Bikes have changed over time, but essentially they are machines with two wheels, powered by a pair of legs, unless the rider has decided to buy an electric bike and even then there’s a need to pedal if an extended trip is needed.

A novice rider requires additional support, three wheels or stabilisers on the two-wheel bike. Fitness and stamina will determine the speed and distance that can be covered, at every stage of confidence.

Time and space to practice, to build stamina and confidence helps the growth. Being able to travel further and faster gives some confidence to try a little more, which, in turn, builds additional strength and stamina.
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Moving from riding on the flat to hills demands an understanding or at least an awareness of gearing, one of the many improvements in design. A fit, strong rider, with a good bike and gear use can attempt more difficult terrain. This is often then done independently of coaching, as the rider “tests” themselves, reflecting afterwards on what they have achieved, creating their own plans for their next efforts.

Of course, if you are at the “top of your game”, as in Tour de France riders, the concept of “marginal gains” is likely to be supported by coaches, doctors, nutritionists, masseurs, chefs and every conceivable mechanical advantage.

These riders even have different bikes for different stages, with different wheels designed by specialist engineers to take maximum advantage.

If teaching was as easy as riding a bike, moving from class to class and from school to school would be very straight-forward. Anyone who teaches different classes or has moved schools will understand that they are similar, but rarely the same, so there’s a period of acclimatisation; getting to know a wide range of things about the situation.

Consider this list of questions/comments. These are baseline questions that any new teacher might reasonably ask, to orientate and organise themselves.

• How is the day organised in your class, year, key stage, school?
• What happens at the start of the day, after play, after lunch, at the end of the day?
• What happens when children change lessons/ tasks?
• How are task and lesson transition managed?
• How does the teacher take the register?
• How is the classroom organised? Are there zones or areas: Art Area, ICT Area, Book Corner etc?
• What is the BM policy and what rewards and sanctions are there in the class and school?
• Classroom routines?
• How are adult helpers used in the classroom?
• What do the children use to write with?   What do they write in and on?
• Do the children have targets, how do they know what they are?
• How does the teacher give feedback to the children on their work? Orally, written?
• What resources are there in the classroom?
• Where do children keep their own books and other items?
• How are book bags and lunch boxes organised?
• How is the cloakroom organised?
• What make of Interactive White Board is used?
• How are ICT resources used in the school?
• What happens at: Play Time, Lunchtime, and Assembly?
• How is the playground organized?
• What displays are in the classroom, school?
• How are displays used?
• Are there common resources? How are they organised/used?
• Does each class have common resources?
• How are children with additional educational needs catered for?
• What evidence is there for Rights, Respect and Responsibility Education
• How is children’s awareness of cultural diversity raised?
• What management/ curriculum roles are there in the school?
• How are parents and carers involved in their children’s education?
• Where do parents gather in the morning and afternoon?
• How is information communicated to parents?
• How does the school ensure the children are safe?
• How does the teacher plan?
• How does the school plan?
• What sort of planning format do the teachers use?
• How is homework used?
• What happens in any after school clubs, breakfast clubs, and lunchtime clubs?

I’ll never be a Tour rider, not even with a “growth mindset”, but, hopefully, I can keep working on my stamina and technique, especially with hills, to allow for exploration further afield. This winter, I’ve been dealing with a muscle tear, so have bought an exercise bike to keep me going through the colder months.

Security and confidence allow independent exploration and self-directed practice.

Making sure that there’s a full array of bikes and spares available and coaching at every stage would seem to be more and more necessary.

In a collegiate school every teacher is a coach in their area of expertise and someone, hopefully everyone really should know how to fix a puncture, adjust the brakes and generally oil the wheels. Teaching is a team game.

In many ways, teachers never really reinvent wheels. Rather, they refine their appraoches through coaching dialogue with experienced peers, eventually play their part in coaching and supporting novices from their early experiences through to them becoming secure and experts using inevitable technological advance to their advantage.

In so doing, they learn to ride a little better and independently add to their stamina.

.Do teachers really have “thinking time”?

When we consider a choice between two options or rewards, we tend to prefer the readily available one. In other words: the current and near future are incredibly powerful.

Busyness is the stuff of school life leading to rapid decisions, but good decisions may need a period of reflection.
With so many interactions taking place within every minute of every lesson, it is hardly surprising if those involved will, occasionally make what to others will seem an error of judgement that is instinctive. These instinctive responses are likely to demonstrate personal bias. We may not be aware of bias until an unguarded utterance demonstrates to another something of our internal monologue and they have the confidence to address this back to us.

Under normal classroom circumstances, in any classroom, it is less likely that the others, the children, will have the temerity to point out inconsistency in a teacher demeanour.
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It is, however, possible outside the busyness of the classroom, to seek to create periods of calm that allow for some reflection. From the very beginning of my teaching career, we were encouraged to be reflective, especially after a day’s work, thinking about what had gone well and what needed further thought. Some of this thinking was aided by opportunities to discuss areas with colleagues, often over a cup of tea. It might have been a matter of pedagogy or simply curriculum knowledge, the what, why and how-to of teaching. This can appear to be a luxury, but such reflective time does allow consideration of more strategic aspects which can sometimes be put to one side in a busy classroom, reducing interactions to “call and response”.

Reflection, articulation, consideration, refinement, action, evaluation leading to a further round of reflection, eventually leads to refinement, in any learning situation, at any age.

It is always interesting to interact with a school as a headteacher, external assessor and now as a Governor, talking with staff who spend their days being busy, seeking to explore the strategic aspects. It can be quite enlightening to engage in what becomes a somewhat scaffolded conversation, allowing the staff members to think before responding, moving the everyday into dynamic structures and eventually towards impact evaluation. It can also be very frustrating if the staff member cannot move beyond the descriptive into reflective evaluation.

The majority of school staff will say that their thinking time is often well outside school and often during the holidays, when the distractions are less, especially if they go home from school into the busyness of family life. We always have to be aware that periods of life can feel as if they are little more than reactive. Again, a majority are likely to find that work and home life combine to eat up their time. It is often when an external or unexpected event happens, such as personal or family illness, that a real awareness of time limitations is highlighted.

Schools that are able to create or offer quality time to reflect, to organise themselves strategically, putting in place systems that are easily articulated, well communicated and easily understandable to everyone, are likely to be calmer environments that allow for reflective reactions.

Time-poor schools, always in a phase of reactive behaviour, are likely to encounter a greater proportion of needs for immediate response, some of which will be less than secure and may well create a secondary level of problem. An example might be a behaviour issue, dealt with too rapidly, that then causes the parent(s) to become involved. The secondary layer can, in some cases, become a new level of distraction.

Making time to think can come at a cost, but it eventually has a cost-benefit.

Having a clear strategic agenda for developmental discussions, providing ongoing target dates can be a focus, making better use of time. Awareness of a direction of travel can mean all moving towards a known goal. The alternative is everyone making things up as they go along, reacting in their own way, rather than operating within known boundaries.

As in any organisation, it is a case of pulling together, or possibly pulling apart.
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When you look at the word create and some of the synonyms for it, it means to make something (happen). That describes the efforts of young children, who can be happily absorbed in making something that embeds their thoughts, even if the end-product does not, to an adult eye, look like the intention.

“Look mummy, I’ve made a …” Smiles and pride…Response? Who can fail to be moved by the child seeing themselves as a creative being?

The incomplete nature of the product may be due to a lack of experiences and ideas, hand control, choice or availability of materials, but is, to the child, a work of immense pleasure. The making gives pleasure.

You don’t have to be an expert to achieve that level.

You cannot create experience. You must undergo it. Albert Camus
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While the first incarnation of the National Curriculum brought Design Technology centre stage in thinking, moving Primary “making” to another level, largely by articulating stages in development in a subject that could be something of a Cinderella subject, subsequent revisions brought into play the idea of resource tasks. These could be seen as basic underpinning elements that would require direct teaching. A simple example might be showing children how to safely cut a piece of 1cm spar, using a saw and bench hook, ensuring wood held secure with one hand and a good cutting style with the saw. In the early experiences, a focus on cutting to a line might require simple practice. This activity would then be linked to measuring, cutting specific lengths of wood.

Eventually, after a period of practice, and being able to cut with some precision, a challenge might be set. One that fitted well with a Greek topic was creating a marble maze, based on a design developed on an A4 sheet of 1cm squared paper. The first step was designing the maze by shading out the “walls”, which would then be covered by carefully cut pieces of spar. Eventually, the maze would be tested with a marble run through the “passages”. While some children could undertake the bulk of the task independently, some would need support and regular guidance, especially with quality control, a clear focus on refinement.

Consider the following; design and make a paper aeroplane that will fly at least five metres. This is a very simple example which could be given to a child of 6 years. Where would the child start? Paper is the specified medium, so perhaps collecting a selection of papers would help. Exploring the papers to discover and describe (orally or in writing) the features of each would provide familiarity with the material. The need to create an aeroplane shape would require research, orally, by asking an “expert”, using library sources, or looking this up on the internet. Copying a previously made example provides the task to be practiced. To achieve the flight of five metres might require trial and error methodology, with adaptations and adjustments explored. Watching and collaborating with others, discussing refinements and persevering are all essential skills for life and work.

As children passed through the school, tasks were created that provided progressive challenges, incorporating the broader range of skills that had been learned, for example, make hats, working buggies, windmills/turbines, systems (crazy golf hole), musical instrument, puppets, storage items. The challenge would be to design and make a … to… On occasion, this would be explicitly topic linked, levers, castle gate, moving puppets.

Sometimes, it would link science and making.
Set up a fair test to find the best colour to wear when walking along the road.
Design and make a device that will project a ping pong ball 4 metres into a container.  
Using newspaper, build a framework strong enough to… hold a 100g mass 50cm above a table… hold a cup of water… hold a cream egg… span a 50cm gap between tables and hold 100/200/500g
Consider how to find out of a full balloon weighs more than an empty one.
How much stretch does an elastic band have?
Using squared paper, always the same size, fold a series of rafts with different area bases and different height sides. Which design holds the greater mass?

Problem solving, project management, collaboration and cooperation, persistence, evaluation are all side products. Working in this way can also support PSHE, as learners begin to see strengths in each other.

An example from my teaching career springs to mind. The topic for a period of time was sports. During one week, I decided to use the long, wide corridor near my classroom to set a challenge. On day one, the group of eight seven-year olds whom I thought had the greatest independence were challenged to create (design and make) a crazy golf hole, using materials available within the classroom. They had the morning as their working time. In the first fifteen minutes, they collected a range of items which might be useful. This was followed with a group discussion around a large piece of sugar paper, with ideas drawn and discussed. The build process started from the agreed plan, but soon adjustments were made, deigned to be improvements. After an hour, they had their golf hole. A period of measuring and drawing secured the design for posterity and allowed later consideration of scale, as drawings were tidied onto squared paper. Photographs were taken for reference. The main task was the use of the hole to see how many shots and how long it took for different class members to complete. This tally and timing data was later collated into charts. The group explained before starting what needed to happen to each class member, so everything was “fair”. Before lunchtime, the group sat together to reflect on what had been achieved, both in terms of measurable outcomes, but also in terms of their personal development. The maturity levels of all were enhanced, as they saw the purposes of the different aspects of learning and set the tone for subsequent groups to follow. Follow up included instruction writing, developed into reports, scale drawings for the more able, but sketch maps with measurements for all. The quality of discussion was very high, as children had had a shared experience.

Problem solving defines the purpose for learning. The clarity with which the learner can define for themselves the point of learning provides the driving force for achievement. How much learning is lost because the learner can’t see the point?

Something from my file...
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A starter for an activity that could be developed in many directions, depending on the needs of the children. Shape and pattern in one activity?

As long as you have Dienes base 10 materials and dice, this can be developed to cater for a variety of needs.
The rules of each game are simply described.
·         Decide whether it’s a race to or from the flat (100 square). Decide whether, when the dice are thrown, the numbers are added together (any number of dice) or multiplied (two or three dice?).
·         Dienes materials available to each group, plus dice appropriate to the needs of the group.
·         Each child takes turns to throw the dice and calculate the sum or product.
·         This amount is then taken from the general pile and placed in front of the child. The calculation can be recorded eg 3+4=7. This can provide a second layer of checking.
·         If playing race from the flat, the child starts with ten ten rods, then takes an appropriate amount from these.
·         Subsequent rounds see pieces added to the child’s collection; recorded as needed, eg round 2, 5+2=7 (7+7=14; the teacher should see one ten and four ones)
·         The first child to or from the flat is the winner.
Altering the number of dice alters the challenge.

An extension could be a race to the block (1000 cube), or from the block, each child starts with ten 100 squares. If multi-sided dice are available, the challenge alters yet again.

​Unpicking the analyse-plan-do-review-record cycle.

Seeking adaptability in lessons as a result of more dynamic planning approaches.

Planning for learning will always be an issue for teachers, in that there are multiple layers of responsibility to be contained within the plan. However, planning is the bedrock of the order and organisation that enables a teacher to run a successful class and a head to run a successful school. The ultimate in planning allows a teacher to move towards personalised approaches, allowing individual children to have their needs accommodated. There are significant links with project management, and it is no surprise that earlier incarnations of thematic work were called projects. The sadness was that these projects sometimes came to an abrupt end due to time pressures, lack of resources or some other shortfall.

Teachers and schools have a number of variables to consider in planning, learning contexts, use of space, resources of all types, time, as well as the individual learning and emotional needs of the children. A good knowledge of the curriculum is essential, as well as a clear understanding of the potential of ICT to support learning. If any of these variables are not considered, learning can be unsuccessful, i.e. poorly structured topic, lack of appropriate space, table or floor, limited resources or poor accessibility, inadequate time available for development and completion. If the children’s needs are not respected, many may not make progress.

There are current debates about whether the curriculum should be built from the needs of the children or whether it is better to define the contexts within which children will learn. The Rose and Cambridge reviews suggested learning within domains, rather than subjects. It seems to be the case that current Government thinking errs towards retention of subjects and knowledge. Either way, the learning context for the children and whether they cover a sufficiently broad curriculum will ultimately be determined by their teacher.

Most schools plan at different timescales, whole school, annual plans, medium term (1-6 weeks) and then teacher short term plans. A great deal of planning will have gone into the stage of the teacher planning a lesson. Teachers worry most about short-term planning and some schools demand significant detail at that point, which creates a very heavy bureaucratic workload to create something that is ultimately a teacher aide memoire.

There is a strong argument for allowing the short term plans to be determined by the teacher, if the medium term plans are strong guides, but with the fall-back position that plans would be required if the teaching required improvement. For many teachers, a reflective log book would be sufficient; in fact I have met teachers whose schools require specific short term plans, which the teacher then reinterprets to be easily accessible. Are short term plans any use if they do not help short term cover teachers to be able to pick up exactly what is needed?

If planning overviews include plans for heavy marking demand periods, then workload issues could be examined more clearly. This could include  alsoreport writing when other workload issues, such as meetings, can be adapted.

Planning is never easy, but in this case it is the means by which children with different needs are supported to make progress in learning. Try unpicking and describing your own classroom practice. That’s not always easy either!

Just for information, here’s an overview of standards development for a trainee, who will need mentoring into ways of thinking, strategically as well as in detail. ​

​Teaching is such a simple word, yet it means so many different things and as a result can end up being devalued.  But what if the simplicity was the quality of thinking done by children during a lesson, in assimilating new information, ordering and reordering ideas within a well-prepared challenging task, using and applying the known to a new situation?

We may never be able to judge absolutely the quality of learning of every child during a lesson, but we could judge the quality of tasking, the range and depth of challenge, the quality of questioning, discussion, feedback, involvement, independence, review and evaluation, before a check of the outcomes, so it would seem possible to make an inference that learning might or might not take place as a result of the lesson, based on the quality and depth of interactions.

A teacher is likely to be able to talk, expressively and eloquently about their subject, for an extended period and many can do so and make the subject very interesting, yet, if the learners are not tuned in to the substance and the direction of thought and therefore do not learn, is it the fault of the teacher or the learners? Are children consumers or producers of learning; passive or active?

At the other extreme, pure discovery methodology can also lead to reduced overall learning, as the children may not have a range of skills with which to enhance their discovery. There are significant benefits of experiential learning however, especially in a highly communicative environment with actively engaged adults.

Much teacher time and energy is expended in trying to distil the “best methodology”, as if teaching is a team sport and you have to be in one team or another. To my mind, the best methodology is that which the teacher judges will enable an individual child to learn something which they didn’t before, to internalise it and use it when needed to perform another task. Having a very broad range of approaches available allows a choice. A reflective practitioner will know when a lesson is not going well, should identify the reasons and alter course accordingly.

To use an overused cliché, it is not rocket science.

A school policy for teaching and learning is likely to show evidence of: -

1) analysis of evidence leading to quality information being made available to support
2) detailed planning, including the provision of appropriate resources and staffing.
3) Students in the best practice, actively sharing in their learning journey, which is
4) tracked and reviewed at regular intervals with
5) records being collated and disseminated, allowing the process to be cyclic and developmental.
It all starts with knowing the children, so that challenge and response can be refined, supporting their learning journeys.


How does any teacher see inside a child’s head?

Unless there’s some kind of externalisation, oral, written or facial expression, it can be next to impossible to understand.

A friend worked in a special school for severely disabled children 4-19, until his recent retirement; an incredibly challenging role. In discussion we were exploring ideas within teaching and learning. It soon became apparent that, in order to support his learners to make progress, he had to effectively “get inside the heads” of each individual, to try to understand as well as possible what made each of them “tick”, especially those with severe communication difficulties. Inevitably there was a small element of trial and error, but with 1:1 ratios, any “misconceptions” could be addressed immediately. The evidence upon which he worked was often miniscule, but, over time, he refined his responses to each child’s needs.

Where student teachers were working in a school for moderate learning difficulties, each child unique in their presentation of need and their home environment, they had to get to know the children really well to be able to create appropriate plans for learning.

The notion of what makes children tick is an important one. Misunderstand this and even the most well-meaning adult can cause a situation to escalate.

Anyone watching either Educating Essex, or follow-up series, cannot fail to see adults seeking to understand the individual children. Even then, nothing can prevent a flare-up.

After a period of working with a variety of schools, I reflected on their personalised, rich curriculum. Their reasoning was based on their analysis of their children’s needs. This led me to speculate about the point at which personalisation is embedded in practice.

The last two statements embed a clear expectation, of learning, use of time and potential outcomes. If based on capability, “I want to see if you can…..” the expectations embedded also drive the in-lesson conversations, questions and on-going feedback. Coupled with exploratory discussions in-lesson and the use of exemplars, they are the checks and balances to evaluation, by children and the teacher after the lesson.

Successful teaching and learning is not just the product of a sequence of activities to be done at specific times. That way lies stereotype teaching and limited learning. The strategic thinking of the teacher in defining the learning journey of children embeds the points at which the children will take over and become producers of learning, deepening the experience of both learner and teacher as skills are demonstrated which can be further refined at  a later date.

Thinking is an essential component of learning; without it a learner would not exist, except in the most passive form, the stereotypical “empty vessel”.

How can we ever know what is going on in a learner’s head, unless there are opportunities for them to express their ideas cogently, with the view that all expression is a “draft thought”, capable of challenge and alteration? This can occur in writing, but writing is likely to have already gone through a thought process before being produced. However, seen as a draft, writing can be supportive of developmental conversation, orally or through effective feedback responses.

Therefore talk would appear to be a major component of learning experience. To make real progress in learning, learners need to make sense of both what they know and how they know it. They need to have a partner relationship to ensure they become independent producers, not just passive consumers of learning.

We talk of learning journeys for children. It is possible to use the idea of a journey to support a child’s articulation of what they are thinking and reflecting on how their ideas have changed. Essentially the learner becomes the storyteller of an episode of learning, using recount in as detailed a form as possible to put across an idea. Personalised storyboarding, or developmental notes, can support the expressive process. Their audience, members of the class, including the teacher, can ask for clarification and provide feedback. Learning thereby becomes a collegiate project.

Thinking is supported by language and language is further developed by articulating thinking. Talking things through is the means by which children’s understanding of their own learning is deepened. Talk to Jerome Bruner, or Vygotsky…
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The fundamentals of education; thinking and talking, before recording?
 

If people want a new piece of furniture, or a shed, they can go to a supplier, maybe IKEA and buy something that they can bring home flat-pack, follow instructions and end up with something that will suffice. It may be a different issue if there are pieces missing, or an error is made in fitting together Unless you have additional skills, remediation can be frustrating or impossible.

​My own shed building efforts can be seen here...

If only the act of becoming a teacher was like this. Unless you read the background manuals carefully, practice and try things for yourself and make refinements through your own thinking, repetitive practice is not necessarily the best option; we are all changed by experiences and our responses to them. I could add that context matters; a great deal…

Teaching is a thinker’s game. https://chrischiversthinks.weebly.com/blog-thinking-aloud/dont-set-up-schools-to-fail

We’re getting close to half term and it’s clear from visits to schools that the teachers and trainees whom I visit are getting tired. Yesterday Saturday, 3rd February, was the day of Southern Rocks 18, very well organised and run by David Rogers and Kristian Still. A broad spectrum of teachers had offered to run sessions, such choice that it was difficult to select four. In the end, Jarlath O’Brien and Jules Daulby won the morning choice and Alison Kriel and Mike Watson the afternoon. Together with keynotes from Amjad Ali, Jo Payne and Paul Blake, it was a thoroughly busy day, helped enormously by the staff and pupils of the Focus School at Hindhead.

There was much food for thought throughout the day, with not a lot of time to chill and process the distinct elements that would form the nuggets to take away and consider further. I was being put into the position of a learner, but, as an adult, aware that I could retain these nuggets for later. So a couple of days have been part spent, in quiet moments, thinking about one or two linked elements.
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Learning is tiring. I came away replete, from taking my fill of the available expertise and questions raised, but also the very generous food, which was available from beginning to end.
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​One could argue that the current National Curriculum is a specific model of a curriculum; other models are and have been available.

There are several organisational processes at work within schools, in that the linearity of timetabling creates a potentially overriding dynamic, which may suit the needs of some subjects, but which may actively work against others.

In the process of creating a linearity, it is possible to fall into almost linear teaching, with disparate elements joined end to end, which can ensure “coverage” whereas the needs of many learners may require the teacher to overtly make the necessary links between areas of study.

The other side to linearity can be an activity form of approach, supported by “bright ideas”, rather than linked elements.

In reality, especially in Primary education, the linearity can, and should, rapidly becomes three dimensional, when the needs of learners are put alongside the needs of the curriculum, with potentially 30 different responses to any input of information.

No teacher can “see” what a child is thinking, however experienced they are. The best that can be “seen” are the body language, externalisation through articulation or physical responses. Then each teacher will respond from their prior experience, in as refined a manner as their experiences will allow.

I’m going to assume that learning is taking place within a knowledge context, whether defined as a theme or as a discrete subject. Within that knowledge context there are developmental processes that have to be unpicked and represented to children in forms that allow them to access what is being taught. This may require, for some children, a form of interpretation, using the known vocabulary to move into less well-known areas. This could be supported by concrete resources, diagrammatic representation, images, still or moving, or it may be solely the teacher voice. Finding the baseline for the class and significant children is important for decisions on subsequent scaffolding of the process, allowing adequate and, over time, refined pitching of lesson expectations.

You’ve covered the knowledge bit and the scaffolding of the process. The next part is the different processing needs of different children, which may require intervention or adaptation with resources, modelling/scaffolding or time. We can’t ever expect homogeneity in this. A truism of my teaching career has been that different children need different explanations and amounts of time to embed the new knowledge into their practice.

The flexibilities in the Primary timetable for much of my career allowed some to have a little extra time to complete a quality task. Today’s timetables may be less supportive of extra time, leaving, for some, a trail of less complete task outcomes. It’s very easy for a teacher to fill time with activity but may be less easy for children to use the available time effectively, unless they have someone overseeing their use of the time. It may also be the case that timetables extend the learning time beyond the capacity of certain children to focus effectively.
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Process practice, or rehearsal, is an integral part of all learning. This has to be purposeful, well modelled and articulated, within a clear focus and timescale, providing expectations that can fine-tune children’s decisions and actions.

​My last Southern Rocks18 session was with Mike Watson, who enthused about the capacity for the outdoors to enhance the quality of thinking in a lesson, by changing the context and allowing additional interaction with the challenge.

Evaluation of progressive outcomes, with timely intervention to advise on finer points, eventually leads to an overall evaluation and consideration of continuing areas where focus is needed. These next steps, if they are to be effected and checked by child and teacher, need to be evident to both and available for reference. See flip sheets. 

Refinement comes from learner-focused effort on fine details, much unseen, as it is internalised, but made evident through articulation, or with hand control of pen, pencil or paint brush likely to evidence that this has happened in quality presentation, but that has to be coupled with the detail of what’s been written or recorded; another form of articulation.

As I got older, I found my stamina levels dropped somewhat. This is particularly evident where physical effort is required; I may have to take an occasional rest after a period of sustained energetic gardening, for example. Thinking is equally tiring, especially when encountering new information, or perhaps experiencing novel situations. Sustaining interest has to be internalised, from a few minutes in early learning, through to extended lectures as an adult learner. If you have ever spoken to an adult audience, especially of teachers, you’ll see a wide variety of responses, particularly where adult audiences may be using electronic devices, some for note making, others using social media as their memory joggers.

A good lesson is likely to offer something of quality to think about, time to assimilate, including time to talk and clarify, feedback to and from peers and adults, determining clarity that could then be recorded in some form, as useful reference points for future learning reference. Hopefully, it has also engaged the learner to think outside the lesson; quality (reflective) homework seeks to enhance this.

Teaching is a team game, a college of thinkers. https://chrischiversthinks.weebly.com/blog-thinking-aloud/teaching-is-a-team-game

Thinking is an internal dynamic.
As we were reminded on Saturday, quoting Daniel Willingham, “Memory is the residue of thought”.

Get the children (all learners) thinking.

Southern Rocks 19 certainly got me, and lots of others, thinking. Thanks David and Kristian.