Teaching is complex. But there are simple ideas we can enact to help our teaching be more
effective. This book contains over 400 such ideas. The ideas come from two sources. First from
the wonderful guests on my Tips for Teachers podcast - education heavyweights such as Dylan
Wiliam Daisy Christodoulou and Tom Sherrington as well as talented teachers who are not
household names but have so much wisdom to share. Then there's what I have learned from working
with amazing teachers and students in hundreds of schools around the world. Inside you will
find 22 ideas to enhance mini-whiteboard use 15 ideas to improve the start of your lesson 14
ideas to help make Silent Teacher effective seven ways to respond if a student says they don't
know and lots lots more. Each idea can be implemented the very next time you step into a
classroom. So whatever your level of experience subject or phase there are plenty of ideas
in this book to help take your teaching to the next level. Book contents Chapter 1: How to use
this book Tip 1. How to use this book to improve your teaching Tip 2. How to give yourself the
best chance of making a lasting change Chapter 2: Habits and routines Why are habits and
routines important? Tip 3. Eight ideas to help introduce a routine Tip 4. Beware of the Valley
of Latent Potential Tip 5. Two ideas to help a routine stick Tip 6. Develop a set of high-value
activity structures Tip 7. Six ideas to help establish positive norms in your classroom Tip 8.
Four types of words to consider removing from your teaching vocabulary Chapter 3: The means of
participation A challenge Tip 9. Front-load the means of participation Tip 10. Ten ideas to
improve Cold Call Tip 11. Eight reasons to strive for mass participation more frequently Tip
12. Twenty-two ideas to improve the use of mini-whiteboards Tip 13. Five ideas to improve the
use of voting systems Tip 14. Nine ideas to improve Call and Response Tip 15. Fifteen ideas to
improve Partner Talk Tip 16. Six ideas to improve group work Tip 17. Use the means of
participation holy trinity Tip 18. Never rely on a mental note Tip 19. The best tool for the
long term might not be the best tool for now Chapter 4: Checking for understanding Tip 20.
Think of questions as a check for misunderstanding Tip 21. Use the temptation to ask for
self-report as a cue to ask a better question Tip 22. Lengthen wait times after asking a
question Tip 23. Lengthen wait times after an answer Tip 24. Ten types of questions to ask when
checking for understanding Tip 25. Try these three frameworks for learner-generated examples
Tip 26. Three ways to use diagnostic questions to check for understanding Tip 27. Provide
scaffolds for verbal responses Tip 28. Six key times to check for understanding Tip 29. Ten
ideas to improve Exit Tickets Tip 30. Pick the student least likely to know Tip 31. Start with
whoever got 8 out of 10 Tip 32. Ten ideas to help create a culture of error Tip 33. Three ideas
to encourage students to ask questions Chapter 5: Responsive teaching Tip 34. Trick your
students to test if they really understand Tip 35. Never round-up Tip 36. Six ideas if a
student says 'I don't know' Tip 37. What to do when some students understand and some don't Tip
38. What to do when some students still don't understand Tip 39. How students can own and
record classroom discussions Tip 40. Share students' work with the rest of the class Chapter 6:
Planning Tip 41. Seven ideas to improve a scheme of work Tip 42. Six ideas to help start the
planning process Tip 43. Plan to do less but better Tip 44. Ask yourself: 'What are my
students likely to be thinking about?' Tip 45. Write out ideal student responses Tip 46. Four
ideas to help you plan for and respond to errors Tip 47. Two ideas to help teachers engage in
Deep Work Tip 48. Aim to close the loop when sending an email Chapter 7: Prior knowledge Tip
49. Plan relevant prior knowledge Tip 50. Prioritise relevant prior knowledge Tip 51. Assess
relevant prior knowledge Tip 52. Respond to prior knowledge assessment Tip 53. Assess relevant
prior knowledge for each idea not for the whole sequence Chapter 8: Explanations modelling
and worked examples Tip 54. Five ideas to show students why what we are learning today matters
Tip 55. Use related examples and non-examples to explain technical language Tip 56. Fourteen
ideas to improve the explanation of a concept Tip 57. Teach decision making separately Tip 58.
Five ideas to improve our choice of examples Tip 59. Model techniques live Tip 60. Use a
teacher worked-examples book Tip 61. Use student worked-examples books Tip 62. Make use of the
power of Example-Problem Pairs Tip 63. Fourteen ideas to improve Silent Teacher Tip 64. Use
self-explanation prompts to help develop your students' understanding Tip 65. Six ideas to
improve 'copy down the worked example' Tip 66. Vary the means of participation for the We Do
Tip 67. Three errors to avoid with the Your Turn questions T
