The End of The Lesson

I started this little series of blogs by considering transitions and the effect of these on teacher tiredness, beginning with the start of lessons, so it feels like I should end it by looking at the end of lessons.

Just before the end of a lesson, I'm alerted to the time by the silent alarm on my watch. I have this set to go off 3 minutes before the end of each lesson. 3 minutes might feel a little short, but it adds some urgency, and 5 minutes felt too long.

The first thing I do is quickly identify where we are in our learning episode and make a quick plan for how we continue in our next lesson.

Have learners engaged and been successful in a period of independent practise on the content of our lesson?

Have they engaged in mixed practice?

Can I move on to the 'next' maths using their current level of understanding as a starting point?

These questions, and more, decide where our journey takes us next.

But then there's a practical element to this. We have a transition between two classes to get underway.

We can quickly finish up where we are up to. We can provide answers, share thoughts, or discuss a problem. Then we start the transition.

Lately, I've been considering the best time for retrieval practice, and I think it might be the end of the lesson. Retrieval practice is so important, and if we put it at the beginning of lessons, latecomers miss out. I don't know about you, but in my experience, those kids are the ones who need it the most. Perhaps others have come from break or lunch to your lesson and aren't yet fully focused, but are more likely to be focused at the end of a lesson, having just done 45 minutes of maths.

So now I think I should add retrieval practice to the end of lessons. 

Finish up our activity, and I can go into practical mode. Learners close their books, and I can start collecting them following the route that I intend to give them out next lesson, being effective with time. I can start checking that the classroom and equipment haven't been disrespected and that they're ready for the next class to come into and use.

Whilst I do this, I can put 2-3 questions on the board that we have studied yesterday, last week, last month and three months ago, and I can select them based on what's appropriate at the end of a lesson for the time I plan to have left, as well as taking into account equipment requirements. Sometimes we can do this on whiteboards, others on sticky notes for collection and checking, and others on printed sheets where necessary, but this means I can be efficient with time, having learners do while I get organised between classes, and also ensure that attention is directed at specific topics in the most effective way possible to develop longer-term learning.

This may take longer than 3 minutes, and my alarms will need some adjusting, but this is a simple fix. Just typing this makes me think 5 minutes might be more appropriate, with more activities to complete than I previously did.

Then, after having collected the books for my current class and put them away, collected equipment that we've used and dismissed the class in an orderly manner, I can stand by the door collecting whiteboard pens in a box, so that they can be taken out again by another class of 30 learners. I can get to their books that were collected in following the same route that they're now going to be given out, before completing the register, all while moving between the character who teaches year 7 bottom set and year 10 top set one after the other! Feels like a chaotic 10 minutes - no wonder teachers are tired!

The Lesson

I feel like 'the lesson', or 'the teaching bit' is something that gets lots of attention, and definitely should do, too! The thing is, we can't address the differing needs of each individual mathematical idea in one blog post. Instead, this will serve as a place for some general thoughts around the main body of a lesson, and the things we need in place in order for learners to be successful - both in the lesson, and over time.

The first thing necessary for learning is that learners have a solid understanding of the prerequisites for the idea they're about to encounter. If this doesn't exist, there's no point in teaching the new mathematical idea.

Don't know their square numbers? Don't look at square roots. 

Don't know what factors are? Forget about highest common factor.

Can't plot quadratic graphs? Don't bother with solving quadratic equations.

How can we know that learners hold this knowledge? Well, check for it.

We can check in the lesson by using mini whiteboards to question the whole class, asking questions about the ideas that we expect learners to know already. But what if it isn't there? That's a big pivot to do in the moment, having planned a lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem and finding out that learners struggle with squaring numbers or finding square roots.

We could always check ahead of time? At the end of the lesson before? That way we can prepare for where learners are, not where they're expected to be on a scheme of learning that was designed 10 years ago.

Better still, curricula should adapt to reflect the current strengths of our learners and allow us to teach the 'next' maths based on what they already know well. This data should be available to teachers, so they can be confident about what their class have been successful with, directing them to the 'next' maths to support long-term learning.

Once we're confident that learners are ready to approach the new maths, we can move on, safe in the knowledge that they stand every chance of success in maths over time. This is better than scaffolding to support learners in the moment, as performance is a poor proxy for learning, and long-lasting learning is more likely to develop if learners are making connections between new learning and their existing knowledge.

Performance isn't a bad thing in itself. Learning cannot occur if learners aren't successful with the maths in today's lesson - if they can't do it it now, there's no chance of it sticking around a week, a month or a year later. Performance today means that learners stand a chance of being able to recall it next week, next month or next year.

This is where example-problem pairs come in - show learners what and how to do, and have them mimic the steps with a minimally different question. Once everyone has shown that they can do what's expected, we can give them some independent practice without concern that they'll encounter significant difficulties.

Considering learners have just shown that they can complete the steps necessary to be successful, this is then an opportunity to begin to develop automaticity with the method. Ideally completed independently, in silence, learners are working on questions similar to those they've just been successful with. This means that learners develop confidence in their abilities, feeling more and more successful.

A golf podcast I listened to had a guest on who said something that resonated with me a lot. Speaking about a golf coaching app, he said "If you suck at something, you get a lot of blocked practise".

I don't think that there should ever be a chance of learners struggling with a concept in a lesson. The content should be selected such that it is just beyond their current level of understanding. If this is selected well, learners don't need too much blocked practise to solidify their understanding. However, if a learner's prior knowledge isn't close to that required to bridge effectively to new knowledge, it follows that they'll need a lot of blocked practise to learn the new content. If learners can't confidently identify the factors of a number, they might need 20 questions on finding the highest common factor to develop confidence. However, learners who can confidently find the factors of a given number see finding the highest common factor as a small step, and might only need 5 questions.

Suppose that the content has been selected so that the learners' chances of learning the new content are as great as possible. Example-problem pairs followed by a short period of independent practise should be sufficient to begin to develop automaticity, and spaced practice will make this permanent. The time that we save without giving learners lots of blocked practise can be given across to mixed practise - an opportunity to develop method selection.

We could do this within the same domain, revisiting prerequisites and highlighting links between related concepts, or across domains, mimicking an exam paper. Either way, learners now have the opportunity to engage with retrieval practice - revisiting material that they have been successful with previously, increasing the chances that learning will occur over time.

In a 50-minute/one-hour lesson, time might be scarce, so this might need to be spread out over a couple of lessons, but 100-minute lessons offer the opportunity to develop method selection with a significant portion of each lesson handed over to mixed practise. Rosenshine stated that 80% of each lesson should be spent working with known ideas, and I see mixed practise as a way to engage with content in this way, as well as by engaging with known content before bridging to new knowledge, revealing the unknown maths as an extension of that which is already known.

After writing down the LO, checking prerequisite knowledge, bridging to new information, checking for understanding using example-problem pairs, and engaging in a period of independent study followed by mixed practise, we're likely to be out of time in my upcoming 50-minute lessons. A learning episode is likely to take more than one timetabled lesson in many cases, and that's absolutely fine. Not all maths fits nicely in 50-minute, one-hour or 100-minute blocks.

Just After The Start of The Lesson

My last blog could apply to many subjects, but I think this one will only apply to maths lessons. That said, I could be wrong. Mrs Taylor and Little Miss Taylor do tell me that often!

This could be considered the beginning of lessons, but taking into account my last blog, this is the point when learners are working on a task using a pen they've collected from me, on a whiteboard that's kept on desks. Books have been handed out, and the register has been completed.

So... What happens next?

And what have learners been working on?

There's a balancing act to be had when answering the latter question, it seems. 

To manage potential cover implications and develop consistency between lessons, taking something from a pre-written resource feels like a good way to go, but this supports management of a team and not learning. 

Supposing that learners encounter a question that they haven't yet progressed to, it's a question that's inaccessible to them, but they might be able to guess/perform next time it comes up with some quick instruction. Unfortunately, without giving content the time it needs, we run the risk of embedding misconceptions with the incomplete explanations that come with rushed answers to starters, and learners begin lessons without success.

In my experience the best use of starters is for spaced retrieval, revisiting topics that learners have had success with recently and will need to continue having success with over time for learning to happen. The expectations around the beginning of the lesson in my new environment differ slightly from this, and I suspect that this might be delayed and delivered as an exit ticket.

In keeping with the policy of my new department, learners will complete two questions aimed at improving fluency with core concepts. They'll do this on mini whiteboards whilst I greet, hand out books and complete a register.

At this point, we'll begin the lesson. I think it's important to signify to learners that we're moving on from what we were doing (those starter questions) to a new topic, and specifically, one that needs their full attention.

As an attentional cue, I'll share the lesson's focus. You might call this a learning objective, but it'll just be a title that we'll write in our books along with the date, to signify that we're moving to a different phase of the lesson.

This will also be written on the whiteboard, which I'm planning to write up each morning to avoid rushed (and therefore illegible) handwriting on the board. This is less likely to be an issue with the Learning Objective, but is likely to be an issue with sharing Success Criteria, which is something I'm less familiar with.

I'll be handwriting these on laminated A3 sheets in the mornings for a couple of reasons. The main one is that I will forget in the heat of the lesson, but also because I'll write them more neatly ahead of time, and I can revisit my day ahead of teaching each lesson to get my thoughts in order.

To recap... Learners are welcomed at the door, take a whiteboard pen and settle into the questions on the board to develop fluency with core concepts. When all the kids are in, I'm going to hand the books out and do the register. Then go through the answers to the questions and direct learners to wipe their boards off and open their books. This acts as an attentional cue to learners that we're shifting to new learning, and we will write the LO and date in their books whilst I display a pre-written learning objective and success criteria.

Next: The Lesson

The Start of The Lesson

"There's nothing quite like teacher tired", I recall a colleague saying several years ago. I imagine there's a long line of people ready to take umbridge with this, and whilst I don't have the wide-ranging experience to support this statement, I can say that teaching is very tiring.

Over the last 17 years, I've worked in challenging schools across Leeds, and a couple of years ago left a school where we had 100-minute lessons. I was surprised to find that I was more tired at the end of a 5-lesson day than I was when we had a 3-lesson day. The same amount of breaks, the same amount of time spent teaching, but 'double lessons' bringing together two 50-minute lessons - so, 3 lots of 100 minutes rather than 5 lots of 60 minutes or 6 lots of 50 minutes.

I gave this some thought, and I eventually decided that this was due to a greater number of transitions and the increased number of beginnings and ends of lessons. I don't find the teaching part of teaching tiring. Once the kids are in, settled and getting on, standing at the front directing attention and circulating in periods of independent study doesn't take much energy... But getting them out and getting them in... Eesh!

I am also very aware that on Monday, I start at a school where the timetable is six lots of 50 minutes - the largest number of transitions, with more beginnings and ends than other timetable plans!

To help me with preparing for these transitions, I have a silent alarm on my watch that alerts me when it's 3 minutes before the end of the timetabled lesson. Time to wrap up the activity that we're working on, or for me to stop talking. Then we're putting away equipment, collecting things together like protractors, books and the like, and making sure that there's no mess left around the classroom. An orderly dismissal, and then we're waiting for our next class. Somehow, without fail, they arrive ten seconds after the bell went, and we're at it again. Making sure that all the kids are coming in with the right attitude on display, having their equipment out, and starting on the activity on the board. Books need to be given out, there are likely to be issues with equipment, and the register needs to be done with detentions needing to be added for those who arrived late.

This 10-minute-ish period that typically happens twice with hour-long lessons and thrice with 50-minute lessons doesn't happen with 100-minute lessons.

Lesson 1 (1/2) can be set up before the school day starts properly. Books are out, and that's a job that doesn't need juggling. Equipment is ready, too. At the end of this lesson, we have a break, and the time to dismiss the class without the pressure of a new class waiting at the door. Lesson 2 (3/4) can be set up over break, and we run into lunch, and lesson 3 (5/6) can be set up over lunch with that class dismissed at the end of the day. There are other differences between 50-60m lessons and 100m lessons, but that's not for this blog. I've been considering my routines for the start of lessons as I embark upon another September in a new environment.

I think that the best way is to consider what I want to achieve and how I'm going to achieve it. So...

#1 Learners to enter the room in a calm and focused manner. Stand at the door to welcome each learner, directing them to the task on the board. This will be completed on mini whiteboards. MWBs are to be left on desks by the previous class, and I'm thinking that upon entering, learners take a dry-wipe pen from a box in my hands. This manages the flow of learners into the room and minimises the chances of any outside distractions continuing into the classroom.

#2 Books handed out in an efficient way. This will not involve learners - they're getting on with the task on the board, being impactful with their time. Books will be stored in boxes at the back of the room and given out/collected in the same way each time. I've done this well previously, and handing out books takes at most 20 seconds rather than the 3 minutes of a kid talking to their mates as they go, asking 'Where does _____ sit?' every third book. This is very easy to achieve, making sure that you have a route around the room that you follow, which puts the books in the same order each time.

#3 Register completed without disturbing the peace. I see doing the register in a traditional sense as a huge waste of time, and my go-to is to compare empty seats with the seating plan and make sure that the number of full seats and names on the register match. That said, I also believe that in the first few weeks it's a good way to learn names, and if norms go the wrong way it's a good way to settle a class. For the most part, I'm not interested in calling out names and waiting for a response when they could be thinking, and I could have it over and done with in 9.58 seconds.

In conclusion, I think that's the start of lessons. Stand by the door with a box of whiteboard pens, greeting learners and handing out (working) MWB pens. When everyone is in and settled, move to handing out books which have been collected following a specific route to support faster handing out. Complete the register with knowledge of who is and isn't in, considering books and gaps in the seating plan.

What are learners doing now? What will happen next? That's for the next blog.