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:
- Ask colleagues to reflect on the specific area I have identified
- Share some evidence to support my belief that improvements could be made
- Suggest a way of doing things differently
- Open to the floor to questions, comments or concerns
- Implementation planning for an upcoming lesson
- 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:
- Split board, with the We Do not visible until the I Do has been completed
- Teachers live model on the board or under a visualiser, but no clicking through PowerPoints
- The I Do is teacher-led, with no questions asked
- 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
- 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:
- I won’t have followed it up, hence some staff will let it slip
- 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
- 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
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
