Give Outstanding Instruction to Improve Student Outcomes

You explain something carefully, set the task, and a row of hands goes up asking what they're meant to be doing. Most of us have been there, and it rarely means the explanation was wrong. It usually means it came in one big piece.

The fix is mostly habits you already know and let slip on a busy week. Teach in small steps and check before moving on, using hinge questions or pose, pause, pounce, bounce instead of "any questions?". Think aloud as you work through an example, and aim for pupils to get about three-quarters of their practice right, because practising errors only embeds them.

It comes from watching lessons in hundreds of schools and colleges, and it isn't a checklist. Take the ideas that fit your subject and your learners, and leave the rest.