Ideas for observation
Observation focus: explicit teaching
Possible focus during the observation:
- Record how much time is spent on explicit teaching in the lesson
- Which of the following techniques does the teacher use during explicit teaching?
- Examples – what were they?
- Explanations – was this all teacher exposition or did the teacher use the pupils to develop explanations?
- Modelling – what did the teacher model? Were these prepared in advance or in response to something which happened?
- What was the impact on pupil learning from explicit teaching?
Observation focus: supporting pupils to secure knowledge
Possible focus during the observation:
- Did the teacher move from foundational knowledge to more difficult concepts?
- How did they assess whether pupils had secured the foundational knowledge?
- Did all pupils secure the foundational knowledge at the same rate? If not, how did the teacher deal with this?
Observation focus: literacy observation
Possible focus during the observation:
- How did the teacher deal with tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary?
- How did the teacher introduce new vocabulary?
- Did the teacher do anything specific to address literacy issues in the class?
Observation focus: motivating pupils
Possible focus during the observation:
- How did the teacher motivate pupils using their subject knowledge?
- How did the teacher connect and build on prior knowledge?
- How did the level of the work motivate pupils?
- Did pupils experience success in the lesson? How was this acknowledged?
Observation focus: addressing misconceptions
Possible focus during the observation:
- What misconceptions did the teacher anticipate?
- How did they deal with them?
- Were there any misconceptions identified during the lesson which weren’t anticipated?
- How were these dealt with?
Observation focus: sequencing
Possible focus during the observation:
- Is it clear how this lesson fits into a bigger sequence of learning?
- How is this made clear to the pupils during the lesson?
- How does the teacher link the content of this lesson to the big picture of this particular scheme of work?
- How does the teacher link the content of this lesson to last lesson? What about to their future lessons?
For each observation, write down:
- who you observed
- what happened
- what you have learned from these lesson observations
- what ideas you will carry on using or try out in your practice