1 Murdoch University

Observation Sheet Questioning

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and
place in your ePortfolio)

Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Knowledge: 1. Know students and how they learn
Professional Practice: 2. Plan and implement effective teaching and learning

Question Type


Do you feel your questions
were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?
The year 11 class that I was fortunate enough to teach was incredibly
intelligent and was able to answer my questions in-depth. I was
impressed by their knowledge and inferences on the ww2 posters and
the subject of propaganda. Their knowledge far outweighed mine.

Did you use a variety of
question types?
During my lessons I used mostly comprehension (Who is the target
audience? What is the message of this poster?) And Evaluative (What
purpose did the poster serve for the war effort during the First World
War? What is the effect of this poster? What do you think were the
creators motives for making this poster? What kinds of emotions are
conveyed by the poster? What are the beliefs and values of the
audience?) Questioning.


What balance were there
between the various
questions types?
Mostly the questions that I asked provoked thinking in the students
by using questioning that makes judgments about the value of ideas,
understanding meaning and interpreting the text.

Consider both why and
when you made use of the
different question types?
I asked a new question when the students had exhausted sharing
ideas about the question prior. Shaping the questions to where the
conversation topics was heading.
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Distributing and Directing Questions


Did you recognise any
pattern in the distribution of
your questions amongst the
students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?
No, this was a small group of students who were engaging with the
text and answering questions where necessary. It was the last lesson
of the day and it was Friday so they ideas werent coming very fast;
however a flow of conversation persisted between the students
without the need to pattern my questioning.

How have you directed
questions to the group?
My questions were mainly directed to the whole group. After some
time I realized that only some students were answering questions so I
used that knowledge to ask other what their thoughts were. Did they
agree or disagree with their peers response.

Have you used wait time?
Nervousness again presented me with the inability to use wait time.

Did you make eye contact
with the group as you
directed your questions?
This is an area I could have done better in with the high school
students. Because they had a tendency not to make eye contact, I
found I was less inclined to look at them when they spoke, instead
looking at the image on the screen especially when they were talking.

Reactions to Students Responses


How do you deal with
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?
I responded to correct responses with encouragement and
enthusiasm asking for input from other for more elaboration or
debate on the topic.

How do you deal with
incorrect responses? How
do you deal with students
who stumble and grope for
an answer?
As the students had more knowledge than me on the topic, if there
were incorrect answers, I didnt pick up on them. For those that were
stumbling to come up with an answer to a question I allowed them
the thinking time before moving onto anyone else. It isnt so cut and
dry in an English classroom where a text is open to each persons own
interpretation.






3 Murdoch University



Do you keep eye contact
with the students until they
have completed an answer?
Do you cut students off and
go onto the next point
before they have finished
responding?
This is an area I could have done better in with the high school
students. Because they had a tendency not to make eye contact, I
found I was less inclined to look at them when they spoke, instead
looking at the image on the screen especially when they were talking.

I didnt move onto a new question until I felt we had exhausted the
question and there was no more need for comment.

What use do you make of
the students responses to
develop the teaching point?
Have you redirected any
questions in order to add to
an initial response?
Besides using questions like does anyone have anything else to add
the topic and the students knowledge on the topic verse my own,
meant that I was ill-equipped to really extend on their thinking and
their current knowledge.

Are you the only evaluator
of the students answers?
No, the students themselves qualified or challenged each other on
their thinking.


Overall Comments
4 Murdoch University



Observation Sheet Management

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and
place in your e portfolio)


Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice:
1. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
2. Planning for Effective Management


Was your lesson plan
effective for managing the
class?

E.g. How did the students
react to your lesson overall
and to your planned
activities?

Did anything unexpected
happen?

Did you provide a variety of
activities?

Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
the end of the lesson?

Did you feel you were able
to change things if needed?
No, for a 50 minute lesson I did not have enough content or
knowledge to really explore the topic and text with the students.

The students diligently worked through their task as it was an
assessment piece which was a motivation to keep the students on
task.

There was no need to provide a variety of activities, however as they
had to evaluate 3 different texts we had the opportunity to discuss
with each of the students on a one to one basis as they worked
through on their own or in their small groups.

Timing wise, the lesson was on schedule, being Friday afternoon the
students were ready to go five minutes before the bell range and
attention waned by the end.

Yes, at one stage my partner felt that I was floundering and he
stepped in to offer a different type of questioning and took the ideas
of the students on another level. He chose a perfect time to do this
and I was more than happy to have the additional assistance.

Was your organisation of
materials and resources
efficient and effective?

E.g. Did you and the
students have everything
you needed?
Yes, the students hand outs were photocopied before the lesson and
stapled together so they were not lost.
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Did you plan how and when
you would distribute and
collect materials?
No, but there was a mental note as to when to do this. I individually
handed out the worksheets while reading out the assessment
question.

Were you aware of
classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
About your students?
Yes, a copy of the school discipline policy was printed and available to
me. Majority of the children conformed to the social norm of the
classroom. Within this context of highs school I knew very little of the
students as our role as student teacher was incredibly different in the
highs school context than it was in the primary context.


Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom


How did you demonstrate to
the students that you valued
them, and enjoyed
l ear ni ng?

e.g. Tone of voice, facial
expression, sense of
humor, introduction to
Students and topic.
Fist think I attempted to do was to learn the names of the students in
the year 11 English class so that I was able to address them by name.
This was harder to learn as I spent less time with them than the
primary class. I was enthusiastic when I introduced the topic, and
used humor when appropriate to form a relationship with the
students. I offered positive feedback on assessment tasks and
encouragement on efforts to contribute

Which aspects of your
teaching style do you feel
helped you maintain class
attention?

e.g. Variety of activities,
class or group discussion,
pace of lesson, interest at
Class level.
In my class lesson my style was similar to that of a facilitator. I
created a situation for the students to practice what they are
learning. My lessons focused on group learning as opposed to
individual learning. I believe collaboration with students and peer
assisted scaffolding is as important as figuring it out for themselves.
Hints for success are given where necessary. This was the same for
my primary placement.

Did the students know what
was expected of them?
Yes, The students were given an assessment criteria sheet to assist
them with their essays. At the year 11 stage it is expected that they
use this and ask questions if they did not understand anything.

Were you able to redirect
energies of attention
seeking students? Did the
students have enough
To do?
There was no attention seeking behavior within the group. The lesson
did seem to drag on a little, possibly because it was the end of day.





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Dealing with Minor Misbehavior


Were you aware of what
was happening in all parts
of the classroom? Did you
know what each student
was doing?
For the most part, I used proximity to walk around the group to assist
them in asking questions and to provoke their thinking. Mostly the
students discussed with each other and asked questions to quantify
their answers.

Did you take any action
when you observed poor
behavior? Why? Why
not?
No poor behavior was noticed in the class that I took. I was not
invited to assist in any behavior management in any other class.

Did you use non-verbal
cues? E.g. Contact, pause,
gesture, movement toward
student/s concerned.
There was no need, as the students behavior in this class was
impeccable. In the science class I observed a group of students that
were disruptive, however any attempt at verbal recommendations
were ignored as were nonverbal cues.




Overall Comment
7 Murdoch University



Schools as text looking at the whole school

Describe the school in terms of
its demographics, appearance
and resources (be general here
and do not name the school).
This is the same response as the primary observations. In this
locality, over half the demographic are Australian with English
and New Zealand influences also. 30 percent is non-religious
and the remainder is split between Christian and catholic
denominations. As per the 2011 census 70% of the population
is blue collar workers and the remainder is classified as
professionals and management. The school itself has a
population of 1500 which will increase to 2000 next year. There
is a higher proportion of boys to girls as there is a specialist
football program running at the school.
What were the roles and
responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?
The main teacher was responsible for overseeing the intern
and maintains the duty of care. The intern was responsible for
all the lesson planning and classroom discipline for all but one
of the classes of the main teachers load. The two teachers had
canteen duty for one day and a number of Dot periods where
there was open collaboration with the other teaching
professionals. The school has a number of interns employed in
the English department who were the main teaching
professionals to teach the classes. I witnessed the teachers
openly collaborate with each other and assist each other with
grading and marking criteria. Two days per week we had caf
duty and maintained order in the caf. The teaching staff are
responsible for the same type of duties as outlines in the
primary observation sheet.
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What did you observe non-
teaching staff doing to support
teaching and learning in the
school?
There was only one non-teaching staff that I encountered in
the classroom, their responsibility was to assist an autistic
student in their studies in the class. This non-teaching staff
member assisted the whole group with their English lessons as
they all have varying degrees of additional support which
included ADHD, self-harm, dyslexia, anxiety and behavior
management.


Students

You will have observed the
diverse nature of your
classes. How was this
diversity supported?

As mentioned above there was an education assistant
employed to assist in a classroom that has varying support
needs including Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, self-medicate, self-
harm, and low literacy. There is one student who suffers high
anxiety when having to read aloud or perform in front of peer
or in small work groups.








9 Murdoch University

Function of Schools

Did you observe the connection
of your schools with the broader
community? How did this
happen?
The school has a football program that has links to the local
football team Peel Thunder. There are approximately 300 boys
that are at the school as a scholarship to play football for the
school. This program was developed by the physical education
teacher and has won numerous awards for the success of the
program.

What do you think the function
of school is?
Interestingly I watched lecture 5 before answering this
question and it opened my eyes to the historic roles of
schooling being; population control, training for work, teaching
citizenship and managing unruly masses.

I believe school to assist in developing productive skills,
developing social norms, values and appropriate behaviors.

I think it is most important that schools teach us how to act in
society. Obeying authority, learning manners, learning how to
behave appropriately, Listening and collaborating with others,
working had to the best of your abilities, competition and
acceptance of failure.