Which observation form should be used for the focus children observations?
Use the form that you find most suitable and which works best for you.
If I am in a pair, how do we both do 60% teaching of the timetable?
You will both have your own 60% and this can be a combination of team teaching, teaching parts of lessons, small groups or whole class and whole lessons. 60% is the equivalent of three days but this can be in sections of days and lessons, or as a larger portion of the day if this is appropriate.
How do we organise our time so that we are able to fit in all directed tasks and observations alongside our teaching?
The percentage of teaching time each week will include all activities that you prepare and teach. It may also include short early morning activities or reading the class book. You may be teaching whole class lessons or small groups but these all contribute towards the percentage. The observations of your mentor are to take place over the week and so it is likely to be about one lesson a day (or part of a lesson). The focus child observations reduce in number each week as your teaching percentage increases and so these should be achievable. Remember, these observations do not have to be entire lessons but perhaps just 10-15 minutes. Aim to observe each focus child at least once a day during the first two or three weeks. After that, you will find that as your teaching commitments increase, there is less time to observe.
What is the pupil progress review and what are we expected to complete towards it?
All the information about the pupil progress task is in the Directed Task folder. The observations and the tasks should allow you to put together a picture of each of your focus children and you can then present a picture of their current understanding in specific areas of English, mathematics and science.
Is it necessary that we complete all the directed tasks?
All the directed task should be completed during the 8 weeks of the placement. We recommended that you used a timetable to plan when you will complete these so that they are not all left until the final couple of weeks when your teaching percentage is higher. Do remember that they only need to be performed once and are NOT weekly activities. Many of the tasks will support you to complete the pupil progress task in week 4 and so we recommend that you aim to complete these as soon as possible.
If there is no expert colleague in our class, how should we arrange to observe them?
If you are able to arrange to observe expert colleagues during Phase 1, we recommend that you do so. Their practice will aid you in developing your own. In a situation such as the one described above, your mentor may be able to suggest another member of staff with particular strengths in teaching that area of the curriculum, for you to observe. All observations of other members of staff will be valuable and you may be able to use some of your PD time to do this. If it is not possible, then these must be completed in Phase 2 (but do bear in mind that your teaching percentage will be higher, throughout).
How much detail is required on the weekly review forms for the Talk-throughs and weekly reflections?
The reflections and Talk- throughs are designed to demonstrate your developing understanding. Since reflection is a key part of teaching practice, we suggest that you select a specific event and analyse this in depth. Aim to articulate your thinking. What happened, why did it happen (the analysis) and what does this mean for your future practice? How has your thinking changed as a result of the event and your subsequent analysis? The Talk-through section should indicate the key points you wish to make in the discussion and highlight how you are drawing on theory to demonstrate your developing understanding of practice. Once you have completed your Talk-through with your TM, you should them write the reflection about this focus, using Brookfield’s model of reflection. We will revisit this on Friday 15th November in the Professional session.
Owing to the time available, it is difficult to make notes on all 4 of my focus children for mathematics, English and science alongside observations of my mentor.
For weeks 4, 5 and 6, the expectations are just two observations of each FC for each week. Remember, these can just be short observations of part of a lesson or activity. For the mentor observations, you only need to aim for a range of lessons and try to focus on something specific. By now, you will have created a bank of observations and so the number decreases as your teaching percentage increases.
How often do we need to use tracking grids?
The tracking grids are to support you with planning or to identify misconceptions and the level of challenge needed in subsequent lessons. You only need to try them out for a few lessons at this stage, and only after we have introduced then during the Professional session on 15th November. This is simply to prepare you for their use in Phase 2.
For the pupil progress task, how many pieces of evidence should I have per section per child?
You will use your findings from the DTs in reading, counting and science. There may be other points you add from the FC observations but the DTs are the main source. There is no set ‘number’ but rather, you might include something that helps to exemplify what you have found out or it may show what you did.
For the science portion of the pupil progress presentation, are we expected to do a sinking and floating experiment with the children, as this appears on the example slides, or can it be their understanding of any scientific concept?
The example is simply an example and all you need to do is find out what they already know about at specific area of science, or perhaps a working scientifically (WS) skill. By observing your mentor teaching science, you will develop your understanding of assessment strategies used by teachers and as you observe your FC, or work with them, you can then make some judgements about their understanding. There is no need to plan an ‘experiment’ but you may see something along these lines in a science lesson and so you might decide to use that as evidence of how the children record or present data (WS skill).