Brighten Lines
TLAC Technique 28, page 211
Brightening Lines is a technique to ensure changes in activities and other mileposts are perceived clearly by making beginnings and endings of activities visible and crisp
There are two key ideas implicit in Brighten Lines:
- Clean Start
- Clean Finish
Clean Start
The first way to Brighten Lines is with a clean start – shifting from one activity to another on a clear verbal cue.
Scripted Example:
“Okay, class. You have three minutes to write a response to this question. Ready (pause, stand in your ‘Perch’ position using ‘Radar’ and ‘Be Seen Looking’ techniques). GO!”
Advantages of a script like this:
- The short pause between the ‘Ready’ and ‘Go’ makes the beginning of the activity ‘pop’ and can build anticipation and urgency so that students start immediately on cue.
- The short pause can cause students to work more industriously once they are ‘allowed’ to.
- Students see their peers ‘snap to it’ - normalising the idea of starting work immediately and making productive use of their time.
- Additionally, you build a strong disincentive against a slow start and time wasting/daydreaming. If it is unclear whether everyone else has actually started something, there is an incentive to take your time to avoid being an outlier (the first to start).
- Finally, if everyone begins on the clear verbal cue, there are no grounds for a student strategically choosing to delay starting their work. ‘Everyone has started working so I better catch up’. This takes advantage of the most powerful student motivators – peer influence!
10 Action Steps to ensure a Clean Start
When setting pupils off on a task, once you have their full attention (pens down, eyes on you) in absolute silence and with you stood at the front of the room:
- Give clear ‘What to Do’ instructions, ensuring economy of language
- Give a clear time limit for the task
- Ask one or more pupils to repeat the instructions back to you, as well as the time limit (an opportunity to check on those pupils who like to feign ignorance of the instructions and remove this as an excuse not to begin)
- Ask pupils ‘Is there anybody who is still unsure what to do?’
- Repeat, very briefly, the task and the time limit
- Give a clear ‘GO’ signal (perhaps include a pause beforehand to build anticipation, or include a brief preparatory instruction like ‘pens in hand…go!’
- Stand still – do not move
- Very obviously scan the room – (Be Seen Looking) – to check whether pupils have begun
- Narrate compliance – praise those who begin straight away (‘James has started. Well done, Courtney. Thank you for starting Ahmed.’)
- Anonymously challenge the non-starters (‘Just waiting for two pupils to start’, ‘90% of us have begun, let’s have 100%’)
Clean Finish
Being able to end an activity reliably on cue is also a critical skill for several reasons:
Time Management – being able to end an activity quickly/immediately with no fuss maximises the time students can spend learning and teachers can spend teaching
A clean finish establishes a clear and obvious transition point from one activity to the next.
When the transition is obvious, students are more likely to make sure they join in with the change, right on time
A SINGLE MOMENT ending
If you are transitioning from writing to a group discussion or Q & A, you do not want a third of your students to continue writing. You want the writing to end on cue, in a SINGLE MOMENT, so everyone can immediately start looking forward to the next step together, in unison.
Preliminary Reminder
Before you start your ‘Clean Finish’ you might provide a preliminary reminder that you will be enforcing a “hard stop”. For example:
“I will need pencils down in 20 seconds. Try to finish that last thought”
When you get to the end of the allocated time, ideally there will be a signal
A timer could go off and you would say: “I hear the timer and that means pencils down and eyes up, please”
Or, you could use a 3-hand clap as a call to attention
Whatever the signal, every student can see every other student transitioning on cue, making it far less likely for a student to continue doing something under the guise of lack of clarity
Combining BRIGHTENING LINES with other techniques:
- Perch: stand in the optimal position that allows you to see all of the class with minimum head swivelling required
- Radar: deliberately scanning the room for compliance
- Be Seen Looking: using an appropriate ‘dance move’ so students know you are looking for compliance (Tip Toes, Invisible Column etc..)
- Least Invasive Intervention: Clear Non-Verbal Interventions to get compliance as well as Anonymous Individual Corrections (‘waiting on three people’), Positive Group Correction (‘check your SLANT’) etc..
- Make Compliance Visible: Your instruction involves the students completing a specific, observable and sequential actions so you can check easily for student follow-through. For example: ‘Pencils down, hands free, eyes up please in 3, 2, 1’
- 3:30i:30g: Once students are working, take between 1-3 minutes to stand in your Perch position and deliberately scan the room to ensure students are focused and working hard before you start any checking for understanding. You may need to repeat instructions and/or use Least Invasive Interventions to correct students early (small problem = small solution)
- Narrate the Positive: commentate on immediate compliance to build momentum:
‘Great to see lots of pens moving already – great start class’.
‘I’m excited to read your responses’.
'Excellent start Alex, Chloe and Ben - great to see you working immediately and maximising your writing time'
Video Examples