For the past year at Wellington College, we have focused on rituals, routines and procedures in the classroom, specifically the start of the lesson. As we emerged from the disruption of COVID in 2022 and a first term in which we were required to roster home year groups, we felt that a reset was needed to centre students and instil consistency and clarity in what to expect in the classroom. In line with Bob Sullo’s work, this was a ‘basic need’ that we needed to recalibrate.

Sullo states that when we ‘infuse our classrooms with ritual and establish specific routines and procedures for repeated behaviours, we make it easier for students to feel safe and secure’. Sullo argues that with this ‘basic need’ addressed, students have the ‘emotional energy to turn their attention to the primary goal of education: developing academic competence.’ (The Motivated Student, 2009).

We chose to focus on the start of the lesson, as the set up for the lesson is generally where a lesson is won or lost. A group of Year 11 students told us the following about the importance of a positive and settled start to the lesson:

‘It sets the tone for the lesson’

‘It creates a good learning environment where I am able to maximise the learning for the lesson’

‘It gets me into a learning mindset and clears me of distractions’

‘I think it helps set the tone of the class we’re about to have. So I think it’s very important’

In introducing this reset, we asked that collectively, as a staff, we do the following at the start of each lesson:

• Greet at the door - this provides an opportunity to connect - the same Year 11 students told us that a teacher doing this, ‘sets the tone for the lesson’/’makes me feel welcomed and creates a positive start for a lesson’/’makes me feel welcome and allows me to be comfortable in the classroom’/’I see it as a first sign that class is about to start...it is quite a nice positive start..which also helps set the tone of the class’.

• Being ready to learn - students are expected to arrive on time, wear the correct uniform and wear it well, manage their devices, and bring a positive and motivated attitude for learning.

• Phones - phones turned off and in their bag when students arrive at a lesson.

• Use a ‘Do Now’ activity - this signals the lesson has started and that learning has been engaged.

• Karakia - to uphold tikanga, and reflect our commitment to Te Tiriti, we recognise the value of including karakia in our classroom practices. For many teachers at WC, this has been a new focus in 2023, which we look forward to sharing in a future blog post.

The Do Now activity has been a particular focus for our teachers over the past few months. Doug Lemov argues that the first step in a great lesson is a Do Now activity. Done well, this ‘starts the working’ in the classroom before the teacher does and settles students into an ‘academic mode’.

Lemov suggests four criteria to plan and execute an effective Do Now. This ensures that the activity remains ‘focused, efficient, and effective’. We followed this framework at WC, and as part of the embedding phase, we returned to this criteria with a staff intermittently. This video helpfully summarises the key features of an effective Do Now, which is based on the work of Lemov.

Lemov’s criteria - adapted from Doug Lemov’s Field Notes - The Do Now: A Primer

• The Do Now should be in the same place every day, so there are no surprises for the students and they can start the activity when and as they arrive at class.

• Students should be able to complete the Do Now without any direction from the teacher. Any necessary instructions should be brief and on the Do Now.

• The activity should only take three to five minutes to complete and should be completed with pen and paper, rather than on a device. This does not account for the review of the Do Now, which should equally only take a few minutes so that the main learning for the lesson is not crowded out.

• The activity should generally be a review of the previous lesson or a preview of the lesson to come. The key here is the connection to the prior or intended learning.

The surveyed Year 11 students said this about the positives that they see in starting each lesson with a Do Now activity:

‘It helps connect the class and helps settle them down..it helps make the class get a bit of focus before it (the lesson) actually starts’

‘’Eases us into the lesson by reflecting on the content in previous lessons and preparing for the day’s learning’

‘Starts me thinking about history ready for the lesson ahead’

‘Gets my brain warmed up and ready to learn for the lesson’

‘It switches you on’

An important part of our collective efforts to experiment with the Do Now activity and move towards it being an established routine, and eventually a ritual of the classroom, was the sharing of practice. We did this via a one to two-minute teaching hack in a staff briefing each week, whereby a teacher would share their approach and examples of the Do Now in a particular subject setting. This served the purpose of practically showing the form that a Do Now activity could take and how they were being used. Equally, though, this contributed to an ever-evolving culture of sharing our practice. A selection of these activities has been collated and can be accessed here.

While we have made massive strides in making the Do Now a feature of what we do in the classroom at WC, we are still very much on the journey of seeing it embedded. This is being assisted by our evolving focus on other features of the lesson that can become routine and in time, ritualised. For example, we have also encouraged teachers to think about the plenary at the end of the lesson. We look forward to sharing our experiences about these features of our focus on rituals and routines in future posts.

If you have any questions about the use of the Do Now activity at WC, or would like to share how you are using the Do Now Activity in your own context, do connect with a member of the teaching and learning team.

Nikki Corbishley (DP Teaching & Learning) n.corbishley@wc.school.nz

Aaron Columbus (DP Teaching & Learning) a.columbus@wc.school.nz

Nilesh Naran (AP Teaching & Learning) n.naran@wc.school.nz