Help students to move from “Takeaway” to “Masterchef”

Of course, most of us acknowledge that didactic, lecture-style teaching fosters a culture of passivity in pupils, where pupils have come to expect to have learning “fed” to them – to be told the answers, rather than be taught the skills to discover the answers themselves, or even consider the possibility of alternative answers. However, despite active, independent learning being an unarguably worthy concept in itself, concerns about making pupils more self-reliant have left many teachers feeling that they are stuck in an impossible contradiction between building independent learning skills and cramming the content necessary to get the results that Ofsted ultimately judges us on.

What we need now is to feel confident in the TRUTH that we can improve progress and performance – yes, in tests too – by using Talk-Less Teaching™ techniques which allow learning to go far deeper than it does when it is mostly administered aurally! What we need is a vast bank of exciting, engaging, practical ways to allow learners to access and understand complex topics and skills without relentlessly bending their ears. “Independent Learners” shows you how to do just that!

The day will provide practical strategies for:

• Maximising opportunities for learners to contribute to classroom dialogue as well as participate actively in lessons.
• Reducing poor-quality teacher talk which can lead to inattention and restlessness in learners.
• Helping the teacher to ascertain essential information during a lesson about the understanding of learners.
• Gathering feedback from learners about their progress during lessons so that a teacher can assess the impact of his/her teaching as he/she teaches.
• Adapting to the emerging needs of learners as the lesson unfolds.
• Getting active participation from all learners with a “no passengers” approach to classroom instruction.
• Encouraging learners to be self-reliant, self-reflective and proactive rather than over-relying on the teacher or being habitual passive recipients of learning.