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Session 4. The Debrief: Patterns, Prediction and the Next Level of Work
Objective. Run a debrief that moves from description to patterns, to a prediction of what pupils learn and to the next level of work, and handle evaluative slips calmly.
The debrief is where a round succeeds or fails. The same notes can lead to a rich conversation about the school or to twenty minutes of advice for one teacher. The difference lies in the order of the conversation and in how the facilitator holds it. In this session you will practise reading notes aloud, naming a pattern, predicting what pupils learn from a task, and shaping a next level of work that adults, not pupils, will carry out.
Key ideas
The shape of the debrief
- Four steps in 35 to 45 minutes: describe (about 10), find patterns (about 10), predict (about 8), name the next level of work (about 10). The order matters: advice comes last, not first.
- Start with the host's problem of practice in one sentence, so that the group stays on it.
- Write on a wall sheet where everyone can see: the facilitator or a scribe records what is said, so that the group looks at the sheet and not at one another.
Patterns, not stories
- Each observer reads descriptions of one room. The group then asks: what appears in more than one room? In how many? A pattern needs at least two or three rooms.
- Keep the pattern about tasks, talk and time, not about people: 'In three of four rooms, pupils copied for most of the visit.'
- Notice what is missing too: 'In no room did a pupil compare two solutions.'
Predict and name the next level
- Prediction: 'If a pupil did exactly this task, day after day, what would they get good at, and what would they not practise?' Pupils learn from the task they do, whatever the teacher intends.
- Next level of work: a few concrete changes to tasks, time and adult support that would let pupils do more, stated for the whole school and not as a verdict on a teacher.
- Keep it to two or three steps the school could really take next month.
Facilitator moves for slips
- Slips are normal: 'weak lesson', advice to one teacher, long speeches by senior people. Do not scold. Redirect with a question about the evidence.
- Use a short stock of sentences, such as 'What did you see that makes you say that?' and 'Was that in one room or several?'
- Give the host the last word, and thank the host first. Close with each person saying one thing they learned about pupils, not about colleagues.
The debrief in four steps
The prediction step: from tasks to learning
The prediction question is simple and strange at first: 'If a pupil did exactly the task we saw, every day, what would they learn?' It moves the group from the teacher's intentions to the pupil's experience. A task that asks for three copied sentences teaches careful copying. A task that asks pupils to compare two solutions teaches comparing.
Predictions should be tied to the notes: 'In three of four rooms the task was to repeat a shown method, so pupils would become accurate at the method but would not practise choosing one.' Say 'would' rather than 'did', since you have not tested the pupils. Disagreement is welcome; ask for the note that supports each view.
Shaping a next level of work
The next level of work is a short statement of what tasks, time and support would need to look like for pupils to learn more, together with a few steps the adults could take. It is not a description of a perfect lesson or a list of faults. It starts from where the school is and moves one level up.
Test each suggestion with two questions: 'Does this apply to every teacher in the room, including us?' and 'Could we do it next month with what we have?' If the answer to the first is no, it is advice for one person. If the second is no, the step is too large; split it. Two or three steps are enough.
Examples from the classroom
From one room to the pattern
Scene. In Fergana, a network visits four Grade 6 maths rooms. In the first minutes of the debrief, a senior colleague begins to advise Aziz. The young facilitator says, 'Let us hear all four rooms first.' After the notes are read, the group sees that in all four rooms pupils repeat a shown method. Advice for Aziz is no longer needed; the whole department works on the tasks.
Insight. Reading all notes first turns a story about one teacher into a pattern for the school.
A prediction that changed the plan
Scene. After a Grade 4 reading round in Khiva, the network predicts that pupils who copy answers from the board all term will become good at copying but not at finding answers in a text. A teacher who had been proud of her neat boards says, 'Then I should leave the board empty for part of the lesson.' The group agrees to try this in two classes for four weeks.
Insight. A prediction about pupils lets a teacher change her own practice without being told to.
When the host speaks too early
Scene. In Tashkent, the host begins the debrief by explaining why her lesson looked as it did. Observers stop describing and start comforting her. The facilitator thanks her and says, 'Please listen first; you will have the last word.' The group reads the notes, finds a pattern, and then the host adds context that sharpens the prediction.
Insight. Giving the host the last word protects them and keeps the evidence first.
Common pitfalls
- Moving to next steps before the group has read all the notes.
- Calling a single room's story a pattern.
- Predicting from pupils' ability ('they cannot') instead of from the task they were given.
- Ending with a long list of suggestions that nobody owns.
Debrief Four Rooms
- Trios (8 min): read the SAMPLE notes from four rooms in the Kit. Each person takes one or two rooms and reads them aloud (description only).
- Trios (12 min): find the patterns (with counts of rooms), then write a prediction and two or three next-level steps for the school. Use the wall sheet.
- Whole group (8 min): compare. Which pattern did all trios find? Which prediction was hardest to write without blaming a teacher?
- Second short activity (15 min): role-play slips in trios (facilitator, speaker, observer). The speaker reads one slip from the Kit; the facilitator redirects with a move; the observer notes which sentence worked. Rotate three times.
- Pairs and alone (12 min): script the first 10 minutes of your own debrief (four questions and two stock sentences) and write your school-based task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which pattern surprised you most, and why was it hard to see in a single room?
- Where did your group slip into advice, and which sentence brought it back?
- How would the four teachers feel hearing your pattern statement?
Reflect
- In staff meetings, when do you give advice before you have looked at evidence?
- What is the task your own pupils did most last week? What did it teach them?
- Who in your school could facilitate a calm debrief?
Try it tomorrow
- Take six sets of notes (yours or the Kit's), read them aloud and write one sentence that begins 'In X of Y rooms...'.
- Write a prediction in the form: 'If a pupil did only this task, they would become good at... but would not practise...'.
- Write two next-level steps and test each with the two questions: does it apply to everyone, and can we do it next month?
Further reading and links
Describe, find patterns across rooms, predict what pupils learn from the task, and only then name the next level of work for the school.