Mike’s Blog
Strategies, Ideas and Insights for Teachers and Leaders
Tag: planning for learning
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What is pre-emptive feedback and how can it be a gamechanger in your classroom?
I would wager that in most activities the teacher knows in advance most of the feedback they are likely to give. This is because they are the expert, and they…
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Ready-to-Use Classroom Comprehension Questions for Primary and Secondary
These questions are ready-to-use. They are comprehension questions, based on the second level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. You can use the questions as part of verbal questioning or as written questions.…
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Question Stations and Question Cards: a pair of planning intensive questioning activities that reap big rewards
Question Stations Create six or seven stations around your room (this is working on the premise that you have around thirty learners). Each station should be focussed on a different…
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What happens when expert teachers identify the purpose of discussion as part of their oracy planning?
It is important to identify the purpose behind a discussion as this allows the teacher to direct matters and to judge whether an activity has been successful. If you cannot…
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How to use stimulus material to create discussions your learners can’t help but engage with
There are many different ways to begin a classroom discussion. The most common is to present learners with a question or statement related to the topic. There is also the…
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The number one simplest strategy any teacher can use to improve the quality of discussion in their classroom
Discussions often stall at the first stages. This is frequently because learners either do not want to say anything or do not feel they have anything worth contributing. We will…
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How you can use starter activities to get the behaviour you want from the moment the lesson begins
Different types of starter activities serve different ends when it comes to managing behaviour. Thinking about this when planning your lessons can help you to plan for excellent behaviour. Here…