Observation #1

Today it was the first of seven observations, undertaken by Birmingham City University to evaluate my suitability for the role of teacher in Further Education. Although my feedback was highly positive, I did have grade three and four throughout all six of my selected personal standards. Reflecting upon each standard, it is quite clear as to how I can improve, as none of the low scores were a cause for concern in the end.

PS5 – Diversity naturally occurs within my classroom, however, amidst the various different learners all verbally practicing their pronunciation, I overlooked/listened a learner who had mispronounced a word. This could have led to a “fossilised error” (Crystal, p197 – Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics) where a learner is left with the incorrect interpretation of the target language, causing bigger more problematic issues when learning at higher levels of profanely in the future. Thankfully, due to my observer’s feedback, this was corrected on the same day. But this is something I am more than likely to look out for to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

PS11 – Initially, I was standing with my back towards the students most of the times, to load up materials or write on the board. This came from a lack of preparedness and will be combatted simply but earlier classroom time arrival and set up time prior to learners’ arrival. This wasn’t initially possible, due to the waiting for allocation of a classroom door key, but as this is now sorted, I have been arriving between 30 minutes to an hour early to ensure swift set up and transition into the lesson.

PS13 – As I had not been fully acquainted with the ESOL City & Guilds curriculum/staff scheme of work by this point. I wasn’t aware of which direction to take the lesson in order for learners to progress and/or succeed at examination. As time goes on, I have no doubt I will become more acquainted with the course materials, which will aid me in the development and delivery of each and every lesson.

PS14 – I am willing to admit wholeheartedly that as a trainee teacher, prior to this, I have had no previous experience in writing objectives or SMART Targets. However, this has changed drastically with the help and support of the department, where many members of staff have sat down on many an occasion and run me through the process to make a target SMART. Though Bloom’s taxonomy plays a big part in understanding SMART Target progression, how to incorporate them within the subject of ESOL is the specific need/interest here. Now that I have this advice, I am once again sure this will be more than feasible in future lesson planning.

PS15 – As someone who comes to this course with an extensive, intermediate knowledge of technology and programming, I am more than happy to share and encourage others with my expertise in I.T. How this is delivered however comes down to facilities, though I have started considering applications of the colleges B.Y.O.T. (Bring your own technology) policy, alongside pre-edited videos I have logged that are relevant to both learners and staff alike.

PS17 – Once again, heavily connected to the feedback from PS14, I had never used assessment methods before. But, now the college has introduced an immediate feedback card system. Which provides each and every learner with a positive and something to work on either short, medium or long term – such as homework, case study or even summative reassessment.

Now that I am aware of what needs to be changed, I am not only willing but also excited to incorporate these methods into my teaching to see how much a beneficial change they prove to be and hopefully increase my grade scoring when observed once again in future.