Love starting lessons like this. Spaced retrieval that isn't related to today's lesson, and chosen based on C-Scores, so targeted to areas of student weakness. We then crack out the MWBs to check knowledge that is prerequisite to today's lesson.
It's every lesson, so routines are fire. We go through the answers quickly, then at the end I put class scores back in using the sliders, which takes me 30s and means that problem questions will be revisited in homework or another starter.
If there's something they clearly don't get and requires a reteach, I'll take a note and revisit it soon once I've had time to prepare. I don't want to derail today's planned lesson for knowledge that isn't prerequisite. I'll do it later.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a strong advocate of mini-whiteboards (MWBs). Brief thread explaining the WHENWHYBY: when are they useful, why are they useful and how do you make them useful:
First, a CAVEAT
This is a thread. Not a full blown training session. It contains nuggets, no more. Towards the end of the thread I will signpost more content. If you are planning on delivering training from scratch based on this thread or building policy, please don't.
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Ok, so first the WHEN
There are lots of occasions throughout a lesson or teaching cycle where MWBs can be useful, but the real biggie is any time you are checking for understanding. There are two major phases when you do this:
Prerequisite knowledge check before you introduce new content.
Check for understanding (or my preferred term - check and consolidate) after you have introduced new content (or retaught old content).
That's right, but it isn't a good argument. Why not? READ ON
First, because tools are - almost by definition - designed for different jobs. A screwdriver is good for driving screws, and bad for hammering nails.
If you are hammering nails with a screwdriver and someone says "don't do that", you wouldn't say "it's just a tool, it depends how it's used."
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Second, because even amongst tools designed for the same job, some are better than others. My phone camera is designed to take photos on the go, as is a mirrorless Hasselblad. One is better than the other (it's the Hasselblad). Even if you are pedantic and say "well a phone camera is better for sharing" ok, so some phone cameras are better than others. Done.
Turn and Talk is very popular right now, I see it in most lessons I go to.
HOWEVER, in 95% of cases I watch it and think "that lesson would have been better without it to be honest"
Why? 👇
When there's a T&T in play, I almost always see at least one of:
Minimum 25% of the class just not doing it
Finishing well early
Doing it for something where everyone knows the answer
Doing it for something where nobody knows the answer
Melding into just chatting really quickly
Leaders ask for it, and expect it, but nobody can ever tell me the exact parameters of when they use it and why. Is it for checking understanding? Is it for developing thinking? Is it for generic oracy? Is it for students to practise consolidating new vocabulary?
In the past weeks, I've seen a number of people make snide remarks about researchEd and how its presenters and organisers don't produce research. People asking for the papers they've written and stuff like that. This is simultaneously stupid and a fantastic cause for hope.
Read on >
It is stupid because researchEd is not an organisation dedicated to producing research. Instead, it is about translating, implementing and disseminating research findings. Let's be clear, the people making this complaint are not serious. BUT
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There has long been a big gap between "research" and "practice." Ok, so we have a research paper about group work, or oracy, or retrieval practice or whatever - great. How do I take those findings and actually apply them in my context?