In our workshops on Cold Call we often provide a summary of four key things teachers can do while Cold Calling to ensure that the experience is positive, productive and successful. They are: 1) Preparation. Giving students time to prepare answers before a Cold Call helps them to develop quality ideas and often rehearse them in…
I’m prepping this weekend to narrate the audiobook version of The Coach’s Guide to Teaching… which basically means reading my own book. Obviously that means noticing a lot of small things I’d like to change. But also noticing some passages that, as I learn more, I see even more value in. Here’s one, from the…
“Quiet Presence” is the idea that going lower and slower with your voice is the best way to help students focus optimally, especially in those moments when their attention is just beginning to fray. In some ways that’s the opposite of what you might expect. It’s a common mistake in the early years of teaching…
In this post, I’m going to share a video of Charlotte Pottinger’s classroom at Rivers Primary Academy in Walsall. I’ve been looking forward to sharing it because it’s so lovely on so many levels. I’m going to call it a Retrieval Practice clip because that’s her main purpose–to start her Maths lesson by making sure…
A few weeks ago I spent a day at Atlanta United’s Academy with Matt Lawrey, one of my favorite coaches and talent developers. In the afternoon we joined Will Bates, who was coaching the U15s, to experiment with a few ideas we are both interested in. We’ve talked in the past about trying to socialize…