I have finished my second placement at SGS just over a week ago now and this has given me plenty of time for reflection.
I think my first oversight at SGS was in terms of behaviour. I went with the assumption: being a Grammar school; behaviour would instantly be better. This certainly wasn't the case. Give children an opportunity to misbehave and they will do. So, it is imperative to set boundaries early and be consistent with them.
I also didn't put enough emphasis on getting to know the students. Only teaching there for 5 weeks had its obvious hurdles, with regards to this particularly, but building up a rapport with students is very important and one that comes with time.
That aside, there was a lot I learnt during my time. It was enjoyable to be in an environment where I felt I could push more of the students than my main placement school. The pace of work was quicker and generally in more depth. Another thing I didn't factor in was the amount of differentiation still applicable to these classes. Generally, before I would have always differentiated down in terms ability to let all access the lesson. Here, I was differentiating up in ability to ensure the more gifted students were challenged enough. I had soon noticed that if the higher ability students had flown through the work, then they were likely to cause small disruptions to the lesson, which would often filter through the class.
I worked with and observed some very good teachers, of whom I will take good advice and practice from.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Friday, 16 March 2012
Last lesson on a Friday...
I have a lesson with a Year 9 group last lesson on a Friday. Normally they are quite a good group when I have them earlier in the week, however Friday is a different story!
I felt last Friday's lesson went quite poorly; the students were generally off task, behaviour was poor and noise levels were not conducive to learning. I had spent ages the night before planning this lesson, so was quite frustrated as a result.
Having discussed it with the teacher observing me; we both agreed the lesson was a bit dull (or words to that effect). I had got quite frustrated and as a result wasn't enjoying teaching the lesson-this clearly showed. Also, the activities were quite similar and again, possibly on the dull side considering it is almost the weekend!
With what had gone on, I had a good think about how to plan today's lesson: I decided to make Friday afternoon's more fun! I varied up the activities, I had the students out of their seats and moving around the room, I got the louder students to come up to the front of the class and use their exuberance in a more positive manner. I had intended to seem more warm towards the lesson in general but I must say this came naturally as a result of the flow of the lesson. A much better last lesson of the week as a result!
I felt last Friday's lesson went quite poorly; the students were generally off task, behaviour was poor and noise levels were not conducive to learning. I had spent ages the night before planning this lesson, so was quite frustrated as a result.
Having discussed it with the teacher observing me; we both agreed the lesson was a bit dull (or words to that effect). I had got quite frustrated and as a result wasn't enjoying teaching the lesson-this clearly showed. Also, the activities were quite similar and again, possibly on the dull side considering it is almost the weekend!
With what had gone on, I had a good think about how to plan today's lesson: I decided to make Friday afternoon's more fun! I varied up the activities, I had the students out of their seats and moving around the room, I got the louder students to come up to the front of the class and use their exuberance in a more positive manner. I had intended to seem more warm towards the lesson in general but I must say this came naturally as a result of the flow of the lesson. A much better last lesson of the week as a result!
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Reflections for this week.
At the end of last week I felt little progress had been made at my time during SGS. I am finding low level chatter is a problem in some lessons and particularly still being unfamiliar with names is meaning immediate resolution isn't as easy any direct as what I have experienced previously at TLA.
In my lesson today, the year 8's started off very noisy and clearly not in the right frame of mind for working. I waited patiently for silence and to begin the lesson...but it didn't happen. I decided to take them all back outside the classroom and start again. I said very little to them at this point but think the picture on my face was expressive enough! From then on the pupils were far more responsive to me; the lesson had very few interruptions and I felt for the first time with this group that we both had got something worthwhile out of the lesson.
Another issue I have encountered is time management within lessons and flexibility. On Wednesday I had done a review of an examination question the Year 10's sat the previous week. Needless to say the results were far from outstanding. My mentor had asked If I would spend half the lesson doing reviews and demonstrating model answers and the second half starting the next sequence of lesson. Let's say the timings didn't follow the intentions. In terms of getting the correction material covered, that was fine, but it took nearly three quarters of the lesson as opposed to half. Abiding by my mentors advice I moved straight into the next part of the lesson. Reflecting upon this, it clearly wasn't enough time to introduce the aspects of the next lesson and set a substantial homework based upon it. With hindsight I can say that we could have touched upon ideas of the next topic and generated ideas, particularly linking in knowledge from their correction work. As a result I suspect we will be reviewing the homework a little more rigorously then planned!
Bearing this in mind I intended to pay more attention to these factors (time keeping and flexibility) in my next lesson with my mentor. With another year 8 class I had a clear path of what needed to be done when and how much time it should take. I gave clear instructions as to how much time I was giving them and constantly referred to the time throughout the lesson; these little strategies certainly improved the flow of the lesson and students concentration improved accordingly. 15minutes from the end, some students began finishing the work- I did have some extension work provided but decided to change my plan of action: I asked a question to the class based upon the work they have just done and created a mini debate. The students enjoyed this change of activity and were very keen to share their views.
I will definitely be a bit more flexible in my approach from now on.
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Year 10 SGS pupil shadow 09.03.12
Yesterday I shadowed a Year 10 pupil whom I teach, from Registration up to lunch. I had shadowed a year 9 pupil before the half term but these were two very contrasting pupils! My mentor had set me the task as she had noticed a fair deal of change in this pupil over the past few months. I was informed that this pupil was a bright lad but was gradually beginning to fall behind and not fulfill his potential.
Registration: Pupil on time. Sits at the back of the class with a group of lads with his hoody up. Admittedly it is cold in this room but this seems a little odd!? Friday is diary checking day, the pupil asks to leave the room and a few minutes later comes back with his diary. It's hard to pick out anything of relevance at this stage due to the nature of the session. As everyone leaves registration I notice the pupil take the long way round to his next lesson.
Spanish: A few pupils are already lined up ready for lesson. The pupil I am shadowing arrives slightly later but just before the teacher settles everyone down. The pupil sits at the front and is incredibly quiet. I would say well behaved but he doesn't appear to be that engaged, proactive nor participating. One question is directed at him towards the start of the lesson and he produces an answer. That aside, he is very quiet and displays no behavioural or attention seeking issues.
Chemistry: The atmosphere within this lesson is immediately very different. (The pupils had received their modular results the day before and as a result weren't having an overly normal/ productive lesson.) The lesson appeared more chaotic, louder and had less of a focus. The pupil I was observing mirrored the environment: he was chatty, off task and showed little productivity. The class task was given out at 10.08am, He did not even attempt it until 10.25am. He showed little focus in this lesson, comments made included: "I don't know this", "Never seen this before" and comments of this nature. Instructions were clearly on the board but he displayed no initiative or drive. However, later he declares he was unhappy with his results and wanted at least A, B, B. He clearly has high aspirations but what is he doing to achieve these?
English: This lesson was after break. His attitude mirrored that of what I had seen in the previous lesson, although the lesson was planned much tighter, so really had no reason to be. He was sat at the back of the class and continuously swung on his chair or lent against the wall for the whole lesson. To me, this appeared like he was ill prepared from the very start and had made his decision about the extent of his learning very early on. Throughout the lesson he was part of the low level chatter coming from the rear of the class, often whilst the teacher was talking too. He did show good promise at times and even raised his hand a few times to read out answers or verbally peer assess others contributions.However, his general concentration was poor and he is distracted very easily.
Sports science: In this lesson the class reviewed the test they had sat in the previous lesson. The pupil sat at a table at the back of the class on his own. Their was some small level chatting between pupils but the pupil I was shadowing was like a completely different person; he requested a text book from the teacher so he could amend his mistake, he put his hand up a number of times for further guidance and stayed well clear of any distractions or mischief- It was like seeing a completely different pupil. In this lesson it was clear that he thoroughly enjoyed the subject. He wanted to improve and it was clear that he enjoyed the praise he received from the teacher.
During this lesson he spoke to me about why I had been in all his lessons so far; I had not told him I was shadowing him as I wanted this to be as real an experience as possible. I informed him that I wanted to watch a variety of year 10 lessons and then subtly asked him about how his lessons were going. He is fully aware of the distractions he encounters and in some cases, he creates them himself. It is evident that he is a bright lad but is too frequently caught up in something other than learning, be it his fault or someone else's. If there is an opportunity for him to misbehave then generally he will take it, although this wasn't the case during Sports science. He responds well to praise and responsibility but is very quick to loose focus should he not be attended to in that respect. From our discussion, it is clear that he wants to do well but ultimately that is down to how he conducts himself.
Registration: Pupil on time. Sits at the back of the class with a group of lads with his hoody up. Admittedly it is cold in this room but this seems a little odd!? Friday is diary checking day, the pupil asks to leave the room and a few minutes later comes back with his diary. It's hard to pick out anything of relevance at this stage due to the nature of the session. As everyone leaves registration I notice the pupil take the long way round to his next lesson.
Spanish: A few pupils are already lined up ready for lesson. The pupil I am shadowing arrives slightly later but just before the teacher settles everyone down. The pupil sits at the front and is incredibly quiet. I would say well behaved but he doesn't appear to be that engaged, proactive nor participating. One question is directed at him towards the start of the lesson and he produces an answer. That aside, he is very quiet and displays no behavioural or attention seeking issues.
Chemistry: The atmosphere within this lesson is immediately very different. (The pupils had received their modular results the day before and as a result weren't having an overly normal/ productive lesson.) The lesson appeared more chaotic, louder and had less of a focus. The pupil I was observing mirrored the environment: he was chatty, off task and showed little productivity. The class task was given out at 10.08am, He did not even attempt it until 10.25am. He showed little focus in this lesson, comments made included: "I don't know this", "Never seen this before" and comments of this nature. Instructions were clearly on the board but he displayed no initiative or drive. However, later he declares he was unhappy with his results and wanted at least A, B, B. He clearly has high aspirations but what is he doing to achieve these?
English: This lesson was after break. His attitude mirrored that of what I had seen in the previous lesson, although the lesson was planned much tighter, so really had no reason to be. He was sat at the back of the class and continuously swung on his chair or lent against the wall for the whole lesson. To me, this appeared like he was ill prepared from the very start and had made his decision about the extent of his learning very early on. Throughout the lesson he was part of the low level chatter coming from the rear of the class, often whilst the teacher was talking too. He did show good promise at times and even raised his hand a few times to read out answers or verbally peer assess others contributions.However, his general concentration was poor and he is distracted very easily.
Sports science: In this lesson the class reviewed the test they had sat in the previous lesson. The pupil sat at a table at the back of the class on his own. Their was some small level chatting between pupils but the pupil I was shadowing was like a completely different person; he requested a text book from the teacher so he could amend his mistake, he put his hand up a number of times for further guidance and stayed well clear of any distractions or mischief- It was like seeing a completely different pupil. In this lesson it was clear that he thoroughly enjoyed the subject. He wanted to improve and it was clear that he enjoyed the praise he received from the teacher.
During this lesson he spoke to me about why I had been in all his lessons so far; I had not told him I was shadowing him as I wanted this to be as real an experience as possible. I informed him that I wanted to watch a variety of year 10 lessons and then subtly asked him about how his lessons were going. He is fully aware of the distractions he encounters and in some cases, he creates them himself. It is evident that he is a bright lad but is too frequently caught up in something other than learning, be it his fault or someone else's. If there is an opportunity for him to misbehave then generally he will take it, although this wasn't the case during Sports science. He responds well to praise and responsibility but is very quick to loose focus should he not be attended to in that respect. From our discussion, it is clear that he wants to do well but ultimately that is down to how he conducts himself.
Week 3 of teaching at SGS. 7W Geography
I very much enjoy teaching this year group due to it being the only chance I get to teach Human Geography at SGS. My main interests lie within this sub division of Geography, so I always feel more at ease in terms of planning and delivering these lessons and also the subsequent questioning I set upon the class. However, the downside of this is that I am happy to bounce questions around the classroom, which at times may be too challenging for some- the G+T pupils however appear to enjoy this.
I have seen this class twice this week. At times I feel they are trying to challenge me and push boundaries a little. I am normally fairly firm with them but not knowing all of their names makes it a bit difficult to instantly challenge a pupil with the same impact that I am used to at my main placement.
The lesson I had with them on Wednesday went quite smoothly, the downside was that I didn't feel the higher ability students were challenged so much, this can result in some restlessness-often quite infectious!
The lesson I had with them on Thursday was in hindsight, pitched too high. The more gifted students really got to grips with the task quite quickly. The lesser ability pupils seemed to skirt around the main focus of the task and not comprehend what was required of them. Again, being off task is a recipe for further distraction.!!
I didn't think differentiation would be as big an issue at a grammar school but it seems I am going to have to pay more attention at either pushing the G+T or breaking the work down further for the weaker students. This is applicable across all age ranges and is something I will have to put more thought into next week. Pitching lessons at the right level is obviously a skill that comes with knowing your students very well, something I am yet to achieve at SGS.
I have seen this class twice this week. At times I feel they are trying to challenge me and push boundaries a little. I am normally fairly firm with them but not knowing all of their names makes it a bit difficult to instantly challenge a pupil with the same impact that I am used to at my main placement.
The lesson I had with them on Wednesday went quite smoothly, the downside was that I didn't feel the higher ability students were challenged so much, this can result in some restlessness-often quite infectious!
The lesson I had with them on Thursday was in hindsight, pitched too high. The more gifted students really got to grips with the task quite quickly. The lesser ability pupils seemed to skirt around the main focus of the task and not comprehend what was required of them. Again, being off task is a recipe for further distraction.!!
I didn't think differentiation would be as big an issue at a grammar school but it seems I am going to have to pay more attention at either pushing the G+T or breaking the work down further for the weaker students. This is applicable across all age ranges and is something I will have to put more thought into next week. Pitching lessons at the right level is obviously a skill that comes with knowing your students very well, something I am yet to achieve at SGS.
Friday, 24 February 2012
First week teaching at SGS.
I have taught a number of year groups this week and obseved a few 6th form lessons, of which I will begin teaching partly next week.
My experience to date has been very different to The Langley Academy. Going into a grammar school, I though that a lot more material would be covered; this at times hasn't been the case but areas of study do tend to be looked at in greater depth. Although saying that, that is not the experience I have had with my year 10 class!
The first thing I have struggled with is learning all the new names! Knowing students names certainly helps behaviour management, I have found at times there has been some low level chatter and not knowing the student(s) name has certainly slowed down the process of rectifying this problem. Although on the whole, behaviour is generally very positive and students appear engaging and motivated the majority of the time.
In regards to lessons I have taught so far: The Year 7's were very impressive academically, they asked lots of questions and showed a real thirst for geographically knowledge. This however sometimes hindered moving the lesson on but it is encouraging to see real passion. My first lesson with them went well but again there was some low level chatter and students were very keen to have discussions as a class but a bit more reluctant to get so much detail down on paper. In my next lesson with them I was much stricter with low level chatter and kept a few boys back to show them I wouldn't tolerate this. After receiving feedback I altered my style slightly and ensured my questioning had a stronger focus, attempting to build on prior answers. This is something that I see as a weakness of mine and am continuing to develop.
The year 8 lesson appeared to go quite well. The students enoyed the false/true starter I played with them but more thought could have been put into the order of the lesson. If I'd had a different order then the plenary activity would probably have been a bit tighter as a result. On the whole not a bad lesson with this bunch though.
I used a wide ranging style of activities with my year 9 class. Again the students appeared to really engage in these tasks but I felt pace could have been improved in these lessons. I taught this class for the second time last thing on a Friday. The starter activity was really fun and helped drill home some key terms but I felt it should have had a more evident outcome. In response to this I used an on the board interactive quiz to gauge how much the students had taken and learnt from the starter. I got the feeling they learnt quite a bit but it could have been conducted in a more focused manner, as opposed to whole class calling out.The main activity I gave them definitely required more instructions and 'modelling'. However, I was attempting to promote independence amongst them. This in turn lead to confusion and a bit of a lethargic manner. Possibly more guidance is required for this last lesson of the week.
With regards to the Year 10's, a very quiet bunch, whom aren't overly keen on partcipating in a Q+A session and slow to get down to work. In fairness I am teaching them a topic that I, myself, am not overly confident on. This meant my questioning was not as focused or driven as it could/should have been. However, my mentor has assured me that they are like that with her too- I will have to try a different style/approach to get them more active.
In reflection, I need to improve on my questioning, especially to get immediate feedback to see how they are responding to the lesson. Secondly, I need to start learning students names asap to make real in-roads into dealing with petty behavioural issues.
My experience to date has been very different to The Langley Academy. Going into a grammar school, I though that a lot more material would be covered; this at times hasn't been the case but areas of study do tend to be looked at in greater depth. Although saying that, that is not the experience I have had with my year 10 class!
The first thing I have struggled with is learning all the new names! Knowing students names certainly helps behaviour management, I have found at times there has been some low level chatter and not knowing the student(s) name has certainly slowed down the process of rectifying this problem. Although on the whole, behaviour is generally very positive and students appear engaging and motivated the majority of the time.
In regards to lessons I have taught so far: The Year 7's were very impressive academically, they asked lots of questions and showed a real thirst for geographically knowledge. This however sometimes hindered moving the lesson on but it is encouraging to see real passion. My first lesson with them went well but again there was some low level chatter and students were very keen to have discussions as a class but a bit more reluctant to get so much detail down on paper. In my next lesson with them I was much stricter with low level chatter and kept a few boys back to show them I wouldn't tolerate this. After receiving feedback I altered my style slightly and ensured my questioning had a stronger focus, attempting to build on prior answers. This is something that I see as a weakness of mine and am continuing to develop.
The year 8 lesson appeared to go quite well. The students enoyed the false/true starter I played with them but more thought could have been put into the order of the lesson. If I'd had a different order then the plenary activity would probably have been a bit tighter as a result. On the whole not a bad lesson with this bunch though.
I used a wide ranging style of activities with my year 9 class. Again the students appeared to really engage in these tasks but I felt pace could have been improved in these lessons. I taught this class for the second time last thing on a Friday. The starter activity was really fun and helped drill home some key terms but I felt it should have had a more evident outcome. In response to this I used an on the board interactive quiz to gauge how much the students had taken and learnt from the starter. I got the feeling they learnt quite a bit but it could have been conducted in a more focused manner, as opposed to whole class calling out.The main activity I gave them definitely required more instructions and 'modelling'. However, I was attempting to promote independence amongst them. This in turn lead to confusion and a bit of a lethargic manner. Possibly more guidance is required for this last lesson of the week.
With regards to the Year 10's, a very quiet bunch, whom aren't overly keen on partcipating in a Q+A session and slow to get down to work. In fairness I am teaching them a topic that I, myself, am not overly confident on. This meant my questioning was not as focused or driven as it could/should have been. However, my mentor has assured me that they are like that with her too- I will have to try a different style/approach to get them more active.
In reflection, I need to improve on my questioning, especially to get immediate feedback to see how they are responding to the lesson. Secondly, I need to start learning students names asap to make real in-roads into dealing with petty behavioural issues.
Inset day 20th February, 2012.
Monday 20th February was an Inset day. We had a whole school briefing regarding the new Ofsted criteria and then we were split up into small groups to watch video clips of teachers in action and attempt to grade them accordingly. This was very benefitial and certainly it has helped focus my and teaching and practice. In addition to this I also attended two other sessions. The first session was on positive communication with students; this involved us looking at various techniques for engaging and promoting postive behaviour, management skills etc. The other was on links between children's early experiences, emotional well-being and performances in school.
Both sessions were of value and helped give insight into external issues, which sometimes are neglected and not taking into consideration.
Both sessions were of value and helped give insight into external issues, which sometimes are neglected and not taking into consideration.
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