| Date: | 14th March 2016 |
| Group or individual with whom I worked: | Year 7 football, observation lesson, 6th form HSL |
BEFORE my placement …
| What am I aiming to achieve from my placement today? What do I need to be mindful of? What issues/questions need to be addressed to ensure I achieve my aim? Do I need to be aware of particular theories, or have particular skills? Have I thought about all of the ‘what ifs’? |
| Today I would be continuing the scheme of work for the year7 football group, as well as the support role within the HSL 6th form lesson. However today our placement leader organised an opportunity for my placement partner and myself to observe an English lesson, a completely different learning environment. I am hoping to achieve a list of differences and similarities between the two different subjects and to see how feedback is used within school in two different environments.
Today I am going to be looking for, and including adaptation within my lesson. |
DURING my placement …
| What did I notice happening around me today? What was I thinking and feeling? How was I involved? Did I do anything to intervene and change the situation that I found myself in e.g. how I conveyed a point or whether I decided not to do something I had planned to do? Did my reflections at the time change the session I had planned or my actions? |
| During my first lesson I found myself delivering a large episode of the lesson, the lesson plan was for students to undertake a shooting drill, however due to the high success levels we managed to get through the whole of the plan. When I was explaining how to shoot in football, I decided to use a student who had progressed within my lessons. This was a change I made on the spot but it proved effective.
During the English lesson I was paired with another senior member of staff, one of similar stature within the school as the PE teacher I was working alongside. I decided to just sit and observe the lesson taking notes of the use of feedback as well as similarities and differences between the two. Finally within the HSLA lesson, the students were receiving feedback from their successful tag rugby tournament that they led. |
AFTER my placement … (based on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle)
| Describe the activities you undertook whilst on placement today. Set the context, what you did and what happened. |
| Within the first lesson, I met the students on the playground as normal. After the main teacher led the warm up I underwent a shooting drill session with the students. The students were excited to be moving on to the “good bit” of football. I found that their application levels were higher as they were more interested in the topic. I focused heavily on giving feedback to the students today. The feedback I gave was mainly reinforcing the teaching points, however on successful shots I gave praise, explaining why the shot was successful. For example: you scored in the bottom corner because your head was over the ball, and you used the inside of your foot for guidance.
Within the second lesson, my placement partner and I watched how feedback was implemented within an English lesson. Due to the nature of the lesson the English lesson involved more questions and answers therefore feedback was more frequent. I found that students took feedback less to heart within English then in PE. Students could get something wrong in English and not seem as effected by it in comparison in PE if students are given constructive criticism then their reactions may be more sensitive. Finally within the HSLA lesson, the 6th form students were reviewing how they felt the day went, what went well and even better if. The students then filled in a work sheet about the day. The feedback was mainly positive and therefore resulted in a good atmosphere.
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| Document how you felt through-out your placement today. Were you anxious, confident, pleased or disappointed? |
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Throughout the day as a whole I was pleased with what I found. I was confident again in the delivery of football as I have strong knowledge of the subject. I was however quite anxious to enter an English lesson as I had not been in one since secondary school. As the English lesson underwent I began to feel more and more confident within the lesson and gained valuable experience.
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| Evaluate today’s placement activity. What went well, what went badly, what would you have done differently? |
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Again I believe the football lesson as a whole went well, students seemed to take on board the teaching points I was trying to implement in them. The students responded well to the feedback I gave them and even managed to take some feedback and improve because of it.
If given the opportunity, I would like to have met the English teacher before hand and been able to have a clearer idea of what the students were supposed to be doing within the lesson, where the students are during their scheme of work and what the class was like normally.
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| Take a deeper, analytical and critical approach to today’s experiences. Can you make connections or apply academic theory or current policy to understand why today’s activities went well or went badly. |
| Teacher standard 6, making accurate and produce use of assessment, is a key indication of why feedback is so important. Department of Education, (2013) Assessment is primarily concerned with providing guidance and feedback to the learner Freeman and Lewis, (1998). The teacher needs to give the correct feedback they required. This is very important to the pupil as when the feedback, positive or negative, is personalized then they feel as if they are actually being watched and that would continue to drive them forward. However, the feedback needs to be relevant according to Lou Veal (2011) who claims that to use feedback effectively, teachers must use the correct feedback, at the correct time. I believe that the feedback within the lessons I worked in was individual and therefore, students managed to take something from the feedback. Weeden et al, (2002) claims that instructions touch the mind whilst assessment, touches the heart, I believe this is why correct feedback is so important to students, as teachers are actively telling them what they are good and what they are bad at. I feel as if this can be linked to why students react more sensitively in PE if given negative feedback because they physically cannot do what you’re asking, rather than they did not understand a question.
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| Draw conclusions. What have you learnt from today’s activities and your reflections? |
| From today, I think I have learnt that feedback is a universal tool for teachers to use, which can fit into different lessons in different situations but is equally effective. I also feel as if I have learnt that feedback is essential to pupil progression.
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| Action plan. How will you apply what you have learnt from today’s activities to the rest of your placement and your future professional and personal development? Do you need to undertake further research or reading? Are there courses that you need to undertake to fill a skills gap? |
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I feel as if I could benefit from further research of how and when to use feedback. Whist I managed to use feedback within my lessons, I believe that due to the potential benefits of feedback that continued research and practice can help promote further pupil progress.
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| Have any questions arisen today that I need to discuss with my Placement Supervisor or University Placement Tutor (UPT)? |
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How is feedback best used? During a lesson, after or both? And can you give too much feedback?
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RETURNING to my reflections …
| It is often useful to return to your reflections after a period of time. Revisit the experiences you had; think about how you felt (positive and negative feelings) and re-evaluate your experiences. Do you feel differently about the experience now time has passed have your feelings changed in light of the experience or do you now view the experience in a different light? |
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I feel that drawing back on my reflection the use of feedback is crucial to aid learning, and therefore by watching two different teachers, in different environments I feel as if I managed to see different sides of feedback.
I feel as if my work with the year 7 football class has gone very well and they seem to have improved significantly since I first took the warm up in the first lesson.
I believe that by observing feedback, I managed to compare it to the manner in which I deliver it to students further in my career.
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