0:00

↻

Telling the time from an analogue clock

Select the skills to practice, and then click Go!

Foundational skills

Identify ‘past’ or ‘to’

\[ \text{Past or To?} \]

Decide whether the minute hand is showing past or to.

Identify the hour

\[ \text{Past 4, To 5} \]

Determine which hour the hand is past and which it is to.

Reading times with numbers

O’clock

\[ \text{seven o’clock} \]

Read times on the hour.

Half past

\[ \text{half past nine} \]

Read half past times.

Quarter past

\[ \text{quarter past two} \]

Read quarter past times.

Quarter to

\[ \text{quarter to six} \]

Read quarter to times.

Multiples of 5 (Past)

\[ \text{twenty past eight} \]

Read times 5, 10, 20, 25 minutes past.

Multiples of 5 (To)

\[ \text{ten to four} \]

Read times 5, 10, 20, 25 minutes to.

Reading times with Roman numerals

O’clock (Roman)

\[ \text{seven o’clock} \]

Read o’clock times with Roman numerals.

Half past (Roman)

\[ \text{half past nine} \]

Read half past times with Roman numerals.

Quarter past (Roman)

\[ \text{quarter past two} \]

Read quarter past times with Roman numerals.

Quarter to (Roman)

\[ \text{quarter to six} \]

Read quarter to times with Roman numerals.

Multiples of 5 Past (Roman)

\[ \text{twenty past eight} \]

Read 5, 10, 20, 25 past with Roman numerals.

Multiples of 5 To (Roman)

\[ \text{ten to four} \]

Read 5, 10, 20, 25 to with Roman numerals.

Special cases

12 o’clock (Numbers)

\[ \text{twelve o’clock} \]

Identify 12 o’clock when hands overlap.

12 o’clock (Roman)

\[ \text{twelve o’clock} \]

Identify 12 o’clock on Roman clock.

Crossing 12 (To)

\[ \text{ten to twelve} \]

Read times like 11:50 as ‘ten to twelve’.

Crossing 12 (Past)

\[ \text{twenty past twelve} \]

Read times like 12:10 as ‘twenty past twelve’.

Timer (Optional)

Use Timer

Minutes: 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 Seconds: 0 10 20 30 40 50

Select All Deselect All Go

Generate New Questions Show All Answers Menu Full Screen

Generate New Show All Answers

0:00

↻

X

Question

↻ X

← Previous Next →

The post Super 8s: Reading the time from a clock V3 appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

Summary

This YouTube transcript discusses a teacher’s approach to achieving 100% student engagement. The teacher argues that complete attention is crucial for learning and outlines classroom strategies to ensure this, including minimizing distractions and fostering a culture of participation through frequent questioning and hand-raising. The discussion also explores the interconnectedness of engagement, behavior, and classroom management, suggesting a staged approach to improvement, starting with basic attention and progressing to active participation. The teacher emphasizes that while 100% engagement is an ambitious goal, it’s achievable through consistent effort and addressing underlying cultural and individual student challenges. Ultimately, the focus is on creating a learning environment where all students are actively involved and maximizing learning opportunities.

What are the implications for teachers?

Based on the provided YouTube transcript, here are some implications for teachers regarding student engagement and classroom management:

• Prioritize 100% student engagement: Teachers should aim for 100% of students to be engaged and attentive throughout the lesson, as this is crucial for effective learning. This means ensuring students are actively thinking about the learning objective during the entire lesson.
• Clarity of learning objectives: Teachers must have absolute clarity about what they want students to be thinking about during the lesson. This clarity is a foundation for planning and delivering lessons that keep students focused on the learning goals.
• Observe and address student attention: Teachers should be vigilant in monitoring student attention, ensuring that students are not distracted (e.g., staring out the window or fidgeting). If a student is not paying attention, it’s the teacher’s responsibility to bring them back to the lesson.
• Recognize that ‘good behavior’ may not equal engagement: Just because students are quiet and compliant doesn’t necessarily mean they are engaged in learning. Teachers need to look for active participation and thinking.
• Use specific strategies to ensure attention: Teachers should ensure that students have nothing in their hands during instruction, are looking towards the teacher, and are tracking what the teacher points to on the board. These actions help focus students’ attention on the lesson.
• Structure classroom activities: Limit classroom activities to a few key types: listening to the teacher, independent work, and turn-and-talk discussions. This can help manage student attention and participation.
• Check for understanding and listening: It’s critical to check if students are truly listening and understanding by asking questions, and seeing that all students respond. A culture of hands up is important to encourage participation and to identify who isn’t participating.
• Cultivate a positive classroom culture: Teachers need to establish a classroom culture that encourages participation, values mistakes as part of learning, and discourages students from laughing at each other’s errors.
• Address individual needs: Teachers need to address why students might not be participating, whether it’s a fear of failure or other underlying issues. This may involve conversations with the student, their tutor, or family.
• Focus on both behavior and participation: Teachers need to ensure that students follow instructions and are well-behaved, but this is only the foundation. The next step is to focus on getting all students actively participating in the lesson.
• Use participation to enhance behavior: Participation strategies, like using booklets with text and questions, can actually improve student behavior. When students can access the lesson content, they are less likely to misbehave.
• Systematic approach to improvement: Introducing changes gradually and having a clear system for praise and consequences is important for implementing new strategies effectively.
• Teacher reflection and adjustment: Teachers need to continually reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching methods and make adjustments to ensure that all students are engaged and learning.
• Balance compliance with active learning: While compliance is important, it should not be the only goal. Teachers should strive for a classroom environment where students are actively thinking, working hard, and engaged in a culture of learning.
• Explanations and questioning: Teachers need to ensure that their explanations are clear, and that they are using effective questioning techniques to engage students and ensure that they are making progress in their understanding.
• Be responsive to student needs and misconceptions: Teachers should be able to identify and respond to misconceptions quickly, adjusting their teaching methods to ensure that students understand the material before moving on.

In summary, the implications for teachers are significant, requiring a focus on not just student behavior but also on creating a culture of active engagement and continually reflecting on how to best support student learning.

The post Securing 100% student attention appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

Summary

This YouTube transcript discusses strategies for maximizing student engagement during independent practice in the classroom. A teacher recounts a survey indicating that independent practice is the lesson phase with the lowest student participation. The video then proposes several techniques to address this, including ensuring all students begin working simultaneously, using visualizers to showcase student work, and employing strategic cold-calling to check for understanding. The importance of establishing a classroom culture of accountability and proactive help-seeking is emphasized. Consequences for disengagement are mentioned, but only after establishing clear expectations and support.

What are the implications for teachers?

Based on the sources, here are some implications for teachers to consider regarding student engagement during independent practice:

• Monitoring Initial Engagement: Teachers should begin independent practice with a clear signal, such as stating the questions students will be answering. To ensure all students start working promptly, teachers can ask students to hold up their pens and scan to make sure everyone is ready before saying “go”. Teachers can also initially stay at the front of the class to monitor and make sure everyone is engaging in the activity. If a student isn’t writing, a teacher can give them a few seconds to start, or ask them why they aren’t participating.
• Circulation: While circulating around the room during independent practice is important, teachers should be careful not to turn their back on the class.
• Show Call: “Show call” is a strategy where a teacher selects a student’s work to show under a visualizer. This allows the teacher to model how to mark a particular answer and give live feedback. This method can build a sense of pride in students. Show calling can also be used to create accountability because students know that they might be selected. However, teachers need to be sensitive to students’ feelings about sharing their work, especially if the answer is incorrect. In such a case, the teacher could ask to share a mistake as a learning opportunity, rather than highlighting that a student got the answer wrong.
• Checking Answers: Rather than always using hands up or cold calling, teachers can pick students randomly to read their answers. This is a quicker way to sample student work, and ensures that all students are working on the assignment. If a student does not have an answer, the teacher can hold the student accountable.
• Promoting Student Success: If a student doesn’t have an answer to a question, it can be used as a chance to reinforce classroom culture. The teacher can give the student a chance to share why they didn’t answer and discuss options for the future such as asking for help or moving to the next question. Teachers should help students develop independence and resilience by explicitly teaching strategies for when they are stuck on a problem. After introducing the strategies, teachers can hold students accountable to following these procedures.

The post Securing high engagement during independent practice appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

My school support days always end with departmental CPD based on an area for development I have identified during the morning’s lesson visits. This CPD takes the following format:

1. Ask colleagues to reflect on the specific area I have identified
2. Share some evidence to support my belief that improvements could be made
3. Suggest a way of doing things differently
4. Open to the floor to questions, comments or concerns
5. Implementation planning for an upcoming lesson
6. Rehearsal with a partner

We then schedule a time for paired drop-ins, and schedule a time for a departmental reflection session.

But there is an important phase that happens before this. In the afternoon, I sit down with the head of department, talk them through what I have seen in the morning (it’s always best if they have accompanied me on the lesson visits so we can compare our reflections), describe the plan I have for the CPD, and then if they are on board, I ask them one question:

If, in 2 months time, no-one is doing the change we are suggesting, why will it have failed?

This is what Dylan Wiliam calls a premortem. It is a fantastic way to anticipate problems before they occur and plan strategies for dealing with them.

Recently, I conducted a premortem with a head of department in a school I was supporting.

Morning lesson drop-ins highlighted that the modelling phase of the lesson was less effective than we both would have liked. The participation ratio was low, and there were few whole-class checks for understanding. As a result, students struggled with the subsequent independent practice, and teachers had to rely on circulation to identify and resolve difficulties.

We decided to experiment with a 5-part approach to modelling:

1. Split board, with the We Do not visible until the I Do has been completed
2. Teachers live model on the board or under a visualiser, but no clicking through PowerPoints
3. The I Do is teacher-led, with no questions asked
4. The We Do is completed on mini-whiteboards and assessed Step-by-Step. If any whiteboard check does not hit 80%+ success, the teacher explains and then rechecks with a new example
5. Students only copy the I Do into their books after the We Do has been completed

Before I put the CPD session together using evidence and examples from the morning, I asked the head of department:

If we drop into lessons in 2 months time and no-one is doing the worked examples like this, where do you think it will have gone wrong?

The head of department was able to identify the following barriers:

1. I won’t have followed it up, hence some staff will let it slip
2. Staff may be concerned about the lack of evidence in books if the We Do is not copied down, and hence revert back to asking students to copy
3. Staff may struggle to think up a new We Do on the spot if they do not hit 80%+ success rate, and thus not respond effectively when students are struggling
4. Staff may be concerned that the Step-by-Step approach in the We Do will hold back their stronger students, and thus end up skipping steps or telling some students that they don’t have to partake

With these barriers identified, we were able to plan solutions to them:

1. I won’t have followed it up, hence some staff will let it slip

The Head of Department put dates straight into his calendar of when he would do lesson drop-ins.

2. Staff may be concerned about the lack of evidence in books if the We Do is not copied down

I organised a quick meeting with the headteacher to see how he would feel if students suddenly had fewer questions in their maths book because teachers were assessing more on mini-whiteboards. He couldn’t have been more supportive, and I could share his message to reassure staff in the CPD session. As I have written about before, I think asking students to copy things down into books has become so ingrained in our practice that we do it without questioning the opportunity cost.

3. Staff may struggle to think up a new We Do on the spot if they do not hit 80%+ success rate

I have written before about the challenges of writing good follow-up questions. My advice is always to plan them in advance. While the head of the department and I decided not to insist upon this, as the increase in workload may have put some people off trying the new approach, being aware of this did prompt me to explicitly mention follow-up questions in the CPD session and show what can happen if you try to make them up on the spot.

4. Staff may be concerned that the Step-by-Step approach in the We Do will hold back their stronger students

Some students object to the Step-by-Step approach. The best way I have found to counteract this is to tell students exactly why we are doing it—emphasising the importance of setting work out correctly and how easy it is to make little mistakes—and assuring students that they can work at their own speed during the independent practice phase that will follow in a few minutes. I could plan this response and share it with staff during the CPD session.

Conducting the premortem in this way allowed me to tweak and tailor my CPD session.

The post Premortem: The key to ensuring to change sticks? appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: The influence of seductive details in learning environments with low and high extrinsic motivation
• Authors: Lukas Wesenberg, Sebastian Jansen, Felix Krieglstein, Sascha Schneider, Günter Daniel Rey
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

This research explores the impact of “seductive details”—interesting but irrelevant additions to learning materials—on student learning outcomes. Two studies examined how the presence of seductive details affected learning performance under conditions of high and low extrinsic motivation. Results indicated that seductive details hindered learning when students were highly extrinsically motivated but either had no effect or even improved learning when extrinsic motivation was low. This suggests a trade-off between the motivational benefits and cognitive costs of seductive details, dependent on pre-existing learner motivation. The studies also investigated the mediating role of interest and cognitive load.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources describe research about “seductive details” (SDs), which are interesting but irrelevant pieces of information added to learning materials. The studies found that external regulation, or the degree to which students feel pressured to engage with learning material, significantly impacts the effect of SDs on learning.

Here are some key implications for teachers in the classroom, based on the sources:

• In lessons where students already feel obligated to pay attention, such as mandatory classes with grades, teachers should avoid using SDs. In these cases, SDs tend to have a negative impact on learning, likely because they increase cognitive load without providing enough of a motivational boost to compensate.
• In lessons where students have more freedom to choose how they engage with the material, such as voluntary activities or self-directed learning, teachers might consider using SDs. In these cases, the motivational benefits of SDs, such as increased interest and engagement, may outweigh their cognitive costs. However, the research suggests that this effect is limited, and further study is needed to confirm its robustness.
• Teachers should be mindful that external regulation is a spectrum and can vary between students and situations. What one student perceives as mandatory, another might see as voluntary. Therefore, teachers should assess the level of external regulation in their classroom and adjust their use of SDs accordingly.
• When using SDs in environments with low external regulation, teachers should carefully choose those that are most likely to spark interest and curiosity, without being overly distracting. This might involve experimenting with different types of SDs and observing student responses.
• While SDs can be a tool for engagement, teachers should explore other methods to make learning interesting and engaging, such as incorporating multimedia elements, using emotional design principles, or connecting the material to students’ lives.

The sources acknowledge that more research is needed on the effects of SDs in voluntary learning environments. They also highlight the importance of understanding that external regulation is subjective and can be influenced by various factors. Therefore, teachers should use their professional judgment and knowledge of their students to make informed decisions about using SDs in their classrooms.

Quote

The results emphasize that the inclusion of seductive details should not be seen as unfavorable per se but as a trade-off between motivational advantages and cognitive disadvantages. Hence, whether seductive details impede or promote learning considerably depends on how much learners are motivated beforehand.

The post Research: The influence of seductive details in learning environments with low and high extrinsic motivation appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: Learning from errors and failure in educational contexts: New insights and future directions for research and practice
• Authors: Susanne Narciss, Ecenaz Alemdag
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

This commentary synthesizes eleven research papers exploring learning from errors and failures in educational settings. The papers investigate contextual factors (e.g., classroom climate), individual factors (e.g., motivation and emotions), error-related learning processes, and instructional strategies (e.g., feedback) that influence learning. The commentary also identifies conceptual challenges, such as distinguishing between errors and failures, and methodological challenges, suggesting future research directions and practical implications for enhancing educational practices to better leverage errors as learning opportunities. Ultimately, the authors offer recommendations for creating a supportive error climate involving teachers, parents, and peers.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources offer several key implications for teachers to create a positive error climate and use errors as learning opportunities in the classroom. Here are some of the main takeaways:

• Embrace errors as part of the learning process. Teachers should view errors not as failures, but as opportunities for growth. They should avoid penalizing students for making errors and instead provide support and positive reactions to encourage a growth mindset.
• Cultivate a positive error climate. This involves:
  • Openly discussing errors without judgment.
  • Encouraging students to analyze and learn from their mistakes.
  • Providing support and guidance to help students understand the reasons for their errors.
  • Modeling positive reactions to errors.
• Use interactive feedback strategies. Instead of just giving the correct answer, engage students in discussions about their errors, prompting them to reflect on the reasons behind them and how to correct them. Adapt feedback to individual student needs.
• Provide specific and actionable prompts. Guide students to reflect on their errors and identify strategies for improvement. Focus on concrete tasks and error-related behavior for greater impact.
• Consider students’ individual factors. Recognize that students respond to errors differently based on their age, grade level, self-worth, and emotion regulation styles. Tailor instructional strategies to address these individual differences.
• Exploit error experiences for learning.
  • Use productive failure by presenting challenging problems before providing instruction. This helps students activate prior knowledge and identify knowledge gaps.
  • Encourage deliberate errors by asking students to intentionally make and then correct mistakes, even when they know the answer. This can lead to deeper concept learning.
  • Facilitate team error analysis by encouraging students to work together to identify, discuss, and correct errors that arise in group work.
  • Use erroneous examples, modeling examples, and peer feedback to help students learn vicariously from others’ mistakes.
• Provide instructional tools to support error processing.
  • Utilize rubrics to guide students in evaluating their own and their peers’ work, helping them identify and correct errors, especially in complex tasks.
  • Integrate metacognitive prompts to encourage students to plan, monitor, and reflect on their learning process, fostering deeper understanding and error correction.
  • Explore digital learning environments that provide encouraging feedback and adaptive prompts.
• Engage in dialogues about errors. Facilitate teacher-student dialogues, using tools to identify common errors and encourage discussions about their nature and potential solutions. Implement dialogic peer assessment to encourage students to discuss errors and feedback, leading to greater understanding and improvement.
• Promote training programs for teachers and parents. Enhance teachers’ professional error competence, providing them with knowledge, strategies, and positive beliefs about handling errors in the classroom. Develop programs to equip parents with the knowledge and skills to support their children’s learning from errors in a positive and constructive manner.

By incorporating these insights into their teaching practices, educators can help students develop a healthy relationship with errors, fostering a growth mindset and creating a more effective and supportive learning environment.

Quote

One essential and preliminary condition for learning from errors might be a positive error climate in both formal and informal educational settings

The post Research: Learning from errors and failure in educational contexts appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: The Relation Between Perceived Mental Effort, Monitoring Judgments, and Learning Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis
• Authors: Louise David, Felicitas Biwer, Martine Baars, Lisette Wijnia, Fred Paas & Anique de Bruin
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

This meta-analysis examines the relationship between perceived mental effort, monitoring judgments (of learning), and actual learning outcomes. The researchers used a meta-analytic structural equation model to analyze data from 35 studies, finding a negative correlation between perceived mental effort and monitoring judgments, and a positive correlation between monitoring judgments and learning outcomes. A negative indirect effect was observed between perceived mental effort and learning outcomes, mediated by monitoring judgments; suggesting learners may misinterpret high mental effort as indicating poor learning. Despite testing several moderators, no significant differences were found across subgroups. The study concludes that perceived mental effort serves as a cue for monitoring but is not directly predictive of learning outcomes.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources highlight some key implications for teachers in the classroom regarding students’ perceptions of mental effort:

• Teach students how to correctly interpret their mental effort experiences. Students tend to interpret high mental effort as an indicator of poor learning. However, the sources suggest that mental effort is only indirectly related to learning outcomes through monitoring judgments. Teachers need to help students understand that high mental effort can be beneficial for learning, especially when it stems from challenging but achievable tasks.
• Incorporate generative strategies to facilitate learners’ calibration of their perceived learning. For example, encouraging students to generate keywords, summaries, or diagrams while reading can help them develop more accurate monitoring judgments.
• Provide students with feedback on their learning outcomes. Feedback can help students understand their actual learning progress and adjust their learning strategies accordingly. It can also help them align their perceived effort and perceptions of learning with their actual learning.
• Consider carefully whether to ask students to rate their mental effort. While mental effort can be a useful cue for monitoring, asking students to explicitly rate it might lead to misinterpretations and biased judgments of learning.
• Address the paradox of desirable difficulties. Desirable difficulties are learning conditions that are effortful but enhance long-term retention. Teachers need to explain to students that the initial effort associated with desirable difficulties, such as retrieval practice, can lead to better learning in the long run, even if immediate learning outcomes seem lower.
• Recognize the limitations of immediate learning outcomes. The studies included in the meta-analysis primarily focused on immediate learning outcomes. Teachers should keep in mind that monitoring judgments based on immediate performance may not accurately reflect long-term learning. Future research is needed to explore the relationship between mental effort, monitoring, and long-term learning.
• Consider the role of motivation in students’ learning. Motivation can influence how students experience mental effort and monitor their learning. Teachers should strive to create a motivating learning environment and consider individual differences in students’ motivational profiles.

Overall, the sources emphasize the complex interplay between mental effort, monitoring, and learning outcomes. Teachers need to be aware of these relationships and adopt instructional approaches that support students in accurately monitoring their learning and regulating their effort effectively. By fostering a deeper understanding of metacognitive processes, teachers can help students become more self-regulated learners.

Quote

These findings suggest that mental effort is used as a cue for monitoring judgments and is only indirectly related to immediate learning outcomes via monitoring judgments

The post Research: The Relation Between Perceived Mental Effort, Monitoring Judgments, and Learning Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: Achieve and thrive: A research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement
• Authors: Steve Farndon
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

Steve Farndon’s Achieve and Thrive is a research-based guide for educators on pupil motivation and engagement. It emphasizes the importance of meeting students’ psychosocial needs—competence, relatedness, and autonomy—to foster intrinsic motivation. The guide explains self-determination theory, detailing how external regulation acts as a safety net, while internalization and integration of motivations lead to better outcomes. Practical implications and strategies for implementing these ideas in classrooms and schools are provided, along with examples of how teachers can support students’ needs through daily interactions and professional development. The publication ultimately aims to create a learning culture where all children can thrive.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources highlight several key implications for teachers in the classroom, all centered around fostering student motivation and engagement by meeting their psychosocial needs:

Creating a Safe and Predictable Learning Environment:

• Teachers should establish and maintain clear and consistent expectations for both behavior and learning. This can be achieved by providing clear expectations, monitoring the classroom for potential problems, redirecting minor misbehavior before it escalates, using positive reinforcement strategies, and minimizing time spent on behavior management issues.
• When these expectations are shared by all teachers and consistently reinforced, students know what to expect in every classroom. This predictability helps students internalize the value of rules and improves behavior, reducing the need for external regulation.

Understanding the Role and Limitations of External Regulation:

• External regulation, such as rules, routines, and rewards, can be viewed as a safety net, particularly important in setting and reinforcing behavioral norms. It is particularly useful when students are amotivated and need external support to get back on track.
• However, overreliance on external regulation, especially for motivating learning, can be counterproductive. It can undermine the development of internal motivation and may even reduce intrinsic motivation over time.
• The focus should be on gradually shifting from external to internal motivation by meeting students’ psychosocial needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy.

Fostering Competence:

• Teachers should avoid early failure by using strategies like modeling, guided practice, and checking for understanding.
• Students need to be provided with mastery experiences: opportunities to engage in challenging tasks where success is attainable but not guaranteed. This helps students build confidence in their abilities.
• Teachers should regularly challenge their assumptions about the level of work students can handle and identify opportunities to stretch their capabilities.

Nurturing Relatedness:

• Building a sense of belonging and connection is crucial. Teachers should make an effort to get to know their students individually, greet them by name, acknowledge their interests, and encourage their contributions.
• Interactions in the classroom can be intentionally designed to communicate belonging. This includes greeting students at the door, asking them to respect and build on each other’s ideas, and giving everyone opportunities to answer questions.
• Schools should prioritize opportunities for students to feel seen, known, and valued. This might involve trips, form time, extracurricular activities, or school-wide events.

Promoting Autonomy:

• Autonomy in this context focuses on helping students develop a sense of ownership and agency. This doesn’t equate to simply giving students choices but involves helping them understand and internalize the reasons behind expectations and learning objectives.

Developing a Sense of Ownership:

• Teachers should clearly and consistently communicate the value and importance of behavioral expectations, curriculum content, and lesson activities. These reasons should be meaningful and relevant to students’ lives.
• Sharing rationales for learning and behavior helps students move from external to more internalized motivation.

Cultivating Agency:

• Presenting learning from students’ perspectives, considering their interests, and incorporating their views can enhance their sense of agency.
• Teachers should acknowledge students’ perspectives, even when they express reluctance, and invite them to change their viewpoints.
• Using invitational language that emphasizes student choice and control supports agency. For example, phrasing suggestions as “You might want to…” rather than “You need to…”.

Understanding the Universality of Psychosocial Needs:

• Meeting students’ psychosocial needs is relevant for all students, regardless of age, context, or additional needs.
• These approaches can also positively impact students’ general well-being and protect them from stress, anxiety, and depression.
• It is equally important to prevent students’ psychosocial needs from being undermined, as this can damage their motivation and well-being.

Implementing Strategies Effectively:

• It is essential to address all three psychosocial needs in a balanced way, as they are interconnected and reinforce each other.
• Teachers can learn to improve their ability to support student autonomy and relatedness through professional development programs.
• Effective professional development should focus on changing daily interactions between teachers and students.
• Teachers need a deep understanding of the principles behind self-determination theory so they can flexibly apply strategies in different classroom situations.
• Modifying classroom interactions requires ongoing support and a variety of approaches to help teachers overcome existing habits and develop new practices.

By understanding and applying these implications, teachers can create classroom environments that foster student motivation, engagement, and overall well-being.

Quote

This is an important process, because where pupils do feel these three things – or in the language used in self-determination theory, where their needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy are met – their motivation to engage with school increases

The post Research: Achieve and thrive: A research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: Investigating attention contagion between students in a lecture hall.
• Authors: Forrin, N. D., Kudsi, N., Cyr, E. N., Sana, F., Davidesco, I., & Kim, J. A
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

This research article investigates attention contagion in a university lecture hall. Researchers manipulated student attentiveness (attentive vs. inattentive confederates) and seating proximity to examine its impact on participants’ attentiveness, note-taking, and quiz performance. The study found that inattentiveness, but not attentiveness, spread contagiously, particularly among students seated between inattentive peers. Mediation analyses suggested that goal contagion and social appraisal of lecture importance might partially explain this effect. The findings highlight the significant influence of peer behavior on individual learning and offer practical implications for classroom arrangement and instruction.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources describe an experiment investigating attention contagion, which is how students’ attentiveness is influenced by their peers. This has some key implications for teachers:

• Inattention is contagious. Students are more likely to become inattentive themselves if they see their classmates being inattentive. This was especially true when students were seated between inattentive peers.
• Inattention contagion can negatively impact learning. The study found that students who became inattentive due to their peers took fewer notes and performed worse on a quiz about the lecture.
• Peer distraction is not the only factor driving inattention contagion. Even in a device-free classroom, inattentive behavior can spread from student to student. This suggests that other factors, like goal contagion and social appraisals of lecture importance, are also at play.
• The study suggests that being seated between inattentive peers can have a negative impact on a student’s attentiveness. While it may seem intuitive to seat distracting students at the back, in a device-free classroom, seating inattentive students in the middle may negatively affect those around them.
• Teachers should be aware of the potential for inattention contagion and take steps to mitigate it. This could involve strategies like:
  • Encouraging active learning and student engagement.
  • Monitoring student behavior and addressing inattentiveness directly.
  • Creating a positive and supportive classroom culture where students feel comfortable being attentive.

It is important to note that this was a simulated classroom experiment and more research is needed in real-world settings. However, the results provide valuable insights into the dynamics of attention in the classroom and offer practical considerations for teachers.

Quote

Instructors and students should be aware that inattention spreads during lectures—even in device-free classrooms—and meaningfully affects learning and academic performance. Inattention is contagious.

The post Research: Investigating attention contagion between students in a lecture hall appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.

• Title: Embedding formative assessment
• Authors: Wiliam and Leahy
• Access the original paper here
• Listen to a deep-dive podcast:

Paper summary

This excerpt from Embedding Formative Assessment by Wiliam and Leahy outlines five key strategies for effective formative assessment. 

Strategy 1 focuses on clarifying learning intentions and success criteria. 

Strategy 2 emphasizes engineering effective discussions and activities to elicit evidence of learning. 

Strategy 3 details providing feedback that promotes student progress. 

Strategy 4 advocates for activating students as learning resources for one another through peer feedback. Finally, 

Strategy 5 promotes activating students as owners of their learning through self-assessment and reflection. The text provides practical techniques and cautions for implementing each strategy.

What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?

The sources highlight some key implications for teachers in the classroom:

• Teachers should clarify, share, and understand learning intentions and success criteria with their students. This means that teachers need to be clear about what they want their students to learn and how they will know if they have been successful.
• Teachers should engineer effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of learning. This means that teachers need to carefully plan their lessons to include activities that will give them information about what their students are learning.
• Teachers should provide feedback that moves learners forward. This means that feedback should be specific, timely, and actionable. It should also be more work for the recipient than the donor.
• Teachers should activate students as learning resources for one another. This means that teachers should encourage students to work together and learn from each other.
• Teachers should activate students as owners of their own learning. This means that teachers should help students develop the skills and motivation to take responsibility for their own learning.

The sources offer a variety of tips and techniques for implementing each of these strategies in the classroom. For example, teachers can use question shells to help students generate questions, hinge questions to assess student understanding, and peer feedback to help students learn from each other.

Additionally, teachers should:

• Plan questions in advance.
• Give students time to think.
• Use all-student response systems.
• Stress that “smart” is not something you are but rather something you get.
• Focus feedback on what’s next, not what’s past.
• Use self-assessments to group students.
• Make self-assessment a routine part of classwork.

By implementing these strategies, teachers can create a more learner-centered classroom where students are actively engaged in their learning and are able to achieve their full potential.

Quote

Only learners create learning. Teachers create environments within which students learn.

The post Research: Embedding formative assessment appeared first on Tips for Teachers by Craig Barton.