The Power of Preteaching

Don't play catch-up, preteach instead

I have a bit of time each week where I can pull students and work with them individually or in small groups. What should I do with that time?

The Problem

A basic problem for many students is that they don't learn very much in math class. On the surface this manifests in a few different ways. Maybe they aren't paying attention, or they’re reluctant to practice, or they're distracted by their peers, or something else. But the problem is the same: they walk into math class every day, and they walk out not knowing much more than when they walked in.

Ok, so a kid isn't learning much in math class. How do I respond?

There's a really ineffective form of intervention that plays catch-up. Maybe it's homework help after school, or support with independent work in class. But it doesn't do much to help: the student doesn't learn, when it's time to practice they struggle, and then we try to support them with the practice but the cycle continues. Many students never break out of that cycle once they get pulled in.

It's easy to look at a student who isn't learning in class and put the blame on someone. They aren't motivated, or their parents don't value education, or they should've been held back, or whatever. None of that helps the student. But in many cases, one of the factors why they aren't learning in class is that they feel unsuccessful. They try to pay attention and class doesn't make sense so they tune out. They try a homework assignment but it's too hard so they give up. Over time those become habits, and habits become hard to break.

The response in many schools, if there's a response at all, is to play catch-up. But there's a different approach. Instead of playing catch-up, preteach.

Preteaching

Pretaching is how I spend most of the time I get for intervention with students. I take something tough we'll learn in the next week and preteach it. I figure out what they already know about a topic, help them build a conceptual foundation for what they're going to learn, practice some of the prerequisite skills, and preview the main ideas of what they'll learn in class.

The goal is to make the most of in-class learning. I don’t try to teach every single little thing they’re going to learn. I don’t have time for that. The goal is to prepare them with the tools they need to learn in class. My explanations will make more sense with a stronger conceptual foundation. Students will be able to focus on big ideas when they have more fluency with prerequisite skills. Students will be more successful with practice when they know what to expect coming in.

The Goal

When preteaching goes well, it can kick off a virtuous cycle. Preteaching can take a student who often doesn't pay much attention in class, who often feels unsuccessful, and help them see that they can learn, that effort in class pays off. That’s the goal of preteaching. Lots of students feel dumb in math class, don’t put effort in, don’t learn, and continue to feel dumb. Preteaching tries to break the cycle, and show them what they can learn when they engage in class, and show students that I’m here to help them.

This isn't a magic bullet. It's slow work, and it takes time to kick off that virtuous cycle. Sometimes I realize the gaps in a student’s conceptual foundation are larger than I thought and we have a long road to get them on track. Sometimes I feel like we’re making progress but that progress doesn’t carry over to regular math class. But in many cases it can make a huge difference. I’ve spent lots of time in my teaching career playing catch-up with students, looking back afterward, and feeling like they forgot everything I helped them with. Preteaching can change a student’s trajectory in a way that is rare when working with a student who really struggles.

Who Do I Pick for Preteaching?

This is hard. I have way more students who could use extra help than I could reasonably work with during the time I have. I start by making a list of all the students who I know aren't learning as much as they could during class, based on a mix of assessment scores and my subjective judgment. This list is very long. Then I take off students in two categories. First are students who are already getting intensive interventions from other adults in the building — mostly special education students and students who are relatively new to the country and are getting intensive English instruction. Second are students who aren't likely to make good use of the intervention because of poor attendance or severe behavior issues. It's not a perfect process but it narrows my focus. From here I pick the highest-need students. This year it was 7 kids. Would it have been great to work with more? Yes, absolutely. But I have finite time, and I can only do my best work if it's focused enough to make a difference.

I’m only making a difference with 7 students this year. But I am making a difference. If each teacher, each year, was able to pick 7 students, work intensively on them, and get them on a different trajectory, that could have a pretty large impact on a school.¹

Two Final Notes

I've had students who are often distracted in class — constant side conversations, not paying attention, etc. But I have the chance to pull them for some one-on-one work, I preview what we're going to learn the next day, and suddenly they're answering questions and engaged. This isn't a magic bullet. It doesn't work for every kid. The benefits are often sporadic and temporary. But the effect is real. I’m not saying this is the answer to all your classroom management issues. But it’s one small thing that can move the needle. It’s also a reminder that academic challenges are often one component in negative or attention-seeking behavior in school.

Finally, there are two versions of preteaching. One version preteaches a skill for the next day or next week. But another version plays a longer game. The two most important skills to me in 7th grade are integer arithmetic and solving two-step equations. While I preteach lots of short-term topics with students, I also often do a bit of long-term work previewing those two big skills. It can be a long road and I start early. For instance, I’ve worked this year with a few students on the idea of inverse operations — knowing that if 5 x 15 = 75, then 75 / 5 = 15, and using that flexibility to then solve equations like 5x = 75 and to improve their conceptual understanding of one-step equations. That’s just one example, there are lots of other little skills that fit together to help students learn something like two-step equations.

I pick these topics because they’re topics that come up over and over again in future years. The goal of preteaching is to help students build better learning habits in class. Putting extra work into key skills that play a big role in the future can pay big dividends down the road.

1. Preteaching is also a great strategy for special education support and for students who are learning English. The same logic applies: those students often don’t learn very much in their general ed classes, and special ed teachers or English language teachers are left playing endless catch-up.