Well, actually, this is my first REAL reflection on being in a school, since yesterday was my first day in a real classroom! Yes, my “first reflection” was based on a video, since I sadly didn’t yet have a school. But, no more!!
The thing that stood out to me the most on my visit was just how unbelievably well behaved the girls were. In class the other day at uni we sat through three presentations in a row that reflected on the question “how will I control my students?” One of these in particular drew on a really difficult class that they had witnessed, and the general vibe I have been getting from uni is that discipline is usually a major part of the classroom.
Not so at this school! The girls were angelic. Of course every now and again a teacher might need to get the attention of a student, or call the class back on task after they’ve had a brief relaxed moment whilst papers were being handed around, but in general they were extremely quiet at the called-for times, and readily compliant when asked to pay attention. This allowed the teachers to really just get on with the job of teaching, with lessons moving along quite smoothly.
And this certainly was not because the teachers were in any way overly strict, in an over-bearing, authoritarian kind of way. They were not like that at all. Rather, I think the source of their good behaviour is to be located in the school’s philosophy. Put simply, this is that parents are the primary educators of their children, and the school supports them in this, with academics playing a secondary (although nonetheless important) role, instead placing the formation of good character in the number one priority position. Thus, students have a thorough understanding of the relationship of mutual respect that ought to exist between teachers and students, as well as a grounding in the strength of character necessary to foster such a relationship. In this way, paradoxically, by placing character and academic success in their proper order, a learning environment is created that is ideal for giving students the best chance to succeed academically. (Go here for an extremely interesting article on character and education.)
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that it was largely without the use of technology. The only use of ICT in the classroom was period 4, in which I observed a History lesson on maps. A projector was used to show the various maps being analysed by students, followed by a video. Students also each had their own surfaces, a privilege given only to Year 10 in this school. (Theyare the highest grade.) I will certainly comment on this more another time, since technology is one of my particular interests, and the school is in the process of getting more smartboards put in.
National Professional Standard 4: Focus 4.2.2- Establish and maintain orderly and workable routines to create an environment where student time is spent on learning tasks, was brought to the fore in the Year 8 Mathematics class I observed. A “quick quiz” was held in the first 15 or so minutes. I later learned from the teacher that she does these at the start of every lesson. They consist of about five questions drawn from the previous lesson’s content, with the last one being aimed at those thinking about doing 5.3 level Maths in Years 9 and 10. They were given time to attempt these individually, before going through them as a class, finally drawing a dot plot of how the class went. This established routine was an effective mechanism for settling the girls down right from the start of the lesson, setting the tone for focused work. It had a number of other benefits, such as revising what was covered last lesson, so that today’s follows on seamlessly. Futhermore, it is a good way for the teacher to consistently be reviewing where the girls are at in their understanding. This practice is therefore also an instance of National Professional Standard 5: Focus 5.1.3– Develop and apply a comprehensive range of assessment strategies to diagnose learning needs, comply with curriculum requirements and support colleagues to evaluate the effectiveness of their approaches to assessment. Different learning needs had evidently been identified, since when questions were given later in the lesson from the textbook, a different set were given to a particular student, who apparently struggles a bit with maths.
Hopefully the girls don’t often feel like this…
Finally, I would like to briefly comment on the use of questioning by teachers throughout the day. Many were at the level of Knoweldge or Comprehension, or perhaps Application, but the sheer volume certainly struck me. How questions are used will be something I will continue to be paying close attention to.
Fully Integrated 