Teaching and learning is central to our work at Astrea Academy Netherwood and helps us fulfill our core values: scholarship, curiosity, tenacity. responsibility and respect . We call our teaching and learning methods here “The Netherwood Way”.
All our teaching and learning methods are evidence-informed, responsive to needs of the academy and develop teachers in highly effective teaching practices. We have been influenced by the practices of experts, including Doug Lemov (Teach Like A Champion 3.0), Tom Sherrington (Teaching Walkthrus) and Barak Rosenshine (Principles of Instruction).
We believe it is important that working memory is not overwhelmed, that content is relevant and builds upon prior knowledge and is broken down into manageable learning chunks. For this reason, lesson planning at Astrea Academy Netherwood takes into account cognitive science, as well as delivery and participation techniques from the above experts.
A typical lesson at Astrea Academy Netherwood consists of:
- A “Do Now” activity to retrieve prior knowledge – ensuring scholars know and remember more.
- Explicit teacher instruction – with the teacher as the expert, demonstrating and modelling the intended learning to scholars through making connections and building on prior knowledge.
- A structured handover process – through carefully considered teacher explanation and modelling, guided practice, followed by independent practice (I do/ We do/ You do).
- Regular checks for understanding – using techniques such as mini-whiteboards, cold calling and quizzing.
- Independent practice with instant feedback that moves learning forward