My Profound Discovery!

I've been very quiet lately - i've had lessons to plan, progress to chart and observation after observation after observation. I've looked at the assessment criteria so many times that the words had blended into nonsense that simply plagued my thoughts as I tried to plan a lesson - making the process of putting pen to paper difficult nevermind adding 30 slightly less predictable students into the mix!

However, after a lot of hard work and reflection...I've come to a profound conclusion - Ofsted would like me to do what I do best. Teach. And teach well - preparing lessons that are engaging and relevant - helping student to learn and being genuinely concerned about the progress they make.

It sounds simple doesn't it? But with every different agenda, focus and gimmick it is easy to forget what's important and become lost and disheartened. Although, if your students are genuinely at the centre of what you do, then I bet you're heading in the right direction.

Miss M

Safety: A dangerous thing in the classroom?

As a teacher, the first thing that I teach is routine. As a class, we negotiate our expectations and create routines that will allow us to fulfil them: this empowers the students, gives familiarity and helps them to feel safe and confident – all essential qualities of a positive learning environment. However, even though emotional and physically safety is important in the classroom – some forms of safety can be dangerous: safety can breed comfort, it can (in extremes) breed complacency and it can prevent the creativity that of us enter the profession for.

Today, I realised that I had become comfortable with one of my classes. We had created a lovely routine that allowed: lessons to start with clear purpose and direction, students to learn with support and for students to reflect and I had felt that a large part of this was due to the routines that we had established with the Learning Support Assistant. Today, unexpectedly, she wasn’t there…

My lesson depended on the students working in two groups – intended to support one and the LSA would support the other. Each group was going to become an expert and then they would teach a partner. In a last ditch attempt to save the lesson, I quickly taught the new learning to one of the more able students and then continued the lesson as normal. The student performed much better than I would have anticipated: she delivered her learning clearly – handed out resources and checked their work as they recorded their learning in their books. She was amazing and I was suprised at her success but I should have expected it!

One of our main focuses this half term has been the development of Team Worker skills. I knew they had made progress in this area but today made me realise that I perhaps I should have anticipated this. As we complete the term, I will adapt my rotuines to make sure that they continue to challenge students as well as supporting them and I'm pleased to report that today's lesson finished with a line of students who would love to lead our learning next. :)

Other ways that I have challenged my students:

• allowing them to choose their own groups that include members with a range of abilities;
• giving students a task and asking them to change the seating plan so that they can work more effectively;
• pairing students with people that they haven’t worked with before;
• giving them new and increasing responsibility.