Some preliminary notes

Pre-lesson conferencing can be used in the context of mentoring, supervision, peer review and when conducting learning studies. The main aim of a pre-lesson conference is to ‘walk through’ the intended lesson in order to clarify its main features, thereby allowing the lesson teacher to rehearse the focus of the lesson and what he/she intends to do.

Pre-lesson conferencing is not co-planning a lesson. It is more like a dress rehearsal of a play or a ballet. Even if the mentor has been involved in helping to plan the lesson, there is still value in formally asking the teacher to spell out clearly the main lesson content and the main teaching strategies that will be used, including the key questions they will ask the pupils and the overall learning sequence (timeline) of the lesson. The lesson teacher also needs to be clear about how they will monitor pupils’ learning during the lesson. It is important that the lesson teacher is able to articulate their thinking on these issues, and thereby bring them to awareness. We can summarise the three main areas of focus as three points on a holistic triangle.

In planning a pre-lesson conference, timing is an important consideration. If it is conducted well in advance of the intended lesson, there is plenty of scope for discussing and recommending changes. If it is just before the lesson some small changes may be possible, but the mentor or peer reviewer needs to consider carefully if a late change may lead to other unintended problems