- Create summary cards of topic material at the end of each unit to support ‘over learning’ and revision.
- Provide writing frames or sentence strings – a page could have parts of sentences started periodically down the page, allowing students to structure their report/essay. Attention span tends to lengthen when tasks are short and successful.
- Use cueing words and gestures to emphasise points. Silent cues are useful to many students – e.g. thumbs up/down – when they are working individually.
- Promote risk-taking in class. Those who can take risks as they learn prove to be skilful students: challenge learners to go for it!
- Ensure that students know the purpose of tasks. Students need to know what they are doing and why. Encourage expectations of success by having clearly set objectives.
- An effective way of checking whether information has been assimilated is to ask students to reproduce what has been learnt in a different format, e.g. diagram or prose version of information from a table or graph, etc.
- Introduce terminology systematically and teach instructional vocabulary (e.g. compare/contrast, etc.). Give out a glossary for the words your subject regularly uses, and create wall displays of key terminology in a huge font size – either in a list, or words dotted around the room.
- Close the word gap. Remember that new words also need to be understood. Explain technical language and any foreign words. Teach subject-/topic-specific vocabulary, then assess learning, both for understanding, and for spelling and word recognition.
- Whenever possible, students should be encouraged to repeat back what they have been asked to do. Their own voice is a very useful aid to memory.
- When supporting a writing task in class, try asking students to leave four or five lines at the top of the page (make a box). You can use this space to write down your comments as you walk around whilst they are working.
Download all 20 tips for supporting students' learning.
