Teaching secondary
school aged students

Overviewing

What and Why?

A common experience of some students is that they often do not have a very clear idea of where they are in a lesson - they may have very little idea of what has just happened, an unclear idea of what they are supposed to be doing now, and no idea at all of what is going to happen next. As one teacher put it, for many students being in classroom is rather like being put in a taxi without being told where you are going or what landmarks to look out for on the way. Overviewing is a technique which helps to give students a clearer idea of where they are in the lesson. That way, if they lose concentration for a short time, they won't lose their grip on the whole lesson (100% concentration during a whole 40-50 minute lesson requires a lot of mental effort!)

Practical ideas

• The tasks on the theme cover pages of CES are intended to give the students an overview of what they will meet in the coming units. The tasks require the students to look through the theme and so familiarise themselves with its content.
• Before moving into an activity which has several steps, you can give the students an overview of what they will be doing. It will then be easier to move them on from one step to the next, once the activity has begun.
• You can place an overview of the lesson on the board at the start of the lesson, showing what they will be doing.
• You can give an overview of your next lesson, leaving open some period of time. They can then be asked to suggest ideas of things they would like to do (You could use a suggestion box for this). This will help create a feeling of student involvement in the lesson. (Have something planned, just in case!)