Which command term should an IB teacher choose for a focused lesson?

Choose a term that is important in the current subject guide and is causing a visible performance problem. Evidence might come from examination responses, formative tasks, student self-assessment, or departmental moderation. Higher-demand terms such as analyse, evaluate, and discuss often benefit from explicit modelling, but shorter terms can also require attention. Consider what students must produce in your subject rather than selecting a term because it appears difficult in another course. The best choice is one for which focused teaching will change what students do in the next assessment.

Should the lesson use new or familiar subject content?

Use mostly familiar content when first teaching the command-term process. This reduces the risk that missing knowledge will be mistaken for weak understanding of the command. Once students can perform the thinking with familiar material, introduce a related but unfamiliar example to test transfer. The new context should require adaptation without overwhelming students with additional facts or terminology. Later lessons can combine the command term with more demanding new content once the response process is established.

How do I know whether students have mastered a command term?

Mastery requires more than recalling the official definition. Students should identify the demanded thinking, plan an appropriate response, and produce visible evidence of that thinking without relying on a teacher prompt. They should also transfer the process to a different topic, source, data set, or context. Check their performance more than once because success on a copied or heavily scaffolded task may be temporary. A delayed, low-stakes reattempt provides stronger evidence than a confident verbal explanation immediately after teaching.

Can one command-term lesson work across different IB subjects?

The general sequence of diagnosis, modelling, practice, feedback, and transfer works across DP subjects. However, the form of a successful response must remain subject-specific. Evaluation in Biology may appraise a method or conclusion, while evaluation in History may weigh interpretations, evidence, and relative significance. Teachers should therefore use the current subject guide and representative assessment materials when choosing models. Cross-department agreement on broad meanings is useful, but it should not erase disciplinary differences.

How should command-term practice be differentiated?

Differentiate the support rather than changing the core cognitive goal unnecessarily. Some students may receive a partially completed planner, a list of possible criteria, sentence stems, or colour-coded model annotations. More secure students can work with an unfamiliar stimulus, select their own criteria, or critique competing judgements. Students with language needs benefit from explicit vocabulary and oral rehearsal, but they should still practise the thinking demanded by the term. Gradually remove scaffolds so that every student moves toward an independent assessment response.

How often should teachers plan command-term focused lessons?

There is no IB rule prescribing a fixed number of command-term lessons. Use them when diagnostic evidence shows a shared weakness, before a relevant assessment type, or when introducing a new level of cognitive demand. Between full lessons, maintain the skill through short starters, model annotations, questioning, and exit tasks. Revisiting the same term across different units is important because students may not automatically transfer it between contexts. A small number of well-timed focused lessons, reinforced through routine practice, is usually more effective than an isolated command-term workshop.

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Lesson Planning Around Command Terms in IB DP

IB Teachers Classroom Practice IB Study Guides

RevisionDojo Team

•Last updated: 1 Oct 2026•9 min read

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Lesson Planning Around Command Terms in IB DP

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Lesson Planning Around Command Terms in IB DP

IB Teachers Classroom Practice IB Study Guides

RevisionDojo Team

•Last updated: 1 Oct 2026•9 min read

Add as a preferred source on Google

Lesson planning around command terms means teaching both subject content and the precise thinking operation an IB question requires. A strong command-term focused lesson moves through diagnosis, modelling, guided practice, independent application, feedback, and transfer.

The IB describes command terms as words or phrases indicating the performance required and the type and depth of response expected. Teachers should check meanings in the current subject guide, because their use can vary by course. This lesson uses evaluate, but the structure also works for analyse, compare, discuss, explain, and justify.

Why plan around one command term?

Students can know the content yet underperform because they answer the topic without performing the requested thinking. A student asked to evaluate a policy might explain how it works and list advantages, but never weigh limitations or reach a supported judgement.

Isolating one command term makes this hidden process visible. It also helps teachers distinguish incomplete knowledge from weak command-term execution. This is not an IB requirement for every lesson, but it is useful when introducing a demanding response type or addressing a recurring assessment weakness.

Step 1: Define the skill and success criteria

Start with the definition in the relevant subject guide. In several DP guides, evaluate involves making an appraisal by weighing strengths and limitations, but generic posters should not override course-specific guidance.

Translate the definition into observable actions. Students evaluating a claim may need to:

establish relevant criteria
use accurate supporting evidence
examine strengths and limitations
weigh their relative significance
reach a justified overall judgement

Use a skill-focused intention such as: Students will evaluate a claim by applying criteria, weighing evidence, and reaching a justified judgement. Add the content objective separately so that each can be assessed clearly.

Step 2: Choose an accessible question

Use content that students mostly understand already. If both the material and thinking process are unfamiliar, it becomes difficult to identify why a response fails.

A flexible prompt is: Evaluate the effectiveness of X in achieving Y. X might be an economic policy, experimental method, historical strategy, mathematical model, or literary interpretation. Prepare a descriptive non-example, a strong teacher model, and a related transfer prompt.

A complete 60-minute command-term lesson

Time	Phase	Teacher action	Student evidence
0-5 minutes	Diagnostic	Set a brief evaluate prompt	Three-sentence initial response
5-12 minutes	Deconstruction	Clarify command, content, scope, and scale	Annotated question
12-22 minutes	Modelling	Think aloud while planning a response	Notes on criteria and judgement
22-32 minutes	Comparison	Contrast descriptive and evaluative examples	Labelled differences
32-42 minutes	Guided practice	Construct one reasoning sequence together	Joint response
42-52 minutes	Transfer	Set a related unfamiliar prompt	Independent plan or paragraph
52-57 minutes	Feedback	Target one command-term feature	Immediate revision
57-60 minutes	Exit task	Ask students to state their next-step rule	Metacognitive reflection

Diagnose and model the thinking

Do not display the definition before the starter, because that removes its diagnostic value. After students respond, ask them to underline the sentence that performs the evaluation. Many will identify a strength, limitation, or unsupported opinion rather than genuine weighing.

When modelling, reveal the decisions behind the finished answer:

Command: What thinking must be demonstrated?
Content: What knowledge is relevant?
Scope: What context, period, data, or text sets the boundaries?
Scale: What depth is proportionate to the marks and time?

For example: “The policy increased access, but its effectiveness was limited because the gains were uneven and temporary.” This weighs positive evidence against limitations. A suitable judgement might follow: “It was effective in the short term, but not as a sustainable solution.”

Compare examples before independent practice

Give students a descriptive response and an evaluative response based on identical content. Ask them to locate the criterion, evidence, limitation, weighing, and conclusion in the stronger answer.

Sentence stems can offer temporary support, but evaluation is not created by inserting words such as “however” or “overall.” Students must make a disciplinary judgement. RevisionDojo's explanation of what examiners expect from command terms can help teachers design suitable contrasts.

Move from guided practice to transfer

Construct one paragraph or reasoning chain together, asking which criterion applies, which evidence matters most, and when the judgement might change. Then alter the case, source, data set, text, or context for independent work.

The new material should be accessible but sufficiently different to test transfer. If students succeed only when reproducing the model's facts, they have memorised an answer rather than learned the thinking process.

Give focused feedback and require revision

Avoid marking every feature of a short formative task. Give one comment on content accuracy and one on command-term execution, or focus solely on the command when knowledge is secure.

Useful feedback identifies a visible action:

“Weigh these limitations rather than listing them.”
“Connect your judgement to the stated criterion.”
“Explain how far the outcome met its purpose.”

Students should revise immediately, even if they change only two sentences. This completes the formative process described in RevisionDojo's guide to meaningful IB formative assessment.

Common planning mistakes

Teaching definitions as vocabulary: Recalling a definition does not demonstrate the required thinking. Require a written or spoken performance.
Using too much new content: Heavy knowledge demands can conceal whether students understand the command.
Applying universal formulas: Evaluation differs across Biology, History, Mathematics, and Literature. Use subject-specific models.
Ending after independent writing: Without feedback and revision, students may recognise their weakness without learning how to correct it.

Plan the follow-up

Use exit tasks to separate content gaps from problems with criteria, weighing, or conclusions. Begin the next lesson with a brief reattempt, then revisit the same command across different units.

The command terms teacher playbook and exam strategy lesson guide provide follow-up routines. Jojo AI can generate contrasting prompts or classify sample responses, but teachers should verify wording against current subject guidance.

Conclusion

Effective lesson planning around command terms isolates one cognitive action and gives students repeated opportunities to perform it. The core sequence is diagnose, define, model, compare, practise, transfer, receive feedback, and revise.

RevisionDojo's Questionbank, Jojo AI, and guidance on avoiding common exam mistakes can support focused follow-up across different topics.