10y4 Thursday period 5 and Friday period 2

I am particularly nervous about teaching this group, so I need to observe the class teachers carefully.

Thursday period five - there had obviously been an altercation before the lesson had began. One of the students was not in the room and a student that had not been present on Thursdays was present today. The class teacher realised that this was happening/had happened and made allowances for it. She had prepared a PPT for the lesson and they were focusing on the longer writing task of the English GCSE exam (it is worth 24 marks). Students need to focus on form, language and purpose in order to answer the question. She also emphasised that you need to use 3 different types of punctuation in order to get a C (? . , - !) She is encouraging all of the students to strive for that C. It is clear that a lot of differentiation is necessary in order for these lessons to be successful. She actually said that her differentiation was not simplified enough and that if it was it would have probably engaged a student that eventually had to be removed. The main task was to improve a D grade answer into a C grade answer. She asked questions like how can it be improved in terms of the opening paragraph, complex sentences, spelling, rhetorical questions and final paragraph.

The students were asked to re-write the opening and they then shared their work with the rest of the class. Two students are now no longer to sit next to each other (CD and H). This is the first time I have been in a lesson where a student had been removed.

Friday period two - the girls were much much much better behaved. The first task that NG gave them was a simple task. When the students were reading they were silent and engaged. NG praised them by saying things like "all of you are capable of doing this", "this is a four mark question that all of you can can get full marks on". NG gave them an article about Peppa Pig, she said that this probably wasn't the best idea for M as she's her sister has just had a miscarriage. NG constantly repeats her instructions  and is using anecdotes to keep the students engaged. It is obvious to me that is CD is going to remain in a lesson it is essential that she receive4s encouragement all of the time, and I think when I take over this class, I will ask LH, SO or NG to work closely with her. The students were all engaged on the easier tasks and when NG asked them to complete a more difficult task on language devices they were more reluctant to do it. NG read the second article about Peppa Pig for them as she felt they were getting tired and it would help them to understand the article as it contained a lot of sarcasm. To end the lesson NG left them on a high by giving them another easy task of skimming and scanning.

I think having the students at the end of the day is going to require a lot more planning and the task are going to be shorter and hopefully more engaging.