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The evidence
Mid-term is generally the week that student disruptions begin to increase during classes. Often it takes a bit of time for students to test boundaries in class and for the reported disruption to reach parents and pastoral leaders.
Often at this time, a teacher will (or should) seek the support of a coach to help. If a teacher has a challenging class, the first place we support them is with the starting routine.
With that in mind, the evidence this week is a short article from Author of Motivated Teaching- Peps Mccrea. It combines two important topics in education – routines and attention.
Key points
- A routine is a chain of actions that gets executed on a cue, with minimal cognitive effort or conscious control
- When a routine is established, students think less about the how of their learning, and more about the what of your teaching
- This is powerful because human attention is limited, and attention leads to learning
Routines redeploy attention, allowing the student to focus on what matters.
Link: Routines redeploy attention (pepsmccrea.com)
What you can do:
- Create clear routines across year levels or faculties:
- 7-9 English classes might start with 10minutes of silent, wide reading.
- Year 4 classes begin with a mindfulness activity after lunch every day.
- All mathematics classes begin with a 10-minute retrieval practice activity.
- Explicitly teach the importance of routines to your students.
- Give parents recommendations on how to develop routines in their child (see Routine – Crowther Centre)
- Explicitly teach the power of routines to your colleagues Practical Classroom Management and Behaviour Management (thinkific.com)
In your next meeting, ask your team to share:
- Their morning routine and see how it frees up attention
- What a starting routine might look like in their classes
- Are there any consistent routines we might want to move towards as a team?
Happy coaching,
Mark
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Resources
Latest research on instruction
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The Impact of Student Engagement on Academic Achievement and Wellbeing
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Unlocking the Science of Learning
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