Spring 2 - 21st February 2022

Whole School CPD Focus:

Purposeful Writing (Explaining and Modelling)

Walkthru Cluster:

Explaining and Modelling

Walkthru:

Live Modelling (pg. 78)

Reflections…

A brief walk around Walton le Dale will allow you to witness teachers making use of visualisers to show students how to progress in their learning.  The ‘I do-We do-You do’ approach is certainly part of our teaching and learning consciousness. However Sherrington’s live modelling Walkthru refines this feedback mechanism so that students are shown how to do something along with the key procedures underpinning this.  This metacognitive strategy is important – making the implicit explicit – as well as providing WAGOLLs along the way to serve as scaffolds for students to base their work on in the early stages.

The Walton le Dale approach to lesson planning follow’s David Didau’s recommended sequence: Explain ® Model ® Scaffold ® Practice. This Walkthru basically unpicks these stages and ensures that the first three steps in this sequence are made explicit to students. 

So what are the five stages of Sherrington’s Walkthru?

Stage One: Model Each Stage Step by Step

For any give task, talk through the preliminary thinking.  Before starting, narrative the process of thinking through the problem: What is being asked? What information do I already have? What are we aiming to achieve? Then start to complete the task yourself, talking through each step one action at a time. Use a visualiser or other visual method here to ensure that students can see what is being done. No one should be copying at this stage.  ALL should be listening and watching.

Stage Two: Model How You Organise Messy Thinking

Part of the modelling narrative should include your decision-making process. How do you decide what to do next? You might wish to float two or three good ideas before selecting one.  Model this.  If you go back to edit or improve your work, then model this as a normal part of the process.  If you have an array of ideas, model how you would go about putting them into a logical sequence.

Stage Three: Review the Success of Quality of Your Work

Stand back from your modelled example and review it. Check for understanding of each step. Evaluate whether your model is correct.  Does it complete or meet the success criteria? This step should model the process that students should take when reviewing their own work. Make this explicit. Have I done it well? Am I correct? Discuss ways it could be improved. If you would like students to discuss your example, this is the moment to do this.

Stage Four: Model Alternatives and Further Examples

There may be multiple ways to achieve success and it is important to liberate students’ thinking by showing this.  Model multiple alternatives, highlighting how they each meet the criteria and valid routes to success.  One example is rarely enough to communicate a method.

Stage Five: Set Tasks to Emulate the Model

Modelling is just the beginning of the process; it is important that students now try to put the ideas into practice themselves.  Initially Guided Practice will be important.  Then students should move towards Independent Practice.  At each point, make reference to the modelled examples and how this meets the success criteria.

Previous blogs and Walkthrus in this cluster:

• Deliberate Vocabulary Development
• Worked Examples
• Dual Coding
• Big Picture, Small Picture
• Abstract Models, Concrete Examples

CPD Cascade

National College

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