Tips for Teachers Newsletter

I write not one, but two, free weekly newsletters.

Tips for Teachers newsletter

Each Monday morning (7am BST) the Tips for Teachers newsletter lands in your inbox. It contains:

1. A tip to try out in lessons that week
2. A video to discuss with a colleague
3. A podcast episode to listen to on your way home

You can find past editions below and sign up by putting your email address in the box at the bottom of this page.

• #1 Make use of both sides of a mini-whiteboard
• #2 Ban the word “easy”
• #3 Try students standing during explanations
• #4 Check students have heard you instructions
• #5 Cold Call a student twice in a lesson
• #6 How to choose which pair of students to call upon
• #7 Include upcoming prerequisite knowledge in homeworks
• #8 Ask pupils “what was the most useful thing I did today?”
• #9 How to respond to “I don’t know”
• #10 Lower the content demand initially when introducing a new routine
• #11 Getting even more out of Diagnostic questions
• #12 Introducing Call and Response
• #13 Two questions to write when planning a lesson
• #14 The four steps of Responsive teaching
• #15 Coaching: the hypothesis and critical evidence combo
• #16 The importance of Wait time 1
• #17 The importance of Wait time 2
• #18 What is the optimal group size?
• #19 Ask me two questions
• #20 Improving revision lessons
• #21 Two tips to improve whole-class feedback
• #22 Ask students to respond in sentences
• #23 The power of waiting for Golden Silence
• #24 Reducing the tactical delay with voting cards
• #25 Ask students to Copy worked examples later in the lesson
• #26 Use mini-whiteboard when going through tests
• #27 What to say to high-achieving students if they are bored
• #28 Model in real-time
• #29 Three questions to ask during a departmental meeting
• #30 Add confidence scores to mini-whiteboards
• #31 Three videos, podcasts, tips and blogs posts to check out
• #32 “Head down, fist on head” for answering diagnostic questions
• #33 Carry a mini-whiteboard with you when circulating
• #34 Explain, Frame, Reframe, Rehearse when doing Call and Respond
• #35 Beware of saying “If you got the question wrong, make sure you have corrected it”
• #36 Use Call and Respond to check calculator use
• #37 The score you get is when you make your first mistake
• #38 Step away from the board when modelling
• #39 Follow tumbleweed with a Turn and Talk
• #40 Don’t make hints unavoidable
• #41 How to make Call and Respond (even more) fun
• #42 Don’t clean your mini-whiteboard!
• #43 Ask the easiest question first
• #44 Use the Instruction Sandwich to improve how you give instructions
• #45 Reveal answers one at a time to direct focus
• #46 Explain, Condense, Unpack
• #47 Can you get us started…
• #48 Check for listening to see if your explanation is clear and concise
• #49 Play the “Does that make sense?” game
• #50 When using multiple-choice questions, remove the options initially
• #51 Try a new idea with one class, for one week
• #52 Introduce checks for listening using non-subject content
• #53 Ask students to put their mini-whiteboards together
• #54 Ask students not to say or write anything for 30 seconds
• #55 Hide your tell when calling upon students to explain their thinking
• #56 Try these four different ways of going through the answers

Eedi newsletter

My Eedi newsletter comes out every Tuesday. Typically, this contains longer-form content, focussing on coaching, classroom pedagogy and resources. Again, you can find past editions below and sign up by putting your email address in the box at the bottom of this page.

Coaching

1. My Coaching Process
2. Coaching Case Studies #1: Improving the Do Now and explanations
3. Coaching Case Studies #2: Improving worked examples and check for understanding
4. Coaching Case Studies #3: Misconceptions and going through tests
5. Coaching Case Studies #4: Non-examples and room layout
6. The power of the Hypothesis Model when coaching
7. The importance of rehearsal when coaching

Departmental support

1. Developing a departmental approach to the Do Now
2. Developing a departmental approach to worked examples
3. Developing a departmental approach to reviewing answers
4. Developing a departmental approach to problem-solving

High-value activity structures

1. Venn Diagrams: 10 tips to supercharge them in the classroom
2. SSDD Problems: 10 tips to supercharge them in the classroom
3. Intelligent Practice: 10 tips to supercharge it in the classroom
4. A little bit of problem-solving in every lesson: 10 tips to make it happen

Pedagogy

1. Two ideas for improving GCSE revision
2. The myth of copying things down
3. Busy tricking during the Do Now
4. Supercharging Think, Pair, Share
5. The cost of classroom interruptions
6. How many of your students are participating?
7. Participation ratio in lessons: the results are in!
8. Boosting the participation ratio during our explanations
9. How prescriptive should a Head of Department be?
10. Book-to-Board: One of my favourite uses of mini-whiteboards
11. Pitfalls to avoid when going through answers
12. Mini-whiteboard + Exam paper = ❤️
13. 13 ideas to help boost homework completion rates
14. The perils of Rounding Up students’ answers
15. Helping students listen to each other 
16. The opportunity cost of digging deeper
17. 10 things we know about testing
18. Correcting in green pen does not work
19. Poor proxies for understanding
20. Poor proxies for listening
21. How to think about new ideas
22. Seven ways to use diagnostic questions to check for understanding

Resources

1. Variation spiders!
2. GCSE Big 20
3. The best maths worksheet ever?
4. Free maths CPD
5. Back to school: Four things to listen to
6. Brand-new, free maths resources for every maths topic
7. Explain the mistake
8. Free quizzes, videos, fluency practice, problem solving questions and more

3-Read Friday

1. Coaching expectations, consistency and worked examples
2. Attention, revision mistakes, and seminal studies
3. Explanations, confidence, and productive struggle
4. Efficiency, observations, and ChatGTP
5. Teach like nobody’s watching, 1% better, and angles
6. Participation ratio, Go-to guides, and success
7. Time, planning, and mathematical literacy
8. Problem-solving, self-explanation, and 3 Acts
9. Maths resources, action bias, and fun lessons
10. Homework, highlighting, and angles
11. Pre-testing, quizzes, and if-then statements
12. Variation Theory, lesson planning, and subject knowledge
13. Questions, sense, and chatbots
14. Variation Theory, mobile phones, and CPD
15. Thinking time, One Note, and group coaching
16. Improving teaching, QLAs, and product of prime factors
17. Klaxons, checks for listening, and the first 10 minutes of a lesson
18. Skills v knowledge, live coaching, and conceptual understanding
19. Experience, worksheets, and Christmas!
20. Wrong answers, 100%, and unintended consequences
21. PISA, ChatGPT, and mobile phones
22. Hypercorrection, textbooks, and praise
23. Pace, productive struggle, and free maths resources
24. MCQs, belonging, and attention
25. Stepping away from the speaker, messy markbooks, and GCSE Maths revision
26. Feedback, inclusive classrooms, and more feedback!
27. Calling out, fixing the Do Now, and multi-tasking
28. Improving teaching, student absence, and tageting indicators
29. Worked examples, SEND, and AI tutors
30. Rehearsal, assessments, and naked explanations
31. Stories, attention, and maths gems