OK, slightly amusing story here. (In a way).
Preperation for Ofsted is involving senior teachers being watched and watching so that we know how to evaluate a lesson in the way that Ofsted evaluate lessons. I had one observation of a lesson today.
From the word go I'll put my hands up and say that it wasn't my best lesson. I felt that it fell into the (will be seriously reconsidering that one) group. They didn't, they felt it was satisfactory. However it was the feedback that was interesting.
Basic summary was that the teaching objectives were too vague, and that the work set was too complicated. So basically a simplification of it all. And I totally agree.
What makes it all interesting to me is that I purposefully chose to do a lesson that was right out of the the governments Key Stage 3 Strategy for ICT, which provides all the resources, even the lesson plans. I did the lesson strictly to that, and got that feedback.
For ages I've been arguing that the Strategy (clearly written by people who have no idea what young children would interested in) is expecting far too much in what it sets out to achieve. I also couldn't help but laugh at the fact that the 'best' the government could get to work on this stuff could only produce vague lesson objectives according to the Ofsted chap. I'll be doing my own lesson next time and I'll be interested to see what feedback comes from that. I suspect it will be more in line with what the inspector would be looking for.
So I am looking forward to the next time I get the local lea person in to let them know what Ofsted thought of the governments much praised strategy.
Relatively early night tonight as I have a tennis tournament match tomorrow.
Chris
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
It's amazing who you meet
OK, so it's the day after the open evening and it's a quiet day at school. Inset for one and a relaxed atmosphere with a number of staff going out to visit students on work experience placement to check that everything is going ok.
So, I do what needs to be done during the morning and lunchtime annd off I go to the first work experince placement.
Anyway, I arrive and have a chat with the kids to make sure that everything is going well. Finish chatting with them and then the receptionist goes to get one of the managers that they have been working with.
I'm not sure who was more surprised when the manager turns up and it happens to be and old friend who I haven't seen for over 5 years. Still it made it a nice interview and I know that I can trust her with what's been happening and some requests in terms of helping the kids get the most out of the placement. Was also good to catch up on what we'd been doing and how we came to be chatting to each other today.
Always think it's nice (generally) to bump into old friends. Did it on here the other day, so it serves some purpose.
Even bumped into someone I knew at the second placement visit, though I seem them quite regularly anyway, so wasn't quite the same.
Anyway, thats all really for now. Need to go and play/set up the new PDA that was delivered today (yes I'm a geek).
So, I do what needs to be done during the morning and lunchtime annd off I go to the first work experince placement.
Anyway, I arrive and have a chat with the kids to make sure that everything is going well. Finish chatting with them and then the receptionist goes to get one of the managers that they have been working with.
I'm not sure who was more surprised when the manager turns up and it happens to be and old friend who I haven't seen for over 5 years. Still it made it a nice interview and I know that I can trust her with what's been happening and some requests in terms of helping the kids get the most out of the placement. Was also good to catch up on what we'd been doing and how we came to be chatting to each other today.
Always think it's nice (generally) to bump into old friends. Did it on here the other day, so it serves some purpose.
Even bumped into someone I knew at the second placement visit, though I seem them quite regularly anyway, so wasn't quite the same.
Anyway, thats all really for now. Need to go and play/set up the new PDA that was delivered today (yes I'm a geek).
What no questions?
Well despite what I thought might happen, the parents evening was a total success (just). The technology was being a real pain and refusing to work properly. This would obviously be a bit of a problem as the IT room is very boring if it's just tables and chairs. Thankfully though the webcam came back on-line just in time for the first parents to walk through the classroom door. I was quite surprised that it was such a hit with the little ones, though I', not sure I needed to see as much dentestry as I did in the end.
It's frightening to think that within a month of the new school year, we've already had the most important day in the school's callender. I have to say though, that it was the busiest I've known it (though that could have been parents hanging around the ICT room longer).
Feet are currently killing me as I've been on them for the majority of 13 hours non-stop. Hoping that they will stop hurting by tomorrow.
Quite tired so will keep it short and sweet. Am tempted to cheat a little and copy in some posts on other blogs that I'd had to keep some sort of consistency.
Anyway, off to bed now.
Catch people later
Chris
It's frightening to think that within a month of the new school year, we've already had the most important day in the school's callender. I have to say though, that it was the busiest I've known it (though that could have been parents hanging around the ICT room longer).
Feet are currently killing me as I've been on them for the majority of 13 hours non-stop. Hoping that they will stop hurting by tomorrow.
Quite tired so will keep it short and sweet. Am tempted to cheat a little and copy in some posts on other blogs that I'd had to keep some sort of consistency.
Anyway, off to bed now.
Catch people later
Chris
Days where you make a difference
Well it's definately been a day with a difference.
At the start of it, all I was really thinking about was getting the display work underway for the school's open evening tomorrow (I'll have more to say about that later if I remember). By lunchtime, everything had changed and it was one of those days where being a teacher was the smaller part of the job. Obviously I can't go into details about what was happening as it would be both unfair to the student concerned and professionally improper to do so. All I'll say is that I needed to get out and do something (ended up swimming) after school just to make sure that I was focused away from school. My only other comment is that it was one of those days where you can see that you've made a difference in someones life and hopefully made a situation better. It's probably the more rewarding part of teaching away from the academic side of school. The student is going to have a tough time, but hopefully some of what has been said will help them get through it.
So, tomorrow, Open Evening. For those who haven't been to a school open evening, now-a-days they are basically sales pitches to parents, that basically determine whether teachers have jobs the following year etc. There's a lot of work in the displays etc and I think that the majority of it is wasted on most of the parents. To be fair, the majority are OK and have a look around and a few ask questions, and a few go over memories of their time in the school. However there are also the questions that make you think twice. I'll try to remember to post any good ones I get. Previous hightlights though include the parent who wanted to know why, on my computer timeline, I didn't have the Lyon Tea Shop computer. (Apparently had it been taken up it would have been better than anything today) I wanted to point out the fact that it wasn't so really didn't deserve to. Biting of the tongue reuired, as it was with the parent who wanted to know why the school didn't have an automatic telephony system built into the computers for the kids to use. (Like we don't have enough fun trying to get them off the mobiles as it is).
Anyway, that's all for now. My eyes are killing me from the chlorine in the swimming pool (I must make sure I find my goggles for next time), and it will be far better if I closed them (and I'm not sure that my touch typing is so reliable as to be able to do that.
Have a good day all of you and I'll write again soon.
Chris
At the start of it, all I was really thinking about was getting the display work underway for the school's open evening tomorrow (I'll have more to say about that later if I remember). By lunchtime, everything had changed and it was one of those days where being a teacher was the smaller part of the job. Obviously I can't go into details about what was happening as it would be both unfair to the student concerned and professionally improper to do so. All I'll say is that I needed to get out and do something (ended up swimming) after school just to make sure that I was focused away from school. My only other comment is that it was one of those days where you can see that you've made a difference in someones life and hopefully made a situation better. It's probably the more rewarding part of teaching away from the academic side of school. The student is going to have a tough time, but hopefully some of what has been said will help them get through it.
So, tomorrow, Open Evening. For those who haven't been to a school open evening, now-a-days they are basically sales pitches to parents, that basically determine whether teachers have jobs the following year etc. There's a lot of work in the displays etc and I think that the majority of it is wasted on most of the parents. To be fair, the majority are OK and have a look around and a few ask questions, and a few go over memories of their time in the school. However there are also the questions that make you think twice. I'll try to remember to post any good ones I get. Previous hightlights though include the parent who wanted to know why, on my computer timeline, I didn't have the Lyon Tea Shop computer. (Apparently had it been taken up it would have been better than anything today) I wanted to point out the fact that it wasn't so really didn't deserve to. Biting of the tongue reuired, as it was with the parent who wanted to know why the school didn't have an automatic telephony system built into the computers for the kids to use. (Like we don't have enough fun trying to get them off the mobiles as it is).
Anyway, that's all for now. My eyes are killing me from the chlorine in the swimming pool (I must make sure I find my goggles for next time), and it will be far better if I closed them (and I'm not sure that my touch typing is so reliable as to be able to do that.
Have a good day all of you and I'll write again soon.
Chris
Late nights
OK, so a fair bit of time between blogs, but then you should check how long it's been since I posted on my blog site!
I now seem to be suffering more late nights, but this time, not at my own deliberate making. Insomnia being the problem in a nutshell (as you can probably guess from the time that this is being posted). It's been going on for about 2 weeks now and I'm not entirely sure why. There isn't anything at work that is particularly bothering me, and I don't think that there's anything socially either. (I don't think that poor tennis is on my mind that much!!!)
So I'm left to wonder what the cause of it is. A friend has said that its something most of us go through at various times in our lives (the sleeping aids aren't helping much). Could it be that having spent many nights up watching DVDs or reading books late into the night has turned me into a creature who now can't sleep when he wants to? I'll not be happy if that's the case.
Anyhow, it's now 2 and I'd like to try to get some sleep before a long day at school tomorrow, preparing for another long day (open evening) on the Tuesday.
Hopefully won't wait as long for the next blog.
I now seem to be suffering more late nights, but this time, not at my own deliberate making. Insomnia being the problem in a nutshell (as you can probably guess from the time that this is being posted). It's been going on for about 2 weeks now and I'm not entirely sure why. There isn't anything at work that is particularly bothering me, and I don't think that there's anything socially either. (I don't think that poor tennis is on my mind that much!!!)
So I'm left to wonder what the cause of it is. A friend has said that its something most of us go through at various times in our lives (the sleeping aids aren't helping much). Could it be that having spent many nights up watching DVDs or reading books late into the night has turned me into a creature who now can't sleep when he wants to? I'll not be happy if that's the case.
Anyhow, it's now 2 and I'd like to try to get some sleep before a long day at school tomorrow, preparing for another long day (open evening) on the Tuesday.
Hopefully won't wait as long for the next blog.
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