[Dan Moorhouse]

MsW, on Oct 12 2005, 06:25 PM, said:

One question though, how can you keep the whole class involved when a small group are presenting/doing something on the board at the front? My presenters were so excited and wanted to tell me in great detail everything they could see in their scene but kept blocking the view of the rest of the class. I tried to get them to stand to one side and directed questions to the whole class but at times I felt I lost some people at the back.

Just a few thoughts, all comments and suggestions gratefully received

lets say there are 5 or 6 groups presenting in the lesson. As you've already identified there's a potential problem with this as by definition only the presenters are involved in that part of the lesson... or are they? Build on speaking and listening skills and develop something about feedback to the group who are presenting. Give each group a crib sheet that thye have to fill in as a presentation is being made. just a few simple things to note down - quality of visual aids; accuracy of content; suitibility of evidence any follow up questions they want to ask... that sort of thing. At the end of each presentation get a comment from each group. (If you have 6 groups, have 5 things to be noted for each presentation - then every group has to be involved).

Benefits - it provides peer review of work straight away which is recordable and useful for the pupils doing the presentation and excellent evidence for your portfolio. It also requires people to listen carefully to every presentation as they may have to respond to it.

Negatives? It adds to the time that it takes to do a set of presentations and can skew timings more than you expect. However thats something that can be a good thing, if its the result of lots of quality feedback, questioning and discussion then sticking to 10 minutes per group can be ignored - the trick of course is to move things on if its lots of irrelevant / silly questions and comments. It only takes one or two pupils to decide not to bother for there to be a classroom management issue. However this would be identifiable very early on in the presentations and can be dealt with before it gets out of hand.

It is worth noting that if pupils aren't used to this, they can find it a little hard to get used to. Some lack the confidence to make constructive criticisms and its certainly worth making sure you know about any pupils in groups who are regularly bullied etc.

[JaneMoore]

Quote

It is worth noting that if pupils aren't used to this, they can find it a little hard to get used to. Some lack the confidence to make constructive criticisms and its certainly worth making sure you know about any pupils in groups who are regularly bullied etc.

This is worth getting over, because once a group have got used to the idea of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, they can do it again much better, and it is beneficial in future lessons. Build it in to your schemes of work (in your future careers). But even now, store up a similar exercise for the same group later, and see how much better they perform. You have to keep reminding - remember when.....BUT - don't all of us perform better when reminded of a previous attempt that wasn't everything we wanted? Don't we all strive to avoid the mistakes we made initially?

I still have not quite got it together as a whole department issue completely, but I know that 'doing the work' that seems unrewarding initially, in year 7 can, by the end of KS3 and into GCSE, reap dividends in your pupil's expectations of what is achievable and what gets THEM results.

Also remember that this takes time. For you and them. But build in plans for the future!

Good luck.

[Dan Moorhouse]

Actually, i thought I'd edited my post to say maturity rather than confidence. The exercise I outlined can help to improve both confidence and maturity in the classroom. As jane suggests, it might not happen perfectly first time BUT if it is built in it works very well eventually.

[DAJ Belshaw]

One thing I've learnt is to mention the following at the beginning of the lesson:

• What the aim of the lesson is and how they know if they have been successful
  
• Examples of historical knowledge they can learn (the 'hook')
  
• What level they can be working at (linked to Bloom's taxonomy)
  
• The skills we will be developing

Thus, reinforcing the fact that 'we are developing our listening skills today' coupled to reminders of the rewards and sanctions policy can work wonders...

Doug

[Rachel Co]

DAJ Belshaw, on Oct 14 2005, 06:47 PM, said:

One thing I've learnt is to mention the following at the beginning of the lesson:

• What the aim of the lesson is and how they know if they have been successful
  
• Examples of historical knowledge they can learn (the 'hook')
  
• What level they can be working at (linked to Bloom's taxonomy)
  
• The skills we will be developing

Can someone explain to me what an earth Bloom's taxonomy is? The school i'm at for diagnostic practise has it on their lesson plans but no one has explain what it is?

[DaveStacey]

It's bascially a heirarchy of thinking skills. Starting with simple recall of facts, working up through compregension, application, and so on to 'higher order' thinking skills.

Check out this page for more information and suggestions on how to apply it.

[Ed Waller]

DaveStacey, on Oct 15 2005, 05:07 PM, said:

It's bascially a heirarchy of thinking skills. Starting with simple recall of facts, working up through compregension, application, and so on to 'higher order' thinking skills.

Check out this page for more information and suggestions on how to apply it.

The Bloom stuff is really useful!

This post has been edited by Ed Waller: 15 October 2005 - 08:26 PM

[ahoney]

I am so pleased that other people are now joining this topic it is great to hear how other students are doing and getting advice from our peers. It has been another good week and it wont be long now till I am at my placement full time. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy seeing my mates at University, but I am really keen to just get on with it!! I have my first full lesson on Wednesday and thanks to all of you that contributed to my other post on interpretations. My daughter came up with a great title for my starter on source anaylsis 'Rate or slate' - keeping it real and on their level (I hope) I just have to write up the lesson now!! I also have two day trips to Singleton next week with the year 7's I am really looking forward to this as its been a fair few years since I have been there (I went when I was at Junior school). Looking forward to hearing more from you all and hope you are enjoying this PGCE experience as much as I am?

[ahoney]

Another week over and thank god its the half term I have never been so tired physically and mentally in all my life. Sometimes I just want to sit and cry! How am I going to cope with it all. Spent the first two days out of school on the trip to Singleton, that was really tiring in itself, but also a fantastic opportunity to get to know the pupils on a different level. On Wednesday, I had my first full lesson of teaching the year 8's on interpretation and James I (thank you to all that responded to my plea for advice). It did not go as well as I had hoped, however I did achieve my objectives and they did learn. After the lesson I felt like the wind had been really knocked out of my sails, I walked about for a while in a daze and really ripped myself up internally on the negatives of the lesson. On reflection, I now realise that sometimes I have to give myself a break and remember this is teaching practice and also it was my first full lesson, alot was learnt from the experience on how I would do things differently next time. The most positive aspect was after all the stressing, worrying etc!, etc! I really enjoyed being at the front of the class and teaching the children. The last two days of this week were spent at University, the last time for a while because after half term I will be at my placement full time. We were given our essay titles both for PVP and our subject essay, 3,500 words for each. I think if I am honest this is the part of the course that I am most concerned about, it has been a few years since I graduated and I am worried that I may not be up to standard when it comes to writing an academic essay! I am also concerned of the amount of time I spend on researching and making resources, sometimes I can spend hours preparing for one lesson, can you tell me is this normal? Looking back at this entry, I realise that some may few this as being quite negative and not being able to cope and sometimes I do find it difficult it has even crossed my mind once or twice whether I can complete the course!! But the truth is I find the positive aspects of being with the children, teaching them a subject that I have been passionate about since I was a young child so overwhelming, that I am hoping that this will overide the negativity I feel when times are difficult. Anyway, enough ranting from me, I have to prepare a lesson on the introduction to the civil war and revise for my numeracy test next week, wish me luck. Enjoy the break, take care x

[Dafydd Humphreys]

A quick word about the essays on PGCE. They aren't rigorously marked. They tend to be something to give the tutors something to do. You will be passed or failed by your main TP placement. It seems to be going fine, so don't worry.

PS Take a breather when typing!

[AdamCrawte]

Two days of going to Singleton, you lucky person. We went there a couple of times on school trips when I was at school. One of the major disadvantages of no longer living and working in the south of England, I can't take my classes there. Now can you tell me what wattle and daub is?

[ahoney]

Can someone tell me whether it is normal to have so may self doubts about your own abilities of completeing the PGCE course successfully? Its just that tomorrow I am back at TP and I am really nervous! Perhaps, its because I will now be on a full timetable (well for a trainee anyway) Maybe, being out of the loop for a week has shaken my confidence, I really dont understand it. I am prepared with all my lessons (a few tweeks here and there), I have been reading avidly to make sure I am upto date with my subject knowledge so I should be just enjoying my last day of the hols not feeling as despondant as I do! Any words of comfort would be most welcome

[Seb Phillips]

ahoney, on Oct 30 2005, 09:06 AM, said:

Can someone tell me whether it is normal to have so may self doubts about your own abilities of completeing the PGCE course successfully?

YES

ABSOLUTELY

Everyone hits a few spots when they ask themselves 'can I really do this' or - more importantly - 'SHOULD I really do this?' You are far enough into the course now to realise how hard teaching is, and obviously smart enough to have figured out that it's only going to get tougher. You would be insane not to be asking yourself whether you can hack the course. In fact, it's all part of being a 'reflactive practitioner' - only a bad teacher would have no doubts at all, because they aren't thinking about what they are doing.

You've probably also hit what I've heard refered to as 'decompression sickness' - you take a few days off and you start to relax, then you realise how tired you are, and then you've just got time to start worrying about school again before you go back. This goes away when you get back into it, but at the time, tiredness and a general realisation of how much you've still goit to do can make you feel pretty down.

The big thing to focus on is - do you enjoy being in the classroom with the children? If the answer to that is 'yes', then really nothing else matters. However, you do have to be honest with yourself about that question. That would really be the only doubt I'd take seriously. Coursework, essays etc - naw, you'll et that all done.

To put it another way - you're missing school!

Best of luck for the second half. It's been really interesting reading your e-mails and thinking yup, had exactly that feeling at the end of my first lesson, or half term. Nothing odd in feeling a bit down at this stage. Your obviously just a reflective practitioner, which is the key to great teaching! So keep going!

Seb

[Rachel Juckes]

Apart from the huge DITTO in response to Seb's post, I'm just going to add something in praise of this site.

Not only is it perfectly normal to feel the way you are... I think it's also perfectly normal to worry about it too. And if you're anything like me, you won't want to voice these concerns to people around you, be they your peers or your tutors, for fear of finding that you're alone on this. This is where this site comes in. You can ask pretty much anything, you can voice concerns, you can check up on things, you can ask questions and even offer advice yourself. Being a PGCE student doesn't mean you can't offer anything of use to others. Sometimes it's the "fresh eyes approach" that's needed on a tired activity/idea/whatever. New blood is always welcome!!

As has been said before, to read your comments is like being reminded of what PGCE is all about. I very much doubt that Seb and I are alone in thinking "oh yeah... I remember when I was like that/did that/thought that" I often considered this site to be akin to "PGCEers Anonymous": "Hello, my name's Rachel and I'm a PGCE student with doubts..." And then you find out that so are all the others!!

Keep smiling, and you'll be fine. Everyone has worries going back after a break, but we all survive.

Enjoy your last afternoon of half term,

Rachel.

[Dan Lyndon]

Seb is absolutely right. You just seem to have the old 'pre-match nerves', which is absolutely necessary for a good performance. I would try not to be too introspective, it is very important to be self reflective, but it can go too far if you only make yourself anxious. At the end of the week (not at the end of every lesson), take a deep breath and look back at what you have achieved. You will be amazed at what you have been able to do. My final bit of advice was given to me by a fantastic mentor of mine, who had been the attached history inspector at my school for 20 years. She said that teaching (especially in inner city schools like mine) is like a roller coaster, there will always be ups and downs. Once you realise that you can go from having an amazing lesson with one class to having a terrible lesson with the same kids the next time you see them, it makes it a lot easier to handle. Remember that students are often affected by factors outside your classroom and sometimes that makes your job more difficult to handle. Do the best you can and no one can ask for more than that. If you have a good HoD they will back you up.