Teach17

Every teacher has days when there is no time to make slides, design worksheets or search for activities. The answer is not necessarily a filler lesson. Some of the strongest classroom routines need little more than a board, some questions and good teaching.

1. The Five–Ten–Twenty Lesson
   Spend five minutes retrieving previous learning, ten minutes teaching or modelling something new, then twenty minutes on guided and independent practice. Finish by checking what pupils can now do.
2. The Question Ladder
   Write eight to ten questions that start with simple recall and gradually become harder. Teach between questions whenever pupils reach something they cannot yet do. The questions effectively become your lesson plan.
3. I Do, We Do, You Do
   Work through one example while explaining your thinking. Complete the next one with contributions from the class. Pupils then attempt similar examples independently.
4. Start With a Problem
   Put an interesting problem, image, quotation, scenario or question on the board before explaining anything. Let pupils make an initial attempt, teach what they need and return to the same problem later. Their improvement becomes visible.
5. The Blank-Sheet Challenge
   Give pupils a topic and two minutes to write everything they can remember without notes. Compare ideas, identify gaps, teach the missing knowledge and repeat the task at the end.
6. Teach a Bit, Try a Bit
   Avoid one long explanation. Teach one small chunk, ask pupils to use it immediately, check understanding and then teach the next chunk. Little preparation is required because the rhythm of the lesson does the work.
7. The Worked-Example Lesson
   Choose one good problem and solve it slowly in front of the class. Explain not only what you are doing but why. Pupils annotate the example before attempting a similar problem themselves.
8. Spot My Mistake
   Put a deliberately incorrect answer on the board. Ask pupils to find exactly where it goes wrong, explain the misconception and repair it. Several increasingly subtle mistakes can fill an excellent lesson.
9. Everyone Answers
   Teach for a few minutes and then ask a question that every pupil must answer using mini-whiteboards, paper or fingers. Look at the responses and decide what to teach next. The class tells you where the lesson needs to go.
10. The Past-Paper Clinic
    Choose a small number of good examination questions rather than an entire paper. Pupils attempt one, you dissect it together, they improve it and then try the next one with less support.
11. Compare Two Answers
    Put a strong answer and a weaker answer side by side. Ask pupils which is better and, more importantly, why. Build a class success criteria from their observations before they attempt their own response.
12. The Textbook Done Properly
    A textbook lesson does not have to mean “read pages 34–36 and answer the questions”. Read a small section together, question pupils, explain difficult parts, model an example and selectively choose the best questions.
13. Fix Yesterday’s Learning
    Return to yesterday’s work, a homework task or a recent test. Pick the three mistakes that caused most difficulty. Reteach them and give pupils time to correct and improve their original work.
14. The Explain-It-Better Lesson
    Give pupils a statement such as “Explain why…”. Take an initial answer, identify what is missing and teach the necessary knowledge. Keep returning to the answer and improving it until it becomes excellent.
15. Five Questions, Five Ways
    Take one important idea and explore it through five questions: What is it? How does it work? Why does it happen? Where would we see it? What would happen if something changed? One concept can generate far more thinking than a page of activities.
16. Teacher vs Class
    Set the class a challenging question. Pupils suggest each step while you act as the reluctant student at the board. Question, challenge and occasionally make deliberate mistakes. Gradually hand over responsibility until pupils can solve one independently.
17. Board, Pen, Books
    Forget the PowerPoint completely. Start with retrieval. Explain something clearly. Model it. Ask lots of questions. Give pupils guided practice. Move to independent practice. Finish with two or three questions that tell you whether they have learned it. Sometimes the emergency lesson turns out to be the best lesson of the week.

The key when planning time disappears is to stop searching for activities. Ask three questions instead: What do I want them to know or be able to do? What will I need to explain or model? How will I know whether they have understood it?

Those three questions can produce a perfectly good lesson in a few minutes.