Model Model Model . . .

You're a tutor so you teach things.

Easy right...

Know your subject and your can teach it.

Easy yeah...

Do something , students watches. Learning happen

Excellent done... BYE

Modelling allows you to make challenges accessible because you are clearly showing each necessary stage - Jade Pearce

There is a difference between just showing a students a process/example and modelling it to them. Modelling a fully worked example allows the student (or novice) to observe your (the experts') thinking process, not just what you are writing down. Here are three ways you can power up your modelling of examples as a tutor.

Think Aloud

Thinking aloud forces you as the tutor to externalise your knowledge allowing the student to follow your thought process. This is often referred to as a live model and, can be scaffolded itself. This allows complex tasks (in any subject) to become accessible to all. For example, if you are modelling a paragraph in English, be clear to indicate to the student the steps you are completing as you do it i.e. “firstly I need to make a point which connects to the key word in the question”. This guidance might not only help students with the task, it might also help students to stay on-task (van de Pol et al, 2015).

Then over time you can reduce your 'aloud' thinking slowing allowing your students to attempt questions independently.

Here's an example of me talking through one:

Check for understanding throughout

Don't just check they students understands your example after it has finished be sure to check for understanding before, during and after the example. Here are some questions/strategies you can use:

Before the example:

• What do I need them to know before I model?
• Have I assumed they already know something?

During the example:

• Clarify key terminology or notation
• Explain key steps by focus in on them

After the example:

• Can you summarise what I just did?

Promote Self Talk within and after your example

Get your student to talk you through an example post modelling means that as the tutor you are making effective use of language to empower your students to control their own cognitive process (Webb, 2021). This is a larger topic I've covered in NavigatEd Tutor but because the role of linguistic structures in shaping the way people construct mental representations of events is well-known (Senay et al, 2010).

You, as the tutor can, after you have clearly model it in front the of students, so now you can support your students to do so with prompts and given structures. This Private, or ‘Self-Talk’, stage is where the students has internalised the prompts (previously always given in the first stage) but speaks out loud to themselves (Webb, 2021). This can work brilliantly in 1:1 sessions as you can, in relatively real time, access the student’s thought process and offer critique and suggestions, e.g. “you said ‘top number’ but you mean ‘numerator”.

In group sessions it may feel harder to incorporate self-talk out loud into your sessions. Here are a couple of suggestions:

If working online, ask a question then mute all your students giving them a ‘safe’ space to speak out loud. Then bring the students back together and get a student/mixture of students to ‘present’ their thinking process to the group. As your students grow in confidence with this teaching method you could start challenging ‘live’ thought modelling but note this is difficult for even the most advanced student to do.

If working in person (where muting it not an option) clearly tell the students that you are first going to give them a chance to think internally before you ask someone to talk the group through their thought process. Again as your students become more comfortable with this you can aim for ‘live’ self-talk- once again noting this is ‘advanced metacognitive work’ (ibid)

Now all these things talk time, practise and experience. I've massively recommend practising (and recording) your models to see what assumptions you are making about your students .

Try it and let me know what you think!

Other Things I've Been up to Recently

Mini Article Series on Scaffolding in Tutoring

In the lead up to BETT 2025 I wrote a series of mini articles on the role of scaffolding in tutor. You can find them below

What is it?

Summary of a key study

Why your expectations of your students is so important

Using support structures in tutoring

An example of scaffolding with checklists

TandTeaching: Part One of a Mini Series on the role of Oracy in Education

with special guest Yamina Bibi

Podcasting from Eton

This month I was lucky enough to attend InnerDrive & Eton College 's teaching and learning conference with Mike Harrowell as part of my educational podcast TandTeaching. We were there to record a conference special for the pod giving you a flavour of the day which you can find here: https://pod.fo/e/2af666

Until next time

Enjoy

Arthur

References

Pearce, J. (2022). What Every Teacher Needs to Know How to Embed Evidence-Informed Teaching and Learning in Your School. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Senay I, Albarracín D, Noguchi K. (2010) Motivating goal-directed behavior through introspective self-talk: the role of the interrogative form of simple future tense. Psychol Sci. 2010 Apr;21(4):499-504. doi: 10.1177/0956797610364751. Epub 2010 Mar 9. PMID: 20424090; PMCID: PMC3626423.

van de Pol, J., Volman, M., Oort, F.?et al.?The effects of scaffolding in the classroom: support contingency and student independent working time in relation to student achievement, task effort and appreciation of support.?Instr Sci?43, 615–641 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-015-9351-z

Webb, J. (2021) ‘Introduction’, in The metacognition handbook: A practical guide for teachers and school leaders. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd, p. 21.