HSAEL News

Learning is like finding yourself abandoned in the middle of the ocean on a desert island. Somewhere on the island, covered in rocky terrain, with unpredictable weather and vicious wildlife, X marks the spot.

Some students arrive on the island fully equipped. Fire starters, water bottle, first aid kit, compass. These tools, that students acquired by total chance, allow them to make it the spot quickly, often leaving them with enough time to explore the mountains, the lofty cliffs, even enjoy the view of the setting sun. 

Other students are not so fortunate and find themselves dropped onto the island wholly unprepared. Time is of the essence. The most direct route to the spot must be taken. The teacher must find the path.

Finding this direct route has been our focus at HSAEL this half term.

The first ten minutes of every HSAEL lesson is devoted to reading, knowledge acquisition and comprehension on the lessons subject. Ten minutes are then spent checking for understanding reviewing core knowledge required for today’s lesson.

The exposition is the next ten and it is crucial. This is the path to the X. If the teacher hasn’t found the path, the students get lost.

An exemplary exposition is teacher led. An exemplary exposition has visual to focus the eye, is under-pinned by dozens of questions to check for student understanding and has clear metacognitive steps for students to follow until the learning is internalised. 

Ten minutes of exposition is plenty; if this seems impossible it is because the direct route has not been found. Your lesson will be wasting time meandering around the island. This drifting and sight-seeing benefits only the teacher’s enjoyment of the lesson and the students who are fully equipped. On these longer journeys, our ill-equipped students get lost, cognitively overwhelmed and left behind. They don’t make it to the spot. They don’t ever make it to the spot in every lesson of every day whilst they’re at secondary school for five whole years.

A 10 minute exposition is plenty of time if a teacher has a script. Teachers at HSAEL spend time before their lesson writing down the questions they will ask; the open and the closed ones, the method in which they will ask them, the hinge questions, the really, really good questions which deepen understanding and get to the crux of the matter. Teachers ask the questions that will gather the most efficient data on student understanding in the quickest possible time.

This kind of teacher preparation gets all students on the island to the spot.

Once the exposition is over, the teachers allocate students onto rounds of independent practice. Students need to be able to find the X on their own next time. 30 minutes of this independent practice follows giving students the time to absorb themselves in the practice. Next time their dropped on the island, they know the route and would never have got their by just by repeatedly being told. They get there own their own because their teacher found that direct route in the first place making sure no one gets left behind.