Reflection on observations

These are just some thoughts I've had about the observations I've been doing for the past couple of weeks:

Reflection on Observations

·       Having observed many teachers from my department one thing is clear. There is an immediate expectation of the students as soon as they enter the room. They are expected to stand up behind their chairs in silence, with their planners, prep books and pencil cases on the desk in anticipation for the teacher to say good morning/afternoon and give them permission to sit down.

·         A good way to get to know the students’ name is to make the students make name tags (including yourself) and display them on their desks.

·       One thing I noticed about teachers that taught ‘learning support groups’ is that there was a definite emphasis (particularly for GCSE groups) that we, as teachers, are here to get you, the student, the best grade possible, namely a C.

·        Lower ability groups need models and sentence starters whereas higher ability groups do not.

·       When teaching a higher ability class I have noticed that teachers give their students a lot of praise and continually question the students encouraging them to take responsibility for their own learning. Also by asking questions you can gain an idea of how much prior knowledge your students have and where your starting point is.

·       To keep year 10s on task class teachers made it clear that there is no time to mess around as 60% of their GCSE is completed this year through controlled assessment, with the first controlled assessment to be completed in the week beginning 3^rd October.

·      More often than not students were reluctant to volunteer answers, and when this happened one strategy I saw used was to give your own answer and make it personal in order to build relationships.

·       There is a massive emphasis on creating a safe environment within the classroom in order to enable the girls to share ideas and feel comfortable in doing so.

·       To avoid having no volunteers to answer questions choose students.

·       After talking to many teachers in the department it became clear that seating plans are not put in place until the teachers know the students well enough. Most teachers I spoke to will put seating plans in place during term 2.

·       Key words are written in the back of students prep books in order to help them build subject specific language and to prevent the students from continually asking the subject teacher what words mean.

·        In order to alert the teacher when to move on to the next topic, teachers asked their students to put their pens down and/or shut their books.

·       Assessment for Learning – pass the prep books three students along and that student is to mark the spelling and grammar, write one positive comment and one comment that includes something to improve. Repeat the process with the student not being allowed to write the same thing as the student before. By passing the prep book three students along, work is not being marked by friends and the work is marked anonymously so that the students can be entirely honest.

·       Context is really important when it comes to aiding the students understanding. If you can relate to a modern day situation then that is even better.

·       Teachers continually referred to the Assessment Objectives/Assessment Focuses but wrote them in ‘easy speak’ so that students could understand them.

·       Varied activities keep all types of learners (visual, kinaesthetic and auditory) interested.

·       It is important to remember to praise the students when they do something correct or something without you having to say anything.

·       Offer house points for volunteers or for prizes.

·       Make sure if you set homework, you check to see if it has been completed and if it has not a note must be written in the student’s planner, and a detention issued.

·         Take students out of their comfort zones.

·       Allowing learning time is essential, especially if the topic is heavy. This is something that I have seen witnessed in AS-Level and A-Level classes in particular. This learning time is like a mini plenary that is intermittent throughout the lesson. It allows consolidation of learning.

·       A plenary that is sometimes used is a reflection upon the LO and the question asked is have we met our LO or what have we learnt in today’s lesson.

·       At the end of the lesson the expectation is that the students have their jackets on and are standing silently behind their chairs waiting to be given permission to leave.

More to come, hopefully tomorrow...