a younger student.

The talk should have a time limit; knowing how long you have helps to gauge the depth and intensity of the discussion.

Pairs should know they will be cold-called after their discussions - so that everyone knows they could be asked to share their ideas, no opting out.

Ideally you would circulate during pair talk. That will need to wait until classrooms return to normal but think-pair-share can still be a big part of a socially distanced classroom.

Check for Understanding

The final piece in the trio of ideas is Check for Understanding. This is important for numerous reasons - feeding in and out of Cold Calling and Think Pair Share. If teachers routinely sample students' understanding after any exchange, comparing answers and exploring differences, more students are rehearsing their thinking and the teacher gets a much better idea of how the learning is going. It takes numerous forms:

Michael, what did you understand from what Safiya was saying about the poem?

Samira.. I've explained the main points in the narrative.. let me check, what did you understand the main points to be?

John.. run through the instructions for the task for us.. what are we all going to do? (practical, activity, homework....)

Daisy - tell us what you understood was happening in the last chapter of the story?

Steph - let's have your version; how do can we work out this angle from the information in the diagram? And Melissa - what was Steph's method again? What could you do instead?

Check, check, check. Then compare and contrast. Can we learn from each other's responses?

These three strategies weave in and out of each other continually. Everyone is included. Everyone is connected . Everyone is thinking. Everyone is exploring their own schema looking for gaps, making links. Everyone is thinking. (Oops I said it twice.) And the teacher is getting a rich wash-back of feedback from the class: levels of fluency, knowledge gaps, insights into students' thought processes... It's dynamic, responsive, inclusive. This is great teaching.

In my experience each of these elements can require some work - a conscious choice on a teacher's part to change their habits: to cold call instead of taking hand up; to make pair-share a frequent, punchy, productive, disciplined thinking activity; to check for understanding instead of using the ineffective alternatives like ' is everyone ok yeah?'. It takes effort and real sustained intent to make these switches. Don't diminish the challenge this can present for some people; it's easier said than done. The pay-off is significant but it all starts with the determination to make the changes.

How's it going for you?

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Top Three! High-impact, inclusive questioning strategies.

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When I'm invited to support schools and colleges with CPD around teaching and learning - or I'm simply asked to nominate my favourite high-impact strategies - these three strategies are what usually come to mind as key areas to focus on. Cold Calling; Think Pair Share and Check for Understanding.

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MFL - Using examiner reports/transcripts to ensure all students understood key vocabulary and why it had been used.

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MFL - Using examiner reports/transcripts to ensure all students understood key vocabulary and why it had been used.

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This enabled students to fully engage in the task as they were able to refer to the examiner report and make sure their answers contained all the necessary information.

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The teacher nearly always selects who should respond to the question by name. No hands up; no calling out – it could be anyone. Students all anticipate being asked to respond, sharing their thoughts; everyone mentally prepares an answer to every question in readiness for being selected. They are all involved. Nobody dominates. Over time, everyone contributes. Questions are addressed to the whole class followed by a pause then the selection process commences.

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- Insisting students respond in full sentences
- Zero tolerance of students fiddling/swinging on chairs and using behaviour policy to support
- Using mini-whiteboards to raise engagement
- Giving countdowns and expecting ALL students to show whiteboard answers
- Use of visualizer to raise engagement
- Pitching activities at the appropriate level so all can access and engage