Comfrey also know as knit bone for its healing properties.
Secret Teacher: schools have got lesson observations all wrong
With
teachers playing the system and students clamming up in observations,
surely
schools can find a better way to assess teaching and progress?
I loathe
observations. I hate other people sitting in my room, po-faced and unsmiling,
scribbling on
their stupid clipboards every time I breathe. I hate watching other people
for performance
management – the visible strain, the change in atmosphere,
the slightly awkward relationship between the observed and observer. And
as a means of weeding out the 'good' from the 'inadequate', I think that there
are flaws in relying on observations.
It's difficult
to behave and speak in an observation as you would at any other time.
Knowing that a
bad performance might result in a member of the senior leadership team placing
you on capability measures is seriously intimidating. This is also true of the
students. During an observed lesson my year 9s, who at any other time would
have been enthusiastically calling out ideas,
went silent.
They saw the observer (who happened to be their head of year) and were
instantly
on their guard.
I couldn't do anything to drag them out of their self-imposed mutism
so the
discussion and paired work were dead in the water.
From my
perspective, it was crushing and hilarious all at the same time. Crushing
because
I pride myself on delivering good lessons – and this evidently was not
going well;
hilarious
because my year 9s were so deliciously proud of themselves afterwards for
'behaving well'.
I also find it
irritating that so much stock is placed on a single observation. I've had
Ofsted inspectors in my lessons for 10 minutes at a time; hardly representative
of how a whole lesson
or series of
lessons is planned. Having sat through many an inset day presentation
on how to ensure
an 'outstanding' grade in a lesson, I think I know the drill:
• Always do
group work and never ever have the students writing for any length of time
as this is boring and therefore
'inadequate'.
• If the
teacher talks for more than five minutes at a time, this is boring and
therefore 'inadequate'.
• You must
demonstrate progress every 10 or so minutes through some sort of questioning
or feedback. If an observer walks in, then
you should stop the children from working
and immediately ask them to tell you what
they've learned.
I have issues
with all of these. Group work is great, but it isn't always the most
appropriate method of working for some classes. Eventually students have to
work alone in the exams
and in
assessments, so sometimes it's useful to practise. And I don't plan stand alone
lessons.
Like many
teachers, I plan a sequence of lessons with a range of activities.
Not every lesson
has to have paired work, group work, kinaesthetic work, student talk –
this range
should be over a period of time and tailored to the needs of the class.
Plus, teacher
talk – properly utilised – can be fantastic. Some of my most memorable lessons
as a child were
entirely teacher-led. After all, if the children can complete all the tasks
and learn just
as much without me addressing them at all – why am I there?
Progress is
important and I don't know a teacher anywhere who would argue otherwise.
But some lessons
are about building skills or practising something
or revising
something previously learned, and not about learning something new.
I would argue
that practising writing for an extended period is just as valuable as learning
a new skill.
But that's
boring so you mustn't do it during an observed lesson. Instead you must stop
the students, regardless of how long they've been working on a task, and ask
them what they've learned.
One of my
colleagues proudly boasted how he'd just finished a Q&A session when a
member of SLT dropped in on a 'learning walk'. So he stopped the students again
to ask them exactly the same questions he'd just asked. He was told that this
was 'excellent practice'. Why exactly is it good
for the students
to be stopped every five minutes just to prove something to someone
who with a
modicum of intelligence could find out what progress had been made
through asking
individual children? Why is this 'excellent practice'
when that time
could have been spent doing something more productive?
I know I have to
be observed and I know that observations are important.
But I long for
the day when I will be trusted to do my job and people can just wander in
when they want
to instead of sitting there, po-faced and unsmiling,
writing everything
down when I so much as breathe.
This week's
Secret Teacher works at a secondary school in the south of England.
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/aug/10/secret-teacher-lesson-observations-playing-the-system
Turbo Charged Reading: Read
fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later
Contact
M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com
You can TCR software
and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall –
or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve
read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your opinions, experience and questions are welcome. M'reen