• Consistent use of SHAPE and SLANT encourage our students to establish good habits of attention. If combined carefully in a classroom talk, we have habits of discussion.

• Discussion fundamentals: voice, tracking, names: insist on speaking loud enough, remind them to show interest and create a listening culture by looking at speaker, remind and expect them to use each other’s names, I agree with Daniel because...

• Cold call follow on: helps to socialise students to listen to each other Daniel, do you agree with Chris? This way, we are also expecting students to be listening to their peers, not just us!

• Follow on prompting: set an expectation of being ‘always listening, always ready’ during discussions/questioning.

  • Directive follow on prompting: Ahmed, do you agree with Emma?

  • Non directive: Develop, David [David responds]...Add on to this Sara….[Sara responds]

In the classrooms where SHAPE responses are the norm, the climate is just wonderful: students are invigorated, they are smiling and nodding, and the intellectual challenge and peer-to-peer respect is palpable; students feel and are successful. Peps Mccrea, in Motivated Teaching, discusses the importance of ‘securing success’ as one of the levers behind student motivation; given pro social cues develop students’ sense of identity, inclusion and success, this is a sure fire way to use that lever.

Through our use of SHAPE and SLANT, we build routines around the how of learning – another lever in Mccrea’s book: ‘running routines’ so that student effort is reserved for the ‘what’ of learning. The ‘how’ becomes part of a low effort habit that we build up over time. But what we mustn’t do, and what many of us do do, even when it appears to be working, is give up our efforts to achieve this consistently across our classes.

Because habits of discussion, SHAPE responses and a perfect SLANT isn’t just about a nice classroom environment, it is fundamentally a lever that will serve our students well beyond school. This is why we want to develop confident and articulate students at FGCS.

Teacher

• Not explaining explicitly the rules of discussion before starting the discussion (students therefore don’t remember to be ‘always ready, always listening’

• Allowing ‘muted’ voices to persist so no one can hear and therefore no one can take part in the discussion

• Not allowing preparation time so that students are ready to respond if called upon

Student

• Not listening so is stuck when teacher calls on them to add to a peer’s response

• Responds without any link to peer’s response (they do not demonstrate that they have been listening to peer)

Explicitly outline the rules of discussion

• We’re going to have a discussion. I’m going to set the timer for four minutes.

• While I’m calling on you to share, I want to see habits of discussion…

• I want to see you tracking the speaker; remember, we are learning from each other

Provide sentence starters

• Adding to what Ahmed said…

• I agree with Taylor about… but…

• Sara made an interesting comment about...I also think…

• Similar to Chris’ example, there was another example where...

• Always insist on SHAPE responses

• Explicitly set out rules of discussion at the start of the discussion

• Facilitate follow on Ahmed do you agree with Emma?

• Allow students the time to be prepared to respond in the discussion

• 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

• Motivated Teaching by Peps Mccrea

• Teach Like a Champion 3.0 by Doug Lemov