Active Engagement
Teaching That Responds to Learning
Active engagement creates high levels of participation in lessons, focuses student attention, and allows teachers to monitor progress frequently. We regularly check for understanding to identify misconceptions early and adjust teaching in real time.
Our First Principles
1. Cognitive Engagement
Design questions that require all students to think deeply and critically.
2. Question Variety
Use a range of question types to explore what students know, understand, and believe.
3. Purposeful Discussion
Structure discussion to be inclusive, intentional, and rich with student voice.
4. Ongoing Checks
Check for understanding consistently with every new concept or skill.
5. Spaced Practice
Use a daily and weekly review routine with spaced questioning to support long-term memory development.
Techniques
Brain Dumps
A quick retrieval strategy (a ‘free recall’ task) where students independently record everything they can remember about a topic.
Hinge Questions
A hinge question is a carefully designed multiple-choice question used at a key point in a lesson to check whether students understand the core concept being taught.
Jigsaw Discussion
A jigsaw discussion is a collaborative learning approach in which students specialise in one aspect of a topic, master the content, and then teach the material to other group members.
Mini Whiteboards
Teachers use mini whiteboards to give them instant feedback on how well students understand key facts, concepts and processes.
Probing Questions
Teachers use probing questions as part of systematic checking for understanding and misconceptions, ensuring they don’t assume learning has occurred.
Quick Review: 1 – 7 – 30
Set a short task that prompts students to recall key knowledge taught one day, one week, and one month ago.
Rally Coach
In pairs, students take turns to solve multi-step problems while their partner acts as a coach, offering instruction and feedback.
Self-Regulated Learning: One-Word Strategy
The One-Word Strategy is a teacher-facilitated goal-setting approach where students identify a single guiding word that represents their focus for learning and behaviour, supporting intentional decision-making, reflection, and self-regulation.
Self-Regulated Learning: Tally Strategy
The Tally Strategy is a teacher-facilitated self-monitoring approach where students are supported to notice when their attention has drifted, record this privately, and deliberately refocus, building awareness and control of their engagement during learning.
SQ3R Reading Method
The SQ3R method is an effective way for students to comprehend complex texts and to understand and retain study material.
Think, Pair, Share
This technique involves structured discussion involving all students in sharing and rehearsing ideas.
