Lessons · Teaching · checking for understanding mid-lesson
Check every few minutes, not at the end
Checking for understanding is something you do several times inside a lesson, from everybody at once, so that you find out while there is still time to do something about it.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The exit ticket told you at 10:58 that half the room had the wrong method, and they had been practising it since 10:24. Thirty-four minutes of practice went into making one mistake permanent, and an eight second check at 10:26 would have stopped it.
How to think about it
Every few minutes ask one question that everybody answers at once and that you can read at a glance: boards up, fingers one to four, a single word written. Then decide: move on, or reteach now. Write the decision rule on the plan before the lesson, so you are not inventing it while tired.
Worked example
10:24 taught the methodThe input, done.
10:26 boards up, one item: 22 of 30 rightTwo minutes in, cheap enough to do again in four minutes.
10:30 boards up, second item: 28 of 30 rightNow moving on is a decision with something behind it.
Rule on the plan: reteach below 24 of 30Set before the lesson, so the hard call is already made.
Your turn
A check gives 21 right out of 30. Write the line that turns that into a percentage.
21 / 30 × 100 = %
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Checking with 'does everyone understand?'. The people who do not understand are exactly the people who cannot tell that they do not, and the ones who can tell will not say so in front of the room.