These are the
points that were gained from my visit to Lebone II College. Some of these
points may be obvious to experienced teachers, but to a novice like me they
were very helpful.
1.
Technology
does not replace the teacher. The teacher is still the most important part of
the classroom. Technology is great to have but it is just an aid to teaching,
it is still the personality and skill of the teacher that get the subject
matter across.
2.
Flexibility.
It is important to be able to change tack quickly during a class when you
realise that what you are doing is just not working, either because the pupils’
attention is wandering, the energy levels are low, or they just don’t
understand something. Both Heleen and Sarah were very good with their flash
cards of definitions that could be brought out at a moment’s notice to liven up
the energy in the classroom.
3.
Continuous
assessment of the levels attention and comprehension of the pupils throughout
the lesson so that you know when to change tack. All the teachers whose classes
I visited were very aware of this.
4.
Use
of technology needs to be seamless. Waiting for apps to load or scrolling
through menus interrupts the flow of a lesson.
5.
Address
pupils individually, not as a class. If you address them as a class they just
do not pay attention, for instance when trying to get them to be quiet. In Lieze’sprac
one table was being inattentive and disruptive. She quietly went to them and
talked to them without fuss and without having to include other students that
were getting along just fine. They were soon brought into line.
6.
Repetition
of examples. Do not assume they can understand the topic when given just one
example. Give several examples each with a different angle. E.g. Lieze had a
lesson on energy and to get the pupils to understand where energy comes from
she askedwhy does a Bar One give us energy, then where does the lion or the
bokget their energy from to chase and to run away, then where does a fire get
its energy from, each one a different example of the same principle.
7.
Interaction
between pupils. All the teachers at some point in the lesson split their
classes into groups of between two and four pupils. The interaction between the
pupils in the group was as important a learning experience as being taught by
the teacher.
8.
There
has to be variety in a lesson to keep the attention of the pupils. The hook/concrete
preparation/I do/we do/exit was a good framework to hang a lesson on.
9.
The
huge benefit was being able to sit in on different teacher’s classes and see
their different teaching styles. In the end you have to work out your own
style, but it was very useful to see what they did and decide what would work
for you and what wouldn’t.
10. Make the lessons fun or challenging. I
am really struggling to make my maths exciting. Adel got her pupils to play
games against her and against each other which involved multiplication. The
excitement levels really mounted with their competitive instincts. They learnt
much more than they would have done by just doing exercises.
11. Give the pupils activities so they can
take in concepts themselves. For instance, Sarah is doing cell division and got
the pupils to cut chromosomes out of card and move them around on paper.
Previously I would have considered this too childish, but looking at the kids I
could see they were taking in the theoretical concepts learnt off the white
board and realising in their heads how this actually worked.
12. You have to find your own style of
teaching.
13. Murray’s literal notes on how to asses
a lesson were a great way to formalise the observation of a lesson. This will
come in useful at Ridgeway because we do monitor each other’s classes.
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