Teaching is complex. But there are simple ideas we can enact to help our teaching be more effective.
This book contains over 400 such ideas. The ideas come from two sources. First, from the wonderful guests on my Tips for Teachers podcast - education heavyweights such as Dylan Wiliam, Daisy Christodoulou and Tom Sherrington, as well as talented teachers who are not household names but have so much wisdom to share.
Then there's what I have learned from working with amazing teachers and students in hundreds of schools around the world. Inside you will find 22 ideas to enhance mini-whiteboard use, 15 ideas to improve the start of your lesson, 14 ideas to help make Silent Teacher effective, seven ways to respond if a student says they don't know, and lots, lots more. Each idea can be implemented the very next time you step into a classroom.
So, whatever your level of experience, subject or phase, there are plenty of ideas in this book to help take your teaching to the next level. Book contentsChapter 1: How to use this bookTip 1.
How to use this book to improve your teachingTip 2. How to give yourself the best chance of making a lasting changeChapter 2: Habits and routines Why are habits and routines important?
Tip 3. Eight ideas to help introduce a routineTip 4. Beware of the Valley of Latent PotentialTip 5. Two ideas to help a routine stickTip 6. Develop a set of high-value activity structuresTip 7.
Six ideas to help establish positive norms in your classroomTip 8.
Four types of words to consider removing from your teaching vocabularyChapter 3: The means of participationA challengeTip 9.
Front-load the means of participationTip 10. Ten ideas to improve Cold CallTip 11. Eight reasons to strive for mass participation more frequentlyTip 12.
Twenty-two ideas to improve the use of mini-whiteboardsTip 13.
Five ideas to improve the use of voting systems Tip 14.
Nine ideas to improve Call and ResponseTip 15. Fifteen ideas to improve Partner TalkTip 16. Six ideas to improve group workTip 17. Use the means of participation holy trinityTip 18. Never rely on a mental noteTip 19. The best tool for the long term might not be the best tool for nowChapter 4: Checking for understandingTip 20.
Think of questions as a check for misunderstandingTip 21.
Use the temptation to ask for self-report as a cue to ask a better questionTip 22.
Lengthen wait times after asking a questionTip 23. Lengthen wait times after an answerTip 24. Ten types of questions to ask when checking for understandingTip 25.
Try these three frameworks for learner-generated examplesTip 26.
Three ways to use diagnostic questions to check for understandingTip 27.
Provide scaffolds for verbal responsesTip 28. Six key times to check for understandingTip 29. Ten ideas to improve Exit TicketsTip 30. Pick the student least likely to knowTip 31. Start with whoever got 8 out of 10Tip 32. Ten ideas to help create a culture of errorTip 33. Three ideas to encourage students to ask questionsChapter 5: Responsive teachingTip 34.
Trick your students to test if they really understandTip 35.
Never round-upTip 36. Six ideas if a student says 'I don't know'Tip 37. What to do when some students understand and some don'tTip 38.
What to do when some students still don't understandTip 39.
How students can own and record classroom discussionsTip 40.
Share students' work with the rest of the classChapter 6: PlanningTip 41.
Seven ideas to improve a scheme of workTip 42. Six ideas to help start the planning processTip 43. Plan to do less, but betterTip 44. Ask yourself: 'What are my students likely to be thinking about?'Tip 45.
Write out ideal student responsesTip 46. Four ideas to help you plan for and respond to errorsTip 47.
Two ideas to help teachers engage in Deep Work Tip 48.
Aim to close the loop when sending an emailChapter 7: Prior knowledgeTip 49.
Plan relevant prior knowledgeTip 50. Prioritise relevant prior knowledgeTip 51. Assess relevant prior knowledgeTip 52. Respond to prior knowledge assessmentTip 53. Assess relevant prior knowledge for each idea, not for the whole sequenceChapter 8: Explanations, modelling and worked examplesTip 54.
Five ideas to show students why what we are learning today mattersTip 55.
Use related examples and non-examples to explain technical languageTip 56.
Fourteen ideas to improve the explanation of a conceptTip 57.
Teach decision making separatelyTip 58. Five ideas to improve our choice of examplesTip 59. Model techniques liveTip 60. Use a teacher worked-examples bookTip 61. Use student worked-examples booksTip 62. Make use of the power of Example-Problem PairsTip 63.
Fourteen ideas to improve Silent TeacherTip 64. Use self-explanation prompts to help develop your students' understanding Tip 65.
Six ideas to improve 'copy down the worked example'Tip 66.
Vary the means of participation for the We DoTip 67.
Three errors to avoid with the Your Turn questionsTip 68.
Reflect after a worked exampleTip 69. Beware of seductive detailsChapter 9: Student practiceTip 70.
Eight ideas to improve student practice timeTip 71. How to harness the hidden power of interleavingTip 72.
Consider using Intelligent PracticeTip 73. Consider using 'no-number' questionsTip 74. Nine ideas to help you observe student work with a purposeTip 75.
Occasionally let students do work in someone else's bookChapter 10: Memory and retrievalRetrieval opportunitiesTip 76.
Show your students the Forgetting CurveTip 77. Show your students the path to high storage and retrieval strengthTip 78.
Show your students the limits of working memoryTip 79.
Show your students how long-term memory helps thinkingTip 80.
Show your students that being familiar with something is not the same as knowing itTip 81.
Ensure you provide retrieval opportunities for all contentTip 82.
When designing retrieval opportunities, aim for 80%Tip 83.
Vary the types of retrieval questions you askTip 84.
Consider providing prompts and cues during retrieval opportunitiesTip 85.
Get your students to assign confidence scores to their answersTip 86.
Make corrections quizzableTip 87. Twenty-one ideas to improve your Low-Stakes QuizzesTip 88.
Fifteen ideas to improve the Do NowTip 89. Consider using Trello to help organise the disorganisedChapter 11: Homework, marking and feedbackTip 90.
Make homework feed into lessonsTip 91. Eight ideas to improve homeworkTip 92. Two things to check if homework or test scores are a surprise Tip 93.
Be careful how you respond to 'silly' mistakesTip 94.
Turn feedback into detective workTip 95. Consider recording verbal feedbackTip 96. Twelve ideas to improve whole-class feedbackChapter 12: Improving as a teacherTip 97.
Find the expertise within your teamTip 98. Five different people to learn fromTip 99. Revisit education books and podcast episodesTip 100.
Four things to consider when trying something newTip 101.
Five ideas to help tackle the negativity radioTip 102.
Consider slowing down your careerTip 103. Sixteen ideas to improve the delivery of CPD Tip 104.
Micro tipsTip 105. If you want more tips...
