VISUAL FIVE-STEP
GUIDES.

At the heart of WalkThrus is a selection of 150 evidence based teaching strategies rooted in a deep understanding of how learning works. Each WalkThru breaks teaching techniques down into five clear steps.

 
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SIX SERIES.

WalkThrus are organized in six series behaviour and relationships, curriculum planning, explaining and modelling, questioning and feedback, practice and retrieval and what we call Mode B Teaching.

 

EVIDENCE-BASED LEARNING.

A professional development programme built using WalkThrus is supported by:

  • evidence from cognitive science which provides a clear model for learning

  • evidence from the study of effective professional development

Through our books and materials, we drawn on the work of prominent researchers and cognitive scientists including Dylan Wiliam, Barak Rosenshine, Dan Willingham, Graham Nuthall and Efrat Furst. Their ideas are summarised in our Why? Section WalkThrus. The simplified model of learning informs all of our key teaching techniques.

 

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MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING.

 

The UK’s Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) suggests that effective professional development delivers a number of key mechanisms. WalkThrus-based programmes can deliver all the mechanisms:

 

BUILD
KNOWLEDGE

Supporting teachers to build knowledge of teaching practices, step by step.

MOTIVATE
STAFF

Our techniques come from credible sources and our coaching processes support setting goals based around key action steps.

DEVELOP TEACHING TECHNIQUES

Each WalkThru can be modelled, practised, rehearsed and feedback can focus on the specifics of the steps.

EMBED
PRACTICE

The steps prompt teachers to sustain their practice over time, developing more effective habits that lock in the learning gains for students.

SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CYCLES.

 

WalkThrus allow teams of teachers and their leaders or coaches to develop a shared understanding of key techniques. The shared language around WalkThrus steps and associated professional learning approaches plays a significant role in supporting people to improve their practice as problems are easier to identify and solutions are easier to define.

SOLVING COMMON PROBLEMS

WalkThrus provides the solution to several common problems that arise in professional learning

LETHAL
MUTATION.

 

Over time, ideas get distorted to the point that they no longer stay true to their origins, losing impact and coherence.

The WalkThrus solution: Every time teachers discuss ideas, the codified steps of a WalkThru ensure teachers develop a shared understanding that retains fidelity to the original ideas over time.

PROFESSIONAL AMNESIA.

 

Training days come and go and over time good ideas get forgotten; teachers are continually reinventing the wheel which takes time and energy.

The WalkThrus solution: By curating all the best well-known techniques into one toolkit, the staff in any school and college can access important effective ideas at any time. Nothing is forgotten or lost - the ideas are always there to refer to, supporting the induction of new staff and keeping everyone else fresh and up-to-date.

AWKWARDNESS
OF FEEDBACK.

 

When people talk face to face, there’s a power dynamic and interpersonal awkwardness that can impede the process of a feedback conversation that is honest, supportive and impactful.

The WalkThrus solution: With WalkThrus as a resource, we can introduce a common visual reference acting as a meditating third point between teacher and observer. In conjunction with the feedback structures we advocate, feedback with WalkThrus supports both parties to engage with the problems and solutions in an objective manner, without them becoming overly personal.