General Introduction

This blog is part of my Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching Knowledge Base.

I use the terms differentiation and adaptive teaching synonymously. To me, they are the same, as genuine differentiation has always involved adapting your planning and your teaching to meet the needs of the learners in front of you.

For me, differentiation is all the practical strategies, activities and techniques teachers use to personalise learning.

For ease, we can break that down into my five categories of differentiation: Activities, Questioning, Words and Writing, Things the Teacher Can Do and Things You Can Ask Learners to Do or Use.

This blog falls into the category of things the teacher can do.

Modelling: Maybe the Most Powerful Tool in the Teacher’s Toolkit

Modelling takes many forms.

We might model want we want learners to do, model a concept or idea, or model our thinking.

In all cases, we are providing learners with visual or verbal exemplification of the thing in question, helping them to better understand it.

A model is something a learner can copy, borrow from, or imitate.

It is a form of scaffolding that helps learners to go beyond that which they can do on their own.

For example:

• A teacher models the different stages a learner will have to go through to complete a task. For example, they move around the room, indicating all the different activity stations learners are expected to visit.
• A teacher demonstrates how to do an element of a task. For example, they model the dramatic interpretation of a concept (with this being an element of a wider drama-based task).
• A teacher models the meaning of an idea that they have first stated and then explained. For example, they model an explosion using their hands to demonstrate a volcanic eruption.
• A teacher models how to think about building a tower. They narrate their own thinking, exposing the learner to the different tower-building strategies they would use, as an expert.
• A teacher models how to execute a skill. For example, a PE teacher models no-look passing for their learners in a football lesson.

Modelling clearly exemplifies that which the teacher is seeking to convey to their learners.

It therefore does the following:

• Minimises ambiguity by showing definitively what the teacher’s words are intended to mean.
• Provides an alternative route of explanation, thus increasing the chances that learners will understand some – or all – of what the teacher is trying to convey.
• Contextualises that which is abstract. This means that those learners who find abstract thought more difficult to deal with have a route to understanding that is more suited to their needs.

We can call on modelling at almost any time.

In our initial explanations.

And in any subsequent explanations.

For me, it is the first port of call when differentiating in the moment, for learners who are struggling with a task.

Verbal or visual modelling gives them an immediate scaffold they can use to make sense of what they are trying to do, or what we are asking them to do.

They can then use this to adjust their efforts, and to target them more effectively.

How does modelling help you to differentiate?

Modelling provides a clear demonstration – visual or verbal – of what it is the teacher is trying to convey.

The alternative route to understanding increases the chance that most learners will grasp what is being communicated.

Modelling contextualises abstract statements, making them more accessible to all learners, and particularly those who are struggling to access that type of thinking.

Modelling minimises ambiguity, helping to create certainty in learners’ minds.

This, in turn, makes learners more confident as they feel they know what they need to do.

Learners can also copy the model, borrow from it or seek to imitate it, all of which are first steps in the development of mastery.

Modelling Discussion

Discussion is a wonderful tool to use in the classroom.

It gives learners the opportunity to explore ideas, to test them, to hear the thoughts and ideas of others, to articulate what it is that is in their minds, and to build knowledge in collaboration with their peers.

For learners to get the most out of discussion, they need to know what type of talk it is that the teacher wants (and, therefore, what constitutes success).

One of the best ways to share this with learners is through modelling.

Here are three ways you can do it.

Strategy One – Teacher-Learner Model

Before starting a discussion task, choose a learner who you know is a skilled speaker and have a conversation with them about the topic while the rest of the class listens in.

Your conversation should proceed in a manner that you want learners to imitate.

You may decide to stop the conversation at various points to highlight certain things.

Alternatively, you may want to talk about these points sequentially at the end of the discussion.

When you have finished, invite learners to discuss what they heard with a partner and to see if they can identify three examples of good practice the whole class could seek to imitate when they come to have their discussions.

Strategy Two – Teacher Model

Throughout your interactions in the classroom, ensure that you are modelling a way of speaking and listening you want your learners to imitate.

You might decide that this needs to be distinct from the kind of speaking and listening that takes place outside the classroom.

This means you can draw attention to it and talk with your learners about why it is different, what benefits it brings, and how it helps teaching and learning.

For example, you might make a point of consistently using examples, evidence and reasons whenever you speak in the classroom.

This is you presenting a model. One you want your learners to copy.

Drawing attention to it is helpful.

Emphasising the contrast between how you are speaking in the classroom and how you or your learners might speak outside the classroom serves to fix the distinction in learners’ minds.

And, of course, any time you run a discussion activity, you can call back to that consistent model of in-class speech you have been using over an extended period.

Strategy Three – Peer Models

During a discussion task, move around the room and observe the various conversations that are taking place.

Identify a pair or group who are doing particularly well and, at the end of the activity, invite them to recreate their discussion in front of the rest of the class.

You and your learners can then start a conversation about why these learners exemplify good practice and how everyone can learn from this.

Another option, if you have the means and the permissions, is to film a pair or group of learners who are engaged in high-quality discussion, and to then share the video with your class.

An added benefit of this approach is that you can ask the learners who did the discussion to reflect on it after they have watched it through, and to share their thoughts with the rest of the class.

How does modelling discussion help you to differentiate?

The quality of learners’ discussion skills will vary across your class.

Modelling good practice is a way of helping all learners to improve the quality of their discussions.

Modelling is accessible, meaningful and memorable.

Learners are given a multi-sensory experience that they can make sense of, internalise and borrow from.

As such, it is a good way to help all learners to develop their speaking and listening skills.

Discussion is an accessible and engaging pedagogical technique.

Therefore, helping learners to improve their discussion skills is likely to see progress being made across the board.

Modelling Thinking

In every lesson we teach we expect and encourage learners to think.

But what do we mean by this?

To what does the word ‘think’ actually refer?

I would argue that it is a catch-all term that can be delineated into multiple processes.

These include things like recalling, analysing, examining, and critiquing.

We can use the demarcation of cognitive processes provided by Bloom’s Taxonomy to help us, and describe logico-linguistic thought as being divisible into six broad categories, each of which contains its own gradations:

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

In so doing we are pointing to the primacy of this type of thinking in the classroom.

(Though, of course, other types of thinking are also important. Not least those concerned with practical learning and the development of emotional intelligence and moral reasoning.)

One of the most powerful ways to help learners develop this type of thinking is through modelling.

Namely, the teacher’s modelling of their own thought processes.

Here is an example of what I mean:

• Teacher: ‘So, I’m looking at this source and I’m thinking to myself – how am I going to analyse it?
• ‘Well, I might start by deciding what I want to get out of my analysis.
• ‘Let’s say that I want to find out what the source is saying, why it is saying it and how it compares to the other sources I’ve looked at already.
• ‘I can use these three ideas to help me. I’ll look at each one in turn as part of my analysis.
• ‘Taking the first one – ‘What is the source saying?’ – I’m going to read through the source and note down any key points.
• ‘These are the ones that indicate the big ideas and important information the author is trying to get across …’

In this example, the teacher guides their learners through the process of source analysis.

They model their thinking for them, giving access to their expertise.

In so doing, they make explicit what it is they expect their learners to do when they come to analyse a source.

The teacher is providing learners with a model to follow.

You can use this method repeatedly with any age group, in relation to any area of the curriculum.

You can use it with the whole class, with groups, or with individuals.

It is powerful.

It helps learners to refine, alter and improve their own thinking.

And to become more expert in the process.

How does modelling thinking help you to differentiate?

Modelling thinking gives learners an example to follow.

This means it is easier for them to replicate the type of thinking that has been exemplified.

By opening up thought processes and carefully describing them, the teacher makes plain that which might otherwise have remained ambiguous.

This makes it easier for learners to engage with the work and to achieve success.

By giving learners access to your expert thinking, you invite them to change their own.

Having a model to follow and being clear about exactly what the teacher is expecting (in terms of thinking) raises learner confidence.

This makes it more likely they will engage with the learning and make good progress.

Modelling thinking gives learners access to the teacher’s expertise.

They can then use this to develop, refine and improve their own thinking.

Here we see the underlying principles of modelling at work.

Models are scaffolds that help learners do more than they might otherwise manage independently.

When we model our thinking, we give learners a scaffold they can use to finesse, alter and advance their own thinking.

And to do so more quickly than would otherwise be the case.