When did you last really look at your class?

When you’ve set a pair or group talk task, it’s tempting to get involved in one of the conversations straight away. We can feel pressured to always be actively intervening. Plus we often anticipate that specific pupils will need additional support.

But ‘diving in’ like this can mean that we don’t know the quality of the talk in the room.

Sometimes, it’s a better use of your time to survey the whole room properly before you decide your next move. I don’t just mean a quick glance. To really check what’s going on, you may need to step back, pause for up to 30 seconds and look at each pair or group in turn.

You might discover one of two things:

• Either, everyone is on task – in which case, there’s no need to join in and you can instead spend your time observing participation levels and listening in to the dialogue. For example, listening for how pupils are applying target vocabulary, or checking for understanding/misunderstanding. You can even make notes of things pupils are saying – these may be used as teaching points later in the lesson.

• Or, you might realise that some pairs/groups are off-task or confused, and you need to intervene. Because you’ve taken the time to observe, you will be able to decide the most effective intervention. This may be pausing the task for the whole class to clarify an instruction or address a common misconception, or it may be something for just one or two pairs. The point is, you are basing your intervention on what’s really happening (rather than, for example, assuming which pupils are going to struggle).

I’d love to hear how you get on.