Peer Observation (as observee) #1

I was recently observed by my colleague and DoS, F. This was a routine observation from within my organisation, however F kindly provided two separate set of notes for the purposes of these observation.

The class observed was my morning pre-intermediate class. It was a class of 15 students with a broad range of cultures and ages. I have attached my lesson plan to this post to provide some context for the lesson, as well as the lesson stages and anticipated problems. Also included is my initial ‘hot feedback’ which, upon reflection, seems to have a negative tone in comparison with how I felt after feedback from F and some time to reflect. Observed lesson F

I had specifically asked F to take not of my delivery of instructions, my board work and the timing of my stages.

Areas of strength

Overall, F praised my instruction giving and the general ‘well-trained’ manner of my students. My students are quite accustomed to me asking for syllable counts, stress patterns, synonyms or antonyms for new vocabulary, something I have borrowed from practises in ‘Demand High Teaching’. I do this regularly with classes because I believe it is important for students to also train to become learners, by which I mean adopt techniques conducive to effective learning. This is particularly important in the views of figures like John Hattie, who, in an interview with the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dmxwl), talks about pushing learners slightly out of their comfort zone and that what they know from the day before is not enough for today. This is an approach I am becoming more accustomed to implementing in my class and I feel I do see better results when challenging learners and keeping them ‘on their toes’ so to speak.

Areas for consideration

1) Learning outcomes
The first critical point raised by F was that not all of my learning outcomes were achieved, in particular one of my core aims. Owing to my procedure not adhering to my timings in my lesson plan, I didn’t have time to start my input for reviewing comparative adjective forms. This was something that I was anticipating being an issue. Her advice to me was to make sure my primary learning outcomes are achieved in the first hour. That way, I have potential flexibility and room for extension activities. I had planned that particular area of focus for the last half an hour and unfortunately those stages never materialised. This leads me on to the second point:

 

2) Timing

As mentioned earlier in this post, I didn’t stick to the timing written in my lesson plan. I think in a normal teaching situation I am fairly flexible with timings, so I overcompensated for this observation by enforcing strict timings that ultimately I didn’t follow. F advised me that ‘less is more’, which is something I fundamentally believe in, however I think nerves got the better of me in this observation as it had been some time since the last one. I think next time I will plan fewer stages to give myself that extra breathing space in the lesson and if I still have time left before the end of class, there are plenty of review activities to keep the students occupied.

3) Board work

I will admit that writing on certain IWBs is much harder than writing on a traditional whiteboard and my handwriting suffers when writing on the former. This was picked up in my feedback session and was an area I had specially requested before the observation took place. A really interesting piece of advice came up, which I have started looking into since. F suggested that I prepare a simple slide or two for grammar or vocabulary heavy lessons. That was I could cut down on my timing issues and also make everything much clearer for students. It’s something that seems so obvious but I hadn’t given any thought to it prior to this discussion. I have tried this once in the week since the observation and I must say it really makes a difference, therefore I will look to implement this further in future sessions.

Overall it’s been an interesting experience. My initial feelings changed from negative to positive following the feedback session and I feel that time is required in order to reflect on a lesson. I am currently looking at the best ways to follow F’s advice and ensure that timing and clarity of board work are at the forefront of my continued development.

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One thought on “Peer Observation (as observee) #1

  1. You have included over and above for a peer observation (ie a plan and your immediate oral reflections), but it really gives the reader a much more rounded feeling for the lesson and how i went and how those perceptions changed with the space of time. In terms of the Diploma, timing is important and although it is less so in the ‘real’ world of teaching, it is a skill to have mastered and then be able to dispense with in a context where there are no specific learning goals to achieve within a set time frame. It would be good if you could return to this post in a few months and comment on how these tensions (low-structure, student-led classroom vs ability to achieve stated aims in a given time period) have resolved themselves. Your DOS gives good advice about planning the main aim(s) to be achieved earlier on in the timing so that you have plenty of space for diversions after or around that time. Also less is more is a good mantra to remember. Always have more up your sleeve but make the main thread of the lesson simple and achievable.

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