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  • Writer's picturelucya1983

Day 1 of focused observations...

Today began with me observing the year 1 group I will be tracking this week, in one of their 'traditional' maths lessons. It was a practical weighing task, involving predictions and recording actual results - firstly as a group and then independently. As this is the first time I have observed this group in a focused situation, I was keen to look at their engagement levels, in addition to if and to what extent they were able to be extended in their learning, during class time. I used the Leuven scale to establish their engagement levels during the task.


Here is a link to the version of the scale I have chosen to use: https://scilt.org.uk/Portals/24/Library/resources/hmi/Leuven_Scale.pdf


I chose this one, as it is quite thorough in its wording, which proves to be a super helpful base from which to highlight elements that children display during lessons.


The Results.


Most were securely working within one specific level descriptor, however, there were occasions where a child would show signs of more than one - usually in this case due to outside influences or distractions. An example of one of my observations is below:



From this initial observation, I predict that, when the child is able to watch the input content at home - without outside distractions and pressures - she should hopefully be more prepared and able to enter into the task with a higher level of engagement. Due to the lack of engagement and concentration, the focus going forward will be on the level of engagement and ability to complete the specified task with minimal distraction and independently, rather than focus being on her ability to be extended - However, this will still be evaluated, to ensure paroty with the other members of the focused group. It will be super interesting to see her results during the 'flipped' lessons later in the week :)


Those children whom were able to be extended we done so in terms of deeper questioning, rather than extension tasks to move their learning on a step. However, the lesson tomorrow has embedded 'chilli challenges' from which the learners can choose how far they would like to challenge themselves - all part of being a High Performance Learner. It will be very interesting to see how far they actually choose to extend themselves - given their apparent eagerness to do so, when questioned in their interviews last week! Watch this space for their progress tomorrow...


Moving staff-digital engagement forward...


As I mentioned in my blog last week, following discussions with the leadership team, I will be leading a staff meeting to encourage staff to engage in their own #digitalCPD and to further embed #digitallearning into their lessons going forward. The school has a robust vision for taking #digitallearning forward and has recently appointed a new #digitalleader, however, they admit that work needs to be done towards #digitalcompetency being inherent and streamline throughout the school. Following a survey which I sent to staff ahead of my arrival and discussions with staff on both campuses, it was decided that the staff meeting would be aimed at covering the following topics:


1) The importance of being an Apple Teacher and the corresponding benefits for

T&L.


2) The benefits of utilising Twitter as a CPD and networking tool.

3) The #flippedlearning style of pedagogy and how it can impact the classroom - including informal training on #Edpuzzle, for those wishing to attempt the approach.



The meeting will be held on both sites next week, as a 'drop-in' session. There is already quite a buzz around school about the opportunity to get an insight into how #digitallearning is being embedded in UK schools and to ask any questions that we may be able to help with. As we are one of the first cohorts of #Welsh #student-teachers to have practised embedding #digitalcompetency as a mandatory cross-curricular skill within lesson plans, I am sure that we may be of some assistance. Well, I hope so!!



The #flippedlearning project that I am working on in year 1 at the school, would link in with the Collaborative Participants and Engaged Learners strands of the DLP @DohaCollege - as it involves children collaboratively working with their teacher to be more prepared for lessons and for formative assessment inherent within the 'flipped' activities to inform how their teachers will best support their individual needs when they arrive to class for the given lesson. The aim of the project is also, as aforementioned, to increase engagement levels in class - as the learners will already have a basic understanding of the content ahead of time. Thus, leaving room for the teacher to use pre-prepared extension tasks or higher -order questioning to either extend of deepen their knowledge of the topic.


So... this is the progress so far! I provided selected children's parents with their logins for #Edpuzzle and also instructions today, to help guide them through how to 'help without doing' for their children. I am hoping to see some activity to signal that they are engaging with the content perhaps tonight or tomorrow.... so I will keep you posted!!!


Sorry for the in-depth waffle, but reflection is key for me to not lose track of what is becoming a super interesting journey!!


Thanks for reading :)













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