pace in lessons
Introducing pace and purpose into your lessons.
To my mind, the most successful teachers are those who are able to engender a real sense of pace and purpose into proceedings, but who also provide pupils with thinking and reflection time. With this in mind I have provided a range of guidance that will help you to inject appropriate pace and reflection time into lessons
The planning stage
Ask yourself who is it that you want to work harder – the pupils or you?
While obviously not ignoring your own contribution to the lesson, make pupil learning the main focus for all your lesson planning. Keep your pupils busy but provide opportunities for ‘focused’ thinking time. To make your thinking time focused, provide them with questions, conundrums, viewpoints, etc to think about. Make it clear from the outset that you will be seeking a response from them.
Have an ‘entry task’ ready for the pupils to do as and when they come into the classroom
Examples of these are anagrams, word searches, crosswords, interpreting optical illusions, working out the answers to riddles, responding to pictures, etc. If you can create entry tasks that encourage pupils to get their books and writing equipment out then so much the better. This will help you to make a crisp start to the lesson and introduce a sense of pace to the proceedings.
Plan a starter activity that doesn’t need a lengthy introduction but is a quick, focused activity
Again, ensure that you make it clear that this is a task for all pupils to do. Introduce a degree of healthy pressure on pupils to carry out your instructions.
Write the learning objectives on the board for pupils to copy down
If you want to make an even brisker start to the lesson then word-process your learning objectives and simply ask pupils to stick these at the top of the page. By doing this you will not have to wait for the slower writers to finish.
Write any homework tasks on the board for pupils to record
Inform pupils
To my mind, the most successful teachers are those who are able to engender a real sense of pace and purpose into proceedings, but who also provide pupils with thinking and reflection time. With this in mind I have provided a range of guidance that will help you to inject appropriate pace and reflection time into lessons
The planning stage
Ask yourself who is it that you want to work harder – the pupils or you?
While obviously not ignoring your own contribution to the lesson, make pupil learning the main focus for all your lesson planning. Keep your pupils busy but provide opportunities for ‘focused’ thinking time. To make your thinking time focused, provide them with questions, conundrums, viewpoints, etc to think about. Make it clear from the outset that you will be seeking a response from them.
Have an ‘entry task’ ready for the pupils to do as and when they come into the classroom
Examples of these are anagrams, word searches, crosswords, interpreting optical illusions, working out the answers to riddles, responding to pictures, etc. If you can create entry tasks that encourage pupils to get their books and writing equipment out then so much the better. This will help you to make a crisp start to the lesson and introduce a sense of pace to the proceedings.
Plan a starter activity that doesn’t need a lengthy introduction but is a quick, focused activity
Again, ensure that you make it clear that this is a task for all pupils to do. Introduce a degree of healthy pressure on pupils to carry out your instructions.
Write the learning objectives on the board for pupils to copy down
If you want to make an even brisker start to the lesson then word-process your learning objectives and simply ask pupils to stick these at the top of the page. By doing this you will not have to wait for the slower writers to finish.
Write any homework tasks on the board for pupils to record
Inform pupils