Rhythms of the classroom: maintaining the perfect pace in lessons

Every day, waves of curious minds flood into your classroom, eager, anxious or indifferent in their own ways. But you know that imparting the vital knowledge of your lessons isn’t the only important component. Through trial, error and triumphs, teachers learn that the pace of a lesson can be the unsung hero of education - the key to engaging students. In this blog, we uncover strategies direct from the classroom that you can employ to help master the tempo of your lessons.

What does ‘pace’ mean in lessons?

When we talk about the "pace of a lesson" in the world of teaching, we're basically diving into how fast or slow a class goes. Like setting the speed on a treadmill – too fast and you're out of breath, too slow and you're barely moving. It's all about finding that sweet spot to ensure engagement from everyone in the room.

The following are the key considerations when looking to improve the pace of your lessons.

Pace of content delivery

The obvious key element is how fast to go through the material in your lessons. The tricky bit here is making the speed just right for everyone. Go too fast and you’ll expand attainment gaps. But if you go too slowly you’ll create passive learners and space for bad behaviour to thrive.

Transitions

Moving from one task to another needs to be smooth. You want your transitions to flow, again, with no space for bad behaviour to rear its ugly head and for little learning time to be lost.

Adaptability

Sometimes, you’ve got to improvise and move with the flow of your class. This definitely becomes easier with time - even experienced teachers might need time at the beginning of the academic year to do this well.

If your class isn't getting something, you slow down. If they’re on a roll, you pick up the pace. If it’s a hot summer day and everyone’s falling asleep, you switch it up. If it’s raining - batten down the hatches and hold on for dear life!

Checking in: AFL

Taking a quick pit stop to make sure everyone’s still on the journey with you and understanding things ensures a good pace of lesson - and informs the pace of the rest of the lesson.

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Variety of approach

A diverse range of teaching methods helps to maintain interest and appeals to different learner needs - keeping things interesting helps with engagement in your lesson which is never a bad thing.

Practical tips and ideas for improving the pace of your lessons

Making sure the pace of your lessons is just right is crucial for effective teaching and learning. Here are some tips for teachers to maintain an optimal pace in their lessons.

1. Greet them at the door

You’ve probably heard this tip many times, and it may not logistically work for everyone, but it is a golden oldie. Use what you know about the class to make a decision about what ‘version’ of you will greet them. Just had PE? Maybe go for the calm and quiet version. Just come out of a slow-moving assembly? Maybe pick the energy up a bit!

2. Activities waiting

Whether you hand out worksheets at the door or have an activity waiting for them on their desk, having a task ready and waiting for students is a great way to ensure they hit the ground running. Make sure to make the task meaningful - mark it, feedback etc. Students can sense pointlessness.

3. Thoughtful starters

Plan a starter that everyone can access - it will ensure a smooth start to the lesson and will give every student a kick of confidence before they attack some more difficult content.

A great way to do this is to have a starter based on flipped learning homework, as students are more likely to have some idea of what to write.

4. Set them up right

Whatever the reason, some students will come with a lack of equipment. This can be a huge disruption to the beginning of a lesson. Make sure you have prepped for this eventuality. Keep a pot of pens around for students to borrow pens, or have some kind of trading post situation (how many pens do you reckon you have lost over the years?!) in order to ensure all students have what they need to crack on. Students give you something to trade for a pen for the duration of the lesson - something they won’t forget to get back at the end of the lesson.

5. Red zones

We’ve already mentioned using a range of teaching approaches to keep things exciting and to be inclusive, but have you planned time for silence? ‘Red zones’ or planned silent work can help those who need quiet to concentrate. It also ensures that the AfL you do is based on the individual student’s ability and knowledge.

6. Plan your transitions

To ensure your transitions are smooth, consider and plan for them. If it’s a worksheet, pre-hand them out face down so that they’re not a distraction but easily accessible. If it’s work on a tablet, have them out on the desks - or at the very least, ensure a routine for handing out is understood early in the academic year.

Clear time limits are key here too - put a timer on the board, and utilise your school’s reward system for those who are successful.

7. Remove any barriers

Barriers to learning are plentiful - too many to tackle in one blog. But we do have some quick wins that you can employ. Try some of the following to help ensure pace is kept for each individual student during any one activity:

• Savvy grouping of students

• Use of your TA - if you’re lucky enough to have one

• Utilise support materials

• Use mark schemes or ‘hint sheets’

• Template answers and WAGOLLs (‘What a good one looks like’)

• Provide key words

8. Avoid ‘dead time’

No lesson should include ‘dead time’, or it should be limited as much as possible. This can be difficult if you have students working at different paces. You can use support material to help those who move at a slower pace, and/or you can provide extension activities for those who work at a faster pace.

It helps if there is always something students can routinely turn to if they finish their work quickly. Continuously adding new words to a glossary at the back of books can be a good activity for students to turn to.

9. Use edtech

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the use of edtech to help with pace in lessons. Everything we have mentioned so far takes time to plan and resource. But edtech like Learning by Questions can solve a lot of these pacing issues.

Learning by Questions provides personalised feedback after every answer - supporting all students in the class without you running around trying to get to everyone. The platform that the questions are on also paces students according to the ability they demonstrate - moving them on faster if they show they have good understanding, and giving them more questions if they need further practice. And LbQ is far more than just multiple choice questions - helping to diversify the approach for different learners. For all these reasons, LbQ is a great tool for teaching and learning - engaging even your most reluctant learners!

Pace your lessons like a pro with LbQ for free for six weeks:

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