As the clocks go back and the temperature drops, the next half-term of the new academic year will begin. If (like me) you feel like the start of this school year sped by at pace, you perhaps spent the October break taking a breath and reflecting on the weeks gone by. Those carefully planned classroom routines which continually needed a bit of flexibility and adaptation (how many times did you alter your seating plan?) Your environments and resources (organised into accessible pots and drawers) which your pupils still need a little ‘training’ on independently selecting. And, perhaps most importantly of all, your lessons – a consideration of the pitch of the learning, the engagement from the pupils and the motivation you felt for teaching them.
The current landscape of education is an interesting one. After nearly two decades of teaching, I have experienced many changes. Yet the most pertinent of these must be the act (and the art) of lesson planning. Across schools, a broad scope of practice and policy is in place, shaping how learning experiences are designed. Over the years, technology has developed at lightning speed and there are now many resources available which seek to support busy teachers with their workload. However, there is a fine line which can be felt between the lightening of the to-do-list and a reduction of professional autonomy. Where plans and resources may be provided, the space for teachers to include their unique experiences and knowledge of their pupils can feel reduced. The result may be a feeling of “going through the motions” and a want to inject a little more personality into daily learning experiences.
If your reflections on the first few weeks of the new school year included a want to increase engagement with learning (for the pupils and their teachers), it may be that you are now considering making some additions or changes. These don’t have to take up hours of your time or include a complete overhaul of your current curriculum plans or collections of lessons which are already in place. Instead, a few small shifts in approach, outcome and strategy can be all that it takes. And perhaps we can add to the hopes that we hold for our lessons, the concept of joy. The feeling that the pupils experience when they get lost in the learning. The success that they can celebrate as a concept suddenly makes sense or a when a contribution which they offer feels like it really mattered. That adrenaline-filled emotion which propels you into the staffroom to share the unfolding of your lesson with colleagues. The anticipation as you arrive at your classroom ready to set up for a learning experience which you can’t wait to unveil to your class.
So, if you’re looking to boost engagement and interest in your lessons, what might you consider?
Teaching over delivery. Take a moment to reflect on when you may be communicating content to your pupils rather than exercising the strategies in your toolkit which allow you to teach. There may be activities which always used to be a staple but have recently been less utilised. Maybe it’s just a change in mindset as you engage with plans, considering the flow of the lesson and the varying opportunities for pupils to interact with knowledge.
Use the prompts below to support you in your reflections and subsequent actions:
- Do the lessons always start with the pupils looking at a screen?
- Falling into the habit of starting every lesson with the children facing the front of the classroom, ready to interact with visual prompts, can add to the feeling of the ‘expected’. Consider how a warm-up task at tables can support retrieval of prior learning or activation of new understanding.
- Where are the adults in the room positioned at different points of the lesson?
- Another practise which can unknowingly become commonplace (particularly when screen-led learning is prominent). Standing at the front of the class may become the norm and is often not the position where you are best placed. Consider how often you move around the room, and how able you (and any other adults who you may be lucky enough to have working with you) can listen to discussion between the pupils. Where screens are involved, consider investing in a ‘clicker’ to move through presentations, to cut the invisible tether which may exist.
- Is enough time given for movement and discussion?
- With curriculum coverage pressures high, the teaching profession can be in danger of ticking off lists of objectives. The time which is available to explore ideas and concepts within these can feel tight. Yet, making space for purposeful talk is key. Providing a helpful structure for this discussion will often be needed, yet effective routines can be quickly built. Pairing this productive talk with movement decreases passivity and creative thinking around questioning, formative assessment and collaborative exploration is unlocked.
Increasing autonomy. Where lessons may be pre-planned or revisited, the opportunities for shaping these around your own teaching preferences is important. The same can be said for the children. Where the pupils can see the relevance of the learning, where it contains a meaning and a purpose, interest is more likely to be captured. Adaptation is key to this process. Taking the skeleton of the lesson design and adding, or emphasising, a certain focal point can positively impact the teaching, outcome or learning which takes place beyond the classroom.
So, how can autonomy be increased for both the pupils and their teachers?
- Consider how your unique cohort of pupils are reflected within the learning. This is not about making tenuous links. Instead, exercising a mindset of considering the relevance of a particular objective, skill or body of knowledge in the pupils’ lives (past, present or future) or in their understanding of the experiences of others (the concept of mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors, Bishop 1990).
- Reflect on how much choice pupils are given within each lesson. This can be the smallest, but often most powerful, shift. Choice can be present at numerous times during a lesson. Depending on age and stage, supporting learners with their choice may be required, but personalising how ideas are captured, recorded and expressed increases autonomy and volition. In the process of notetaking, pupils may wish to write or draw. When demonstrating understanding, can different mediums be available (e.g. writing, creating a presentation, drawing a diagram)? In English, can the genre of writing be broadened in a final piece, for example the choice of creating a news report, poem or piece of narrative?
- Utilise your environments and resources. When engagement with any existing lesson plans feels foggy, always return to the learning objective. What is it that you are hoping for your class to understand at the end of this lesson or unit? Then, take a look around. Do you have a different resource available (not specified in the planning) which you think will bring the learning to life? This may be in the form of a physical object (a hook, a concrete support in maths) or in the formation of an imagined world (a story, a piece of drama). Perhaps the classroom is not the most effective space to explore this particular concept. Would taking the learning outdoors increase interest and subsequent understanding? Do you need a larger space to investigate and make sense of an abstract idea, perhaps the school hall? Once again, this is a shift in approach, but one which can elevate opportunity and increase inclusive practice.
Hopefully, as you have been reading this article, small glimmers of ideas have begun to take shape. Make any subsequent actions manageable. Perhaps you would like to revisit a strategy or activity in a maths lesson next week. Maybe there is an opportunity for a broader scope of choice in your final writing outcome in week 3. Thinking about your next science unit, you can now see that taking the activity outdoors will increase its relevance. This pause is also an invitation to discuss any ideas which have sprung to mind with your colleagues. Framed in the sense of small shifts which can be made to plans already in place. An opportunity to place autonomy and teacher creativity at the forefront of future adaptations. A hope of capturing that very special feeling, akin to joy, which is felt when your lesson feels like it’s made a real difference.
Laura has worked in education for over seventeen years across the UK, Spain and Dubai as a classroom teacher, leader of primary English and Lead Practitioner for Teaching and Learning. Committed to cultivating joyful, meaningful and high-quality learning experiences for both children and educators, she continually aims to invest in teacher agency, curriculum development and the creation of classrooms where curiosity and possibility can flourish.
