Get your learners to raise their game and achieve their potential, building resilience and pride in effort
It’s no secret that schools love collecting and analysing data. Test results, question level analyses, target grades, behaviour data … we use so many numbers to try to understand how our pupils are performing. Among these numerous spreadsheets and trackers, it is easy to miss the one factor that will change the outcomes of our pupils most – how hard they are working. Whether that is in the classroom or at home, there is no substitute for effort.
Set students up for success
It is relatively simple to collect ‘data’ about how hard your pupils are working – you can watch them in lessons. Do they pay attention? Do they put their hands up regularly to participate? Do they work diligently during independent practice tasks? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, then this must be the most urgent fix. For example, you can increase attention and participation in lessons by using high-frequency, all-hands-up questioning or giving more praise, especially for errors.
It is relatively simple to collect ‘data’ about how hard your pupils are working – you can watch them in lessons. Do they pay attention? Do they put their hands up regularly to participate? Do they work diligently during independent practice tasks? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, then this must be the most urgent fix. Read my other EiC articles for tips to increase attention and participation in lessons by using high-frequency, all-hands-up questioning (rsc.li/4nSOfsZ) or giving more praise, especially for errors (rsc.li/3JIkb5y).
Notice this isn’t about getting the answers right; it’s the hard work that counts
To improve effort during independent practice I use a framework: set pupils up for success before the task, then hold them to account during and after. They will engage much better with independent tasks if you’ve given them really explicit instruction in the content. For example, if you are teaching your class how to calculate relative formula mass, do you first model how to use the periodic table and how to lay out your working? Are you confident every child is likely to succeed in attempting the task they are about to tackle?
Once pupils begin, wait at least one minute and scan the room. Do not begin to circulate until everyone is in flow. Now it is time to hold pupils to account. Tackle any off-task behaviour by using the behaviour system in your school. Turning around to distract others, for example, is a choice the pupil is making to evade hard work. Holding pupils to account when they make such choices teaches them to persevere, even when things are difficult. Equally, warmly praise the pupils who are working diligently to reinforce the habit. After the task, take a pupil’s book and share it under the visualiser: ‘Look at this – Sarah has completed all 10 practice questions and she’s laid out her working exactly like I showed – excellent effort, Sarah.’ Notice this isn’t about getting the answers right; it’s the hard work that counts.
Hard work at home
If we want hard work to become a habit in our pupils, it is important to set meaningful homework. The best tasks require pupils to practise what you have explicitly taught them in lessons, just like with independent practice. Avoid varying the task to make completion frictionless: use the same format and style of homework, at a regular slot. For example, 30 questions set and due every Tuesday, period five. Have a clear system for checking pupils have attempted every question. No ‘the dog ate it’ excuses allowed!
You can significantly improve homework completion with high stakes quizzing each week. On the day homework is due, pupils sit a short 10 mark quiz under exam conditions testing them on what they learned. I celebrate those pupils who score well, using stickers and praise galore. I make my disappointment very clear to anyone who falls short of expectations. Not because getting things wrong is bad, but because not working hard is. I might say, ‘I’m disappointed that you have let me and yourself down by not working hard enough. You are more than capable of learning this knowledge.’
Don’t feel guilty about this narration. Pupils love quizzes because they feel their habits change. They work harder in their homework and become prouder for knowing more, and this becomes a virtuous circle. Try it out and you’ll be surprised at just how much pupils enjoy rising to meet your high standards of working hard.
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