Last week, I released The Essential Guide to Explicit Instruction in Mathematics. The response has been incredible, especially from teachers who said, “I finally understand what guided practice is actually meant to look like.”
So today I want to share one short section from the guide that has already changed the way many teachers teach. In my view, it is the most misunderstood phase of instruction.
The phase teachers think they’re doing… but usually aren’t
When I moved into primary teaching, I honestly thought guided practice was just having my students sit close to me or going through a question together. But proximity is not guidance. And checking the answer at the end is not support.
From the guide:
“Guided practice is the phase I see most often misunderstood in schools. Many teachers believe they are ‘doing it’ because students are close by or because the teacher reveals the answer at the end… My ‘We do’ was just students answering a question, checking if they were right and then moving straight to independent practice. That was the day I realised Support is not about proximity. It is about evidence.”
This matters because guided practice is the make or break moment in the acquisition stage. If students do not get enough accurate supported practice here, the next steps fall apart. They enter independent practice too early. Errors multiply. Confidence drops.
The fix is simple and powerful:
More prompting. More responding. More checking. Less assuming.
What you can try tomorrow
Here is the smallest action with the biggest payoff.
After modelling a worked example, give students one minimally different problem and check every response before moving to the next step.
It feels slow.
It feels obvious.
It also prevents errors from taking hold.
As I write in the guide:
“Even one unchecked step can allow students to practise errors that are very difficult to undo. Guided practice exists to stop that from happening.”
In Five Simple Steps
1. Ask one precise question about the exact step you modelled.
Make it concrete:
“What do we do first?”
“Where does the regrouped ten go?”
2. Get a response from every student, not some.
Mini-whiteboards or choral response
3. Check the responses like your next move depends on it — because it does.
If half the boards are wrong, you’re not in guided practice. You’re back in modelling.
4. Correct errors immediately with a quick, tight fix.
“Watch and listen carefully and correct mistakes straight away because procedural errors are difficult to reverse once learned.”
5. Only move on when accuracy is stable.
Not perfect. Not “looks fine.” Stable.
Again, from the guide:
“Around 90 to 95 percent accuracy signals readiness.”
Try it in your next maths lesson. You will feel the difference immediately.
Want the full guide?
This idea is only 1 part of my 18 page deep dive into modelling, guided practice, worked examples, scaffolding, error correction and the Show, Support, Step Back framework.
👉 Download The Essential Guide to Explicit Instruction in Mathematics
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