Embedded Files
Georgia France on Rob Clark's (online) 'first 7 minutes'
Georgia France on Rob Clark's (online) 'first 7 minutes'
When you think of your regular classroom lesson routines, it can be hard to imagine how you can directly translate that into remote learning. Out of all the classroom routines we have, we know that the first 7 minutes of every lesson is vital. They are 7 minutes in which we greet the students, set the expectations, create the culture for the lesson and start the learning process.
To ensure these first 7 minutes are successful, it is all about routine. In a real classroom you would greet your students at the door, have a task prepared for them to do as they enter the room and quickly praise those who have got on with it straight away. They know what is coming, they are used to it and they get on with it.
Yes we are now delivering these lessons virtually, but no, our routines do not need to change and in this 30 second clip, you can see Rob tick off all of these routines.
RC - Rewards/MoP.mp4The scene is set as the students log on to the Meet. Rob has set clear expectations with the class and they know that as soon as they log on they complete the task they see. There are clear instructions for the two tasks that they must complete. The reason for Rob including two tasks on the slide is it ensures that every pupil has something to do for every minute of the 'do now' slide.
Rob knows that for this to be successful the instructions must be explicitly clear. For each task, Rob wants the work to be completed in a different area. Task 1: the work must be typed onto the slide. Task 2: the work must be completed in DPR chat. Here, Rob has pre-empted the students' questions of “Where should we complete the work?”. It also means that students who join slightly late and miss the original instructions, know exactly what it is they must do.
“Well done Naya. The fourth merit goes to Naya." Not only does Naya now feel good about the work she is producing, it is also a subtle reminder to the other students on the Meet that they need to be actively engaging with the work as there is still one more merit up for grabs for collaborating on the slide.
“Who is going to earn the final merit?” A friendly bit of competition and also a small wake up call to any student who has not yet submitted anything. Rob is drawing them into the lesson with an easy to access task but also with rewards and continuous positive reinforcement.
“And it goes to Krishna! Well done Krishna!” Krishna will now feel a sense of accomplishment as he was the student who was lucky enough to secure the final merit for the 'do now' task and this will encourage him to continue to produce work for Rob in the lesson as he knows his contributions are valued.
This is no different to the classroom. We would deliberately praise the first few students who got on task as we would want the other students to think “I want that praise, I should get on with the task."
'We would deliberately praise the first few students who got on task as we would want the other students to think “I want that praise, I should get on with the task."'
'We would deliberately praise the first few students who got on task as we would want the other students to think “I want that praise, I should get on with the task."'
As the clip ends, Rob finishes with, “There will be more merits up for grabs on Wednesday”.
Now if I was in that class I would already be thinking about logging in even quicker on Wednesday to make sure I can be in the first 5 students to get a merit. It just goes to show the power of the first 7 minutes.
Page updated
Report abuse