University of Brighton PARTNERSHIP OFFICE

Form S C
04/13

Final assessment report on teaching competence

An on-screen version of this form is available on the Secondary Partnership webpage: www.brighton.ac.uk/education/placements/resources/secondary

Student teacher: Subject: Programme & year:

Courtney Meichen Mathematics

School/College: Date of placement: Experience:

Saffron Walden County High School October 2013 February 2014 Final placement

PGCE F/T PGCE P/T 2Yr BA 4Yr BA Sec PE 4Yr BA KS2/KS3 School Direct Yr: 4

Information given may be used in a reference and to assist in the continuing professional development of the student teacher either on a subsequent placement or as a newly qualified teacher. Please acknowledge success and identify aspects that require further development.

In relation to the expectations and UCET/NASBTT descriptors, please tick the appropriate boxes (www.brighton.ac.uk/education/placements/resources/secondary).

Part One TS1: Setting high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtney has built excellent relationships with her classes. She consistently produces engaging activities that promote high levels of enthusiasm and participation with sufficient challenge. Observing her year 9 class I witnessed the students coming into the room and immediately opening their books, progressing with a challenging starter activity. This determination and motivation exhibited by the students was shown through all activities and demonstrates the high expectations Courtney has of her classes. Furthermore she adapts the pace of the lesson depending on the level of understanding of a particular concept. When questioned one learner said, we learn a lot as Miss Meichen makes sure we are on task and involved. This illustrates the extremely effective learning environment created in all lessons which students clearly respect. There are regular opportunities provided in her lessons for whole group or small group discussion of concepts to develop understanding.

TS2: Promoting good progress and outcomes by pupils Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtneys lessons always enable progression between connected concepts using previous learning as a platform. Intuitive uses of investigative starter tasks allow students to have a deeper understanding of these connections. Resources are planned carefully to suit the needs of students and promote challenge using inventive extension tasks. An example of this was a Tarsia (cardsort activity) which had one piece blank for the students to create their own questions and answers. Courtney has continued using raffle tickets to increase the motivation of students. Target: Use of scaffolding within an activity/task to meet the needs of all learners and promote further resilience and independence. (TS2/5) E.g. With 9DB1 it was assumed they could recall and apply the sine rule for triangles. A scaffolded approach including investigation of first right angle triangles building up to non-right angle triangles would have enabled a better transition and natural progression between concepts.

TS3: Demonstrating good subject and curriculum knowledge Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtney has shown outstanding subject and curriculum knowledge throughout her placement. She plans lessons in sequences using the schemes of work with ease. Furthermore she takes great care in emphasising the connection between topics to students to further their mathematical understanding. Courtney has two year 7 classes of different abilities and she has differentiated tasks accordingly knowing the limitations of the students. Regardless of the class she has demanded a fantastic use of mathematical language from students. In a year 7 lesson she prompted students to add units to solutions in whole class discussion. Cou rtney has

also been an asset to my year 11 class and their preparation for their GCSE exams. She has provided invaluable B grade intervention sessions and team taught a foundation/higher split class. I have no doubt of her ability to teach beyond the requirements of her course to KS4/5. Target: Courtney should seek further experiences of teaching KS4/5 classes to gain confidence with exam classes TS4: Plan and teach well structured lessons Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtneys preparation for lessons is exemplary. Every lesson is resourced in order to engage learners and targets the specific objectives. She is keen to try new teaching styles and activities that will best support a particular concept. Courtney recently used www.echalk.co.uk to present enlargements on the interactive whiteboard. Her use of the IWB has improved vastly. Courtneys confidence has grown considerably through the second part of her placement. She has exhibited fantastic flexibility and is not afraid within lessons to stray from her lesson plan to achieve the objectives. Courtney uses intelligent changes of pace with activities that students are either struggling with or finding too easy to support or stretch and challenge learners. Courtney is very reflective and critical of her own practice. She is keen to evaluate all activities either independently or with other staff and will change future plans according to the success of particular resources. She has found a carousel style activity particularly works with year 8 Friday lesson 5. This intelligently makes use of movement to further engage students and also is appropriate for this more active group. Courtney also considers how concepts can be brought to life and understood more in lessons. In a year 7 observation a starter question allows pupils to consider, in pairs, where they have seen negative numbers in real life and provides an excellent hook and subsequent context for todays learning. Target 1: Plan a sequence of Higher/Foundation GCSE lessons particularly focusing on the finite details of concepts that students will require at examination. For example the key vocabulary an examiner looks for in a topic like random sampling. This will come through exposure to a GCSE group in her NQT year. Target 2: Continue to explore visual/kinaesthetic resources (including the interactive whiteboard) to support learning of harder topics such as addition/subtraction of fractions

TS5: Adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Comment:

Fail

Courtney recognises the different needs of students and their barriers to progressing at the same rate. She adapts seating plans regularly to enable students to work efficiently both independently or collaboratively. Courtney makes pertinent uses of assessment and students individual data to inform her decisions. She uses ICT to benefit all learners. In her graded year 9 lesson Courtney used the interactive whiteboard to demonstrate different areas of sectors and segments with their associated formulas. She intrinsically colour coded each formula and shape to scaffold the new concept in stages. Similarly worked examples and answers were a regular feature in this lesson to demonstrate the application of the area calculations. It was evident Courtney was trying to meet the needs of different types of learners. Questioning has been an on-going development during this placement which Courtney has worked hard on. In her most recent graded observation she ensures pupils had to li sten very carefully to the language being used as you are slightly changing the way in which you ask the question; furthermore the questions are becoming more difficult. This was an excellent example of differentiation within questioning which allowed Courtney to gauge the understanding of students and progress them at the pace desired. Courtney works incredibly hard for all students during each lesson ensuring she circulates to supports individuals and groups. In a year 7 observation Courtney was seen to circulate amongst pupils and realise that some pupils are struggling with -0.5. You decided to stop pupils to explain -0.5. You draw a number line on the whiteboard and ask questions about where to place 0.5 and then -0.5. This evidences her active approach of seeking students who need her intervention and the invaluable use of demonstration and adult deployment in her classroom. The students find Courtney approachable and appreciate her calm and relaxed manner when explaining concepts. Following her demonstration she reassured pupils by informing them that things are getting harder and it is hard. I have regularly

observed Courtney, with year 11 foundation students, patiently explain a question in several different ways until satisfied they have understood and progressed. Target: Further differentiation and extension for the most able students in each of her classes e.g. In 8SD Courtney has taught a wide range of abilities for a group that has been set. A choice of activities with differentiated levelling would be a way of maintaining engagement, stretch and challenge. TS6: Making accurate and productive use of assessment Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: A range of formative and summative assessment strategies have been used throughout Courtneys placement. She regularly uses mini whiteboards, peer marking and plenaries involving self-review. Formative assessments are clearly used to inform the pace and nature of activities provided in current and future lessons. She has developed her confidence to stop a lesson to do a worked solution based on feedback from the class. Equally she is prepared to skip a section due to it being too easy. This shows a high level of flexibility and understanding of both her lesson objectives and the requirements of her students. Both starters and plenaries have been used extensively in lessons; Stand up/sit down really invigorated the final 10 minutes of the lesson (7SE 21/1/14). This particular activity was fantastically used to promote engagement in the final section of the lesson and for students and teacher alike to make invaluable assessments of student progress from the start of the lesson. Summative assessments including homework and class tests have been marked thoroughly following department protocols. Positive praise and individualised development targets are written to feedback to students, informing them where they need to improve. Courtney has completed progress checks for all of her classes. She has made use of formative and summative assessments to level students according to their attainment. She has a thorough knowledge of each and every student she teaches and recognises students that require intervention to progress at the required rate to meet their targets. She has indicated on progress checks learning scores and comment codes. With her year 8 class a student was flagged with a low learning score due to homework and was subsequently put onto a lunchtime maths club programme. Furthermore her knowledge of the KS4 GCSE syllabus has recently enabled her to collaboratively set target grades for her year 9 GCSE class. She led the discussions with students using collated data to inform decisions. Targets: 1) Dedicate time for formal Closing The Gap activities designed for reflection/progression 2) Continue to use formative assessment strategies to inform intervention for individual students/whole class E.g. Regularly ask for verbal/non-verbal feedback from students about their understanding In a year 9 observation students understood the current concept but hadnt simplified their fraction answer causing confusion. Intervening with a worked solution would have eradicated this

TS7: Managing behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtney has used praise such as raffle tickets and student demonstrations to create supportive learning environments. Students are clearly aware of her use of the word STOP to signal the class to come together for discussion. In a lesson with 7SE the observer commented At this point in the lesson, you demonstrate excellent behaviour management skills with two pupils; you are firm, but fair and the pupils immediately respond to you. She consistently promotes positive behaviour for learning and uses departmental behaviour sanctions, seeking additional adult support where necessary. Courtney, on the whole, challenges learners who dont meet her high expectations and she has organised catch up homework and classwork sessions for students. Target: Continue to develop changes of tone and use of language to eradicate low level disruption that affects the overall flow of the lesson.

TS8: Fulfilling wider professional responsibilities Please tick: High Good Requires improvement to meet Good (Minimum) Fail Comment: Courtney has been attached to a Year 9 tutor group where she prepares activities for one registration per week. The form tutor has given some more specific feedback from her experiences of observing

Courtney: Courtney very quickly became involved with the form, by helping with the day to day running of registration; signing planners, helping with student voice discussions, delivering notices etc. She has built up a good relationship with the form, and the students clearly respect her and enjoy having her in registration, as they are always keen to share their progress/stories with her. She has observed and codelivered a number of tutorials to students in order to gain a clear understanding of the process, and in recent weeks she has independently led tutorials to a mix of students. During which, she has held a discussion about the students progress, attitude to work, barriers for learning, and helped the students to generate some achievable targets. She has also been instrumental in organising the form to adopt an endangered animal, something they are very excited about. Courtney would like to be involved in the pastoral team in her career so she has met with a Head of Year and SSO (Student Support Officer) to gain further insights and experiences of how the school actively supports students. She attended year 11 parents evening as an observer and was able to see a range of different parental consultations. She has acted on all advice and feedback given and has developed good working relationships with colleagues both within and outside department. Within lessons Courtney has often deployed class teachers to support students in order to promote further progress. I have been used regularly to support an SEN student who is slower at processing concepts which has been extremely beneficial to his learning. Target: Courtney has not collaborated much with the learning support team or EAL coordinator due to the nature of her classes. In her NQT year she should ensure that she p lans with LSAs to provide effective intervention for students who need support.

With reference to Part Two of the Teachers Standards (2012), the Standard of personal and professional conduct demonstrated by the student teacher on this placement has been Acceptable Unacceptable Comment:
Courtney always maintains high standards of professionalism, is punctual and fully prepared for all lessons. Her teamwork and coordination with colleagues is outstanding. Staff have commented on how independent Courtney is and how they can trust her to seek support where necessary. She demonstrates a clear determination to succeed and improve, acting on all feedback and targets set. Courtney also has a full understanding of school policies such as monitoring attendance, use of the school bulletin and child protection. Courtney is a model professional and will be an asset to any department she has the opportunity to work for in her NQT year. I wish her every success for her future teaching career. As a department we have thoroughly enjoyed working with her.

Targets for progression into NQT year: See more details of these targets including examples in main body of each standards comment. Use of scaffolding within an activity/task to meet the needs of all learners and promote further resilience and independence. (TS2/5) Plan and deliver a sequence of Higher/Foundation GCSE lessons particularly focusing on the finite details of concepts that students will require at examination (TS4) Further differentiation and extension for the most able students in each of her classes (TS5) Continue to use formative assessment strategies to inform intervention for individual students/whole class (TS6) Continue to develop changes of tone and use of language to eradicate low level disruption that affects the overall flow of the lesson (TS7) Planning with SEN and EAL teams in school (TS8)
PASS FAIL

Recommended Result: Number of full / half days absent: 1

I confirm this report has been seen and discussed by the professional tutor Shahla Matarazzo, mentor Liam Woods and student teacher Courtney Meichen before being emailed to the Partnership Office (please insert respective names).

Completed by: Liam Woods

Role: Mentor

Date completed: 18/01/14

Please distribute to: (1) email to: educationsecondaryreports@brighton.ac.uk by the date shown in the PIE/School Handbook (2) student teachers portfolio (3) school/college record Note: The student teacher MUST provide copies of the SC form to their university subject tutor and the next placement