Module 2 Task 3: Review of own development to date in relation to updated ILP

In the Stage 2 of my Individual Learning Plan I have undertaken a self-diagnosis of my strengths and development needs, which have been discussed with my personal tutor. For this stage I have drawn on feedback from my teaching and my second assignment. The feedback was given from my mentor at the College and from my personal tutor at the Institute.

Practical teaching

One of my development needs set at the ILP was to check learners’ understanding and learning outcomes throughout the lesson. I used to check understanding at the beginning or at the end of the lesson but not constantly throughout the lesson. In order to address this development need, I am doing the following:

I normally start the session by doing an activity to check learners’ knowledge about the topic of the lesson. I do different types of activities such as making a poster about what they know of the topic, a True of False activity or filling the gaps activity.

During the lesson I use different methods to check learners’ understanding: I use open or directed questioning, I make students explain what they understood from my explanation or we do an exercise and then the learners have to explain and demonstrate it on the blackboard.

At the end of the lesson I check the learning outcomes. There are different activities I have been using for this objective, such as quizzes, exercises that summarise the lesson, open or directed questioning, etc.

I am addressing other development needs set in the ILP in the following way: when planning the lesson, I try to anticipate to the possible questions about meaning or content of the lesson. For example, I promote a discussion about what a term means before explaining it (insulator, electrostatic, etc.). During the lesson, I check if students are on task, particularly the ones who tend to be more passive. I try to encourage them and praise their effort. Before starting to explain something I elicit from the students what they know about it. They get more involved and participate more throughout the lesson.

Literacy/Written Communication skills

In order to address the need of including theory that relates to the assignment topic, in my last assignment, I included some theories that relate to critical incidents. First, I explained what critical incident means in relation to some ideas of different authors. I then applied it to my own reflection and my own teaching practice.

In the assignment I tried to make all my points as clear as possible to avoid the reader asking themselves “why?”. The analysis of the incidents was based on my own thoughts and also on conversations with some of the students involved in the incidents.

GCSE Physics lesson 24/01/2011

This week I did two GCSE Physics lessons. It was the same lesson with different groups. The lesson was about roller coasters and how they work in terms of speed, acceleration, force and energy.
I prepared an exercise containing and diagram of a roller coaster and some questions. I wanted the students to try the questions without me explaining the answers in the first place. The questions were made step by step so at the beginning were easier and then they got more difficult.
In both lessons happened more or less the same. The students were able to do the easier questions but then they got stuck in the more difficult ones, so in the end, I explained the questions myself (something that I wanted to avoid doing). What could have I done differently?
They answered the questions individually or in pairs. I think if they had worked in groups they would have been able to answer more questions helping each other.
I think I should have given a bit more of guidance before starting answering the questions.
There is a simulation of a skater in the physics-online webpage that could have helped them understand the roller coaster in terms of energy and friction.
I  need to make the questions easier. Sometimes the problem is that they don't understand what the question in asking. I need to make the language more simple.

GCSE Physics lesson 17/01/2011

Yesterday I did a GCSE Physics lesson. As usual, some of the students came late. 5 of them came 5 minutes late. 5 minutes later one of those students asked me if he could go to the toilet. I said no because they had had a break just before and he came late to the class. He complained and he kept asking during the whole lesson but he accepted that he couldn't go to the toilet.
About 40 minutes after starting the class, another student asked me if he could go to the toilet. As I had already said no to the other student, I found myself saying no to this one. He complained and said that if was his right to go to the toilet and that he was going anyway. I warned him that if he went to the toilet he won't be able to come back to the class. He went to the toilet and came to the class and sat down in his place. I told him that he couldn't stay in the classroom but he wouldn't go. So I said to him that I wanted to talk to him after the class.
After the class I talked to the student. I told him that I normally let the students go to the toilet, but as I didn't the other student go, I couldn't let him go either. He understood and agreed. I told him also that if I say that he is out of the class, he has to go out. He agreed reluctantly.
I think the fact that I didn't let the first student go to the toilet was good. He came late and he asked it just after the break. Maybe I should have let him go after 20 minutes. That way, if another student asks to go to the toilet, I can say yes. The rule I can use is that I won't let anybody go to the toilet if they come straight from the break. I can let them go after 20 minutes.
I think I was a good idea not to let one go to the toilet and not the other. I wonder how the first student would have behaved it that case.
As far as punctuality is concerned, I need to control it. I am going to ask the Physics teacher how he does it and agree the same actions for both of us.

Knowledge and understanding of Minimum Core

Module 2 Task 1: Knowledge and understanding of Minimum Core

For professional formation, all teachers will need to demonstrate personal skills in language/literacy, numeracy and ICT at Level 2 or above (such as GCSE). They are called functional skills and they are considered necessary for everyday life.

Teacher trainers must develop their own knowledge and understanding of language/literacy, numeracy and ICT and use this knowledge and understanding within their subject specific teaching to develop the key skills of their students. Teachers will have to embed these skills into subject specific classroom teaching and show awareness of those skills in their specific subjects.

In my case, as a Maths and Science teacher, level 2 numeracy is embedded in the subjects, so numeracy is checked within the subjects.

Regarding language/literacy and ICT, I am planning to do the following in order to develop and improve my teaching and assessment of learner’s functional skills:

Language/literacy (refers to reading and writing in English language)

-      Check spelling, punctuation and grammar in written work (e.g. small projects or homework). Get students correct themselves or make peer correction.

-      Have an English dictionary in the classroom and encourage them to use it when they have doubts about spelling or meaning.

-      Have quizzes of the meaning of key terms.

-      Get students to make posters of key terms and their definitions and post these around the classroom.

-      Encourage students to read as much as possible and to report back to the group about what they have read.

-      Teach the terms skimming, scanning and close reading and practice these using subject specific materials, such as science news, reports or articles.

-      Widen my own use of vocabulary in my teaching and resources.

-      Teach the term ‘Standard English’ and the potential differences between Standard English and other dialects of English. Be explicit about the political nature of this distinction.

ICT

-      Use the computer (e.g. PowerPoint) when doing presentations in the classroom.

-      Encourage (or require) students to use the computer when doing presentations in the classroom.

-      Let the students use the classroom computer whenever it is necessary and useful in the given situation.

-      Get them present homework and written work in a word-processed program, whenever it is possible.

-      Prepare tasks that involve the use of the internet or computer programs in general.

-      Encourage students to look for information on the internet about a topic that is going to be taught in the following lessons or about a topic that has been taught in class.

-      Play computer games that are related to a specific topic that is interesting for the subject.

30/11/2010 First mentor observation

On Tuesday my mentor observed me for the first time. It was a Physics GCSE lesson about gravity. I should have done it the previous day but the students didn't turn up so I had to do a lesson with a new group.

Overall I'm quite happy with the lesson. My mentor gave me a good feedback. The students were engaged with the lesson most of the time. I did a couple of activities (comment Earth without gravity and why all objects don't fall the same way) that really involved the students. Some positive feedback that the mentor gave me are the following:

- I treat the students with respect and they respect me.
- Good tone of voice and situation in the classroom.
- Enjoyable and appropriate activities for the lesson.
- Very good use of the resources.

My mentor gave me some tips to take into account for the next lessons:

- The font in the presentations should be bigger (about 40).
- I could have included some peer assessment, when talking about the difference between mass and weight.
- Health and Safety: there were two students at the front blocking the exit. Be sure at the beginning of the lesson about health and safety.
- Take time in the slides.
- The video of the feather and ball was quick. Underline it so that students are more focused.
- Use numbers to make W=mg-drag more clear.
- Differentiation. For example I could put in my lesson plan that some questions are for the more able students.

Diagnosis of own strenghts and development points

In the Stage 1 of my Individual Learning Plan I have undertaken a self-diagnosis of my strengths and development needs, which have been discussed with my personal tutor. For this stage I have drawn on feedback from my individual micro-teaching and my first assignment. The feedback was given from my subject and professional practice tutor and also from my peers.

Practical teaching

In my micro-teaching I did an AS Further Maths session about the Method of Induction. I started with a short presentation with directed questioning. Then I showed the learners a short video about the domino effect, which is an analogy of the Method of Induction. Finally, I set a task in which they had to choose the correct definition for the Method of Induction based on the presentation and the video they watched. I did a presentation on PowerPoint and I gave the students a sheet of paper with three definitions where they had to choose the correct one.

Based on feedback from my tutor and peers, the presentation skills were good, the instructions for the tasks were clear and the use of resources was effective. The session was staged coherently and the planning was good.

I used a variety of teaching methods such as a presentation, a discussion and a task. I used different strategies such as individual a group work. I managed the classroom effectively with clear instructions.

The learners were engaged throughout the session. Especially the video and the task after the video were very engaging and the learners participate actively in the tasks.

According to the feedback and my own reflection, the final task was a bit difficult for the age range. Even my peers had problems choosing the correct definition for the Method of Induction. My understanding is that I picked up definitions that were too similar between them.

I took longer than I was expected in my micro-teach. The final task went a bit too long. I let the students debate about which definition was the correct one, which was good in a way, but I should have guided them and given some tips to make it a bit easier for them.

Literacy/Written Communication skills

I did my first assignment, the Values of Education Statement, about empathy.

According to the feedback I was given, the assignment was coherently structured. I showed understanding of some key aspects and theories of teaching and learning. I also showed the potential to devise and sustain arguments and solve problems in practice.

In my following assignments, I should try to develop my arguments more critically and I also need to take care of my grammatical errors by getting people to proof read my assignments.

01/11/2010

Yesterday I had a GCSE Science lesson. The lesson was from 11 to 12, so I thought I had time to review what I had to teach and make some adjustments to the lesson plan. When I arrived at the college I was told that I had to teach from 9 to 11 too so I didn't have time to prepare the next lesson.

I wasn't happy with the lesson. First of all, the subject teacher was there again. We were going to do a question paper to practice for the exam. I had the impression that the students had already done it because we were going through questions that they knew the answers, so I felt a bit silly. The question paper had a few mistakes too so in one question I said the answer wrong and the students corrected me. A couple of times the teacher intervened and I didn't feel in a good position. I don't know the names yet and that makes the situation a bit awkward.

For the next lesson I am going to try to do the following:

- I am going to speak to the teacher and tell him that I prefer to be alone in the classroom, otherwise I lose authority.
- I am going to learn the names by looking at their pictures.
- I need to study the subject better, because there were a couple of questions that I wasn't able to answer. If I am given a question paper or any other document with an exercise solution, I have to double check it.