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:
learning

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and

Question Type
Do you feel your questions In the beginning of the lesson I felt like my questions were more rushed
were clearly structured
due to being so conscious of time, but I found that at the end of the lesson
and readily understood by
I had more time to ask more focused and detailed questions allowing
the students?
students to elaborate on how they felt they did in the activities.
I also found that my questions were mainly convergent generating simple
answers but I was able to build up from them and ask further questions
from the questions I had originally asked in order to get more info,
example, did you find this activity easy or hard? What did you find hard
about it? Why do you think you found this most difficult? As you can see
I used a basic question and then built from it to keep the students
constantly thinking about what we were talking about.
Did you use a variety of
question types?

Yes as I made sure to have a list of pre planned questions for the end of
the lesson to evaluate the students through their responses as well as
their work. I tried to use as many different questions about the topic as I
could ask as many closed and open-ended questions in order to generate
minor discussion on the activity that the students had just undertaken.

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

I believe there was a balance, as I began with convergent questions in

order to slowly introduce the students to the topic. I then as the lesson
progressed begin to ask mainly divergent questions making the students
think more about the content being presented in order to answer the
questions in more detail; I did this to challenge the students and also to
see whether they had recalled any of the content learnt at the beginning
of the lesson.

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

Sometimes I would ask a question and then just let the students discuss
on it as to let them find their own deeper understanding of the general
topic and then at a certain point I would interrupt their discussion when
one student brought up a good point and ask them why they thought this
or how they came to this conclusion. I liked to think I tried to keep the
students focus with the questions I asked as well as to continuously

stimulate their thinking, challenging their mind each time we moved to a

new topic.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognize any
pattern in the distribution
of your questions amongst
the students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?

I mainly focused on getting my general questions across to the students

initially before letting them go off and do their own work. My main idea
was to get the students thinking before they started an activity to warm
them up to it and then whilst they were interacting I would then ask
minor questions to the students around the class making sure they were
keeping focused, as well as helping them with any issues they seemed to
be having. I guess the over all pattern was in the beginning of my class
the questions were general for every one to answer and discuss on and
the question during the activity were more individual and focused on
particular problems that the students were having.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

I felt my questions were mainly directed in order to generate ideas and to

get students minds to break down the topic at hand making it easier to
understand and less overwhelming. I mainly aimed to get the students to
do this as a group in order to make them feel more comfortable with
answering questions and asking their own questions as well.

Have you used wait

time?

Yes I did, I used it to get the students thinking about the activity, I didnt
just want to give students the answer I prefer to have them struggle for a
bit but find the answer themselves in order to make them feel more
accomplished and more like they can achieve the activity for them selfs
if they try.

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

Yes upon asking questions I tried to make the students feel as

acknowledged as possible when they were answering a question I would
acknowledge them by making eye contact and showing them that I was
paying attention whilst they were giving me an answer to a question.

Reactions to Students Responses

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

Most of the activates that I had set for the students had had questions
that were more focused on multiple answers, an examples is when
someone would provide an idea I would generally acknowledge and
thank them for adding to the ideas for the activity as their contribution
would help expand upon the topic at hand.

How do you deal with

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

I would mainly encourage the students to try a little harder letting them
know that its not quite the right answer and then let them have another
try or get another student to help them out, to encourage them as group
to work together.

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?

I found that directing a question that a student had asked me back to the
whole class to answer helped as it got students thinking and allowed for
me to answer a question that the majority of the students may have had.
It also helped with giving students a different perspective as the answer
would have been coming from one of their fellow peers.

Are you the only evaluator

of the students answers?

No their was another prac student their with me who would also go
around and answer any individual questions that the students had.

Overall Comments

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?

I believe it was effective, as the students all seemed focused and willing to
participate. I found that they responded well to the activities I gave them
and were willing to try any task I presented. However in the beginning of
the lesson though, they were a bit shy as to engage with the content but
as the lesson progressed I found the students became more comfortable
and willing attempt the activities set out for them. I also found it easy to
move the students on from one activity to another, as I found myself
feeling more and more confident as the lesson progressed. Although
some students found some activities a little confusing but I was able to
solve that problem by clarifying what needed to be done.

Did anything unexpected

happen?

There were some unexpected problems through out the lesson as I should
of thought through the process of putting students into groups, as some
groups had a large number of students and others had a higher majority
of males to females which left some students feeling left out when trying
to participate in the group activity. I solved this problem by making sure
that the students were include every one in the activity although I could
not change up the groups as it was already to far into the lesson.

Did you provide a variety

of activities?

My activities consisted of a whole class brainstorm on the topic of blogs

to help introduce the topic and slowly get the students thinking about it.
We then moved on to a small groups activity where each group had to
had to answer questions about a particular type of blog on a A3 sheet,
then swap every 5 minutes with another group and answer the same
questions for a different blog. The groups then had to come up with their
own blog, working together to use what they had just been learning to
form their blog as a group.

Were you satisfied with

your timing, particularly
for the end of the lesson?

I found that time was quite flexible as all the activities were completed at
a steady yet efficient rate to the point where the students were able to
finish each task in time to leave enough for the next. I was surprised
though I thought I wasnt going to have enough time for the concluding
activity that I had organized but yet we seemed to finish early allowing
the students to get the majority of their work done, allowing time for the
final activity before the bell rang for their next session.

Did you feel you were able

to change things if

As the lesson was 50 minutes long and was shared between myself and

needed?

another prac student, I felt that if needed I could change things such as
allowing more time for activities if needed for those students who
worked a little slower then others, I also found that if needed I could cut
activates short to makes time for those other activates that required more
time and had more content.

Were you aware of

classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
about your students?

I knew that they were quite lenient with some students as they had come
from troubled back grounds, also I was told that quite a few of the
students had anxiety issues. From what I gathered the teacher tried to
make her class room a safe environment for the students in order for
them to feel free to come in and do their work with out the fear of harsh
criticism. Although if student were disruptive to other students they were
quite quick to discipline these students and demonstrated that the
environment was for learning not distraction.

How did your mentor

teacher maintain a safe
learning environment?

She maintained a friendly an over all safe environment allowing the

students to speak to her in private or after class about any issues they
were having at home or with the schools work load, she also made an
effort to be involved socially with the students keeping track of their
hobbies there likes and dislikes in order to have a better understanding of
who they are as individuals and to relate them more.

What strategies did you

observe your mentor
teacher using to maintain
this?

She knew when to be serious and take control of the class, yet at other
times she would often be funny and joke with the students as if they
were her peers. I believe she did this to show the students that she was
comfortable with them expressing themselves but not to the point were it
disrupted or distracted others.

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
humor, introduction to
students and topic.

Which aspects of your

teaching style do you feel

I would acknowledge students even when they spoke to me outside of

class to let them know that I was interested in what they had to say and
to show that I wanted to hear their opinions on topics. I also tried to help
students around the class even when it was not my lesson as I wanted to
be involved in what they were learning and offer any support if I could.
I would make sure to maintain eye contact when they spoke to me to let
them know that I was listening and generally interested in what they
were saying. I would also praise the students for attempting to answer
any of my questions during my lesson whether they were right or wrong.

I found starting small and then moving on to more complex activates

seemed to keep the class interested and helped maintain their focus. I did

helped you maintain class

attention?
e.g. Variety of activities,
class or group discussion,
pace of lesson, interest at
class level.

this to avoid the students getting confused or lost at the start of the
lesson. I also used group activities as I found giving students a task in a
group help them work more efficiently as it allowed them to collaborate
with their peers which they enjoyed and also helped with them getting
their work done quicker progressing the lesson along. This also made it
easier for them to work by themselves as they had just come from a
group so taking what they had learnt and doing it individually made it a
lot easier for the majority of the students. It also made it a lot easier to
keep track of who needed help and who was struggling in certain areas.

Did the students know

what was expected of
them?

For the majority of the lesson the students seemed to have a good idea of
what was expected, there were certain areas though that that they got
confused or found it difficult to figure out what to do. An example was
when the students were writing about the topic lifestyle in the relation to
creating a blog and found it hard to come up with ideas that related to
this topic, this issue was solved with a general explanation of the topic,
the meaning of what it was and an example of it in everyday life. Once
the students understood their ideas flowed naturally and they were able
to come up with many examples that related to the topic.

Were you able to redirect

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

There were some students that when I asked them questions as to how
they were going with their work, would often be attention seeking in
their reply talking about something off topic or distracting other
students. My attitude towards addressing this was not to be aggressive
but calm and refocused them on topic by asking them questions like so
what do we think about this topic? or what ideas have you come up
with so far? to show them that its okay to express themselves but, that
their energy should mainly be focusing on getting the work done in order
to have something to show at the end of class.

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?

I knew what was happening the majority of the time because after the
beginning of the lesson I had split the class in to groups and they were
easier to maintain as all the student were in groups together so
addressing one student would address them all in that group. However
there were a few things that I did not noticed until towards the end of the
lesson, like one group was particularly larger then the others and another
only had one girl in it and she wasnt having much input due to the boys
having majority of the say. I fixed this though by talking to the group and
letting them know that it is important to have all the group members
input into the work being done together to make sure to get all points of
view.

Did you take any action

I would vary the tone in my voice when speaking to students, when
when you observed poor
speaking to them individually I would use a calm and soft tone, if the
behavior? Why? Why not?
class got to loud I would use a deeper voice to get the students attention
making sure not to be to loud or frighten them but enough to let them
know that I was trying to get their attention. On some occasions however
I tried not to take to much action when observing poor behavior as I had
heard that some of the students at the school were quite aggressive and
not knowing how most of them would react to discipline it was hard to
gage weather or not to say things at times, I found that as long as I was
calm, didnt raise my voice and polite to the students they would treat me
with respect and generally follow my instructions.

Did you use non-verbal

As this was High school the students were quite loud and vibrant and as
cues? e.g. Contact, pause,
I did not know the students that well I thought the use of non-verbal
gesture, movement toward
communication would be not as effective as verbal communication. I
student/s concerned.
observed my mentor teacher using no verbal cues though as sometimes
she would give students stern look to let them know that she was
displeased with their behavior and sometimes she would raise he finger
to tell a student to wait while another one was talking.

Overall Comments

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).

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching staff
you observed?

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?

The school is quite open and spacious, the are two levels one is
and open yard which has undercover areas and sections with
tables and chairs for students to sit and socialise during recess
and lunch time. Also in front of the yard is the library and in front
of that is a patch of grass for the students to play on. The
second floor however is a teaching section only, the students are
not allowed up there during recess and lunchtime and it is a
rectangle shaped walkway with classes along it and a staff room
for the teachers to eat lunch and socialise.
The school has a unique set up with classes on the second and
first floor yet it keeps the students away from the off duty
teachers during recess and lunch time allowing teachers time to
eat and get work done. The set up also allows for a full view on
the main yard below, for the teachers above so they can see
everything during recess, lunch and class time.
The teacher I observed was responsible for 3 year levels, year
9,8 and two groups of 7s she was the English teacher for all
classes and was responsible for keeping up with the different
topics they had to do across the year groups. She also acted like
a councillors to the students for if they were suffering problems
with stress at home or in the school environment. She also was
responsible for making the class room a safe and secure
environment for each year group that came into her class making
sure that she catered to their individual needs depending on
what class level they were, whether they were the higher class
group who work was of a higher standard or the lower class
group.

Government funding impacts resources. Paperwork is required

from teachers, which takes from teachers time that could be
spent on lesson plans and with students. Class sizes, which in
turn affects the amount of one on one time with each student.
Behaviour management policies effect how a class is run and
managed.

What did you observe non-teaching staff doing to

support teaching and learning in the school?

I observed one on the office ladies who was

responsible for making sure that all the teachers
got their mail in their pigeon holes, she was also of
in charge of taking student and parent enquires and
maintaining and organised front office so that she
could access any files if needed.

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

My mentor teacher had quite a few different classes one year 7

class was of a higher learning level then that of the other year 7
class, the diversity between these two was interesting to
observe. Both classes had the same assignments, to write their
own poems and analyse them telling us the techniques and
features they used to put them together. The higher year 7 level
had a great deal of anxiety amongst their students as they had
higher expectations when it came to their assignments. The
teacher would usually talk to students as a group before they
presented telling them that this class is a safe environment and
that there is no judgement when presenting work. The students
work was quite high standard and well presented in this class
with detailed explanations and poems ranging in diversity.
Where as in the other year 7s class the difference was quite
clear as some students didnt bother to present their work at all
and only one student stood in front of the class when reading
her work the others read from their seats. I believe the
difference with this class was the teacher was happy as long as
they tried or attempted the task presented before them, as she
tried to make it as comfortable as possible for the students in
the lower level or year 7 to present. She also seemed to have
higher patience when it came to this group as she new that a lot
of them were reluctant to do the work but often persisted and
tried her best to motivate them often succeeding at this as well
which was quite inspiring to see.

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

No unfortunately I did not observe any connecting with the

school to the broader community I did however learn that the
school held awareness talks about drugs to which both students
and parents could attend, also the school at the time was
holding a spelling bee which they would update the students
and staff about over the P.A system announcing the finalist and
keeping us up to date with the competition. I also did not get to
see this but I am sure parents came in support of their children.

What do you think the function of

school is?

I found the function of this school was to keep the student

focused on their work and to motivate them to keep challenging
themselves in and out of the classroom. I also found that this
school promoted a lot of self care in terms of giving the students
someone to speak to if they were facing issues outside of the
school as they were a big supporter of are you okay day. I
believe that the school message was for the students to try their
best at any tasks they took on but to always be aware of their
mental health and to not push themselves to hard and to always
ask for help if needed.