Secondary

Observation Management

Planning:
Was your lesson plan effective for managing the class?
e.g. How did the students react to your lesson overall and to your planned activities?
With my lesson plan, I made sure to be explicitly specific in the instructions for the student
introduction aspect. By explaining first up and listing what was to be done, looked at and
accomplished throughout the lesson, I was able to ensure that the students knew what was
expected of them academically. I also took the time to reiterate what was expected of them content
wise and behaviourally (e.g. no talking). This made for easier management of the class and for
what needed to be achieved. The rules were definitely followed, there was little to no talking and it
took only a mater of words to steer them back on track.

Did anything unexpected happen?
One thing that I did not expect was that a Year 10 student, who was chosen to read out a passage,
could not read very well at all and struggled with some seemingly simple words. That student was
however, prompted along and assisted by other students in sounding out the words.
Also, some students did not even have a pen with them (or claimed that they didnt) and needed to
be handed out additional materials.

Did you provide a variety of activities?
In the whole class lesson, I wanted to have it split into 3 parts:
- reading the information sheet
- thinking about and filling out the question sheet
- discussing the question sheet as a class
For the students who had finished early, I had provided an extra sheet of lined paper and suggested
that they could either write a short story based on the topic for something a little more creative or
they could draw a picture or diagram relating to the subject topic.

Were you satisfied with your timing, particularly for the end of the lesson?
For the micro lesson, it was supposed to be a short 20 minute session where the students would
finish their worksheets on the DVD visual text they had watched. The DVD finished early and so the
mentor teacher just allowed them to continue on with this task for 40 minutes. I felt that it should
not have taken that long to complete such a task.
For the main lesson, I stuck to the timing of my lesson plan quite well, announcing how long the
students had left to complete the current part of the task before moving onto the next one. I
finished it on time but had to rush the discussion a little at the end because I was running short on
time, having had the class take a little longer to complete the question portion of the lesson. I would
have liked to have had the class for the whole hour session rather than have to split it in half with
the other student teacher in the classroom.

Did you feel you were able to change things if needed?
It was difficult to be able to change things when I had explained the lesson in a lot of detail
beforehand. One thing Id have liked to have changed would be to put them in groups for the
questions.

Organisation and Preparation:

Was your organisation of materials and resources efficient and effective?
e.g. Did you and the students have everything you needed?
Organisation for the in-class component of the lesson was quite simple all that students required
was a pen which they should have all had (some did not and needed to be given a pencil). As far as
organisation and preparation went in sorting out and planning the lesson, it took me a lot of time to
put together as I had to make up the worksheets with all the information; trying to make them look
neat, presentable and like they were out of a textbook and looked credible. This was an intensive
process.

Did you plan how and when you would distribute and collect materials?
When the students entered, I told them theyd need a pen. I planned to hand out the materials once
everyone had come in, sat down and had everything put away and their pens ready. The worksheets
were handed out whilst I was introducing and explaining the task. This gave students time to glaze
over the sheets and familiarise themselves with the topic. For the micro lesson, glue sticks and
scissors were required. These were left up the front of the class for the students to collect
themselves when they needed them.
At the end of the micro lesson, the worksheets were collected by one student and passed on to the
mentor teacher. The worksheets for the whole lesson required the students to rip off the front
information page to keep for themselves, whilst the question sheets were all passed along the rows
to the front where they were collected by myself.

Were you aware of classroom procedures and school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know about your students?
I did not know a lot about the students at all as there was quite a number of different classes that I
sat in on. Having a different set of students each lesson made it quite difficult as I wasnt able to get
to know the capabilities and learning requirements of each individual.
The classroom did not seem to be much of a disciplinary environment with the students having more
control than the teacher at points. For example: students doing labs were not wearing their safety
glasses despite being reminded by their teacher. This was not consistent however and it gave the
students a chance to realise what they could get away with, seemingly without consequences.

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom:

How did you demonstrate to the students that you valued them, and enjoyed learning?
e.g. Tone of voice, facial expression, sense of humour, introduction to students and topic.
By explaining to them in the introduction to the task that if they needed help; had any further
questions; or required further clarification, they should put their hands up and I would attend to
them and provide the answers or help they were seeking.
Students who were not on task were politely reminded with a moderately stern tone of what they
were meant to be doing.




Which aspects of your teaching style do you feel helped you maintain class attention?
e.g. Variety of activities, class or group discussion, pace of lesson, interest at class level.
My style of teaching is generally very much hands on I like to make myself available to the kids and
get involved with what theyre doing by prompting them along when theyre stuck by asking
questions that will ultimately lead them to discover the answer themselves. This leaves more room
for learning and understanding than would if they were simply told the answer and then wrote it
down only to forget it minutes later. I also like to use humour by recounting interesting facts or
stories relating to the topic to keep students engaged. It made it hard with this class as I had time
constraints which meant I had to rush through things at a faster pace than desired. The discussion
did not reach its full potential which was a shame as it could have developed into a very interesting
conversation amongst the students and myself.

Did the students know what was expected of them?
The students knew what was expected of them as all of the rules were explained during the
introductory phase and the students were asked to repeat the instructions back.

Were you able to redirect energies of attention seeking students?
Did the students have enough to do?
There was certainly plenty to do, even for the students who engaged completely in the task and
participated with total consideration and concentration. There wasnt really any attention seeking
students during this lesson, they were all pretty quiet and seemingly doing their work. I did walk
around and check to see that they were actually working on what they were meant to be: most
were. Those who werent were asked if they didnt understand what was required and when they
said that they did, they were told to focus and continue on with doing what they had just repeated
(which were in the original instructions). All students ended up completing a portion of what was
asked so that was a plus at least (although I did expect more).

Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour:
Were you aware of what was happening in all parts of the classroom?
Did you know what each student was doing?
I was sat at the front of the class and could see across all the rows of desks so I could see if people
were looking around the room or not working on what they were meant to. The room was quite
small and mostly silent too so if I heard talking, I was able to say I shouldnt be hearing talking as
they were told beforehand that it would not be appropriate when there was much to accomplish. In
the classes that I took, there was not a lot of misbehaviour. There was more laziness than anything
else with students trying to tell me that *they+ couldnt read or Im stupid sir to try to make me
feel sorry for them and not get them to do their work.

Did you take any action when you observed poor behaviour? Why/Why not?
In one of the classes that I observed, there was a student who was playing with a toy skateboard at
the back and disrupting/annoying other students with it. I wasnt too sure what to do and thought I
would let the mentor teacher deal with it. When she didnt, I gave the student a warning and when
he continued to misbehave, I thought I should confiscate it and put it at the front of the class. I did
not though because I did not feel like I had any power and did not know this student. It would have
been a different matter if this was my own class but they did not seem to be disciplined enough and
the teacher took no action. From where I made my observations, I was in the back corner of the
class and so could see across the class and see what each student was doing. Not a lot of them were
doing work but I did not feel comfortable in confronting them as it seemed the general attitude.
Did you use non-verbal cues?
e.g. Contact, pause, gesture, movement towards student/s concerned.
The student (with the mini skateboard) who was right next to me at the back received a verbal
warning and a gesture of me pointing to his desk to signal that he needed to do his work. I made eye
contact with a student who continually kept taking off his safety glasses during lab experiments too
and he knew that he was doing the wrong thing and so would put them on when he saw that I was
looking but take them off as soon as I looked away. It was tough because I did not know the students
and was not even introduced to the classes by the mentor teacher so it was a bit of an
uncomfortable environment and situation to be in to not be able to bring order to the classroom.