1) The document provides advice for structuring a lesson to appear "good looking" during an Ofsted inspection, focusing on clear objectives, smooth transitions, and differentiation. 2) Key recommendations include starting lessons crisply, avoiding confrontations, using success criteria and modeling, being strategic about group work and interventions, and ending with a recap and homework assignment. 3) The advice stresses the importance of planning how activities meet objectives, deciding on grouping and targeting students, and maintaining control of transitions, pacing, and classroom management.

1. Key Features of the ‘Good Looking’ Lesson: pre-Ofsted advice!
FEATURE COMMENTARY
Lesson plan: learning Make sure that your lesson plan has clear, specific learning objectives (e.g. to
objectives understand how poets can use alliteration to enhance rhythm). Make sure that your
planned activities are well designed to meet your objectives. ‘Having fun’ or
• clear, specific ‘getting to the end of chapter two’ (or the end of the week) would not be ‘good looking’
objectives objectives.
Start of the lesson Start crisply by getting and holding full attention, but avoid confrontations about
lateness, etc: deal with all that later, and inform the student that you will do so.
• avoid confrontation
Start the lesson by setting the new objectives in the context of prior learning.
• activate prior learning/ Involve students in this process: question and answer, for example. Think about the
set the objectives what, the why and the how.
Use of board Write clearly in cursive script. Consider using an interactive whiteboard or flipchart.
Keep copying activities to a minimum.
Success criteria/ Don’t just set a task: establish success criteria, time limits, methods and model
modelling aspects of the task with the class. You could even show them and tell them about part
of one you did earlier. (However, you may at this point briefly discourage James’
efforts in aircraft modelling.)
Group work If you are going to use this then be very clear and decisive about setting it up:
• Who will be in each group (mixed ability? Same ability? Mixed gender?)
• who? • How long have they got for the task? - keep it as brief as possible
• why? • What roles will each member have?
• how long? • What are the required outcomes?
• why not pairs or solo? • Are the group members sitting in such a way that they can work together, and
with no one else?
• And most importantly: is group work really necessary at all? - what about paired
work, trios, individual?
Teacher intervention Don’t float or flit. Before the lesson, decide who you want to target and why. Base
these decisions on your evaluation of previous learning and attainments. Make this
• have reasons for this explicit in your lesson plan in the differentiation section. Use guided work if possible
Differentiation Don’t rely entirely on ad hoc intervention for this. Also use at least one of the
following, and make it obvious that you are doing so:
• grouping
• resource
• task
End of lesson The ideal: plenarise at least 8 minutes before the end, and do the following:
• review what we have learnt and how
• recap • get students to think about how they could apply their learning (possibly in
• clear up another lesson that day, or at home by speaking alliteratively during tea)
• dismiss from seats • collect in and put away resources (where they still exist)
• require students to stay in their seats while the floor gets cleared (James might
usefully be prevailed upon to retrieve his less successful attempts in
aerodynamics)
• dismiss the class from sitting positions as soon as the bell goes (certainly avoid
being trampled underfoot)
Homework Always try to set this during, rather than at the end of, the lesson. Don’t yell it down
the corridor!
This resource was downloaded from www.teachit.co.uk 2008
By Richard Durant