Lesson out the window? Improvisation begets innovation
Kids are unpredictable. You may have the best norms and routines in place. You may be working, every minute of every lesson, to create a consistent and supportive learning environment. But you never really know what you will get when the students sit down to learn (or elect not to sit down!).
I’ve been reflecting recently on some sessions that have not gone to plan. My immediate reaction is a sense of failure, and of wishing I could have held it together. But a few occasions like this have also opened up the potential for improvisation; and spontaneity has sometimes brought forth some sparks of success.
Sometimes, lessons have to be thrown out in the moment.
And that’s ok!
When it all gets derailed
Often it feels like guiding my young foundation students through the morning block is like driving a train. If I can keep the pace at optimum, put out issues/spot-fires, and reduce the toilet and drink disruptions, I just manage to get through everything while checking that every child is understanding. But one too many off-topic questions, or a child whose attention has waned and decides to stop participating can set the whole locomotive off track. Small, but repeated disruptions eat up my attention, I stop teaching and help those students out, and by the time I get back into the engine, Jeffrey* and Mei* are rolling on the floor, or crawling under the table.
I think in these moments it’s important for teachers to be kind to themselves. We cannot have perfect lessons all the time, and disruptions are expected throughout the day, especially with young students.
*Pseudonyms
It can be hard to get the lesson on track
Having an openness to improvisation, or a few tricks up your sleeve, can help guide teachers through these challeging moments, and occasionally you strike gold.
managing all the requests
Something that has helped to reduce these disruptions is the use of common request gestures. I have instituted hand symbols which my students in the Cognitorium can use to communicate their common requests to me:
Shape of T = Toilet
Drinking Hand Motion = Drink of Water
Rubbing Hands = Wash hands / Use Sanitiser
Writing in Air = Sharpen / Get a New Pencil
Rubbing arms as if cold = Go get my jacket or jumper
All other questions, comments, or issues students can raise their hands. We have a strict hands-up policy for these, so that we avoid repeated calling out and speaking over one another. But even with these routines, lessons can still disintegrate…
Foundation Maths derailment
A ten frame from the lesson that was swiftly derailed.
The session which went out the window, inspiring this post, was a few weeks ago during Mathematics. The students were doing their second session on ten frames, and there was a large range between the fastest students, and the ones needing more time and consolidation.
After guided practice, students went back to their tables, and after one minute of engaged bliss, we started careering off the rails. Dice were being thrown more wildly than anticipated. Students were writing on their tens frame rather than placing blocks. Others had opted to begin making block towers or swords, discarding their precious ten frames. Students requests and problems bombarded me, as the fights ensued.
I attempted to keep it together, but in that moment I saw the whole lesson dissipating. A change of tact popped into my head, and I began featuring the students’ representations of their numbers by projecting my phone camera onto the TV (thank goodness for screen mirroring on AirPlay). Suddenly, I had an anchor. Everyone wanted to have their work televised for the class, and a chance to wave to the “camera”. Off-task behaviours minimised, as groups were nudged to keep modelling their numbers, and checking their work, so they could get some air-time.
A tower measurement task from a later lesson in which I using the AirPlay live feed idea.
As this incentivizer began to wear off I leant into the tower interest of some students, and transitioned them to the floor. Still practising their counting skills, I gave more blocks to each pair, asking them to make a new tower and tell me how high they had built it. For each pair, we measured block by block, allowing me to model “counting on”, and also checking the students’ counting accuracy. A city of skyscrapers was erected in the centre of the mat, and even the most distractible students were hooked at the idea of making the tallest tower, and knowing just how tall it was.
Following this (on-the-surface) quite shaky lesson, I have used these two techniques—AirPlay on the screen to get a live camera feed, and building towers in a circle—as part of later Maths lessons. But I wouldn’t have stumbled upon them had it not been for my abandonment of the original lesson plan.
Planning - How much?
I want to finish with a quick discussion about planning. I greatly value careful and comprehensive planning. I have big ambitions, for our school and others, to develop cohesive and coherent units of study, that can be adapted and refined systematically over time, and to avoid the need to reinvent the wheel (as discussed last week). Clarendon College’s work on this high level of planning sophistication is inspiring, and I owe a great deal to Reid Smith of Ochre Education for sharing these school-wide practices.
Incredible work is being undertaken at our school this year on Read2Learn and Write2Learn units, which will be ready to teach again in 2023. So next year the teachers at my school should be freed up more to focus on what students are doing and how they are responding, rather than constantly wondering what should I be teaching them next??
Plan systematically, teach flexibly
Advice on being systematic and flexible is a recurrent theme with my colleagues: For example, our Foundation team leader, Marina Vovos-Hernandez, is a meticulous planner, always forward thinking. But she is also incredibly flexible and looking for ways to optimise the day to best suit the evolving situations. I think all teachers deep down know that rigidity can stifle the creativity and spontaneity needed to teach little humans. So it’s ok to lean into that responsiveness and know that plans will not always be followed to the tee.
I am certainly emphasising that great planning, especially the kind the removes the guesswork from lesson to lesson, is invaluable.
When planning is undertaken as part of a long-term view on how to develop learners it is particularly worthwhile. At our school, we are shifting to seeing the curriculum as sets of skills and knowledge that are built and built upon each year.
Plan well, but also innovate through some improvisation when needed
It’s important to try new things out spontaneously as well.
Final thoughts
I think about the Cognitorium not only as a space for developing my class of learners, but also as a sandbox: a place for learning and experimenting as an educator, in the hope that this exploration will uncover more treasure to share with my fellow teachers. Yes - things can fall flat, or backfire. But often when I change it up, in response to an immediate need, the results can be insightful and implementable at a later time, following reflection and refinement.
I’d love to hear about the lessons that have gone out the window for you, and any techniques you have learned or developed in the process.
Thanks for visiting, and see you next week!
ABOUT me
Dr Nathaniel Swain
I am a Teacher, Instructional Coach, Researcher and Writer. I am passionate about language, literacy and learning, and effective and engaging teaching for all students.
I teach a class of first year foundation students, in a space affectionately known as Dr Swain’s Cognitorium. I also work as Science of Learning Specialist in my school.
Upcoming Events
I’m excited to be speaking at The Age Schools Summit in Melbourne on the 23rd March 2022. I have the pleasure of appearing on a panel discussing the so-called “reading wars”, and providing a scientifically supported view on how best to teach reading and writing. I hope you can join me!
I cannot wait to present with Emina McLean and Shane Pearson in three presentations for the 2022 Language, Literacy and Learning Conference (online in April 2022). Hope to see you there!