Observation Sheet Questioning Pinjarra High School

Robert Henry 32476713

Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Knowledge: 1. Know students and how they learn
Professional Practice: 2. Plan and implement effective teaching and learning
Question Type
Do you feel your questions were clearly structured and readily understood by the students?
I believe all questions were clearly structured, although re-iteration or explaining the question in a different way
can enhance learning greatly, as each student have their own individual ways of learning.
Did you use a variety of question types?
Questions were delivered from basic questions, gradually becoming harder. For example, Do you think sand
conducts heat? to What do you think the best conductor and insulator will be out of the 4 materials that are
being used for this experiment, and why? Another way of asking a question involved me giving a student the
information, then linking it to the correct answer. For example, What organ of the human body involves faeces
being stored after digestion?
What balance were there between the various questions types?
Questions were ranged from basic to hard questions, with each question becoming more difficult each time and
requesting the student to think about their answer more, and possibly link the answer to other various events or
news articles, etc. they have seen.
Consider both why and when you made use of the different question types?
Questions were designed to promote initiative and deeper thinking for the activity or task they were completing.
This promotes better understanding of the concepts of the topic being learnt. Timing of questions were essential
as it was able to give reason to a task they students were undergoing; also beneficial to summarizing the concepts
or topic learnt for the lesson at the end of the class.
Distributing and Directing Questions
Did you recognize any pattern in the distribution of your questions amongst the students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?
The most basic pattern identified was the difficulty of the questions. As stated above, questions were distributed
from easy too hard so the students become engaged in the activities. I found this strategy worked extremely well
as students became interested from the start of the lesson as they were involved in an activity straight away.
How have you directed questions to the group?
During the mini lesson I conducted, I asked questions such as What do you think the best conductor and insulator
will be out of the 4 materials we are using? Do you think the temperature will drop much further because of the
room temperature? All these questions promoted and developed further thinking and analytical skills.

Have you used wait time?
Students were to be silent while I was speaking and giving out instructions, this allowed students to remember all
the instructions that were handed out. This simple strategy worked very well as all students were adequately
completing their tasks.
Did you make eye contact with the group as you directed your questions?
As I had no different cultures within the classroom, I was able to maintain eye contact across the classroom at all
times. This made sure the students were paying attention and could see all demonstrations and instructions I was
providing.
Reactions to Students Responses
How do you deal with correct responses? Do you qualify any praise given?
I encouraged all students positively, with examples such as Thats a great answer Luke! and then remind the
students that Luke was paying attention and re-iterate what the question was to help promote further
understanding.
How do you deal with incorrect responses? How do you deal with students who stumble and grope
for an answer?
Positively encourage the student so they dont feel bad about having the wrong answer. An example being,
Almost Liam that was a great try, but consider this. Then asking if anyone else can help Liam. This can be done
by asking other students what their opinion is or if they can add onto Liams answer.
Do you keep eye contact with the students until they have completed an answer?
Yes, only in a respectful manner, and considering cultural backgrounds about eye contact.
Do you cut students off and go onto the next point before they have finished responding?
I would only consider cutting the students off if their answer was deviating way off track or whether they were not
being serious about their answer. Otherwise I would try to understand what they were saying and listen at all
times to show respect.
What use do you make of the students responses to develop the teaching point?
Normally I will try to link their answer or the correct answer to a concept or an event or activity that the students
may be familiar with. This is another learning technique they could help the students understand concepts
immensely.
Have you redirected any questions in order to add to an initial response?
During the mini lessons in particular, I would ask a student to see if they can add onto another students answer, or
whether another student has a similar or completely different experience while relating it to the same topic of
discussion.
Are you the only evaluator of the students answers?
I believe I am the main evaluator of the answer alongside my mentor teacher who may have greater experience or
knowledge in the area of science. Though I also tried to incorporate discussion within the students groups to see if
they could compare answers and bring different information to their tables.
Overall Comments
After observing my Mentor Teacher very closely in all teaching aspects, I have learnt different strategies on how to
promote positive learning in a science environment. I found the biggest key to gain students respect is to develop a
great relationship between student and teacher, by asking them what they do outside of school or anything they
are interested in. I have learnt great skills in managing behavioural attitudes, and also working with children who
have learning disabilities.






















Observation Sheet Management
Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice:
Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
Planning for Effective Management
Was your lesson plan effective for managing the class? E.g. how did the students react to your lesson
overall and to your planned activities?
I found the lesson plan and my newly developed behavioural management skills to be the keys to managing a class.
Students were engaged at all times as I quickly gave out a set of instructions and got the students to start
completing their activities as soon as possible. All activities were completed adequately and up to standard.
Did anything unexpected happen?
I found nothing unexpected happened, as I observed for a few days before taking my first lesson, as well as
discussing different behaviours to expect and techniques that could be used within a classroom environment.
Did you provide a variety of activities?
I provided an activity that incorporated many different skill sets to be used. For example, I printed out 30 sheets of
a human body containing essential organs and also 30 sheets of the human body with labels of each organ, and
describing the function of what each organ does. This allowed students to use transitional skills, as well as
colouring in skills so they could identify the organs easier, as well as developing analyzing and thinking skillsets.
Were you satisfied with your timing, particularly for the end of the lesson?
All activities were completed on time and I did not require time fillers at all for high school. Each area
(introduction, activities and conclusion) were allocated allotted time and fit into my classroom plan.
Did you feel you were able to change things if needed?
If required I felt that I could spend more time at a specific table to help the students that were struggling to
understand the work better. Apart from that all students were on task and did not need a different worksheet to
complete.
Was your organization of materials and resources efficient and effective? E.g. did you and the
students have everything you needed?
Students had all available material and resources ready for them to use at all times. Extra sets of coloured pencils
were provided for the colouring in activity. I had all resources such as photocopies of the worksheets ready before
the start of the class.


Did you plan how and when you would distribute and collect materials?
Everything was planned and photocopies of worksheets were ready to be handed out after the set instructions
were given in class. At the end of the class, I asked the students before packing up to place the completed
worksheets on the front table in a tidy pile for easy collection.
Were you aware of classroom procedures and school disciplinary policy?
Yes, students would be warned about excessive talking 3 times before being sent out the class for 5-10 minutes
and then spoken to by the teacher about their behaviour and whether they choose to change it or face the
consequences. If warned a further 2 times students would receive a blue note (bad behaviour form) sent home to
their parents, whilst the student would have to go to the deputy principle for punishment. The deputy principle
will allocate the misbehaving student a yellow booklet of good behaviour and the student must then bring this
form to their classes for the next 2 weeks. Students must obtain a high rating of 4-5 for good behaviour over these
2 weeks which would be marked by each of their class teachers. Students failing this would then be suspended for
a certain period of time.
How much did you know about your students?
I managed to build a large amount of great relationships with the students. To do this I would talk to students in-
class at specific times and outside of class about their hobbies and what they like to do outside of school. By
building a good relationship with many students, I found it easy to teach their classes as I already had acquired a
high amount of respect from the students.
Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom
How did you demonstrate to the students that you valued them, and enjoyed learning? e.g. Tone of
voice, facial expression, sense of humour, introduction to students and topic.
I showed I valued every student by going around to every group and having a chat with them about their work and
I told a few jokes to get a positive response out of each student. This technique made students happy that I had
put in the time and effort to listen to them and have a chat with them, allowing them to continue with their work
positively. Whilst teaching, I always had a positive tone of voice and showed students that science is fun through
smiling and laughter. I could relate science to real life experiments or events I have come across that I could also
relate to the students as well, which gained further interest of the students towards the area of science.
Which aspects of your teaching style do you feel helped you maintain class attention? e.g. Variety of
activities, class or group discussion, pace of lesson, interest at class level.
I believe having a great relationship with students was the biggest influence to maintain class attention and run a
fluent class. Although, by involving group discussion and fun activities that could be broken down into pieces to
complete was vital to engaging the students interest.



Did the students know what was expected of them?
Yes, all students understood the standards that had been set from the start of the class, and what work must be
completed. The work completed also linked in with the students future assignment, providing more initiative to
get the work finished. Students understood talking in class was fine, as long as it was relating to their work, which
they adhered by.
Were you able to redirect energies of attention seeking students? Did the students have enough to
do?
I found I could direct their bubbly and positive energy into their work. By having a quick 2 minute chat about what
they were talking about, I would use what the students were talking about and relate it to their work, and then I
would challenge the students to get a certain amount of work done in an allocated time. Students then continued
on from their work until they had finished.
Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour
Were you aware of what was happening in all parts of the classroom? Did you know what each
student was doing?
Yes, it was very easy to observe each students work by walking around all the groups to make sure each individual
was on task. Most of the talking was work related, and if it wasnt work related, I would simply walk over to the
group and get the students back on task immediately.
Did you take any action when you observed poor behaviour? Why? Why not?
I wasnt required to take any action on really poor behaviour, as all students stayed on task and completed their
work. At minimal times I had to control some groups chatter before I felt it became out of control, by having a
quick talk to the group I found the students respected what I was saying and went back on task to complete their
activities. If I was to deal with terrible behaviour, I would follow the schools policy to deal with misbehaving
students.
Did you use non-verbal cues? E.g. Contact, pause, gesture, movement toward student/s concerned.
At times I would walk towards a groups table if the talking was not work related or to loud, which I found
sometimes to be enough warning for the group to stop talking about non-work related events. I only had to pause
the class once while giving instructions. This was done by ceasing my instructions, and letting the class know I will
only continue giving instructions once the class is quiet and has given me full attention, I found this technique
worked very well.
Overall Comments
After observing my mentor teachers and using skills I already acquired through primary school, I found I was able
to transfer some of these skills into a high school classroom environment. I found the best way to provide a fluent
lesson was to build a positive relationship with students and gain their respect. This showed immediate results
with all students being able to finish all of their work in the allocated time.

Schools as text looking at the whole school
Describe the school in terms of its demographics, appearance and resources (be general here and do
not name the school).
The school had great spacing and some recently updated metalwork, woodwork, sporting facilities and great oval
space. The school also included a learning common for year 11s and 12s to use which even provided coffee
machines. Resources were always provided during school classes and for outdoor sporting activities at recess and
lunch to promote physical wellbeing and participating in various sports. A gym was located just across the road
from the school for the use of drama classes, sport, swimming and recreational activities, as well as use for special
education classes and an assembly area.
What were the roles and responsibilities of the teaching staff you observed?
All teachers had a duty of care to uphold, whilst making sure school rules were followed. For example, students
were not allowed across the road to the gym at recess and lunch without a teacher escorting them. Teachers also
had to provide a safe learning environment for students to attend and gain an education. Every second week on a
Friday, teachers had a roster which would tell them which teachers had to provide morning tea for the day. Recess,
lunch and bus duty rosters were also made for teachers to rotate into to make sure students were safe at all times,
including before and after school.
What did you observe nonteaching staff doing to support teaching and learning in the school?
Build positive relationships with students outside of the classroom. Management staff was in control of visitors
sign in and sign outs, controlling traffic for people that needed to contact the principle. Canteen volunteers were
to run the canteen and deal with lunch orders for children and other staff requests.
Students
You will have observed the diverse nature of your classes. How was this diversity supported?
Some students were challenging and they could be disruptive to their peers and had become disengaged in their
work very quickly. These students needed extra help to stay on task and to complete their work. I achieved this by
spending a little bit more time at the students tables and keeping an eye on them from the front of the class after
a full circle of the classroom. I had no problems with resources at all as I had prior adequate preparation for my
lesson.





Function of Schools
Did you observe the connection of your schools with the broader community? How did this happen?
The high school runs many programs which include other schools, excursions outside of school which includes
students in an Indonesian class going to Indonesia to experience their culture and way of living. Choir is another
anticipated activity at the school with students involved going to the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre to perform
in front of a crowd. The Beltup Cup is a football designed program which incorporates younger males who are
struggling to engage in learning by having classroom sessions of math and English. After completing these sessions
weekly students are rewarded with one lesson of AFL or Gaelic football, which also incorporates mathematical
learning through counting and measurement. The school has had great success incorporating this program as
students are able to learn at the standard levels set in relation to the school curriculum.
What do you think the function of school is?
To provide a safe learning environment of the highest quality, which students can strive to reach their potential
and develop many skills in a range of different areas, including but not limited to real life problems and activities.
Students are also able to learn values, discipline and respect throughout their schooling life. Students should also
become well equipped with skills to gain future employment or further study at a TAFE institute or university.