For my fourth peer observation I went to observe Rachel Clarke at Brighton International College attached to Brighton University . I attended a writing skills class. Rachel’s board work was extremely well set out with initiative writing skills and information left on two boards throughout the lesson. Rachel continued with the tasks assigned for the lesson, using a big screen and projector for further instruction.
Rachel was at ease with the students. As soon as the observation started I noticed that Rachel had an active and effective teaching role in the class…..Following Lewes’s 1998 model [Managing the Teacher’s Role] Rachel:
- Asked and Answered Questions
- Supported Individuals
- And elicited Information.
(Richards and Renandya)
Jim Scrivener talks about ‘creating a positive learning atmosphere’. This was where Rachel really stood out as a good teacher;
- Really listening to her students.
- Showing respect, patience, honesty and fairness as well as being non-judgemental.
- Giving clear and positive feedback.
- Empathising with student problems and making herself approachable.
- Rachel was enthusiastic and inspired enthusiasm.
However Rachel certainly had her work cut out as she’d been instructed to use specific task sheets for her lesson. Although at least two of the 18 students understood some of the video tasks many others had problems understanding the video and therefore had trouble completing gap-fill video task sheets. This was also the problem with a speaking and reading exercise the students had been assigned. For the majority of students the work sheets didn’t seem to have Comprehensible Input, [Input Plus One, the Input Theory]. The worksheets seemed unrealistic for a lot of the students as the materials used were around IELTS 8 and the grade requirement for the eleven week course was IELTS 5.5. The materials were also all entirely unrelated, which seemed to further phase the students.
Krashen, Input Hypothesis, 1985
J.C. Richards and W.A Renandya, 2002 Methodology in Language: and anthology of current practice. Published Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
J.Scrivener, (2005). Learning teaching: A guidebook for English language teachers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Macmillan
Rachel’s notes and plan
