SLANT

Sit up/stand up straight

Listen carefully

Ask and answer questions

Never interrupt

Track the speaker

SHAPE

Speak in full sentences

Hands away from mouth

Articulate, don’t mumble

Project your voice

Eye contact

With these two routines, we are creating habits for life.

SLANT and SHAPE will ensure precious seconds of learning are not wasted and we are encouraging habits of attention and pro social behaviours that will serve our students well far beyond their school years.

SHAPE

It’s a really easy way to remember to speak well whenever our students speak in classes or with their teachers around the school.

Imagine for a second the opposite of SHAPE. When we don’t expect the minimum of good talk in our classrooms, we begin to accept the opposite of SHAPE: single word responses, hands over the mouth, mumbling speech, muted voices and no eye contact. At best it is awkward and worst it is rude! And the scary part of this is, that is what becomes a habit for many young people who leave school, enter the world of work and struggle to secure good jobs, because they are judged – rightly or wrongly – on superficial first impressions.

SLANT: pro-social behaviours

Doug Lemov argues that while teacher relationships are important, they are not as important as the social climate we create in our classrooms. Our students feel so much more validated, motivated and successful when they receive the social cues that suggest their words are important, from their peers. And SLANT helps us instil these pro social behaviours in our students:

• We teach them to sit up straight – it indicates we are paying attention – not slouched and uninterested

• We teach them to ask/answer questions and not interrupt – it says ‘we acknowledge, honour and respect our peer’s contributions’.

• We teach them to track the speaker – it says, ‘I am interested in what you are saying; I care’.

Consistent expectations are what our students deserve. It is not fair on them when they are left to guess different expectations in different lessons

• Pupils have clarity from lesson to lesson (less sanctions)

• Reinforces teacher’s authority

• Pupils develop crucial habits for life (social, emotional, academic).

Students WILL make mistakes with SLANT and SHAPE. This we can expect. What we can’t accept is us not doing anything about it.

What we do not accept at CST

• We do not accept unSLANTing after calling for SLANT

• We do not accept muted voices

• We do not accept mumbled, half sentences

• We do not accept defiance after we have communicated the expectation

• Forgets to front load the highest expectation BEFORE the activity/phase that will require SHAPE and SLANT

• SLANT: Doesn’t ‘see’ or worse, ignores sloppy SLANT / unSLANTing

• SHAPE: Doesn’t hear or worse, ignores the un SHAPEd response / missing FG full stop

• Allows sloppy SLANT/SHAPE from certain students to maintain ‘relationship’ with student

• Doesn’t embed expectations because ‘they behave for me’

• Allows defiance. Doesn’t issue R-W-BIR when student falls short of expectations

• Believes ‘SHAPE doesn’t apply in my subject’

• UnSLANTs soon after SLANTing

• Leans on back of chair when in SLANT

• Is deliberately slow to SLANT

• Forgets FG full stop

• Doesn’t project even after being reminded to

• Believes there is no consequence for doing the above

BEFORE the activity / phase

SLANT

When I ask for SLANT, I expect you to be sat up straight, arms folded, elbows off the table and tracking the speaker.

SHAPE

We speak like Geographers and we are articulate. I expect to hear all responses fully SHAPEd. And we are polite. Always remember the FG full stop.

If you have communicated your expectation clearly, sanction non compliance.

Daniel, you are not SLANTing like the rest of the class, that is a reminder to you that you must follow my instructions. Next time, I know you are going to be the best

Let them know the spinach you would like to remove:

I have noticed when we SLANT, we are not quick enough. In today’s lesson, I want to see this change. We want no wasted seconds. Let’s do a quick practise now….That’s how we must do it all the time Year 8.

Clean slate

If you recognise that your classes are not doing the above properly and habits have formed that mean a mediocre SHAPE and SLANT, start again. There is nothing wrong with this. You control whether we are mediocre or CST!

• Restate your expectations.

• Spend a portion of the start of your lessons reiterating what you expect to see all the time.

• Take the time to get this right.

1. SLANT/SHAPE create habits for life

2. Be conscious of the high frequency errors

3. Accept nothing less than the best version of SLANT and SHAPE

• Our Vision for Confident and Articulate Speakers at FGCS by Thahmina Begum

• Doug Lemov Tips for the Return to Classroom, Mr Barton’s Maths Blog

• Christine Torres crushes the ‘Habits of Discussion’, Doug Lemov’s field notes

• Teach Like a Champion 3.0 by Doug Lemov