- OK, so you haven’t quite mastered it yet.
- Up to now, this bit has proved a little tricky.
- Today you have a fantastic opportunity to show yourself how much you’ve
remembered from the last module.
- You will remember ...
- Your choice / it’s up to you / you decide.
- That’s right, isn’t it?
Support your words
The following strategies can also help create a better climate for learning.
- Smile often. It promotes confidence.
- Use open and welcoming body language.
- Although you cannot speak to every pupil individually every lesson, over time try
to notice and say something positive about each of them.
- Make eye contact with pupils, especially as they are answering questions.
- Use polite language to model the tone of responses you expect.
- Use names frequently in affirmative ways, for example ‘Tom gave two of the
really important points in that answer and backed each one up with an
example’. Avoid pointing.
- Try to keep your voice pitched low and avoid shouting.
- Try to use praise, frequently but not indiscriminately. Reward progress towards
and achievement of targets. Pupils will value the praise if it is clear that it is
deserved because of their efforts or achievements. Pupils in challenging classes
tend to respond more positively to praise given directly to them even if work is
also acknowledged more publicly.
- Encourage pupils to be supportive of each other, to listen and respond with
respect, for example by using structures such as ‘I agree with Tom that ...;
however, I think that ...’.
- Avoid putting pupils on the spot. Use strategies to ensure pupils feel ‘safe’ to
answer – for example, extending wait time (try to count to eight before
expecting an answer); using ‘think, pair, share’; prefacing challenging questions
with ‘This is a really difficult question so I’m going to ask several people and
then we’ll try to construct a best answer together’.
- At this point you might like to review video sequence 20a.
20 | Key Stage 3 National Strategy|Pedagogy and practice
Unit 18: Improving the climate for learning
© Crown copyright 2004
DfES 0441-2004
Task 12
Use support strategies 15 minutes
Reflect on the list of support strategies and choose three that you don’t use
currently or would like to use better.
When you plan your next lesson, identify some opportunities to use the
strategies and write them into the notes for the lesson.
