Colleagues,
A question from a recent lesson that I'm sure others will recognise.
We have some pupils who put their hands up almost immediately when they encounter something they find difficult. Sometimes they haven't actually tried anything yet.
We're looking at ways of encouraging pupils to pause, use the resources available to them and make an initial attempt before asking for help.
Things we've tried include:
- "Ask three before me"
- Prompt cards on desks
- Worked examples pupils can refer back to
- A short "What have you tried?" routine before providing help
Some of these seem to work better than others, particularly with younger pupils.
Interested to hear what others have found effective — and whether anyone has managed to build this into classroom routines without it becoming another thing for teachers to police.
Sarah
We've had reasonable success with a very simple rule: "Show me what you've tried."
If a pupil comes over without anything on the page, the first response is usually just that question.
It took a while to establish, but pupils now know they're expected to make an attempt before asking for teacher support.
The important bit has been making sure "having a go" doesn't just mean writing down random numbers.
We've found that "ask three before me" can be problematic for some of our pupils.
For a confident pupil it's a useful prompt to become more independent, but for some SEND learners it can simply mean sitting stuck for longer or asking another pupil who doesn't know either.
The prompt card approach has worked better for us, particularly when it includes specific things they can try rather than just telling them to persevere.
We've started using a three-step prompt in a few departments:
1. Read it again.
2. Check an example/resource.
3. Try something.
Only after that do pupils ask for help.
It's deliberately boring!
That seems to be part of why it works. It's consistent enough that staff don't have to invent a different routine every time.