Today I went to Springwood High School in the Blue Mountains as a Prac student, I joined the English department and was allocated a supervising teacher to observe. When I say today I actually mean yesterday, as I will be going on Tuesdays (by negotiation) and Wednesdays, this is make up for lost days before the teaching block.
Springwood seem happy to have me, and I am happy to oblige. I spent yesterday shadowing a very experienced teacher throughout her day, I observed years 7,9 and 10 and also two extension English classes. Through the day I watched, from various different seats, sometimes at the front, side or the back of the class.
On occasion I helped a student with a small task at the request of my teacher, she introduced me and tried to include me in her classroom as much as possible, she succeeded.
I was impressed with the calm manner in which she addressed students, her voice did not rise and only on one occasion did I see her reprimand a student, as a phone was being confiscated and the student involved had several behavioural issues, the incident passed by without too much disruption in class.
I felt that this teacher had genuine empathy and concern for the well being of her students, she walked around the class room from time to time, discussing or encouraging students, checking work, offering suggestions on ways to improve before moving back to the front. When she was at the front, she usually sat to the side to address the class, but more often than not she would move from one spot to another. The effect of this was twofold as not only could she monitor work from students toward the back, keeping them on task, but the students seemed to enjoy the individual attention they received ( encouragement, prompts and suggestions). I felt that although this class was mixed ability with two supported students it was inclusive and positive practices were the norm.
The teacher mentioned to me that she had a practice of trying to speak to each student she taught in the course of a day, she found that since she had adopted this (even though it was time consuming) the effects on class behaviours were noticeable. Some of the students were from difficult backgrounds and faced challenging situations at home, this teacher showed she cared about them, not surprisingly she also seemed fairly popular.A student asked me if I liked school and I said some of my teachers were great, but a lot were not.This student said they liked her class, and what they liked was the fact that she showed genuine interest in them, they knew she made an effort to make lessons interesting and said 'she had thought about them by finding stuff to do they might like'.
This teacher exhibited many Constructivist/Holistic teaching strategies and methods.
Poplin,M. (1988) Holistic/Constructavist Principles of the teaching Learning Process.http://Idx.sagepub.com/content/21/7/401
Lessons were started by a re-cap or short discussion relating to the topic, to refresh the memory of those who had forgotten, it was a mixed ability class and a few students had attention and behavioural issues.
This teacher exhibited, by example and modelling of positive behaviours, standards 3.4.4, 5.2.1 and 6.64.
http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards/national-professional-standards-for-teachers/
The lesson was logically ordered, in doing so the teacher was building on previous knowledge, the students made connections, not always immediately but with further explanation/discussion/questioning she was able to reconnect or redirect them, most stayed on task. This 'sequencing of events' is key, according to Zeicher (1995, p.7) in the Nilsson reading online this last week and suited to a 'mid level class' as often, or in tandem, some scaffolding is used through individual teacher focus/attention or peer group work.
This type of support kept disruptive behaviours to a minimum and allowed a reasonable omount of work to be attempted, if not completed.
Nilsson, P. From lesson plan to new comprehension: exploring student teachers' pedogogical reasoning in learning about teaching.
European Journal of Teacher Education
Vol. 32, No. 3, August 2009, 239–258
ISSN 0261-9768 print/ISSN 1469-5928 online
© 2009 Association for Teacher Education in Europe
DOI: 10.1080/02619760802553048 http://www.informaworld.com
Although I have only been at the school for two days, I have been given the opportunity to coach the debating team, help students who have literacy deficiency (reading). On Wednesdays I will help the drama team, who have a musical performance in 6 weeks ( I am hair and make up, in a previous life I worked in TV and film) and also help with reading parts and characterisation.
It has been fun, can't wait to go back.
Throughout the teaching day my supervising/mentor teacher has popped up slides, power point and given links to student's. initially the school had a 'each student laptop initiative' however Government funding ran out (meaning that some students had the resource and some did not) also the feed back I received about ICT in the classroom (standard 2.6.1)was that due to the inequity of distribution of resource (computer's) there was disruption in the class. The devices were a distraction rather than a learning tool that enhanced learning, interesting. Perhaps as the school raises funds and devices are evenly distributed they will be re- introduced, at the moment only staff use them in the classroom
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/new-nsw-k10-syllabus/
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