Jill Rees: Welcome Press

1. Own the room. It is your classroom, the students are guests. Your actions should be relaxed and confident, as if you are in your own home. Students should be asked to look after the room, not make a mess, sit properly on the furniture, tidy up after themselves. Your room should be decorated with your stuff ie displays to do with your subject and interests, as well as the children’s own best work.
2. There should be a clearly delineated start to the lesson. Decide how you want to do this. Experienced teachers may be able to have a relaxed atmosphere, then clap their hands and say ‘OK class, let’s get started.’ It is best if you enter the classroom before the children, giving them permission to enter your space. Whole school policy may ask that the children stand until asked to sit. In difficult schools, there may be an introductory task on the board for the ‘good’ kids to do while the others get settled. Once started, there should be no interruptions. If a latecomer arrives, or someone wants to change seats, or loses their pencil, you can assure them you will deal with it later.
3. Attention span is their age in minutes, up to 20 minutes. So a 14 year old will be able to concentrate for up to 14 minutes. People can’t concentrate for longer. They will react passively or actively, either going to sleep, drifting off or drawing, or talking to friends, calling out, dropping pencils, throwing planes round or some other diversion technique. It’s your fault: you’ve gone on for too long. Activities should last 10 - 15 minutes. You can have two or three different activities, but you must break it up. Working on their own or in groups can be for longer, because they will find their own breaks.
4. If you are boring, they will be bored. Become a personality so that when they see you, they will think about whatever it is you’re trying to teach them. What do you remember about your best teachers? My maths teacher had eyebrows shaped like Isosceles triangles. That’s the one with two sides the same lengths and two angles the same.
5. Everyone has a dominant learning style: visual, audio or kinaesthetic. You need to find out which of these learning styles a student has. If they look to the side, towards their ear, or close their eyes, they are audio. These students will listen to you. If they look up and to the right when you ask them a question, they are visual. You must provide a visual way for them to understand what you are saying. If they are kinaesthetic, they will have to move. If they can learn by movement, by signs, by drawing diagrams, by games involving movement and coming to the board, perhaps with the electronic whiteboard, they can keep up. Many children who have problems in schools are kinaesthetic learners. Most kinaesthetic learners are boys. If you don’t provide the right sort of learning opportunity and they don’t learn, it isn’t their fault, it’s yours. You must teach according to their learning style.
6. Lessons should be planned to progress: introduction which doesn’t give all the game away but tells them exactly what they can expect. What is the aim of the lesson? Write it on the board. The plenary should be a reminder of where you’ve got to, or a way of presenting the question you are intending to solve this lesson.
7. Teach one point at a time. Think what you want them to come away with. Even if it’s quite simple, it will be new to them. They will have to hear it nine times before they remember it.
8. Short term memory last three days, after which it will disappear unless reinforced. Do homework set between lessons, or a lunchtime club, mention it if they’re in your tutor group or you see them doing sport. Every time they see you they will think of it, so be around.
9. At the end of the lesson, the Plenary can check their understanding. Ask to give a signal, thumbs up for ‘yes I’ve got it’ horizontal thumb for ‘er I think I understand’, down thumb for ‘have I woken up too late for school, Mum?’ this should inform your next lesson plan. If lots of them didn’t get it, reassure them that you’ll explain it in a different way next time.
10. Take responsibility for their understanding. You are the teacher. If you have interested them, explained everything in a way which is appropriate and clear to them, set interesting and exciting work, and followed up with a fatherly care, they will lead a great life of success. If you fail, they will fail. You can’t let that happen. Keep finding ways to improve as a teacher. You’re the greatest! If you’ve read this far, well done. You’ve proved how good a teacher you are because you care.

Good luck with all the lives in your hands.
Jill Rees

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