Research School Network: 3 Questions to Enhance Teacher Modelling 3 Questions to Enhance Teacher Modelling. A simple framework to make the implicit explicit.

Recommendation 3 from the EEF’s Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning guidance report is ​‘Model your own thinking to help pupils develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills.’

When shifting our approach from modelling processes to modelling thinking as well as processes, we have to be a little more conscious. It is easier to show explicit processes than to demonstrate implicit ones. And even as experts, it can be difficult for us to articulate the complexity of our own thoughts.

Frameworks such as the one we shared in our What to Reveal When Modelling blog, can help us to be explicit about the following:

• Planning – thinking before the task what the best approaches will be and what might help us to be successful.
• Monitoring – assessing our own progress and adapting accordingly.
• Evaluating – looking back at how we did and how successful our strategies were. Making changes as a result.
• Knowledge of self – what we know about ourselves, how we feel about a task, our experiences of being successful.
• Knowledge of strategies – being able to choose the right tools for the job.
• Knowledge of the task – what we know that will help us in this particular task, rather than any generic strategies.

In this post, we highlight three simple questions to ask to help make it easier to frame some of these processes. The questions can be used when planning, but we see them as a simple reminder when modelling to help enhance the level of thinking.

By asking the question, we illustrate two main ideas:

That there is a process of deciding what the goal is, rooted in the task itself. And then there is a decision around strategies to achieve that goal.

Sometimes, when we go straight to the modelling of a process our pupils don’t see this part. For example, when a teacher is modelling a particular approach in mathematics, they may model the thought processes of using that strategy, but not necessarily the decision to use the strategy in the first place. And in an exam situation, the decision to choose a particular method to answer a particular question is important, so we should model it.

When we ask ​‘What is the best approach?’, we are making clear that we could choose other approaches. So we can think aloud the exploration of other options. For example, when planning an essay, the teacher could choose between various planning strategies and decide that one is most effective for this type of question.

Remember, we are not just trying to help pupils get better at the task, we want to help them self-regulate in these kinds of moments too.

‘How am I doing?’ is always a relative question, rather than a thumbs up or thumbs down. So, in a writing task, we could ask:

• How am I doing compared to my last attempt?
• How am I doing compared to my original plan?
• How am I doing compared to my general writing targets?
• How am I doing in relation to audience, form and purpose?
• How am I doing in relation to the marking scheme?

Asking questions like this emphasises that aspect of monitoring. It shows that experts check their progress and adjust accordingly. It also links back to the first question, because when asking how we are doing, it relates back to choices that we made right at the start.

Experts have a range of ways that they monitor, so this could include checklists, success criteria, targets, instructions. 

At the end of the process, we want to model self-reflection. It’s easy for teachers to present a final model as the standard. But experts never stop there. They are always looking for refinements and improvements. Because just like the previous question, we are not making absolute judgments, rather are using ​‘in relation to’ again.

Causal attribution is important to model. Suppose we have modelled bowling in cricket, we might have hit the wicket or missed. In both cases, we can apply causation. ​“I missed just to the left because my body was not fully in line so I will make sure I keep everything aligned next time.”; ​“I was successful because I have been practising in my spare time. I will continue to do this as it has clearly helped.”

We want to attribute to controllable processes where we can, because this implies that it is our strategy choices which lead to success.

So, 3 simple questions which can make clear some processes that pupils might never see.

Download an additional questioning resource from the EEF below.