PREMIUM: How I try to make my examples work

Part 8 of the My Teaching series.

Something told me that 9Z6 might not have fully grasped how to use the quadratic formula after one example.

The story so far…

I have been looking at how I used to teach (when my pupils achieved impressive results) and how I teach now. I don’t think I am doing anything impressive now, but I still think it’s worth reflecting on how I teach.

In Part 1, I described the context in which I work:

• I teach part-time and don’t have my own classroom.

• My school has policies that dictate many lesson features and routines.

• As part of those policies, all lessons are based on workbooks.

There have been seven posts so far. The most recent one described the introductory part of an explanation.

• Part 1: How I start a lesson

• Part 2: Taking the register

• Part 3: Handing things out

• Part 4: Completing and marking the Engage Task

• Part 5: Using the mini whiteboards

• Part 6: It's 2025 and I'm still using PowerPoint

• Part 7: Starting an explanation

In this post, I will discuss how I explain the main content of the lesson, which usually involves demonstrating methods and procedures.