Time
Activity
5 minutes
Set the tone and share aims of the session
10 minutes
Wider reading task
10 minutes
Debate on different ideas from the key educational thinkers
10 minutes
Introduce specific strategies
15 minutes
Coaching session on specific strategies for own class context
15 minutes
Practice task focusing on applying these strategies
10 minutes
Reflection and evaluation of the session
Aims of the session
1. To engage with the ideas of Robert Marzano
and Doug Lemov on how to stretch students.
2. To share effective strategies based on
research about how to develop students’
language.
3. To reflect on how to implement these
strategies with our own classes.
4. To modify existing practice to improve the
outcomes of a particular class or a targeted
group of students.
Why is language critical for success?
How would you identify if a student
has good language skills?
What impact does having good
language skills have on a student’s
chance of success across the
curriculum?
Take a couple of
minutes to discuss
these questions with
the person sitting
next to you.
Wider reading task
What are the key ideas that Robert Marzano and Doug
Lemov have with regards to increasing the level of
challenge for students?
Each of you in your pairs will be given a different handout.
Read the handout and be prepared to share what each
educational thinker says about ensuring students are
challenged in class.
Debating these ideas
How might Robert
Marzano’s ideas help
students to develop their
academic language?
How might Doug Lemov’s
ideas help teachers to make
language central to
students’ learning?
What are the possible
issues with implementing
Robert Marzano’s and Doug
Lemov’s ideas?
Thinking about your own
students, who might
struggle to adapt to these
methods of developing
language?
Implementing Marzano’s ideas
Practical strategy: Vocabulary notebooks to support vocabulary
upgrades
• Give each student a vocabulary notebook with one page for
each word.
• Divide the page into: the word; an example; a sentence using
the word; a visual representation; synonyms; antonyms.
• Give students a passage of text with easy words highlighted.
Ask students to replace these words with more academic (tier
2) choices or technical (tier 3) choices.
• Students share their new versions of the text with their peers.
• You can then select a few examples and use them as a
stimulus for whole class discussion.
Implementing Lemov’s ideas
Practical strategy: Right is right – Oral rehearsal
• To increase the quality of students’ responses, give them
some time to work out how they will respond to your
question and practise an oral rehearsal.
• Randomly select a handful of students to stand up and
verbalise their response.
• The class have to decide which answer or answers are
100% correct commenting on the content and the
vocabulary used.
• The teacher’s role is to draw out some of the subtleties in
the students’ responses rather than to say straight away
which answers are best.
Our students
Take a minute to think about a student, a group of students
or a class you teach who might benefit from this strategy.
Why have you chosen these particular students?
Be ready to share your selected students with the rest of
the group.
Coaching to develop our practice
We will now work in pairs where each person in the pair
will be coached about how they may implement a
particular strategy from Marzano or Lemov.
At the end of the conversation, each person will need to
commit to an action going forward that will help
students to develop their use of language.
The GROW model
GOAL
What do they
want to
achieve?
Why do they
want to
achieve this?
REALITY
What are the
issues they are
facing that are
hindering their
goals?
What have
they tried
already?
OPTIONS
WAY FORWARD
What have
What are they
they thought
going to commit
about that
to trying?
they could try?
What do they
What do they hope will be the
think are the
impact?
pros and cons
of each
option?
The GROW model – developing students’ language
GOAL
REALITY
Which strategy do
What barriers to
you want to try out? learning are you
encountering from
Which students
these students?
might benefit?
How are these
How might these
barriers affecting
students benefit
their ability to think
from this strategy?
deeply about ideas
discussed in your
class?
OPTIONS
WAY FORWARD
What have you tried What actions are
already?
you going to
commit to moving
What were the pros forward?
and cons to what
you’ve tried?
What support will
you need to make it
How might this
happen?
strategy be better?
How will you know
if it has had
successful impact?
Practice tasks
Vocabulary notebooks and
vocabulary upgrades
•
•
•
Think about something you are going
to teach where you will be introducing
a lot of new terminology.
Decide on the key words you are
going to teach and design a page
template for the notebook.
Then practise writing passages linked
to the content you will be teaching
where students can upgrade certain
words using their notebook.
Right is right – oral rehearsal
•
•
•
Think about something you are going
to teach where you could set up a
class discussion.
Decide on the questions you want
students to respond to during the
discussion.
Create a resource to support students
in using the correct language when
responding to these questions.
Reflection and evaluation
Question
What strategies do you already routinely use
with students to develop students’ use of
language?
What did you want to get out of today’s
session?
How has today’s session developed your
understanding of how to improve students’
academic language?
What specific changes are you going to commit
to making after today’s session?
What further information or training would you
like the lead learner to offer to support you in
achieving these changes?
Response