Types of lessons and lesson

observations as instruments for

professional growth

02.11.2015

16:00 – 17:20

Presenter: Irina Pomazanovschi, Moldova

Please, research the internet and share in the comments below your answers to the following questions:

What traditional and non-traditional lesson types do you know? Which of them have you practiced with your students?

• What is the teacher’s and students’ roles in each type you mentioned?

• How the stages in every type are mentioned different?• What internet resources have used to plan some of the

lessons you mentioned (if any)? What were the results? Did it work? Will you do it again or not? Why?

Reflective practice and identifying

your needsReflective practice is an approach to

teaching that involves critical evaluation of

your actions, to better understand your

strengths and areas for development as a

teacher.

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle –reflective practice is based on this:

2. You reflect on the

experience

3. You critically

analyse the experience

4. You plan future

actions based on what you have learnt

1. You have an

experience

e.g. you teach a lessonYou think about

what went well,

or not so well

You identify what it was that made the lesson go well or not so well – the activity? Your instructions? Your knowledge of the subject/topic?

e.g. you try the same

speaking activity with

another class because

it worked well, or you

research language so

that you know the

language point better

for next time, etc.

Ways to reflect

• Keep a learning diary of what went well or not

so well in a lesson

• Ask your learners for feedback on a lesson or

activity

• Make notes in your coursebook after each

lesson

• Talk through your lessons with another teacher

• Ask a colleague to sit in and observe your

lesson

• Record yourself teaching (and then watch it!)

Whatever you choose to do, the process of

reflection helps you to keep learning and

developing as a teacher.

• What reflective

practices do you

already do?

• Which would you like

to try?

Observation for learning

Most teachers have been observed at some

stage in their professional career.

1. What is your experience of observation?

2. Have you observed other teachers? Have

they observed you? What did you learn?

3. Would you like to take part in peer

observation?

Video Listen to teachers talking about their experience of

peer observation.

Observation - having a focus

Observing a whole lesson can be overwhelming -so much can happen in a lesson that you can sometimes wonder what you’ve learnt. Having an observation task helps to provide a focus for peer observation.

10 Observation tasks

• 1. Guess the aims

As you observe, write down the stages of the

lesson, along with what happens at each

stage. After the lesson, write down what you

think the aim of each activity was. Compare

this with the teacher’s lesson plan.

• 2. Instructions

Write examples of instructions that the

teacher says (word for word). Were they

clear? Did learners know what to do in each

case?

• 3. Something to steal,

something to give

Write down one thing you

would like to ‘steal’, i.e.

something you see that you

will try in your own classroom,

and one piece of advice you

would give the teacher e.g.

‘Next time you could…’

• 4. Who’s talking? At each stage in the lesson, write down the

amount of time the teachers spend talking, and the amount of time the learners spend talking (in English ). What conclusions can you draw?

• 5. Checking understanding

Note down techniques the teacher uses to

check understanding. How did the learners

respond? Did they understand? How do you

know?

• 6. Participation

Draw a map of the classroom with chairs,

desks. Every time a learner participates, put

a tick next to them. Did all the learners

participate equally? Why/why not?

• 7. Language practice

Note down times when learners practise

language in the lesson. This could be spoken

or written. What practice activities did the

teacher use? Why?

• 8. Boardwork

Note down when the teacher and learners

use the board and for what purpose during

the lesson. Was the teacher’s boardwork

clear? How could it be improved?

• 9. Materials

What materials did the teacher use during the

lesson? For what purpose? Why do you think

they used those materials? How did the

learners respond?

• 10. L1 or L2?

Note down when the teacher uses L1 in the

lesson. For what purpose? How do the

learners respond?

Let’s Summarize

Discussion

• Which observation tasks have you used in

the past?

• Which would you like to try?

• What other observation tasks do you know?

Virtual observation – stay focused

What have you learnt from observing this lesson according

to your observation task?

Post-watching discussion

Teachers Lesson Plan

1. What do you

think the

teacher learnt

from teaching

this lesson?

2. What questions

would you ask

the teacher

about his lesson

if you had the

chance?

What did you learn from your

lesson?• After you’ve watched, think back to a lesson you’ve

taught that went well or badly.

• Here’s an example: I recently tried a ‘half a crossword’ activity with my teenage learners. It’s a pairwork activity – each learner has half of the words and has to describe them to their partner who then fills in the missing words in their crossword. It took ages for me to explain, and some of the students didn’t get the idea at all. In the end they all cheated and looked at each other’s papers! Next time, I’ll plan my instructions more carefully and do an example with a strong student. Plus, I’ll change the seating so they can’t cheat!

• Write your reflections in the discussion below.

What was the most interesting to

you during this session?