Observation of an experienced teacher

Date of observation Place of observation Subject area 9/5/2013 Southport College GCSE English

Learner group being taught The group I observed were a group of 16-19 year old Public Service students who were being taught GCSE English for their exam in a few weeks time. The subject they were covering in the session I observed was speech writing. Activities observed during the session The session began with a recap of last weeks class. The tutor had brought the flip chart created last week with key terms they had identified as features of speeches. The tutor checked understanding of these key terms through directing questions to specific students and asking for examples from a worksheet they had completed last week. Next, the students watched YouTube videos of two famous speeches one from the Shawshank Redemption and one by Obama. During the videos, the students had to take note of any features they recognised. After each video, the tutor asked the students to each name a feature they had identified. After this, the tutor began a Speech writing workshop carousel. She had prepared two sets of laminated cards, one with subjects of speeches (which ranged from How to carve a pumpkin to Why Homer Simpson should be President) and one set of cards with a selection of audiences (ranging from children to OAPs.) Each student picked a card from each set and had 5 minutes to write a short speech on that subject to the specified audience. After 5 minutes the students were given different cards and began a new speech. During this one, the tutor specified some features she wanted them to use. They repeated this one more time. Each time their confidence seemed to increase and their speeches got a bit longer. Once they had written three mini-speeches, the tutor asked them to choose the one they thought was best to read to the rest of the class. When they had read it, the tutor was very encouraging and emphasised good features they had used. Lastly, the students were shown a speech from the film V for Vendetta. They were then asked to write their own speech of around 250 words persuading people to revolt against the government. They were given half an hour to do this, much the same as they would get in an exam. Resources used The tutor used several clips from YouTube to appeal to audio and visual learners. They were from films and by people they would be familiar with. She also used a flip

chart to again appeal to visual learners as a constant reminder of the features they should be concentrating on. She had made laminated cards with a variety of topics and audiences for speeches for the students to choose from, which appeal to kinaesthetic learners. She also gave out worksheets for visual learners, which will be useful for revision. How the teacher established rapport with students The tutor was very encouraging and praised the students for good points made. She also addressed all the students by name and directed questions specifically to them. When they were working independently, she walked around the room, helping students on an individual basis. Approaches and activities used to assess learning The tutor asked a variety of questions to the learners. These varied between questions directed to the whole group and questions directed to a specific learner to check understanding. All the students read out their best short speech from the carousel activity and the tutor gave verbal feedback. The students finished by writing a 250 word speech which the tutor will mark out of 24, just as will happen in their GCSE exam. What I gained from the observation and how it will impact on my development as a teacher I was impressed with the way the tutor had good control over the class, and kept them interested in the tasks. This was done through the fast pace of the lesson, which kept their focus and gradually built up their confidence in the topic. She was also very encouraging of her students which again gave them confidence and made them keen to contribute. I thought there were a good variety of tasks which appealed to different learning styles. I especially liked the use of the writing carousel and think I will definitely use a version of that in future teaching, as it is something that would work well with any age group.

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