It’s not uncommon for teachers and leaders to talk about the importance of high expectations and how they insist on this in their classroom and school. It’s interesting to think about what this really looks like in practice. How do the most effective teachers thread this through their teaching day in and day out? Doug Lemov, shares some great strategies for this in ‘Teach Like a Champion 3.0’. Here are some of the teaching strategies that Lemov suggests:
‘No Opt Out’ – rather than allowing students to get away with ‘I don’t know’ as a response to a question, find a way to help them get it right and experience success. This might include reframing the question, giving a prompt to help them come up with the answer, or asking another student and getting the original student to repeat the correct answer back to you. The important thing is that they don’t get away with taking the easy way out.
‘Right is Right’ – when students are responding to questions, don’t accept superficial or partially correct answers. Keep going with your questioning until their response meets your high expectations.
‘Stretch it’ – the reward for a ‘correct’ answer, should be a harder question. Why? Most students will initially give a ‘safe’ answer, so it’s important to stretch their thinking, with a more challenging question.
‘Format Matters’ – make sure that students are responding in a way that communicates the worthiness of their ideas. So, insist on full sentences, correct grammar and the appropriate use of tier two/three vocabulary. As Lemov says ‘The complete sentence is the battering ram that knocks down the door to college’.
‘Without Apology’ – embrace, rather than apologise for, rigorous content, academic challenge and the hard work necessary for scholarship. Make this normal in your classroom!
‘Cold Call’ – when a question is asked, ensure there is a pause whilst all students are expected to think about the answer. Following the pause, the teacher then directs the question at a student, using their name. This ensures that each question generates thinking throughout the class.
We also communicate our high expectations, by how we expect our students to ‘be’ in our classrooms. Headteacher Thahmina Begum explains this brilliantly in her blog ‘Our vision for confident and articulate students at FGCS’. She talks about how she uses SHAPE and SLANT to improve the confidence and focus of her students.
SHAPE is a great way to remind students how they should speak in lessons:
- Speak in full sentences
- Hands away from mouth
- Articulate, don’t mumble
- Project your voice
- Eye contact
SLANT is a way of creating the correct social climate in our classrooms. Thahmina claims that her students feel more validated, motivated and successful when they receive the social cues that suggest their words are important from their peers. SLANT reminds them of these social cues:
- Sit up straight
- Listen carefully
- Ask and Answer questions
- No interrupting
- Track the speaker
This aligns with some of the ‘Ground Rules for Exploratory Talk’ suggested by Neil Mercer, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge & Director of Oracy Cambridge. He suggests:
- Everyone in the group is encouraged to contribute.
- Contributions are treated with respect.
- Reasons are asked for.
- Everyone is prepared to accept challenge.
- Alternative ideas are discussed
It’s clear to see how these approaches can lift the level of discourse within a classroom, beyond what might otherwise be expected. Imagine the potential impact if this was happening in every classroom, every day across a school?
You can download a great summary of Lemov’s strategies here.
Class Teaching 