What can be learnt from a lesson observation? – Lily

What can be learnt from a lesson observation? How does this impact upon your strategies for behaviour management?

Peer lesson observations have provided me with an insight into not just behaviour management strategies but also student response and engagement, therefore immediately indicating how effective the strategy has been. In particular, I have found observing a Key Stage 1 science lesson extremely beneficial for my development.

Tailoring lessons helps students to engage with the learning, as they feel the work is achievable (Griffith and Burns, 2012). This then reduces disruptive behavior in the classroom as students are able to participate in the lesson. Whilst observing the aforementioned lesson I was able to see how the teacher adapted her plan to support her class who were struggling to remain focussed. Instead of writing to document their understanding, students took photographs and recorded their explanations. This documented their learning in a way that was engaging and accessible to the class. Following this observation, I edited a lesson to best suit my class, I prioritised groupwork and documented student learning through captioned photographs. Following this lesson, on reflection, the level of work my students produced was significantly higher than the work they had produced the previous week, where students had lost focus due to written work expectation being too high.

Griffith and Burns (2012) explain that students who feel connected with their teachers feel motivated in their learning. One way in which to establish this relationship is to encourage students to share how they are feeling, thus building their emotional literacy; Shelton and Brownhill (2012) define emotional literacy as “the ability to recognise, understand, handle, and appropriately express emotions”. Increased emotional literacy can enable the teacher to build stronger connections with students and by doing so reduce negative behaviour (Lee, 2006, Sharp 2012). I had previously implemented this verbally in my classroom, but felt it wasn’t having an impact. Whilst observing the opening of the science lesson I noticed the class had a ‘Feelings Chart’. The students were free to move their photograph up or down the chart to show how they were feeling throughout the day, allowing for changing of feelings and more frequent class discussion. Moreover, whilst observing her lesson, I was able to see how the teacher adjusted her tone depending on the student’s mood or feelings. I have since introduced the ‘Feelings Chart’ into my classroom. I found it has helped me to build a greater understanding of my students and build stronger connections, which in turn has improved their behaviour.

Whilst I observed the lesson, I noticed that the teacher addressed low-level disruptive behaviour using non-verbal prompts to get students back on task. This maintained the pace of the lesson and prompted the students in this class to make better behaviour choices. By watching this being implemented in a lesson I was able to see how students quickly mirrored the teachers’ actions. I have since found silent behaviour management techniques to be particularly effective with my students who can be loud or disruptive as my actions are a total contrast to their behaviour.

References

Griffith, A. and Burns, M. (2012). Outstanding Teaching: Engaging Learners. Camarthen: Crown House Publishing, pp.91-92.

Sharp, P. (2012). Nurturing Emotional Literacy. 3rd ed. Oxon: Routledge.

Abigail Ball : 02 Mar 2020 08:25 |  Tags: Lesson Observation Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What can be learned from an observed lesson? – Rachel

What can be learned from an observed lesson? How does this impact on your strategies for behaviour management?

Research has shown that observing teachers is equally as helpful as feedback alone (Hendry and Oliver, 2012). As a trainee, I have found it to be highly beneficial for improving my practice and deepening my understanding of pedagogical approaches. For example, I recently observed a year 8 English lesson at another school, with planning as my main area of focus. From this observation, I was able to gain a better understanding of how a well-structured series of lessons, clear success criteria and formative assessment can have a positive impact on student behaviour.

In this lesson, I observed the three components required for a ‘flow state’: ‘clear goals, immediate feedback, [and a] balance of challenge and skill,’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). For example, at the beginning of the lesson, students were asked to recall the success criteria of a journal entry. Student answers were based on previous lessons and showed their understanding of not just what to do but how to do it. I noticed that immediate feedback was given, and misconceptions were addressed if required. Following this, students were then challenged to apply their knowledge through group research and group writing. Finally, students used their knowledge of the success criteria to provide feedback to each-other. I could see in the lesson that students were motivated and engaged by this; they were often helping each other to be successful in the tasks and the environment in the classroom was collaborative and engaging. Following a conversation with the teacher afterwards, I also learned that this series of lessons related directly to an upcoming assessment.

Following this lesson observation, I concluded that my plans to date had not been focussed enough, which could be having a detrimental effect on student behaviour. For example, I had recently created a medium-term plan that explored the literary and linguistic features of non-fiction but had not included (or considered) how this connected with the assessment at the end of the unit. This lack of focus could add a sense of confusion amongst students, result in a lack of ‘flow’ from lesson to lesson and ultimately impact negatively on behaviour. Consequently, I have re-evaluated my approach to planning and developed a clearer understanding of how planning relates to both formative and summative assessments.

After observing this lesson, I realised the scope of content I wanted to cover in each unit was too broad, so I have now adapted my medium-term lesson plans to focus clearly on a small set of core skills and knowledge outlined in the curriculum. As part of this new approach I am also directing attention to only one text type at a time (i.e. a formal letter or the opening to a story).

After reflecting on a year 8 class that I teach, I realised that a few of my students can be quick to disengage, which may be because they do not know how to be successful or if they are progressing. I could see I had not been communicating clear goals early enough or regularly enough in the unit, and I had not given students enough opportunities to build self-efficacy through peer and self-assessment, which could be affecting their motivation in class. By using formative assessment more consistently, I could help facilitate a stronger sense of ownership amongst students and therefore significantly increase their motivation (Brookhart, Moss and Long, 2008).

As a result of the lesson I observed, I now appreciate how clear expectations can impact positively on student motivation and how planning to ‘make accurate and productive use of assessment’ (Teachers’ standard 6) can help promote ‘a safe and stimulating learning environment’ (Teachers’ standard 1).

Sources:

Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice: Seeing is Believing, The Benefits of Peer Observation, Graham D. Hendry and Gary R. Oliver, 2012. p.1

Educational Psychology Review, Theoretically Speaking: An Interview with Mihaly Csikszentmilhalyi on Flow Theory and its Usefulness in Addressing Contemporary Challenges in Education. Karen Stansberry Beard, November. 2014. p.6

Educational Leadership: Formative Assessment that Empowers, Susan Brookhart, Connie Moss and Beverly Long, November. 2008. p 57.

Department for Education: Teachers’ Standards

Abigail Ball : 24 Feb 2020 11:27 |  Tags: Lesson Observation Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How has your teaching philosophy originated and what are the impact of your touchstones?

Chemistry is a subject that I view clearly as an expanding stack of component units. Higher level concepts grow block by block from an understanding of core basic principles. This makes it easy to teach in some ways but it also makes students who miss a block quickly feel lost. I believe that Chemistry and other science subjects become much easier once you can build a robust mental framework to systematise the subject and understand how its component units of knowledge link to and build upon each other. Whilst we do see that some students have a better natural strength at systematising than others (Bressan, 2018), my own personal experience is that this skill can be strengthened in all students through good science teaching and clear scaffolding. Before joining high school teaching full time, I tutored Chemistry and was regularly surprised by the performance jump that could be achieved by seeking out entrenched misconceptions and then rebuilding back up.

Secondly, I believe that students are more likely to excel when they are motivated by intrinsic interest in the subject material. I believe that students should have some choice in where to apply their extra energy beyond their core studies and I don’t demand that all my students need or want to become chemists in the future. In my opinion, interest in a subject can be fostered by showing how it can be applied in real life and either being a good role model for students or by finding them positive role models when you yourself do not fit the bill. For last year’s International Women’s Day, I asked three female friends to record short videos for my students to talk about the difficulties that they face as women in high profile roles and how they have persevered to excel despite the odds.

Thirdly, I have a strong focus on creating a classroom environment where wrong answers and concepts may also be shared in a way that leads to positive opportunities for learning. This comes from my first experiences of teaching working as an English instructor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. My students had very strong evaluation and study skills and so I mistakenly thought that they would actively participate in class. However, it quickly became apparent that they were uncomfortable making a mistake in front of others and asking for responses from the class led to long, awkward silences. I learnt from this experience and nowadays it is important for me that my students feel comfortable to speak in class without fear of embarrassment; mistakes will be accepted as opportunities for further learning. This is particularly important in the cultural setting of China where a strongly entrenched culture of face makes people acutely concerned about embarrassment. In order to begin to foster this atmosphere, I begin each year by laying down expectations for behaviour when other students speak and how we should all behave when incorrect or incomplete ideas are raised. In order to reduce the number of occasions where a student has nothing at all to contribute, students who are stronger will more regularly be asked questions that sit higher on Bloom’s taxonomy (analyse/evaluate/synthesise) whilst weaker students are asked more simple questions involving direct recall (Armstrong, 2018).

References

Armstrong, P (2018), Bloom’s taxonomy [Online] Available at: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/ (Accessed 1/11/2019)

Bressan, P. (2018), Systemisers are Better at Maths, Sci Rep, 8, 11636

Abigail Ball : 17 Feb 2020 08:54 |  Tags: Philosophy Reflections Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Better together: why teacher education needs universities as well as schools

The link below takes you to an article written by Clare Brooks and Jo McIntyre and informed by discussions in the Russell Group of ITE Providers. Kate Ireland from CTE is also part of this group and as such has contributed to this discussion:

https://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/better-together-why-teacher-education-needs-universities-as-well-as-schools/

Abigail Ball : 10 Feb 2020 09:25 |  Tags: Ite Teaching University |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My teaching philosophy – Virginia

Think of a tree. Think of its trunk, of its branches and its ever-changing leaves, but, most importantly, focus on its roots. Hone in on the notion that this tree would falter without its support and nourishment and place in the earth. My teaching philosophy gravitates around the importance of catering to the mental health of my students while fostering a community in the classroom — a philosophy that is rooted in what I felt I lacked in school and touchstones that grew out from that empty space.

The importance of a healthy emotional environment in a classroom setting cannot be stressed enough. Children need established dialogue and vocabulary around mental health to better understand where they, themselves, stand (Hodgman 2012). A study carried out by Danby and Hamilton (2016) noted that teachers believed that “‘the term mental health was not suitable for use with children’”, and I think there’s fault in this. In San Francisco I became quite familiar with Waldorf education and found our beliefs toward education and teaching around mental health paralleled. From those years forward with this system in mind, I’ve placed a vast emphasis of my teaching to focus on fostering emotional stability as it feeds into social behaviour.

Bluntly put, community lacked in my classrooms so I sought to find my own. In my adopted communities I found a place of safety, but it wasn’t until high school when I found a classroom where I felt completely heard and seen. That CP Biology class freshmen year mirrored many of the qualities I valued in my communities outside the classroom and this stirred value into school allowing me to see it in different, more formatively positive light. That teacher made me feel as if I was truly cared about as a human and set in stone how important a community classroom can be.

From a young age I’ve been told that I’m someone who is fearless and whom children gravitate towards. In being a teacher, there is power in having charisma and a personality (Cowley 2010) and this seemingly naturalness and ease I have with children is something I want to use to inspire confidence to harness a strong sense of self-efficacy in my students in order for them to persist and achieve (Lefrancois 1997 p.366). Let it be noted, although outwardly confidence seemed to exude from me since childhood, it wasn’t until I had developed a strong sense of mental health paired with safe communities did that confidence reflect inward.

When we are at home with ourselves, we are at home with the world, and my hope for my students is that through effort on my part they can better find solid ground to root and grow. Let’s go back to the tree and its roots. Just like those roots in the tree, a student without community and educational support simply cannot flourish. I want to be a teacher who is in tune with children’s emotional needs, who understands the value of community outside of the home unit and in the classroom, and who wants each kid to find their courage to better have the tools to be able to find a growing and loving community after school and beyond.

References:

Cowley, S. (2010). Getting the Buggers to Behave, Bloomsbury Publishing, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.

Hamilton, P. and Danby, G. (2016). Addressing the ‘elephant in the room’. The role of the primary school practitioner in supporting children’s mental well-being. Wrexham: Pastoral Care in Education, pp.90–103.

Hodgman, L. (2012). The emotional environment | Croner-i. [online] App.croneri.co.uk. Available at: https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/emotional-environment

LeFrancois, G (1997) Psychology for Teaching (9th edition) London: Wadsworth

Abigail Ball : 04 Feb 2020 09:26 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My Teaching Philosophy – Damon

The philosophy that will guide my approach to teaching includes key values and viewpoints that relate to the purpose of education, the function of learning, and role of the teacher. Education, in my teaching philosophy, relates to the development of character, not just to the acquisition of academic skills, knowledge, or subject expertise. Education relates to the process of learning not just about ourselves and the world we live in – important may those be – but also the skills and attitudes required to thrive in today’s fast-changing, complex world. My view on this is highly influenced by the philosophy underpinning the International Baccalaureate (IB), programmes in which my children have been educated in Thailand and France. I have also been influenced by the work of psychologists Martin Seligman (2011) and Angela Duckworth (2016), who emphasise the value of teaching well-being and resilience or “grit”.

Learning, in my teaching philosophy, is a participatory and life-long pursuit. Students should be encouraged to understand education as a continuous process of learning, in which they are actively engaged, rather than a passive, mandatory rite-of-passage that they are relieved from with the completion of examinations. As active agents with a key role in driving their learning, students should be encouraged by their teachers to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them. These views have been influenced by a “Restitution” training course I attended at my children’s school in New Delhi in 2017. This is Diane Gossen’s behaviour management approach, designed for both parents and schools, which is based on intrinsic motivation (see Gossen 2001, 2007).

Influenced by my academic background in Philosophy, I believe that my role as a teacher should include guiding the students to think critically and creatively. The role of the teacher should be as a facilitator and guide, not as a dispenser of facts. This is consistent with the IB’s inquiry-led approach. But I believe it is important not to under-value knowledge, the pursuit of truth or the role of instruction, as emphasised by Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006). Reaching the balance between guided instruction and self-driven inquiry, will be an ongoing challenge.

As a teacher, I should exemplify the continuous, self-driven learning I hope to encourage the students to undertake, and make the effort to continue learning about the most effective pedagogies, as well as any new relevant science on cognition and learning. I concur with Carol Dweck – whose work on the “growth mindset” opened my eyes to the importance of students’ ideas about themselves as learners – who wrote, “The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning” (2017, p.197). The extent to which I may put these values and viewpoints into practice will depend on the support I am provided by my teaching peers and the school, but also on in my confidence to find ways to do so. Since I am yet to begin teaching, I have to be open to the possibility that my teaching philosophy is likely to change as I learn from experience, become familiar with my students, and adjust my approach along the way.

References

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. London: Penguin.

Dweck, C. (2017). Mindset, updated edition. London: Robinson.

Gossen, D.C. (2001). Restitution: Restructuring school discipline. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications.

Gossen, D. C. (2007). My Child is a Pleasure, 5th edition. Saskatoon, Canada: Chelsom Consultants Ltd.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J. and Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), pp. 75-86.

Selligman, M. E. P. (2013). Flourish. New York: Atria.

Abigail Ball : 27 Jan 2020 09:11 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How using a recognised reflective framework has helped me reflect on and improve my practice

PDP 2: Discuss how using a recognised reflective framework has helped you reflect on and improve your practice as a teacher or learner teacher - Ryan

Using a reflective framework is necessary to improve teacher practice and to continue to develop and understand new research and methodology in education. The following is a brief reflection on how using a reflective framework has helped me improve as a trainee teacher.

The first few lessons I planned and taught were to small reading groups of six learners which I ran on my own. Although I reflected on areas of success and improvement, there was no reflective framework to help deepen my reflection and focus on specific areas I needed to improve aside from my weekly mentor meetings. Without observation from an experienced educator, my reflections were made in the absence of the knowledge of how to improve beyond the surface level. Using Johari’s window, the benefits of a reflective framework that utilizes mentor input becomes clearer in the collaborative work and expanded knowledge a mentor brings to one’s own reflection allowing my knowledge to shift from the blind to the open (Thompson, 2018). Mentor meetings and formal observations allowed me to learn different techniques for a lesson “hook”, formative assessments, and behavior strategies which in turn provided more meaningful self-reflection for subsequent lessons.

These early reflections, carried out in the calm space after lessons, were instrumental in fine tuning lesson planning and carrying out more effective activities in class. However every lesson plan maintains its form only until the lesson begins as the teaching has to adapt to the needs of learners in the moment. Schon describes this as ‘Reflection in Action” as teachers are constantly monitoring and adapting their teaching to how learners respond during the lesson, and the follow up “Reflection on Action” focuses on the effectiveness of different activities, strategies, and methodologies as they occur in the classroom (Moon, 2013).

Reflecting only through an autobiographical lens, as described by Brookfield’s lenses, provides a limited scope of reflection, and applying the peer lens in the form of a mentor or more knowledgeable peer, provides a more experienced and detailed perspective allowing for deeper reflection and enhanced practice to take place. However, Brookfield argues that to truly gain insight and understanding of the class, another lens of reflection needs to be that of the student. Taking reflection even deeper is asking not only is your planning, lessons, and teaching effective, but does it work for all of the students in the classroom? (Brookfield, 2017) This enables reflection that goes beyond the classroom but also looks at teaching pedagogy on a larger scale. On trainee teachers, Larrivee argues the questions need to be not only, “Am I doing it right?”, but “Is this the right thing to do?” (Larrivee, 2008, p. 344).

Effective practitioners use various types of reflection throughout the day as they fine tune and improve their teaching. There are various reflective frameworks to help improve teaching practice, and it is vital to focus on your personal reflections while including one’s peers and the learners perspectives as well. As educational theory and practice is always developing and striving to improve alongside a changing world, the role of teaching is a never ending, life long journey of learning driven by reflection.

References:

Brookfield, S. (2017) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. John Wiley and Sons, San Francisco.

Larrivee, B. (2008) 'Development of a tool to assess teachers’ level of reflective practice'. Reflective Practice, 9(3), pp. 341–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623940802207451.

Moon, J. (2015) Reflection in Learning and Development, Theory and Practice, (39-53). RoutledgeFalmer, London.

Thompson, C. (2018) The Magic of Mentoring, Developing Others and Yourself. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon.

Abigail Ball : 20 Jan 2020 10:06 |  Tags: Practice Reflections |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Using a reflective framework to reflect on and improve my practice – Nicoletta

Discuss how using a recognised reflective framework has helped you reflect on and improve your practice as a teacher or learner teacher

Reflection is the foundation of learning because, by informing future action, it provides a starting point for development (Raelin, 2001). Systematic analysis and critical evaluation provide a great opportunity to recollect our thoughts and create new ideas. For this reason, reflection is the backbone of the teaching profession.

Being a trainee teacher, I have immensely benefited from using recognised reflective frameworks. I have noticed that it has helped me with addressing misconceptions and with working on my targets in a systematic and pragmatic manner. The reflective framework I have found myself using the most regularly is Schön’s, as it is easily applicable both during teaching and after teaching. Schön identifies two kinds of reflection that he calls reflection-on-action and reflection-in-action (Schön, 1991).

With reflection-in-action, he means thinking about the teaching experience while it is happening to decide how to take immediate action. This can be applied to any aspect of teaching, from pastoral care to making the decision to modify the lesson plan. For example, while I was teaching partitioning to my Year 4 pupils, I realised that the example that I was modelling for them was too complicated; hence, I changed it moving down from using a 4-digit number to a 2-digit number so that all the pupils could assess the learning point. Using the reflection-in-action framework helped to take immediate action to address my mistake still making good use of class time.

With reflection-on-action, Schön means reflecting on actions that have already occurred, putting them in perspective in order to inform our practice. This applies when we rethink about a lesson and use its outcome to inform new planning, new teaching or the action that has to be taken to solve an issue. It is a systematic method to build on our practice experience so that we can improve our teaching strategies and our pupils’ learning. When it comes to Teacher’s Standard 7, I reflect on my practice systematically after class, taking notes of what needs improvement and I reflect on what I can do differently to be on the right path. For example, at the beginning of my placement, reflecting on my practice made me realise that I needed to liaise with the SEN teacher to ask for advice on how to deal with a child who had behavioural issues. The SEN teacher made a support plan. Thanks to that, the child’s behaviour improved. He could access learning and he moved from ESL to the mainstream classroom for all the subjects.

Moreover, I use Schön’s framework when I review my weekly targets in my mentor meeting reports; when I discuss with my mentor about the action I should take to solve a problem; when I reflect on my lesson immediately after an observation, while taking notes on my lesson plan.

As a trainee teacher, I also reflected on action when I wrote my PG1 assignment about talk for writing, and I am reflecting on my practice at this very moment answering this PDP question.

References

Raelin, J.A. (2001). Public Reflection as the Basis of Learning. Management Learning, 32(1), pp.11–30.

Schön, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York, NY: Routledge.

Abigail Ball : 13 Jan 2020 10:44 |  Tags: Reflections Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the new year and a new term. We hope that you are feeling refreshed and invigorated after the holidays and would perhaps like to consider writing something for this blog.

What is WJETT?

The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting. With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.

Can I write about anything in my blog post?

Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:

• Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
  
• Information and/or self-help advice
  
• Technical, teaching and careers advice
• Your research or practice
  
• How you’ve undertaken research
  
• The impact of research on your practice
  
• An area of research/practice that interests you
  
• Your teaching experiences/reflections
  

How long can my blog post be?

Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.

Do I need to use citations?

No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).

Can I include links or images?

We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.

What is the process for submitting a piece of work?

Your blog post should be emailed to me at A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it onto the WJETT site.

Abigail Ball : 06 Jan 2020 09:33 |  Tags: Blog |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year

A huge thank you to all of our authors and readers for their support throughout the past year. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. Let's hope that 2020 is slightly less challenging than 2019!

There will be no new posts across the Christmas period but we will be back on the 6th of January with more student reflections. If there are any teaching topics you are particularly interested in, or you have a post that you think might be appropriate, please let us know by emailing A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk.

With best wishes from the WJETT Blog Team

Abigail Ball : 16 Dec 2019 10:10 |  Tags: Christmas |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem