Observation Sheet QuestioningSecondary SCHOOL

Graduate Standards - AITSL

Professional Knowledge:
Professional Practice:
learning

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and

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?

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

Yes I do, students seemed understand my questions, and how they

related to the lesson

Yes, I used questions to make students aware of where the skills

they are learning will apply

I tried to create a balance by having students give convergent

answers to the lesson, but divergent answers when it came to how
the lesson applies to their learning and skills.

It really did depend on the skills of the class or the group as to

when and why particular questions were used. I found leading
with divergent questions helps students understand why the
lesson was necessary so they could focus on convergent questions
to demonstrate the skills they have learnt.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any

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

I have found the older students seemed to form into their own
groups and worked on problems together, where as in the small
group lesson, where students were placed into a group, even
though the students interact together well, once placed in the
group are reluctant to work.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Open posture, strong voice, eye contact, and prepared to write

down aspects of the question on the board to help them follow
along

Have you used wait time?

Yes, I found it necessary, to give students time to process and form

answers

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

Yes, as best I could, given how students moved around the room
during the activity

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?
How do you deal with
incorrect responses? How
do you deal with students
who stumble and grope for
an answer?

Appropriate praise was given when correct responses were

given, often in forms of enthusiastic acknowledgement.

Tried to work out where the student went wrong and tried to
correct their problem solving, or find alternative problem
solving techniques

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?

Overall Comments

I find having students respond with questions or answers can give

insight into depth of understanding of the lessons. I find it useful
to keep focus on weakness in the lesson, rather then using
strengths

Yes, I was although the mentor and another student teacher were
available to help in this task if I needed it

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?
Did anything unexpected
happen?

I believe it was, I found I was engaging the students at all times,

and keeping them occupied and focused on the lesson.
Nothing unexpected happened as far as I can tell, lessons were
ready and supplies were prepared and packed.
For the class lesson, I prepared variations on the main activity to
create different levels for students. While for the group lesson,
since I was dealing with a small group, I focused on one activity
which was provided by the mentor, but divided it into levels for
students who were grasping the concepts quicker then others

Did you provide a variety of Timing wasnt so much an issue, as rather determining when a
activities?
segment was long enough for students to understand the lesson.
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
the end of the lesson?

I felt I had a lot of flexibility with my class and the subject, even
when lessons were essentially handed to me for the small group, I
felt I could be flexible in delivery

Did you feel you were able

to change things if needed?

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 only made somewhat aware, my mentor teacher chose to

share myself and my fellow student teaching around the maths
department. So we were exposed to as many different variety of
classes as possible, as well as several different teachers and
techniques
There were a lot of common techniques for managing the learning
environment. Things like addressing students directly, but in nonaggressive manners seemed to be a preference, as well as
continuous movement around the room to keep the class
structured and focused. There was a lack of commanding
students to come in a head to their desks, allowing students to
come in and get ready without resentment towards the teacher.

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?

I found the students understood my humour a bit better then

primary school students. I also found they understood life
examples I gave them (one of the lessons was on making change,
and I told them about how as a delivery driver someone paid me
in 5c pieces), they seemed to enjoy gaining a bit of insight, but also
understanding why these skills were needed.

I found being open with some of my background helped, also

helped me relate the lesson to real-world experience making it so
students can see the need for the lesson, rather then viewing it as a
chore. I generally found giving reasons helped students
understand things like making change and algebra, not so much
easier, rather easier to comprehend.

Yes, it was laid out clearly for them from start to finish.

Yes, I made sure all students had work to do, or lesson to focus on.
Were you able to redirect
energies of attention
seeking students? Did the
students have enough
to do?

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?

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

Did you use non-verbal

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

Overall Comments

Yes I did, I was focusing on staying with in line of sight of all

students,

I tried to find out why they were exhibiting poor behaviour, and
worked around that to bring them back on task

Yes, pausing, gestures and proximity

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 I attended was an older school, which gave it a

sense of familiarity, it too was in a semi-low socio-economic
area, so there were a wide variety of students, and a wide
variety of resources, since the school was recently updated
over the last few years

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?

Duty of care and educating students. Teaching staff

seemed focused on educating to get them ready for
appropriate government testing, for their chosen paths.
There was a huge focus on getting students up to a level
for these tests and exams. There also was a focus on duty
of care, but it seemed to be a bit more hands off which
older students given their age.

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?

After discussion, the mentor and other teachers had open

views on the subject, and that any changes will take time to
be implemented fully, especially with older students who
are about to graduate.

What did you observe non-teaching

staff doing to support teaching and
learning in the school?

They made sure appropriate resources and information

was available to teaching staff, and assisted in duty of
care for the students.

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

The mentor and teachers made quiet notes about

students who need more assistance or might try to be
attention seeking, and made sure those students were the
focus as they went around the room. In one case, the
teachers would use these students as corners so they
could spend longer looking at the students work, but the
students didnt suspect they were being observed for
longer than other students. Their focus seemed to be,
getting students all up to the same level for their
appropriate classes, based on the ACARA.

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

No, a lot of the school activities were restricted to the

school itself. It was implied there were parents evenings,
and some community based events, but I didnt observe
any while at the school.

What do you think the function

of school is?

In this case, the function of school seems to be final

preparation for the world. This is the last effort of school to
make sure a student is ready for the world and all it can
dish out. Its not so much there to enlighten students as to
prepare students for tertiary education.
While at this school, the focus among the teachers was to
bring students up to the appropriate levels, before they
graduate, not cause of curriculum, but rather because they
dont want these students to struggle in their chosen paths.