Introduction
It is our fervent belief that teachers are teachable.
This model of teacher development comprises five strands: Behaviour management, Quality of Instruction, Quality of Assessment, Independent Practice (IP), and Subject knowledge. These strands combine together to form effective teaching. No one element is more important than another, but they intertwine and complement each other to develop teacher expertise over time. This can be shown diagrammatically on the following page.
When using this guide to improve the quality of teaching and learning within a school, one must always ensure they are focusing on improving student learning, not teacher performance. It is very easy to slip into improving a teacher in a certain way that makes the teacher ‘look good’ without actually having any tangible impact on the quality of education that students receive in their lessons. This must be avoided at all costs.
This guide is designed such that in an observation, the observer identifies the strand most applicable for that teacher to work on (Behaviour/Instruction/Assessment/IP/Subject knowledge). Once the strand has been identified, the teacher should look at the Stage 1 actions. If all of the Stage 1 actions are complete, the user should progress to Stage 2, and then to Stage 3. All elements of the preceding stage should be in place before assigning a later stage’s actions although professional discretion is always encouraged.
Behaviour management
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
| ·Teacher radar/Scanning Hotspots/Be Seen looking -The teacher scans the classroom to identify misbehaviour ·Spots and Sanctions – The teacher spots and then sanctions misbehaviour according to the school’s behaviour policy. – After sanctioning a student, the teacher ‘walks away’ so as to reduce any further misbehaviour from the student. – If the student continues to misbehave audibly and more than simply a sigh of frustration, the teacher should warn the student that the sanction is not up for discussion, and that continuing to argue will result in a further sanction. The teacher should walk away again. If the student continues to argue, the teacher should follow the school’s behaviour policy. ·Strong voice – square up, stand still – The teacher uses their teacher persona to command the classroom – The teacher issues instructions from a stationary position at the front of the classroom. – The teacher should stand tall, ‘squaring up’ to the class to command their attention. ·Class countdown (e.g. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Thank You). – The teacher should use a countdown, following school policy, when addressing the class ·Insist on silence – The teacher insists on silence at the end of a countdown, by following the school’s behaviour policy. ·Insist on 100% compliance – After issuing an instruction, ensure that 100% of students are following your command. | ·Do it again/Whole class re-set – Where a routine is not completed up to the required standard, ensure a ‘whole-class-reset’ is carried out to ensure 100% compliance. – “Every time a routine is carried out incorrectly, it solidifies imperfection” ·Entry/Exit Routine Entry: Teachers meet & greet students at the door. ‘Do now’ activity is on the board already. (Do Now, Register, Books, Do Now) Do Now is on the board, once students are all in the teacher takes the register, the teacher then hands out the books to the front of each column, the teacher then goes through the Do Now) Exit: (Books, Stand, Praise, Dismiss) The students (whilst remaining seated) pass their books to the front of their columns in silence. One person from the front of each column puts the books in the class box. Everyone else stands behind their chairs in silence. The teacher praises individuals. The teacher does some ‘cold calling’ until the bell sounds. The class is dismissed one column at a time, on the bell. | ·Excellent transitions – Teachers should ‘think ahead’ and ensure when they stop a class, the materials/resources/display/example is ‘ready to go’ once they stop talking to ensure learning time is maximised. E.g. handing out worksheets whilst students are doing the ‘Do Now’ so that after going through the example, students can do the work straight away. ·Least Invasive Correction – The teacher should use non-verbal cues where possible to stop misbehaviour from happening in the first place – Where misbehaviour is audible or seen by the whole class, the teacher should address the misbehaviour publicly (showing everyone it is not acceptable). – Where misbehaviour is not audible/seen by other students, a quieter word/whisper can be more appropriate. ·Narrate the positive – Rather than telling students what ‘not to do’, teachers should ‘narrate the positive’. E.g. Thank you to those students that are sat up, ready to learn |
Quality of Instruction
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
| ·I do/We do/You do I do: Teachers go through the instruction We do: Teachers check for student understanding You do: Students complete Independent Practice (IP) ·Instruction matches IP – The teacher instruction (the examples and script) matches the work that students will complete in their IP to maximise student success ·“I do” is rehearsed and uses economy of language – Teachers rehearse their explanations, making them as concise and clear as possible ·Key points are emphasised – Teachers emphasise key points in their explanations ·Dual coding used where appropriate – Teachers pair their explanation with relevant, accompanying graphics to help encode the material. | ·Model the thinking – As well as the process, teachers should model their thinking process to build metacognition in their students ·The lesson should be part of a coherent sequence of lessons – The lesson should build on previous learning and be part of a clear linear sequence of lessons. ·Quick fire questions – Teachers should emphasise key points further by cold-calling ‘quick fire’ questions to students. E.g. Teacher says, the capital city of England is London. What is the capital city of England….? ·Close the loop Where students ‘don’t know’ an answer, after receiving the correct answer, the teacher closes the loop to ensure 100% understanding. | ·Activate prior knowledge – Before instruction, teachers should activate students’ prior knowledge. ·Formal register – Teachers should speak formally, eloquently, and model excellent oracy for students ·Oracy in the classroom – Teachers should build oracy in their classrooms by asking students to (agree and build onto previous responses), or how to disagree respectfully. ·Stretch it – Teachers should continue asking probing questions to improve a student’s initial response. ·Keep it neutral – When receiving possible answers and students don’t know if it is right or wrong, teachers should keep their expression neutral so they do not give any outward indication of whether it is right or not. ·Vary your voice – Teachers should vary their pace, tone, and delivery to ensure the content is delivered in the best way possible. |
Quality of Assessment
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
| ·Do now – Teachers start the lesson with 5 questions of previous learning (e.g. last lesson, last week, last half term) ·Questioning – Teachers use ‘Cold Call’, ‘No Opt Out’, ‘Wait time’ to check for student understanding ·No hands up – Teachers insist on ‘no hands up’ when they ask questions – This ensures 100% of students must be ready to answer and avoids students selectively opting out ·Use of Mini Whiteboards (MWBs) – teachers ask questions to students and ask students to write on their MWBs. – students turn their MWBs over before the teacher says, “123 Show Me.” – The teacher scans all responses, providing individual feedback there and then to students who have made mistakes | ·Monitor aggressively – Teachers circulate the room during IP to look at student work – Teachers should be able to look at each student’s work within the lesson and provide individual feedback where required. ·Pen in hand – Teachers should circulate the room with a ‘pen in hand’ so that they can mark up and help any students work during this time ·Pre-call – Teachers can identify particular students and can pre-warn them that they will be questioned in a minute to explain a certain point, explanation, finding. | ·Fastest first – When circulating, teachers should go to the fastest students first. This way, there will be work for them to look at straight away, whilst also ensuring that you have time to help these fast workers as later in the lesson you may be drawn to give more bespoke help to those that are struggling more. ·Target the error – Teachers should use their WAGOLLs to know what they are looking for specifically. – Teachers should have identified a key error they are looking for when circulating as they won’t be able to help and improve every aspect of a student’s work. ·Marking and improvement work – Teachers should collect in books as per the school’s policy and complete their whole class feedback (WCF) workbook. – From the WCF, teachers should design an improvement activity for the class based on common errors or misconceptions |
Independent practice
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
| ·Go to IP – Independent practice (as the most important part of the lesson) is sacrosanct and should be a significant period of IP in each lesson. ·Students complete IP in silence – Students complete IP independently and in silence. If students need help, they raise their hand and the teacher helps them. | ·Create the illusion of speed – The teacher includes ‘time stamps’ for activities within their lesson – These ‘time stamps’ should be irregular numbers, e.g. 4 minutes, or 7 minutes, to create the illusion of speed – The timings don’t need to be followed exactly but should create the illusion that students must be working in short bursts to complete maximum work | ·Write first, talk second – Teachers should ensure all students write their own opinions first before sharing others’ opinions – This ensures pupils develop their own voice, as opposed to generating their ideas after another student may have done the ‘heavy lifting’ ·Show call – Identify example student responses to show the class under the visualiser. – This method can be used to address learning points, misconceptions, or to praise elements you wish others to replicate in their own work. |
Subject Knowledge
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
| ·WAGOLLs – Teachers write and use a WAGOLL (‘What a good one looks like’/worked example) that acts as the benchmark for students to achieve and to be assessed against – The WAGOLL should be written for an adult standard, and we should teach to reach that level. ·Pedagogy – The teachers should use the common pedagogical approaches that have been decided by the Head of their Department. – Teachers should understand ‘how’ to teach the topic most effectively, being aware of the best examples to use and any common misconceptions. | ·Upgrade vocabulary – Teachers should insist that students answer with the correct academic and technical vocabulary in their lessons ·Examiner training – Teachers should complete examiner training for their subject areas to develop their knowledge of the specification which can be passed on to their students. | ·A* knowledge at A-Level – Teachers should be working towards having A* knowledge of their subject at A-Level. – This will help drive the curriculum journey for a specific topic, whilst also ensuring that we teach students to the top and scaffold towards this standard for all. ·On top of subject developments – Teachers should be aware of, and incorporate if supported, the latest developments in their subject areas. |
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