Sunday 24 March 2013

Teaching Tip # 11 Manage the end of the lesson…



                  Top Ten Tips # 9
 Manage the end of the lesson…


           


Do not run your lesson right up to the last minute and then have to rush because the next class is waiting. Allow time to wind down, answer questions, put equipment away, outline plans for next lesson, etc.

Have a short, educational game up your sleeve if there is time to spare.

Manage the pupils’ exit of the room, have them stand behind their chairs and wait to be asked to leave. Address each pupil by name and have them tell you some good news about the lesson, or you tell them something they did well today. Send them out one-by-one.


 University of British Columbia

Monday 4 March 2013

Teaching Tip # 10 Establish ‘start of lesson’ routines…



                  Top Ten Tips #8

            Establish ‘start of lesson’ routines…

Never attempt to start teaching a lesson until the pupils are ready. It’s a waste of everyone’s energy, giving the impression it’s the teacher’s job to force pupils to work and their job to resist, delay, distract, wind up, etc. Often this task avoidance is a ‘smoke screen’ hiding worries about what you are going to ask them to do.
 
Have a routine way of starting a lesson; a quiet activity that pupils can get right down to, without needing any explanation. Handwriting, copying the *WALT from the board, spelling practice (familiar key language from the current topic), mental arithmetic are good activities to set a quiet tone. Do not allow discussion or be drawn into discussion yourself – say there will be time for that later and make sure you follow this through.

If you take the time to establish this, lessons will start themselves! You won’t have that battle at the beginning of every lesson to get yourself heard.

* WALT : stands for "We are Learning To". It is a reinterpretation of the teachers lesson objectives (or learning intentions)

 University of British Columbia