Observation Sheet Questioning

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and place in
your ePortfolio)
Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Knowledge:
Professional Practice:

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and learning

Question Type

Do you feel your questions

were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Yes, I feel that the questions I asked were pertinent to the lesson and also
helped steer the students in new directions for learning. If the question
was not understood the students quickly realised what I was asking and
were able to answer correctly.

Whole class lesson - I did use a variety of questions, but the majority of
the questions were closed with some open questions. Due to the age of
Did you use a variety of
the students they have a tendency to get off topic which is why I did not
question types?
ask many open or exploratory questions in this situation.
Small group lesson My small group lesson continued on from my whole
class lesson. While conducting the small group lesson I was able to ask
more open and exploratory questions which helped the students expand
their knowledge.
Whole class Lesson/Experiences In this situation I asked more closed
questions than open. Upon reflection I think I did this to quickly check
What balances was there
between the various questions students knowledge to aid time management and ensure that a baseline
knowledge was met prior to moving on to the more intensive small
types?
group situations.
Small Group Lesson/Experiences When I was in these situations I was
able to delve into topics by asking open and exploratory questions.
Expanding on the students knowledge from the whole class component
of the lessons
As I said before asking open or exploratory questions in a whole class
situation the students tend to get off topic and lose focus on the lesson
Consider both why and when
you made use of the different objectives. By keeping the required answers to questions short the mentor
teacher and I were able to ensure that students had a baseline knowledge
question types?
before progressing to small group or one on one teaching where
questions could lead the students to discover more about the topics.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any pattern

in the distribution of your
questions amongst the
students? Consider reasons
for this pattern?

I made a point of actively trying to ask every student a question, before I

learnt every students name I tended to favour asking the students whose
names I knew. Once I learnt the names I was able to use questioning to
keep students focused by asking students whose attention may have
wandered a question to encourage them to engage in the lesson again.
Some of the students were more boisterous than the others so it was
important not to overly select them in group questioning situations.

Have you used wait time?

When questioning the group as a whole it is important to remind the

students to raise their hands and not call out. I noticed that the students
would become excited if they knew the answer and call it out not giving
the opportunity to the student who had been selected from the whole
class to answer the question. When the whole class was doing something
that required them all to participate such as counting warm-ups or the
alphabet it was important to continue to watch all of the students to make
sure that they are all engaged.
I did but not consciously, I found through trial and error that by waiting
or pausing for a second elicited better responses

Did you make eye contact with

the group as you directed your
questions?

I did. I found that I used eye contact as a behaviour management tool to

redirect the focus of students. I also looked around the class as I was
asking questions to check that students were engaged in the questions
and the lesson n

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Reactions to Students Responses

I made sure that the students were praised for their correct answers and I
was specific about the praise I gave. I also made sure that the praise I
How do you deal with correct
responses? Do you qualify any gave was appropriate and not overdone.
praise given?

How do you deal with incorrect

responses? How do you deal
with students who stumble and
grope for an answer?

I made sure that they werent discouraged from answering and

encouraged their attempts. I also looked for positive feedback to give
them in the situation. I gave the students who stumbled hints and the
majority of the time they did come up with the correct answer. If they
didnt come up with the right answer I moved on to the next student and
gave them another chance on the next question on later on in the lesson.
I made use of students responses to add depth to the initial response.

What use do you make of the

students responses to develop
the teaching point? Have you
redirected any questions in
order to add to an initial
response?

If their response was limited or short I would ask the other students if
they could add to that answer or give their own variation. Prior to
commencing the lessons I had key answers that if the students
answered that way I would use it as a cue to take the lesson in that
direction. During my lessons there were also surprise responses that I
didnt expect but could be used as a learning opportunity.

Are you the only evaluator of

the students answers?

No, their answers were evaluated by their classmates, mentor teachers,

education assistant, the other student teacher, and their family members.
I would not want to be the only one who evaluates the students answers.

Overall Comments
It was helpful to have learnt about the different question types prior to attending the placements. I
was able to put a name to the questioning techniques I commonly used when I was instructing or
training in my previous employment. As my placement was in a kindergarten and I was fortunate
enough to see how a year two and year six class question their students differently. I feel as the years
progress there is a greater percentage of open-ended questions as opposed to closed quick response
questions.

Observation Sheet Management

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and place in
your e portfolio)
Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice:
1. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
2. Planning for Effective Management
Yes it was. I knew from watching the mentor teacher and through my
Was your lesson plan effective own experience that the introduction to the lesson is incredibly
important. Once I had the children engaged I was able to effectively
for managing the class?
control the class. I made sure the students also knew what activities were
coming up and what the objectives were.
e.g. How did the students
Some of the responses I received were quite exceptional and that allowed
react to your lesson overall
and to your planned activities? me to expand my lesson which I wasnt expecting but I had planned for. I
was glad I didnt need to regress any components of my lesson and that
the students met or exceeded my expectations.
Did anything unexpected
My small group activity was part of a series of small group activities that
happen?
the mentor teacher had planned. My activity which was related to
awareness of emotions had several was to be answered depending on
Did you provide a variety of
what the students were feeling at that particular time.
activities?
I was very satisfied with my timing; the mentor teacher had laid out the
classroom so that I could see a clock from where I was conducting the
Were you satisfied with your
timing, particularly for the end lesson so I was able to manage my lesson time effectively.
From observation and my experience through life and university I was
of the lesson?
able to appreciate that I should plan for every eventuality this helped me
cope when students answered the questions off topic or started to take up
Did you feel you were able to
too much time. I also know that if I conducted this lesson again it would
change things if needed?
be different to how it ran this time so I would be able to adapt the lesson
as required in that circumstance.

Were you aware of classroom

procedures and school
disciplinary policy? How
much did you know about
your students?
How did your mentor teacher
maintain a safe learning
environment?
What strategies did your
observe your mentor teacher
using to maintain this?

I was aware of the classroom procedures; because I arrived early on the

first day I was able to be shown how the class dealt with disciplinary
matters with an escalating traffic light system with a series of pegs that
could be moved up and down depending on behaviour. The deputy
principle also made me aware of the whole school approach and I have
included it in my eportfolio.
During the five days I did learn a fair bit about the students. Even though
it was a kindergarten placement and the students were operating on a
five day fortnight so the most time I had with the students was three
days, I still managed to get a sense of how most of the students learnt.
The mentor teacher and education assistant were also able to give myself
and the other student teacher information about the students in the class.
One of the schools core behaviours was safety so the students were well
versed in what behaviours were required to maintain a safe classroom.

The mentor teacher made sure safe behaviour was encouraged and
rewarded and that the rules about unsafe behaviour were well known
and that the students adhered to the school rules. There was also general
safe workplace methods adhered to such as material data sheets, allergy
action plans were visible and available, and the classroom was free of trip
hazards.
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.

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.

Did the students know what

was expected of them?

Were you able to redirect

energies of attention seeking
students? Did the students
have enough
to do?

I showed that I valued the students by learning all their names as quickly
as possible, and using their names when giving praise. Part of my lesson
involved reading a story so I was able to use my facial expressions and
convey my sense of humour through the story to show the students how
much I enjoy learning. The introduction of the lesson also included a
stuffed toy that I was able to use to hook their attention.

I consider my oral reading skills to be of a high standard so I was able to

utilise them to keep the class interested and I also found that my
questioning and tone of voice kept the students interested and engaged
in the lesson.
I also found that the activities were just long enough so that the students
did not lose interest in the lesson.

Yes I made it as clear as possible what I expected of the students. I

explained the lesson objectives at the start of the lesson and at the start of
the small group activity. I also asked clear questions and explained my
responses to them.
Attention seeking students were common in group question times. To
avoid them taking over the lesson I would remind the student what
behaviours were expected and pick a student who was adhering to those
behaviours to answer those questions. If a student was interrupting a
group session I would direct them towards another activity that they
could be doing so that their attention was directed elsewhere.

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?

This was something that the mentor teacher and the education assistant
team were exceptional at; there was not a time that they did not know
where all the members of their class were and exactly what they were
doing. As the week went on I felt like I got better at being aware of all
members of the class.

Did you take any action when

you observed poor behaviour?
Why? Why not?

Initially no because I didnt want to tread on the toes of the mentor

teacher. As I felt more comfortable I was able to take actions to keep
members of the class behaving.

Did you use non-verbal cues?

e.g. Contact, pause, gesture,
movement toward student/s
concerned.

I did use non-verbal cues. I found that I used non-verbal cues more than
verbal cues. The de-escalation nature of the cues meant that the situation
was kept under control and I did not have to raise my voice or escalate
the situation to get it under control. The mentor teacher and the whole of
school policy made it very easy for me to implement and maintain their
rules.

Overall Comments
On the whole I feel like the school was managed well. There are regular staff meetings where teaching
methods are reviewed and improved and the teachers and other staff all worked together well as a
team. The disciplinary and behaviour management policies are adhered to and consistent throughout
the school amongst all year levels.

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 seemed very well resourced having several speciality

teachers areas such as a computer lab, music room, Indonesian
room, and specific teachers for these subjects.
The school was a mixture of original existing buildings and newer
buildings from a renovation that happened approximately five
years ago.
The demographic of the school was predominantly Caucasian
and blue collar parents, although there were a few multicultural
families in the school

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching staff
you observed?

The main roles of the staff I observed were to teach the class
they were allocated. This included planning, class management
of class, bus duty, recess and lunch duty, and cleaning.
The teacher I observed was fortunate enough to have one day a
week of duties other than teaching time so she was able to catch
up on marking and planning on that day.

After discussion with your mentor

teacher describe how policies and
processes of government,
administration and schools have an
effect on the work of the teacher?

The government and school policies do have an effect on how

the class is run but due to the layout of the school the k-1 years
almost operate as a separate school. The most obvious way the
class was affected was the state curriculum and the teacher
whole year planning.

What did you observe non-teaching staf

doing to support teaching and learning
in the school?

I saw the non-teaching staff conducting numerous

activities. I saw them cleaning, maintain school
grounds, office work, preparing lessons, cleaning,
helping students, psychological assessments,
packing up playground equipment. It was clearly
apparent that non-teaching staff are vital to the
effective running of the school.

Students
You will have observed the diverse
nature of your classes. How was this
diversity supported?

My mentor teacher was an expert in treating the class equitably

to cater for the diverse nature of the class. An example of
(delete second of) this was supported was the treatment of a
student who was being assessed for learning difficulties: this
student was able to take a toy on the learning mat area so that
he was able to settle and not disrupt the rest of the class.

Function of Schools
Did you observe the connection
of your schools with the broader
community? How did this
happen?

During my professional experience they held fathers day

celebrations where the students parents were able to come to
the school and participate with their learning and see the work
their children had completed this allowed the parents to be
involved. On my mentors dot day she liaised with a charity
organisation for an activity that they will run with the children.
The school was also very well resourced with support through
ALCOA, one of the major large corporations in the area.

What do you think the function of

school is?

I think that the function of schools is too prepare children to live

a fulfilling life, the school achieves this by developing the
knowledge and skills that will empower the children to succeed.
Coming from a family of primary teachers I had a reasonable
understanding of the work education assistants and teachers do
to run an effective classroom.
From my time in the primary school placement it was reinforced
how much planning goes into having a class run smoothly;
however, there is the definite requirement to be able to think on
your feet and adapt to unexpected challenges that arise.
My view of teachers and schools hasnt really changed, the time
I spent here reinforced my desire to become a teacher.

Reflection think about your

experiences during the week and
describe how your previous
experiences have informed your
view of teachers and schools.
Has anything changed?