Presentations and Lesson Planning

Today was our first assignments/presentations for the GTTP course. Hopefully it went well, but the results and feedback will come later. Today was interesting to see peoples different styles and was good to see how other people approached the same (albeit broad) question as I did.

However, probably the most important thing that I will take away from the session today to do with lesson planning. Just because something suits my learning or teaching style, it might not work for my learners. This is something I will do my best to remember, just because I like teaching a something a certain way; it doesn't mean its the best way for my pupils. A simple way to find out if its working is to just ask them...

First Lesson- 8X4

I taught my first lesson this afternoon. Having planned a starter it was pointed out to me by the class's main teacher that I had actually planned a lesson, with starter, main task and plenary.

I have realised that if what the class is doing is of value and the class are getting a lot from it then adapting your plan to continue with it. I was wary of time but as the girls were really engaged with the tasks so I we stayed with it and I was pleased with what they produced.

After the lesson I debriefed with the main class teacher who gave me some great feedback which is of real use and will certainly be applied in the future. I think the main thing I will take from the feedback I was given is that I shouldn't rush to get my instructions out and get on with the lesson. It could have maybe benefited from establishing myself by waiting for silence before giving my instructions, this would have set the tone more and shown "who's boss".

All in all very pleasing first lesson and lots to work on going forward!

Starter 8X4

In the lesson we are going to be looking at using evidence when debating. I am planning the starter for the lesson and my main issue is the pitch of the task. It is a learning support group, who are full of ideas and always willing to contribute, however I really want it to be a task they can engage with and for this I want them to be able to take ownership and have their own input.

I think the key is to start them 'talking' as early as possible.

9X3 English Lesson- Blogging

C.L uses english department laptops with class, alowing them to blog thier views on which response from a previous lessons was the best and why (in terms of using lanmguage analysis).

This allows him to see the comments that are being made by the pairs instantly and see the progress being made. It is a lot easier to do it this way than speaking to every pupil or reading every pupils prep-books. It is also more engaging and different for the pupils. Something I should look to include in my own lessons?

14 Sep 2012

Busy but productive day, finishing with an observation of the AST in our department teaching a yr 7 class. The lesson itself was okay, last lesson on a Friday is never easy for anyone. However it was the brief conversation with the teacher afterwards that was the most interesting. He explained that he would rather spend time trying to break the bad habits of the girls had developed at their previous schools and instill the way of talking and learning that he and Newlands support than take his lesson further. He made sure the class were successful with what he thought was a fairly simple task -each person throwing out an denotation of a picture projected on the board, in order quickly and loudly- after they had been fairly poor at it. He sacrificed the latter part of the lesson to make sure they got it right and developed some of those skills. He also started to introduce the idea of a safe learning environment by allowing them to pass if they did not have a response, this is important because I have noticed that girls in the school have a large fear of being wrong or not knowing the answer, they need to learn that it is okay to be wrong and that they can learn from this.

Weeks 1&2

Having completed a couple of days of week 1 and nearly a full second week at my lead school Newlands Girls' School, I am very pleased with both the school and department. The school aims to achieve highly and the English department has a fantastic dynamic to it, as well as being very welcoming and supportive.

The lessons I have observed this week have been very beneficial, watching different styles of teaching (of which the department has many, each with its own positives and negatives) and starting to understand what style or kind of teacher I would like to be.

The most interesting thing I have noticed or have become aware of is the school's and the English departments attitudes towards the idea of 'talk'. Instead of spoon feeding the girls information for them to commit to memory, actually getting the pupils to think for themselves and discuss ideas between them. This should develop learning and thinking skills which will really be important higher up the school. It would seem people have it the wrong way round, its not about the how much the teacher can teach, its about how much the pupils can learn.