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.
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