Independent Schools Portal
  • Home
  • About
  • Professional Development in 2021
  • innovatED Magazine
    • innovatED Issue 1
    • innovatED Issue 2
    • innovatED Issue 3
    • innovatED Issue 4
Picture

BLOGS, VLOGS & PODCASTS

Easy planning for high performance teaching and learning

18/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

By David Winfield
Editor, innovatED Magazine and former Deputy Head (Academic)

Contrary to popular belief, great planning does not mean mind-boggling detail, complexity or length. Always remember that the point of the planning process is to allow you to deliver inspirational lessons and excellent outcomes for the children. Anything that gets in the way of this, or is superfluous to it, can be safely removed. All lesson planning tends to have the following elements: include these and you are well on your way to delivering engaging teaching and measurable learning.

Objectives

Always begin your lesson plan here. What do you want the children to learn by the end of the lesson? Why? How does this objective fit in with the sequence of learning? Are the objectives specific? How will you know if a child has attained them? Do the children have the secure skills and knowledge to achieve the objective?

​When setting objectives for the lesson (whether or not you decide to share them with the children), it is always a good idea to have S.M.A.R.T objectives at the forefront of your mind (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time-bound). Teachers still fall into the trap of describing an activity (e.g., 'Write a set of instructions') rather focusing on a specific elements of the task:
  • Use imperative verbs
  • Write in the second person
  • Use time connectives
  • Use labelled diagrams
  • Only include necessary detail​

Picture
David is speaking at the Kent School Leaders networking and CPD day at Holmewood House School. Just £55 - This includes a full lunch, refreshments and CPD Certificate. Click the flyer to view the full programme and reserve your space.

​So aim to ensure that your objectives are as precise as possible to remove shades of grey from success. This will help you to measure progress and boost the confidence of the children in your class - success should be black and white in this context, and children should be able to reflect themselves on whether they need more practise on something, or whether they can move on.

Differentiation


There are lots of ways to differentiate your lessons to thoroughly stretch every child in your class. Some approaches to consider:

Group differentiation

  • Paired or collaborative group work. By ability or mixed ability. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
  • Co-operative work. Similar to collaborative groups, but the teacher decides on the tasks to be done and who is doing them. 
  • Cascading. Great for able children; they learn something new and share it with their peers
  • Envoy.  Different groups work on different elements of the same task. 'Envoys' then visit other tables to share their findings. The whole class completes the task, but it is not obvious to the children who had the more difficult activities.
  • Jigsaw. Split the class into groups, and each group completes an activity so that the class completes the whole task. For example, the class may need to organise a party, so one group might compose an invite, another might arrange the table plan, another to work out the cost of food etc. This is also a superb approach for cross-curricular tasks.
  • Pupils as teacher. Children in groups plan and deliver a lesson (including making resources) to demonstrate their learning

You should also look to differentiate learning through the use of questions and by extension activities such as:
​
  • Drawing a diagram to explain
  • Work on a demonstration to show the class in the plenary
  • Turn your findings into a graph
  • Is there a rule that you've found that explains this?
  • Which was the best strategy to work that out?

Teaching and Support Assistants

Always ensure that you specify what you would like any support assistants to do to help enable the children to achieve the outcomes for the lesson. This should be shared with the assistant both verbally, and in the planning itself and it is excellent practice to allow your assistant(s) to write comments on your planning, as you would. This will give you some terrific insights as to how learning can be developed with your class.  They also aid immeasurably through the differentiated support they can provide.

Individual Needs

A brief note on how you will cater for the specific needs of individual children, especially those with IEPs or other Special Needs. It is also a good way of getting you thinking about how you can also stretch the most able.

Resources

Noting key resources such text book page numbers, website addresses etc. is also good practice if you have a memory like mine - and also if your support assistant helps you to prepare lessons.

Questions

I'm an enormous believer in the transformative power of questioning. I've always found popping in key questions that I want to ask the children into the planning exceptionally useful. It also helps to keep the lesson focused.
0 Comments

    Archives

    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All
    Adele Bannister
    All Through Learning
    Andrew Hammond
    Andy Falconer
    Andy Giles
    Ann Marie Christian
    Avoiding-gender-stereotypes-in-sport
    Boggle Hole
    Bruce Balmer
    Careers
    Catherine Lees
    Claire Stead
    Classroom Environments
    Corona Virus
    Crisis Management
    Dave Harris
    David Limb
    David Winfield
    Difficult Conversations
    Difficult Parents
    Edtech
    EdTech Project
    Education Fads
    Equality
    Flipped Learning
    Gender
    Gender Inequality
    Grief Support
    Growth Mindset
    Hidden Curriculum
    Independent Education
    Julie Keyes
    Just Do It
    Kate Heap
    Languages
    Lisa Ashes
    Literacy
    Managing Change
    Managing Conflict
    Maria Brosnan
    Mark Langley
    Mathematics
    Metacognition
    Mike Hargreaves
    Mindfulness – It Starts With Us Teachers
    Neel Burton
    Nicola Clifford
    Ofsted
    Outdoor Learning
    Phil Garner
    Planning
    Presentations
    Proceptual Learning
    Professional Development
    Questioning
    Relationships
    Residential Trips
    Resilience
    Revision
    Ross McGill
    Ruth Farenga
    Safeguarding
    School Marketing
    Senior Leadership
    Social Media In School
    Sonia Gill
    Stuart Bayne
    Sue O'Leary-Hall
    Teaching And Learning
    Thinking Skills
    Thomas Packer
    Tom Packer

    RSS Feed

Stay social

Picture
(c) Blue Cow Education Limited 2015-20.  All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • About
  • Professional Development in 2021
  • innovatED Magazine
    • innovatED Issue 1
    • innovatED Issue 2
    • innovatED Issue 3
    • innovatED Issue 4