Plan, Prepare, Pre-emt, Praise and Prevail

I've been meaning to set up a blog for a while now, I mean they're all the rage these days and who doesn't want to follow the trend? As I sat at my desk looking through various blogs, I was suddenly overcome with the fear "These blogs are really popular and people obviously take the time to read them" "I don't have anything worth writing about, what's the point in me having a blog?"

This all changed a few weeks ago when I was asked to contribute to a Teaching and Learning Handbook. As I sat down to think about the "pearls of wisdom" I had to offer, I suddenly realised that maybe, just maybe, I had something worth writing about. Maybe others would like to read it and maybe they would benefit from it.

 So, here we are. My very first blog. I hope you can take at least 1 thing of use from it.

 As the first day of term fast approaches, I thought I would share some things that have worked for me over the years. As a trainee, I often struggled to control behaviour in certain classes and after experimenting with a variety of different ideas, I finally found a solution 

 "Plan, Prepare, Pre-emt, Praise and Prevail." 

Plan what valuable skills you want students to take away from your lessons, don't just teach it because it's in the text book. 

Prepare yourself that lessons will not always go to plan. 

Pre-emt the things that may go wrong and have a back-up.

Praise both the students and yourself.

Prevail in all that you do. 

 Behaviour tips

It's important to get it right from the very first time you meet your students. They need to know what is expected of them. Greet students at the door, with you standing with your back to the door frame. That way they must enter in single file and you can address uniform issues, chewing etc before they enter the room. Have your seating plan on display (first lesson) and direct students to their seats. Always have an activity ready to go. This way, students are occupied whilst you wait for latecomers  Establish a "start of lesson" routine and stick to it. That way students know what is expected of them. Do not allow students to dictate the seating plan, if students are to be moved around then it should be on your terms. Always have a back-up plan! Create an emergency tool kit (worksheets, flashcards, beach ball, post-its) which you can use in case the internet is down or your projector bulb blows up. If the students see that you are unprepared then they will take advantage of this. #poundlandpedagogy is full of great ideas to put in your toolkit. My favourite £1 buys include a dart board and plastic balls. 

Use a timer to help with pace. If a task drags on then students will soon start to disengage. At the end of the lesson, ensure you leave adequate time to pack away. Do not allow students to leave until you are satisfied that the room is tidy. They won't respect your glue sticks or pens if they think you don't care about keeping things tidy. Use praise and rewards often throughout the lesson; stickers, badges or sweets work well. 

 Planning

 What do you want students to learn? How will you know if they have learnt it? Take into account any prior learning and also what they'll learn in the future. Use a starter that sets the pace of the lesson. Explain the content of the lesson. Ask students to decide what PLTS they'll use. Chunk the learning and allow for a variety of learning styles. 

 Assess understanding and progress throughout the lesson. On your plan include; lesson objectives that can be shared with students, brief notes on activities, needs of individuals/ groups, reference to subject issues, references to relevant resources, homework, how additional support will be used, a clear structure for the lesson and also key questions. After the lesson, self-evaluate your lesson plan before planning the next lesson. 

 @TeacherToolkit has a fantastic 5 minute lesson plan which has been developed by many twitter users. Search for #5minplan. There is also a 5 minute evaluation plan which has been designed by PGCE students. TES also has useful planning resources. 

 Students need to know what they are aiming for. Show them samples of work done by previous students (keep work anonymous) and ask them to peer assess. When you set a task, always give an example. After the task, ask groups to explain how they approached it. Use your classroom displays interactively so that they can motivate students who are struggling or, stretch the high ability students. 

 Starters

 Keep them snappy to set the pace of the lesson. For lessons that are in the afternoon, consider brain gym exercises to keep students focussed. Sentence auctions are a good way to review previous work and also focus on literacy. I use them in my MFL lessons and the students love them. 

TES has a great resource called the starter producer. This gives a variety of tasks that are cross-curricular. At the start of a new topic; ask students to predict what they will learn. Give key questions which can be reviewed as part of the plenary. Attention grabbers: props, sound clips or video clips that link to the topic. 

Show a picture and ask students to write down 4 questions they would like to know about it using Who? What? Why? When? Make the start relevant. Students will be more engaged if they understand why they are learning a certain topic. Odd one out. Card loop: Students have a card with a question on one side and an answer on the other. One student reads out their question and the class must listen to see if they have the answer. The students with the correct answer reads out their card and then turns it over to read their question. The process continues until everyone has answered. This can be played again to see how fast students can ask/answer the questions. Sequence statements: Give students a text that has been mixed up, they must put it in the correct order. Who am I? Give pupils clues to a person or object and they must ask questions to find out the answer. 

 Plenaries

Plenaries must help students understand what they have learned. They should create a sense of achievement. TES has a plenary producer resource which is cross-curricular. Flash cards and whiteboards are great for plenaries. Splat! Key words on the board, members of the class describe the word and 2 students compete to be the first to touch the word. 

Top 10! In pairs, students agree on the top ten key words to describe the lesson. 

Gimme 5! In pairs or small groups, students agree on 5 things they have learned in the lesson or 5 questions they would like to ask classmates to test their learning. 

On a post-it note, pupils write down 1 thing they have learned, 1 thing they understand better and 1 question they'd like to ask. They stick their post-it to the door or on the wall. These can then be used as a starter for the next lesson.

 Just a minute: In groups, pupils must talk for 1 minute about what they have learned in the lesson. 

Targets: Pupils tick off each target or learning objective from the start of the lesson and say how they have achieved them.

 Challenging questions using blooms taxonomy (Analyse, Assess, Compare/Contrast, Design, Evaluate) Mind maps Flashcards What did you see/ hear/ do in the lesson? 

 Questioning 

 Share learning objectives in the form of key questions and tell students that they will be asked to answer them at the end. Sequence questions so that they get harder as the lesson progresses. Stop during the lesson and ask "Have we answered any of these questions yet?" "Discuss with a partner what else you may need to know" Prepare students for the questions. Tell them that you are going to ask certain questions later in the lesson. Give them time to think about the questions. Use a no hands up policy to avoid asking the same students. Also use a random generator to select students. Word challenge: Answer in more than 10 words etc Use speaking prompts; A good way to start an answer may be like this... Listen in to groups/ pairs and prepare specific questions for them to ensure everyone is involved. Ask pairs to plan questions for other groups. 

 Remember! Keep Calm and Breathe! As long as your students are learning, you are succeeding.