The core skill

Acting on the signal without
disrupting the lesson.

Knowing a lesson needs to change and knowing how to change it without losing the lesson entirely are two different skills. The first comes from observation — the signals in A1. The second comes from having a repertoire of responses that match the scale of the problem. Without that repertoire, most teachers default to one of two extremes: ignoring the signal and continuing (hoping things improve), or stopping the lesson entirely and restructuring on the spot (which usually means 10 minutes of lost momentum and an unfinished lesson).

The three pivot types exist because different signals require different scales of response. A student who is stuck needs a micro-pivot that takes 90 seconds and involves only that student. A systematic misconception appearing across the class needs a mid-lesson stop that addresses everyone. A lesson whose foundational premise was wrong needs a full reset that takes 10 minutes. Deploying the wrong pivot type — a full reset when a micro-pivot would do — wastes time and disrupts students who were making progress.

“The agile teacher's first question when a signal appears is not ‘what do I do?’ It is ‘how large does the response need to be?’ Getting the scale right is as important as the response itself.”

P6 · Agile teaching — C2 · Reading the room

The three pivot types

Micro-pivot. Mid-lesson stop.
Full reset.

Pivot 1
The micro-pivot — 90 seconds, invisible to most of the class
For individual or small-group signals

The micro-pivot is used when the signal affects 1–3 students but not the majority of the class. Most students are making progress. One student (or a pair) is stuck. The response is quiet and direct: walk to the student, crouch down, and provide a targeted question or prompt that gets them moving again without interrupting the flow of the lesson for everyone else.

When to use it
Signal 1 (stalled silence) affecting a small group. Signal 5 (tuned-out students) in a corner of the room. One student who asked a revealing question that you've answered privately. Any individual-level confusion that doesn't suggest a wider problem.
Pivot 2
The mid-lesson stop — 5 minutes, addresses the whole class
For systematic signals affecting the majority

The mid-lesson stop is the most important and most underused of the three pivot types. It is the deliberate interruption of the current activity to address something that affects most of the class. Used well, it takes 5 minutes, resolves the systematic problem, and returns students to the activity with renewed direction. The key is the framing: 'I'm going to pause us here for a moment because I want to clarify something' — not 'a lot of you seem to be struggling.'

When to use it
Signal 2 (multiple students asking the same question). Signal 3 (systematic wrong answer on multiple desks). Signal 9 (running significantly over time — the stop is used to triage what to cut).
Pivot 3
The full reset — 10 minutes, fundamental change of approach
For structural lesson failures — used rarely

The full reset is used when continuing the planned lesson would do more damage than stopping and restructuring. This happens when the lesson's foundational premise was wrong — the prerequisite knowledge wasn't there, the core concept requires a completely different entry point, or the activity structure is producing the opposite of the intended cognitive process. The full reset acknowledges this openly: 'I want to try this differently because I can see the current approach isn't working for most of us.'

When to use it
Signal 4 (unexpected revealing question that indicates a fundamental conceptual gap across the class). When Signal 3 (systematic wrong answers) reveals a misconception so foundational that a 5-minute clarification won't close it. When the first activity of a lesson fails in a way that makes all subsequent activities meaningless.
The decision framework

How many students? How long?
Which pivot?

Dimension
Conventional teaching
Agile teaching

The time-remaining criterion matters. A mid-lesson stop with 3 minutes left has no value — there isn't enough time to complete any meaningful activity after the stop. In that situation, use the remaining time for an exit ticket that diagnoses the problem, and address it tomorrow.

Executing each pivot

What each pivot sounds and looks
like in practice.

Micro-pivot execution
Quiet, targeted, individual

Walk to the student. Crouch or sit at their level — don't stand above them. Ask a specific question: 'Which step are you on?' or 'What does this word mean in this context?' Listen to their answer. Provide the minimum necessary prompt to get them moving: 'Try applying the rule from the first example to this one.' Walk away before they've finished writing — giving them space to try independently.

What NOT to do
Explain the full concept again at the student's desk while the rest of the class waits. Answer the question for them instead of prompting them to answer it. Stand in one place for more than 90 seconds — this signals to the class that something is wrong, which undermines confidence.
Mid-lesson stop execution
Deliberate, brief, forward-facing

Get the class's attention with a verbal signal ('Can I pause you all for a second?'). Wait for genuine attention — not permission to begin, but actual looking-up from work. State what you noticed, not who you noticed it in: 'I want to clarify something because I think my explanation of [X] wasn't as clear as it could have been.' Give the clarification. Set a re-entry point: 'Now go back to where you were.' Total time: 3–5 minutes.

The critical framing
Frame the stop as your decision to improve the explanation, not as students' failure to understand it. 'I want to try explaining this differently' lands very differently from 'a lot of you seem to be struggling with this.'
Full reset execution
Transparent, settled, purposeful

Acknowledge the change explicitly: 'I'm going to shift what we're doing here because I think we need a different starting point.' Brief pause. 'I want us to try [new approach] instead — it'll take about 10 minutes and then we can continue.' The transparency matters: students who don't understand why the lesson changed are unsettled. Students who do understand see a teacher making a professional judgment, which builds trust.

What to do with the planned lesson material
It's not wasted — it becomes tomorrow's lesson. Update the iteration log tonight: 'Full reset on [concept] — original approach assumed [X] prior knowledge that wasn't there. Tomorrow: [different entry point].'