SLANT is a way of creating the correct social climate in our classrooms. SHAPE is a great way to remind students how they should speak in lessons: She talks about how she uses SHAPE and SLANT to improve the confidence and focus of her students. Headteacher Thahmina Begum explains this brilliantly in her blog ‘ Our vision for confident and articulate students at FGCS’. We also communicate our high expectations, by how we expect our students to ‘ be’ in our classrooms.
This ensures that each question generates thinking throughout the class. Following the pause, the teacher then directs the question at a student, using their name. ‘Cold Call’ – when a question is asked, ensure there is a pause whilst all students are expected to think about the answer.
‘ Without Apology’ – embrace, rather than apologise for, rigorous content, academic challenge and the hard work necessary for scholarship. As Lemov says ‘ The complete sentence is the battering ram that knocks down the door to college’. So, insist on full sentences, correct grammar and the appropriate use of tier two/three vocabulary. ‘Format Matters’ – make sure that students are responding in a way that communicates the worthiness of their ideas. Why? Most students will initially give a ‘safe’ answer, so it’s important to stretch their thinking, with a more challenging question. ‘ Stretch it’ – the reward for a ‘correct’ answer, should be a harder question. Keep going with your questioning until their response meets your high expectations. ‘Right is Right’ – when students are responding to questions, don’t accept superficial or partially correct answers. The important thing is that they don’t get away with taking the easy way out. This might include reframing the question, giving a prompt to help them come up with the answer, or asking another student and getting the original student to repeat the correct answer back to you. ‘No Opt Out’ – rather than allowing students to get away with ‘ I don’t know’ as a response to a question, find a way to help them get it right and experience success. Here are some of the teaching strategies that Lemov suggests: How do the most effective teachers thread this through their teaching day in and day out? Doug Lemov, shares some great strategies for this in ‘ Teach Like a Champion 3.0’. It’s interesting to think about what this really looks like in practice. It’s not uncommon for teachers and leaders to talk about the importance of high expectations and how they insist on this in their classroom and school.
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