Reading time: 9 minutes
I have read so many research papers, blogs and books, as well as listen to podcasts, recently that it can become very easy to lose sight of what I have learnt. Many of the papers I have read describe interleaving and practising retrieval. If I am going to tell my students that this is best way to recall information, surely I should be doing the same?
I thought it would be a good idea that every time I complete an educational read, I post a self-quiz about the book. This will serve 3 purposes:
1) It will act as a great recap for me of the key takeaways for the book
2) It will do the same for the readers of my blog who have already read the book
3) It may persuade the readers of my blog to indeed buy the book if they want to know the answers without giving anything away.
This time I have chosen the incredible Making Every Lesson Count by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby. Many of the ideas in this books I use in my own lessons, to prepare for Inset Training and to develop strategies in the Teaching and Learning group and staff termly T&L newsletters:
Chapter 1
What are the six key principles of great teaching and learning?
Explain the term “long haul” in the context of challenge.
Can you give some examples of differentiation on-the-go where by you react to the needs of different learners in a lesson?
Explain the term “scale up”.
What is a more aspirational way of setting learning outcomes than using all, most, some.
Why is subject knowledge so important when thinking about challenge and how can you ensure yours is up to scratch?
What is a Gallery of Excellence?
Give some examples of how you can benchmark brilliance
Why is “now try…” a powerful statement?
What is a writer’s palette?
Chapter 2
What is the acronym for effective explanations?
Give some strategies to find the “sweet spot” of explanations.
What should you know/think about each topic before you teach it?
Name some strategies for “opening the gap” and creating generation.
How can you ensure your explanation is concise and includes lots of repetition?
What is the importance of story telling in explanations?
Chapter 3
What is live modelling and how could this apply to maths/writing an essay?
What does “call your shots” mean?
When might you use micro-modelling?
Give different ways you can use pupil’s work to model and what are the important considerations when you do this?
How can you model a pupil’s journey of progress for the whole year?
How can showing more than one model for the same problem help develop knowledge?
Which two questions best encompass “machine gun modelling”
What is the advantage of post-modelling?
What is an “exemplar bank”?
What is important to couple with modelling?
Chapter 4
What is perfect practice and automaticity?
What are the two types of practice and how do they differ?
Name the five stages of deliberate practice on the practice spectrum.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of interleaving topics in a scheme?
Give some alternatives to quizzing for encouraging retrieval practice; how can you involve parents?
What two questions should we ask when developing a new scheme of work?
Explain the Power of Three.
Explain idea of Fold It In
What is “Spinning the plates”, why is it important/hard to master?
Give three reasons why providing scaffolds immediately to struggling students might not be the best thing to do.
When should practice be halted?
What is the difference between learning and performance?
Chapter 5
How can you close the knowledge gap: in lessons, between lessons, between units and when reviewing the curriculum.
What are the four categories of feedback that Hattie and Timperley identify?
What is the least effective form of feedback?
When can feedback not help students?
What is DIRT time?
What rules should be in place for DIRT time?
How can feedback be presented on one slide bu cater for needs of pupils?
How can else can you use DIRT time?
Wha are the two main benefits of DIRT time?
What is symbol marking and how can it speed up the feedback process?
What mis-interpretation has been made by Senior Leaders about “dialogical marking”?
How can you meaningfully record verbal feedback in student books and what is important when conveying the verbal feedback?
What are the dangers of peer assessment?
What is gallery critique?
What are the 3 points of Berger’s mantra for effective feedback?
What should you provide and insist on during gallery critique?
How can you apply gallery critique to computer lessons?
Why is it important to focus on the best bits?
How can you use a dot or a highlighter to create self-regulating learners?
What should you focus on in the close of the lesson?
What does the “5 minute flick involve?”
When does David Didau say you should only consider marking student work?
What are the dangers of DIRT time on pupil culture?
Rather than providing feedback ,sometimes it is better to just…
Chapter 6 – coming soon
What is the purpose of questioning?
Where did you see questioning in the other chapters?
What should you not accept during questioning?
What should you always do when asking a student a question?
Which word is good to start follow up questions with?
What are the 6 levels of questioning to be considered?
With so many questions to think about how can you remind yourself in the lesson?
Give examples of closed and open questions you could ask about the topic __________.
What is the rule of thumb with closed and open questions?
When should you think about questions you are going to ask?
What should you start with when thinking about your sequence?
What should you use sparingly during questioning?
What is a child says “I don’t know”?
Give 4 strategies when a child says “don’t know”
What is it vital that we do not accept?
How can you support students by breaking up a question? Give an example.
What should you provide when questioning the class?
What does research also show about wait time after a response?
How can you use a hands up approach to your advantage?
What is cold calling and what are the advantages?
When should you name students when questioning?
What does chaining mean?
What’s the continuum?
What is ABC feedback
What is a hinge question and why are they useful?
What should you do when using mini whiteboards to show an answer?
What is the question generator?
When is it not a good idea to ask a knowledge based question and just tell the class instead?
Should you use questioning to attempt to engage poor behaviour?
What does questioning time cut into if it drags?
What can you do to improve the extrovert/introvert divide?
What should you never write in a pupil’s report?
Chapter 7 – coming soon
Teach innovate reflect 