Having had a slow start to the term for a number of reasons (APP tests etc and being off ill for a week) I had not been observed as much as I might have expected to; which lead to my mentor asking the staff I share classes with to observe me for all lessons.
This lead to a tough but hugely rewarding week. I taught in front of two new teachers for the first time in the space of a week. This was fantastic because not only did both have a wealth of experience (both having been mentors to trainee students before) and both focusing on different things as was their own independent styles.
There were things that I was doing (for instance different levels of differentiation) that I didn't even realise I was doing; they were just things I had developed and done quite naturally. Some other positives were my questioning skills. These were something that had become a target for me to work on a lot earlier in the year and it was fantastic to hear that both of these teachers felt that they were a real strength of mine.
They also asked some interesting questions; how could I prove or how did I know that the pupils had learnt or met the learning objectives. Although there is an element of AFL going on through out the lesson, quite often verbally it can be necessary to pair that with the pupils applying that in written form.
I also realised that I need to be a lot more focused on my the outcomes for the lesson; quite often I would approach a lesson with a lot to cover or some definite outcomes and some things that I would like to introduce to the pupils/get them thinking about. However this can detract from the overall objectives being met and with lower ability pupils or younger classes can be distracting/confusing. Is it better to introduce a number of skills at a basic level or to solidify and be certain of the learning for fewer things?
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