HAMILTON GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

FORMAL OBSERVATION REPORT

Name: George May

Date: 22/09/14

Observer: Lynn Hodgkinson

Subject: Social Studies

Standard
Met

Preparation and
Introduction to
lesson
Knowledge of
content and
development

Requires
Work

Period:2

Room:GS3

Class: 10HA
Comments

The lesson plan was full and informative with clear

learning objectives

Very good, you clearly have knowledge of the subject

area.

Variety of activities
Use of resources

Lots of interactive activities and stuff for the students to

get their teeth into to engage them in the learning.

Aimed at
appropriate level

Questioning skills

Use of written
material

Power point rather than written material. But this was

good.

Clarity of
instructions

These were very good, use of board to help and it was

clear the amount of time they had for each.

Time allocation

Very good you gave enough time for tasks.

It seemed to be, as these students had some

knowledge of the local disaster, but there was still
some challenge for the students to engage in.
The was dependant on the information provided for
class but there was a range of questions to develop the
students thinking.

Classroom
management

Come up with some strats that work for ensuring you

are in charge of management. Eg giving thinking time
for quiet. Laying out expectations for when quiet is
required. Hands up will only be able to ask questions.
Shouting out will be ignored.

Handling of
discipline

Not really tested but I have put requires work as I think

this also links in with high standards and expectations.

Teacher
movement

Use of Voice

Rapport with
Students

Very good, students have the opportunity to ask

questions and engage in further conversations.
You are very loud but part of this is to be heard over
the talking. Be much firmer on your insistence of them
being quiet and listening. The girls are asking
questions they are new to credit assessments. Make
sure they can all hear the important information.
Very good, the students clearly like your teaching style.
Id like to see them show a little more respect for your
teaching in terms of appropriate behaviour in class at
certain times (calling out, talking while you are etc) on

the whole they were ok but high standards and

expectations mean much easier lessons for you and
much more enriching for the students. This can take
some work at the start of the year but it is a must for
the rest of the year being smooth. Students like clear
boundaries and rules/routine.
Ending of lesson

Classroom manner:
Positive and energetic.
You are patient with the students and allow them to learn through perhaps making mistakes, you
encourage risk taking in terms of them exploring things that may not be correct/relevant to
encourage them to make justification/reasoning. This is very good.

Areas of strength:
Energy and enthusiasm for your teaching.
Teacher movement around the students when they are working in small groups.
Knowledge and content development. You have an understanding of the information they need to
know and show this well.

Areas for development:

Insistence of quiet and listening at correct times. Noise is great in discussions but make sure all
the girls get the opportunity to hear the information.
When introducing achievement standards spend sometime going over what is expected at the
beginning. So that the students know and understand why they are learning what they are. This
will minimise further questions later on.
Develop some clear strats for classroom management. There didnt seem to be any observable
ones in place, this makes for long hard graft for you, make the management styles work for you
but have them in place.
You are aware of this because you made comments throughout about needing to start
discussions etc but you did nothing about ensuring this. This is a normal beginning teacher
feature and something that will change depending on the class of course.
Achievement of aims:
Yes the students were encouraged through their activities to learn for the relevant aspects they
are required to do for the objective.
I think it could have been made clearer what was the expectation and aims of the Achievement
standard, especially as they have not done this before.

Additional comments:
Be mindful of cultural awareness. Although the students took the comments lightly, you imply that
there should not be an effort by you to be aware of pronunciation etc. This will have far more of
an impact than you realise.
Overall, your planning, knowledge and teaching style are all very good. You have strengths in
these areas. However, your classroom management needs some work. Tighter structure in
place, clear expectations that you set for yourself and your students from the get go. Students
will really struggle in your class to learn, especially the ones who are not dominant. There are
clear leaders in the class who are nice girls and liked by their peers but this does not mean that
its ok for them to dominate the class and the teacher which they are doing presently. Students
really like and respect routines, clear boundaries and a strong teacher who will not allow
movement from their expectations.
This was a good lesson but I think that some students may have ben lost in the lesson. Some
girls we doing the work but were not engaged, partly because you didnt require them to be at all
times.

Lesson Plan
(Use attached sheet - must be handed to Observer a day prior to lesson) YES
Seen and discussed with HOD/Mentor before lesson YES
Signed by Observer Lynn Hodgkinson
Signed by teacher ______________________________________________________
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