Evaluation of Circles 1 lesson

From Teach

Current revision as of 12:57, 4 February 2010

Lesson ID

• Class: 8A3 (30-31 pupils)
  • 15-16 boys, 15 girls
• Date: 5th November 2009
• Time: 13.55-14.45
• Room: T3
• Lesson number: 6th in the day
• National Curriculum (or other syllabus) area: KS3 Y8 Module 14: Shape and Measure
• Target level(s) Grades: This is a relatively low ability set.

Achievement of Your Objectives

Did they learn and how do I know they did? If not, why not?

• Were the stated objectives/learning outcomes achieved?
  • What evidence do you have?

I achieved my two objectives, according to Mrs Bray.

Clarity of my Teaching

Were my instructions and teaching expositions clear to pupils?

Getting the Pupils Engaged

• Was the response of the pupils enthusiastic, uncertain/negative?
• Did everyone have a real chance to be actively engaged in the lesson?

Issues of class management/control

• Did I cope with any disruptions? (Did the plan cater for behaviour management?)

However much planning one does, I found it impossible to predict the personality that I would become in front of the children. Two hours beforehand, I still intended to be much more open about myself, and to try to treat them as mini-adults. However, as soon as I had achieved the manouevre of getting the 30 children from a noisy line in the corridor to the desks I wanted them to sit in -- no mean feat in itself, I'll have you know! -- I quickly realised that many of them had no desire to be treated as a mini-adult. So the personality that came out was sheer instinct -- there is no time to think about your reactions to the multiple cues that are coming from the kids. On reflection, I think my mannerisms came 30% from the way I treated my own children and 70% from the way I control my dog.

The volume level of my voice didn’t change much. It must be louder when I want them to be quiet. (They tended to ignore my requests after a while.) I must wait for them to be quiet. Next lesson it will be worth using up 10 minutes to make my point.

There was too much general noise, in Mrs Bray's view. Some pupils were a bit rude. Some were picking up on a few mannerisms of mine. Despite being separated by several rows, Shannon and Paige were communicating during much of my lesson. (I hadn’t noticed this.)

Knowing the Pupils

• Did I show the class that I knew their names?
• Do I have evidence of the pupils’ strengths and weaknesses? (How do I really know what these are?)

Time Management

Did I time-manage the lesson well?

• The lesson did not over-run, but it could have finished more cleanly.

If I could give the lesson again ...

• Do I need to rethink the order of teaching?

My Subject Knowledge

• Any additional subject knowledge development I need to undertake?

Other issues

For example, do I now have good evidence for having met a particular standard on your course profile?

The activity was good, but could have been worded in a better way. I should have taught them first about the terms – i.e. the parts of a circle on the EW --, then set them the ‘starter’ quiz. Many of the students were just looking around because it only took them two minutes to decided which they definitions they knew. The answers were ‘black and white’.

The only other point of interest is my clumsiness at the front of the class. In the 'Risk Assessment' box on the Lesson Plan, the only thing I could imagine was one child skewering another with the compasses I had handed out. It turned out that I was much more of a health and safety hazard. I sent one cup of water spilling across the desk, which was quickly absorbed by the worksheets I had intended to hand out. Not so cleverly, I moved the remaining two water cups next to the PC keyboard. When one of them fell over, and started dripping on the audio-visual equipment below the desk, even the children began to get worried. So it's a water bottle for me every time in future.

Action for next lesson

• What are the most important points I ought to take forward into my future planning?

Some of the parents are not slow to complain, so even though GCSEs are over three years away for Year 8s, you can't afford to be too experimental -- you have to make sure they learn something each lesson.

Resources management: Next time I want them to stick something in their exercise books, I should leave a few glue sticks around the classroom while they are doing the worksheet.

Students to look out for:

• O can be disruptive.
• D’s Mum has been on the phone to Maureen, saying she hasn’t learnt any Maths.
• F’s Mum says he’s in the wrong set.
• D is weak at Maths and her behaviour is not always wonderful.

For bisecting the angle, there may be a video clip on MathsWatch or on Whiteboardmaths.com, which are both in a shared folder.

Homework: set on Monday lesson and Wednesday lesson. Demand that they do it that night, so I can take it in the next day and mark it that night. Most will do it. (If they don’t, they get a Maths detention.) Use the homework either in the special booklet or on MyMaths.

• Always specify both the Page number and the Exercise number. Always write it up on the board. Always insist they write it in their homework notebook.

Next time I must lay down the law with them. It’s worth using up 10 minutes on this to get the message to sink in.