The Teacher Heat Map: Visualising your classroom presence
Every teacher leaves a trace on their classroom - a pattern of questions, support, and movement. But how much of the room is truly reached? Observations often reveal a surprising truth: much of a teacher’s attention is concentrated on a small proportion of the class. The same hands go up. The same students get the questions. The same few receive support during independent work.
This isn’t usually deliberate; it’s the natural result of habit, routine, and the pressures of a busy classroom environment. But what if teachers could see these patterns clearly? What if, at the end of a lesson, it was possible to visualise exactly who had been engaged, and which areas of the classroom had received the most attention?
A powerful analogy from professional sport offers a useful lens. In Premier League football, analysts track a player’s movement and influence throughout a match, producing colourful ‘heat maps’ that show where they have been most active and areas of the pitch where they rarely ventured. Translating this idea to teaching can help teachers reflect on their own classroom presence and consider whether their interactions are balanced, inclusive, and impactful.
Familiar zones and patterns
Most teachers would like to believe that they spread their attention evenly across the class. However, when observed, many realise that their presence, both physical and cognitive, tends to cluster in familiar zones. Certain pupils receive most of the questioning, feedback, and challenge, while others quietly occupy the background.
These ‘familiar zones’ often develop naturally. Teachers may gravitate towards students who are confident and responsive, towards groups that seem to need the most immediate support, or simply towards areas of the room that are easiest to monitor. Over time, these patterns become habitual without the teacher even noticing.
Just as a footballer’s heat map reveals positional habits and blind spots that were invisible in the moment, a teacher heat map can also make these patterns visible. Reflecting on these zones prompts critical questions: Are some students consistently outside my attention? Are certain areas of the classroom rarely visited? Recognising these patterns is the first step towards more balanced questioning, equitable support, and deliberate movement.
Tracking our questioning footprint
Questioning is one of the most powerful tools in a teacher’s repertoire. It drives thinking, reveals understanding, and involves students cognitively active. But effective questioning isn’t just about the quality of the question, it’s also about who receives it. Daniel Willingham’s quote that ‘memory is the residue of thought’ means that we need to see questioning as a tool to make children think and not just to get an answer from the first enthusiastic child to raise their hand.
In many classrooms, questioning patterns follow predictable routes. Teachers often rely on the same handful of confident students who are quick to raise their hands. Others, perhaps quieter, less secure, or sitting out of the teacher’s direct line of sight, are rarely called upon meaning that they don’t need to even think. Over time, this creates an unintentional imbalance in participation rates and a missed opportunity for deep thinking and formative assessment.
Thinking about questioning through the lens of a heat map helps make these patterns visible. It prompts useful reflection such as:
Which students do I routinely question, and who rarely contributes?
Do I balance my questioning across boys and girls, pupil premium and SEND, or across different ability groups?
Am I engaging students at the back of the room as much as those at the front? Is this the same for the left of the room and the right-hand side of the room?
Have I got a tendency to ask questions to the students who sit closest to me?
Once aware of these tendencies, teachers can take simple steps to broaden their questioning. Strategies such as the popular ‘Cold Calling’ questioning technique can ensure a more inclusive spread of participation. Planning key questions in advance and deliberately assigning them to a specific mix of students can also help with a more deliberate approach to classroom coverage.
Following our patterns of support
A similar pattern often appears in how teachers move around the room and provide support. During independent work, some pupils receive multiple check-ins, while others go unnoticed. Over time, this can reinforce dependence for some learners while leaving others under-monitored.
Teachers might also unconsciously spend more time in certain classroom areas, perhaps near those who seek help most often, or at the back of the classroom where behaviour is more demanding. In other cases, some tables or groups become ‘cold zones’ that rarely receive direct feedback or challenge.
Reflecting on this can be uncomfortable, but it’s invaluable. In the same way that a coach studies a player’s positional data, teachers can consider: Where do I physically spend my time in the classroom? Who do I tend to support? And who do I rarely visit? These questions move reflection from instinct to evidence and that’s where professional growth begins.
Creating your own classroom heat map
While teachers don’t have access to the GPS trackers used in the Premier League, a classroom version can be created with nothing more than a seating plan and a couple of pens.
Print the seating plan for each class and keep it on your desk during the lesson. Every time you ask a student a question, place a small dot or tick in their space (perhaps in blue). Every time you visit a student to offer support, feedback, or check progress, add a different coloured mark (perhaps in red).
By the end of the lesson, the pattern that emerges will tell its own story. Some teachers will find that they’ve interacted heavily with one side of the room; whereas others may realise that certain pupils were never engaged directly at all. The beauty of this simple tool is that it can also be used during the lesson - providing live feedback to guide teacher movement and deliberate questioning before the lesson is over.
Over time, these annotated seating plans become a record of reflective practice. They allow teachers to see change and improvement, to notice shifts in attention, and to ensure that all students receive equitable interaction and feedback.
From personal reflection to professional dialogue
The heat map approach doesn’t have to be a solo exercise. Teachers can collaborate by observing each other and producing a heat map for their peer. This external perspective can reveal blind spots that even the most reflective teacher might miss. Used sensitively, it opens up constructive conversations about classroom equity, inclusivity, and teaching presence.
For middle or senior leaders, integrating heat maps into developmental observations can shift the focus from performance judgments to professional dialogue. Conversations can centre on patterns of engagement, classroom reach, and equitable attention, rather than purely on lesson content or outcomes.
Importantly, this process isn’t just about increasing coverage. Just like in the Premier League teachers should also consider the quality of their interactions. A heat map can reveal who was engaged, but reflection must also address how they were engaged. Key questions include:
Were interactions mostly corrective or developmental?
Did questioning encourage higher-order thinking, or remain at surface level?
Did attention balance across different groups, or focus mainly on those who demanded it?
By combining visual data from heat maps with reflection on interaction quality, teachers gain a richer understanding of their classroom presence, helping them to enhance both the reach and impact of their teaching.
Redrawing the map: Expanding your classroom presence
In football, heat maps aren’t just created for decoration or the fans at home, they’re tools for professional growth. They help players and coaches understand unseen habits, refine strategies, and raise performance. For teachers, they can serve exactly the same purpose. By visualising where your attention and energy truly go during a lesson, you can uncover hidden patterns and make deliberate adjustments to rebalance your classroom presence.
The most powerful aspect of this idea is its simplicity. With a printed seating plan and a couple of coloured pens, any teacher can create a visual record of their classroom influence. What begins as a straightforward reflective exercise can soon become a catalyst for more intentional practice, sharpening teacher presence, strengthening engagement, and increasing impact across the room.
So, at the end of your next lesson, ask yourself: If your classroom were a football pitch, what would your heat map look like? And perhaps more importantly, who’s still waiting to appear on it?
