Pace in the lesson

Today was the first day back after half-term and was an INSET day.  I had been asked to run a session on Pace, Progress and Active Learning.  I have to admit I do enjoy delivering INSET sessions - they make me raise my game because I still get really nervous before each one but they are a great opportunity to show off what you have been doing.  I was also quite pleased to be asked to do this session as I do believe that setting and maintaining a brisk pace in lessons is something which I do quite well.  I delivered the same 50-minute session 3 times this morning to 3 different groups.  What was really interesting was the different reactions from each group - they were all positive but in different ways.  In this blog I thought I would like to put in some of the stuff I did in the session and add in some extra thoughts.
When I was putting the session together I thought about what my key principles are in planning lessons and how they help me to put together pacy, active lessons.  Here they are:
1.  Plan the lesson properly 
I have been teaching for over 20 years and I still plan every lesson I teach.  Whilst I have had the occasional good unplanned lesson and the planned lesson that went totally wrong - almost all of my terrible lessons have been because I didn't plan it properly.  Planning is the one thing I never compromise on - even if it does mean some very late nights.
2.  Concentration span
I know some esteemed educationalists have criticised this idea and I know that it is not strictly true and that lots of things affect concentration but - I like the idea that concentration span is age in minutes + 2 minutes. As a rule of thumb I think it works very well and I plan my lessons in blocks of 15-20 minutes.  If kids have been doing something for 20 minutes - there needs to be a really good reason why they haven't moved to something else.  Often I will do a quick break-state activity or simply make them move to sit somewhere else just to refocus concentration.
3.  Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic and Digital thinking styles
Again, I know it has become fashionable to ridicule learning styles and deny their existence - but I like them.  I have done a lot of research into this and I am an NLP Practitioner and I do believe that we all use these representational systems to process information.  I do believe that we all have the ability to use each of the systems but have a preference for one or more of them and, more importantly, one we are less likely to use.  I do therefore plan every lesson with these things in mind.  There is always a Visual element - a picture or image to hook some students in.  There is always an Auditory element - an opportunity for those kids who think out loud to express their thoughts.  There is always a Kinaesthetic element - an opportunity for movement but also to connect emotionally.  There is always a Digital element - time for students to make sense of information in their own heads.  Juggling all these elements helps to create pace in the lesson.  A Kinaesthetic activity is often followed by a Digital one - movement, discussion and activity followed by a period of quiet processing and reflecting.
4.  Movement in lessons
I have a general rule that no kid will finish the lesson sitting in the chair they started in.  I don't have seating plans because they are obsolete 10 minutes into the lesson.  Sometimes I will move them to help them think differently.  Having just spent some time looking at the advantages of something, move seats to look at the disadvantages.  Some kids find it easier to move mentally if it is accompanied by a physical move.
5.  Time Team Task
When I was training to be a teacher, one of my tutors was the late, great Mike Hayhoe who tried, in vain, to turn me into an English teacher.  The one thing he did drill into me was TTT - so much so that I do it without even thinking about it now.  Every instruction I give the kids is based on Time - tell them how long they have to do it exactly; Team - how they are working - individually, pairs, groups; Task - exactly what they are doing.  Like most of what Mike Hayhoe taught me - brilliantly simple.  Keep reminding them of the time - nothing helps pace quite like a countdown.

So that is me and pace - hope it was of interest.  Putting together the INSET session certainly helped me to reflect on what I do and why I do it.

This is the Learning Journey for my INSET session today: