What does the trainee do in advance of the lesson? Are they proactive? For example, do they want to set the tables up differently? This point is often the one that hasn’t been considered by the trainees. Don’t be a mimic, (at least not yet!). It’s important that a trainee observes good practise but it is equally important that they put their own personality into their lessons. Sometimes you need to help remove the fear of failure. Once a trainee has started to establish themselves, this is the perfect environment in to take a risk. They are supported by the network of people involved with their training. Sometimes a gamble will fall flat but at least give it a go. It is also stressing the power of demonstrations to trainees. Encourage them to go and see other teachers. Make suggestions of colleagues worth observing because they can display the area a trainee has raised. Occasionally you might need to be a go between or mediator. In the rare event this happens being professional and sensitive is the easiest way forward. In the early days of mentoring don’t forget to ask the ITEC for help if you are worried. What is evidence? How do you find it? In the earlier sessions these questions may form the spine of your discussion as trainees can find it difficult to answer them. A useful idea to help make the SCs constructive is to finish each one with a “next week the theme will be...” approach. The trainee could then look to gather evidence for this theme or allow it to form the basis of a couple of agendas to be presented to you for the next conference. The table below lists suggestions of possible themes: Differentiation Questioning for progress Assessment Showing / proving progress Assessment for Learning Engaged learning Behaviour for Learning Putting pupils into groups Welcoming a class into the room Evaluating classes at the start of a placement Starting a lesson / using hooks Identifying abilities within a Learning objectives Encouraging progress The trainees will have a list of suggested agenda foci in the handbook.
‘The children were challenged and enjoyed the lesson’. ‘Good challenging task and well explained. class on task’. ‘Activities were suitably challenging for each group’. ‘HA children well challenged and LA children well supported’. ‘Modelled activity to Introduced Elder class to French exchange student to help increase the children’s cultural awareness: ‘Charlene gave a presentation to inspire children about Paris. Looked at Shute’s Safeguarding Policy. See PST comments on French lesson observation form 8/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on Science lesson observation form 10/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on literacy lesson observation form 14/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on maths lesson observation form 23/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on French lesson observation form 07/02/14 in IDP. See PST comments on French lesson observation form 04/03/14 in IDP. See teaching file – Placement School Information/Policies section. S2 ‘Make task into a competition to promote good progress’. ‘Good recap on previous learning’. ‘Perfect L/O and well explained’. ‘Good praise for correct answers’. ‘Used talk partners to stimulate Displayed L/O’. ‘Got the children really interested by making the lesson fun and interactive’. ‘Discussion of L/O’. Collected targets for pupils in Elder class for Science, speaking and listening, maths and reading. See PST comments on Science lesson observation form 10/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on: literacy lesson observation form 14/1/14, literacy lesson observation form 16/1/14, maths lesson observation form 22/1/14, French lesson observation form 06/02/14, Science lesson observation form 12/02/14, Maths lesson observation form 28/02/14, French lesson observation form 07/02/14 in IDP. See PST comments on maths lesson observation form 23/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on Literacy lesson observation form 30/1/14 in IDP. See PST comments on Literacy lesson observation form 13/02/14 in IDP. See PST comments on French lesson observation form 26/02/14 in IDP. See PST comments on French lesson observation form 04/03/14 in IDP. See teaching file – Placement School Information/Policies section in IDP.