Question Type

Do you feel your questions

were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Did you use a variety of

question types?

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

Yes, I believe the students understood my questions. I made sure

they were age appropriate and to always allocate wait time to
make sure students had time to comprehend and construct their
answer, as well as ask questions if they didnt initially understand.

All my questions were structured to ensure that all aspects of the

learning objective had been included. From what a summary
actually is, to why and they are written, to how they are written,
what information should be included etc. This solidified the
purpose of the activity as well as what a summary is and its
purpose.
All my questions related to the topic of summarising and this
assisted in maintaining a balance. I made sure my initial questions
were simpler that the later ones and through this gradual increase
in difficulty, made sure all levels of understanding within the class
were addressed.

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

Recall questions were used at the beginning to reinforce

prior learning as well as the end to establish the learning
objective was successfully addressed.
Questions requiring problem solving were asked during
the lesson to engage student understanding and influence
perspective shifts.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any

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

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Have you used wait time?

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

My pattern seemed to be recall, and then questions that

required problem solving and the students having to think
about the bigger picture of the topic, and then to recall
about the lesson and lesson objective taught.
I felt this was the best way to incorporate all aspects of the
subject, while introducing and getting orientated with the
initial recall questions and then confirming material was
learnt through the questions where students had to engage
their minds to figure something out.

Questions were directed to the whole group and students

with their hands up were selected. If I noticed some
unengaged students I would direct a question at them.
Also if there was a students still not grasping the idea,
whatever that may have been, I would structure my
questions in order to try and let them establish an
understanding.
Yes, I believe wait time is crucial if they are to engage their
brain and thinking, and this can especially take time with
younger students.

Yes, eye contact was used more in primary school than high
school; I believe it is an important technique that really helps keep
attention on task.

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?

Primary school children required more praise than secondary

students. My placement school had an established set of praises,
for example there was the cowboy praise (where students would
imitate throwing a lasso and yelling yee ha), the grater praise,
sparkles praise etc. with them all involving different actions and
phrases.
Something that surprised me was that all students join in with the
praise. If students did well I would praise them personally making

How do you deal with

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

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?

Are you the only evaluator

of the students answers?

sure to specify what I was pleased with, if a group or the class as a

whole did well then I would select a child to choose a praise and
then the entire class would join in praising themselves and
others. The class I was in also had a peg system that had students
names and different stations they were to move their names up to
as they did well in class, or down if they were misbehaving.
Incorrect responses where prodded with more questions to
attempt and direct their answer. If the student was completely off
target I would ask the group/class who could help so and so out?
I would also dedicate time to a child who wasnt grasping the task
at hand at a time that didnt interrupt the other students i.e. After
they had started their work.

Through structuring my questions from simple to more complex,

the students understanding followed. When answering correctly
the next question would follow on smoothly and accompanied
furthering student knowledge of the topic through constructing a
foundational understanding from the initial questions.

No, students were more than ready to acknowledge a wrong

answer, if they knew it to be wrong.

Overall Comments

I really enjoyed my primary placement, and a large reason for this was the students I
was lucky enough to have. Although they were different to the high school students I
enjoyed questioning them and trying to push there understanding, and although this
may not have happened with every child, I definitely feel I assisted in some students
understanding through my use of qiestions.

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

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?

Mostly. After the summarising activity had been completed I had

made the students silent read, intending that this would be done
silently, which wasnt the case. If I had included some more
engaging activities in the catering for diversity section and
acknowledged the diversity of time management skills between
the students, I could have come up with a more appropriate task to
be worked on after their summary. E.g. even simply writing me a
summary of their book from home.

Did anything unexpected

happen?

For the majority of the class my time management worked well,

with most of them finishing around the same time. Once everyone
Did you provide a variety of had finished/time had run out, I made sure I allocated time to
activities?
question what they did and learnt, allowing me an insight into
whether or not the lesson was successful.
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
The class was very responsive as I think they were excited to have
the end of the lesson?
me teach a lesson, and because they listened so well I was able to
switch and change anything if needed. There was only one issue
Did you feel you were able
to change things if needed? with a book being a little too detailed for a child, and after simply
switching books the issue was resolved.

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 very aware of classroom procedures. Most mornings

involved a 5-10 minute brain activity, such as Boggle or mental
maths, followed by 10-15 minutes of physical exercise outside.
As there were no extremely naughty children in my mentors
class I didnt have much of an insight into the schools disciplinary
procedures. After discussions with my mentor however I did
become aware that there is a process that starts to involve parents
and other senior members of staff if the behaviour continues.
Being part of the class across the entire week gave me an
opportunity to get to know the students more personally than the
secondary students. Throughout the week I believe I made an
effort and succeeded on gaining an insight into the background of

the lifes of most of the students, and where they were

academically through talking with my mentor.

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?

Through the sue of low key techniques, as well as some obvious

ones, my mentor teacher was able to keep her students in line and
on task, and as a result, created a safe learning environment from
which she could monitor all the children without difficulty. There
was never a negative response to an incorrect answer to children
trying and this helped build a nurturing class absent of judgment
and giving the sense of security.
I observed my mentor teaching using many low-key techniques to
maintain a structured and productive classroom. She also
reiterated their importance in a classroom saying they are the
foundation of cooperation between you and the students. One
technique she stressed was to never talk over students, and to
always wait for silence before talking.

By being obviously involved in conversation and discussions of

topics within and out of school life I was able to bridge the gap
between student & teacher to a level where I believe the students
respected me and knew I respected them, making them aware that
I did care. I feel this really does assist in how they interacted with
me in the classroom in terms of getting them to do things. Talking
to everyone with the same enthusiastic tone left nobody feeling
out of place, using humour and making sure I gave students
insight into my life outside of school, also assisted in creating the
bonds I did with the students.

Yes, using a student centred approach and the school policy of I

do, we do, you do really reinforced the learning objective.
Yes, I made sure students were well aware of the lesson objective
verbally through my questions and instructions, however what I
could have done to reinforce this is write the objective on the
board.

Were you able to redirect

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

Yes, the students in the class were good listeners and if there were
a disruption my low-key techniques worked in redirecting their
attention to the task at hand.

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?

With the students already having designated seating

arrangements, and with most tasks being completed at their desks,
observing the class as a whole was fairly simple. From the vantage
point of the teachers desk I was able to monitor each student. This
was also happening whilst I walked amongst the class and assisted
students, allowing me insight into where each child was at in
regards to the task.

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

The only behaviour issues I had to deal with during my placement

were very minor. Noisy students talking when I was or during
their task, with conversation being completely off topic, was all I
encountered. I was quick to acknowledge them and their unfair
and unwanted input into the noise levels of the room as they were
interfering with other students attentions. Naming them
personally after an initial warning let them know I knew who it
was, and after praising other students who were doing well, they
soon followed suit.

Did you use non-verbal

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

Yes, much the same as high school. My presence close to them,

unamused facial expression a tap on the desk and a thumbs up to
students doing well seemed to work.

Overall Comments

Over all my students were great and didnt cause me much trouble through
their behaviour at all.

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 was very multicultural with a lot of students

from over seas. Its appearance was lovely and clean and
this created a warm atmosphere. My placement school also
seemed to have an excellent selection of resources. Every
teacher had their own computer in their room as well as
most students having an iPad. Students would bring their
personal iPads into school but the school had a supply for
students that didnt own one.
The school had large grounds and a few open spaces for
children to run around at lunch and recess.

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?

All teachers had yard duty at times throughout the week.

Doing this role my mentor would have to keep a close eye
on all the students in her area and observe and prevent any
bad behaviour or situations that may arise.
As mentioned before I also watched a presentation by two
teachers on a personal development course they attended,
and was told that if ever there are teachers that attend
these personal development days, they usually do a short
presentation on what was discussed as well.

After discussion with your

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

They seem to have a very large affect. The laws

surrounding primary school aged children seem to be, if
not stricter, definitely more abided by on the primary level.
Things like keeping students back for misbehaving and the
processes of detention and expulsion are all rules and
processes made outside of the school. Another aspect that
the government is involved in is the local area selection,

with them decided dependent on where you live, if or if

not you can attend that school.

What did you observe non-teaching

staff doing to support teaching and
learning in the school?

I observed the office ladies attending their duties as well

as the cleaners do the rounds when I was chatting with
my mentor teacher after school.
Something else I watched while at the staff meeting was
two teachers go through a personal development course
they attended. It was a great experience, as all the
teachers really got involved in discussing the various
ideas being addressed.

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

My class was diverse, in terms of demographic, academic

ability and much more. The struggling students were
definitely pushed a little harder as half the time it was
more them not wanting to do it rather than being unable
to. However when something was too hard for a student
that wasnt for others the teacher would help them
individually. As for the students that werent good at time
management, projects would either be done at home or
during lunch, remembering you can only keep a child in
for 20 minutes.
There was a student in the class from another country
that had seen war, and as a result would apparently run
and hide every time he heard the school siren, as a result
the school limited its use throughout the day and changed
its sound.

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

Yes, the first day of my placement was Book Day, with

most of the students and teachers dressing up as their
favourite character. There was an assembly in the morning
and all the students parents and siblings came down to
watch the parade.
As for connecting with the broader community I didnt really
see that much. However the students were training for their
carnival, which would then lead to competition outside of
school for interschool.

What do you think the function of

school is?

With my Primary placement in mind, the function of the

school was to provide a safe and nurturing learning
environment for children to learn and feel a sense of
security. For teachers and staff to provide a duty of care
over students, and therefore serve a purpose similar to a
caregiver.