All entries for Wednesday 10 November 2010

So I filmed myself baking a potato…..

Had my first formal observation today from someone from the Warwick brigade. They were rather complementary. My lesson had a bit of everything I guess; mini-whiteboards, cooking , using my mobile phone to ring the class teacher, videos of me baking a potato in an oven, balloon animals, a DVD rack, pineapples, bread, a trip in a lift, metal and plastic sheets, and even a bit of work for the kids too. And I didn't get time to play with the chocolate and marshmallows......

I was having a chat with a friend the other day who teaches, and tried to persuade me that I should stick to my guns and teach how I want to, develop my own styles, and try not to be moulded into a typical teacher expected at a given school. So far I am just trying to get my ideas across in my own way, which mainly involves a little light comedy, me showing myself up, and, almost on the sly, getting the lesson content across. I think teaching is a lot more fun if you adopt a persona you are comfortable with. I am pretty relaxed

Positives from today were based on my lesson structure and variety of activities, my demonstrations and explanations of the microwave kit I was using, and the general feeling the class left having met the objectives I set. I was given a couple of hours to reflect on the lesson before getting my debrief (spent teaching a year 8 class then running badminton club at lunchtime...) which was good. Though it is amazing how little I seemed to remember! I was told it would have ranked as a 2 with bits of 1 as a lesson, though in all honesty I reckon that's a tad generous. It became abundantly clear there are still a million things I can do to make the lessons better during my debrief.

My agreed action points to work on are: Target questions at individuals. And work on class discipline at the very start of my lesson. Oh, and have some further work available if some complete tasks very quickly.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it went.

Unlike Sunday's football. Jane Freshwater, if you see me on Friday and you have a smug look on your face........ :-(

Well, I'd also quickly like to reflect on how much work I now seem to have!!!! This is becoming a 7am-midnight job. 12am-6am = sleep. 6am-6.20am is wake up shower and change, 6.20am = breakfast, 6.30am = sky sports news (1 loop), 7am = teeth, hair, pack car and drive off..... (repeat)

See y'all on Friday. It has been so long!

Steve Essex : 10 Nov 2010 00:02 |  Tags: Jackets Observations Workload |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem