What it is. A topic word in the margin lets you find anything on the page without reading it.
Why our test works. Notes are written once and read many times, and children never think about the second use. Asking whether they could FIND it again makes them write for their future self, which is the whole point of a margin.
Leans on. Lesson 2's three levels.
Watch for. One word, not a phrase. If it takes five words the block covers too much.
Write the topic word in the red margin beside its notes. The worked example is the one you build on the board: Teacher takes notes right of the margin, then goes back and writes one topic word in the m The class reads Writing Book 4, p.42 — our own page, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.
You open by saying where this sits — what it follows and what it is part of — in one sentence, and then you give them the reason it matters, in your own words, for about ten seconds.
Then you do one yourself, building it on the board and leaving it up: Teacher takes notes right of the margin, then goes back and writes one topic word in the margin beside each chunk. The board copy is what they look back at when they stall, so it stays there for the whole lesson.
The We-do is the main whiteboard moment of the lesson — short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once. Class supplies the margin word for two chunks the teacher has written. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on their notebooks instead, because a sentence written on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.
They open Writing Book 4 to page 42 and read it with you. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it.
Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then they work alone: Take notes on a short passage, then add margin topic words.
You close on the exit direction — Read one margin word. — taken from every child before anyone stands, and then the line you want them to still have tomorrow: One word in the margin says what the block is about.
One word, not a phrase. If it takes five words the block covers too much.