Check everyone
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Taught is not learned
You explained it clearly and nobody asked a question. That tells you almost nothing. Silence is what a room does when some have it and some do not. This gives you one check that every learner answers before you move on, and what to do about the few who have not got it.
For example“Any questions?” Silence. On you go.
Your jobCheck the whole room, then choose what to do about the few who have not got it.
Your jobCheck the whole room, read what the split tells you, then choose who you work with.
Level 2 Business · turn 1 of 3
The handout
Break-even: the question on the board
Fixed costs are £600. Each unit costs £4 to make and sells for £10. How many units must be sold to break even?
- A 60
- B 100
- C 150
- D 6
In the roomYou have just taught break-even. The question is on the board and every learner has a mini whiteboard. 20 learners.
What do you do?
Pick one.
One check everyone answers, a count, a rule, and what you do for the few.
Why this works in your room
A check that everyone answers shows you the gap while it is still small.
For your learners: The few who have not got it are found and helped in this lesson, and the rest are not kept waiting.
For you: You stop trusting hands up and silence, and you know who to go to first next time.
Ask one thing everyone can show
After you demonstrate
“Cut one carrot. Hold up the board.” Whiteboards, fingers or one cut. Never hands up.
Count who has not
Ten seconds
Count the wrong or empty boards. Say it aloud: seven of twenty-four.
Four in five, or teach it again
The rule
Fewer than four in five have it? Teach that step again before you move on.
The few at one bench, the rest carry on
Three minutes
“You seven, with me. The rest, carry on.” Check the seven again before you leave them.
Elsewhere in Bradford ThreadWorks
Big 4Quizzes in Forms, and reading the results to plan what comes next.Open Big 4 (opens in a new tab)
WalkThrusChecking for understanding: seeing every learner's answer.Open WalkThrus (opens in a new tab)
Lesson WeaverDigital Companion: support at every bench while you reteach the few.Open Lesson Weaver (opens in a new tab)
Prompts to paste into Copilot
Two prompts to paste into Copilot. Change what is in brackets, and leave out learners' names.
A check everyone answers
I teach [subject] to [level] learners. I have just taught [step or idea]. Give me three quick checks where every learner answers at the same time, with no technology, and say what a wrong answer to each would tell me.
A plan for the few
After a check, about [number] of my [number] learners have not got [step or idea]. Give me a ten-minute plan: what I reteach to that small group, and a harder task on the same idea for everyone else.
Check everyone, not the volunteers
Rosenshine's review of what the most effective teachers do found that they check the understanding of every learner, and aim for a high success rate, about 80 per cent, before moving on.
Rosenshine, Principles of Instruction, 2012 (opens in a new tab)Find out, then adjust
Black and Wiliam's review found that teaching improves most when teachers find out what learners have understood during the lesson, and change what they do next because of it.
Black and Wiliam, Working Inside the Black Box (opens in a new tab)How sure is this?
Fairly. The principles come from classroom studies, most of them in schools. The numbers in the kitchen and the theory room are made up to show the idea: how fast a gap grows will differ with the group and the subject.
No source claimed