Observation Sheet Questioning

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences
and place in your ePortfolio)
Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Knowledge:
Professional Practice:
learning

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and

Question Type

Do you feel your questions

were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Yes. Because I was situated in a kindergarten class all my questions were

short and using extremely simple language in order for students to
understand what I was asking.

Did you use a variety of

question types?

As I was working with kindergarten students I mainly used convergent

questions as the use of divergent questions were a bit too advanced and
confused them.

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

There wasnt much of a balance due to the use of divergent questions. The
students responded more to divergent questions due to the fact that they
had a better understanding of what was being asked of them.

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

Kindergarten students need to constantly be reminded of the task at hand,

therefore convergent questions were constantly used. These closed
questions were helpful in making sure students stayed on track and were
behaving correctly.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any

pattern in the distribution of
your questions amongst
the students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?

Students were constantly reminded to stay on task. I did this by constantly asking
them if they were doing what they should be. This pattern of questions was
useful in reminding the students that they needed to complete the task before
they could leave the table.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Questions were extremely simple and short. The kindergarten students

responded well.

Have you used wait time? Yes I used wait time, it allowed me to gain the attention of all students before I
started to read the book on the mat and also before giving instructions on the
activity that followed.

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

Eye contact was used when directing questions at students so they knew that
everyone was being spoken to, thus what was being said was relevant to them
and they understood they were expected to answer.

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?

When students answered a question correctly I praised their answer and

gave them positive feedback.

How do you deal with

incorrect responses? How
do you deal with students
who stumble and grope for
an answer?

I praised students for trying regardless of whether or no they got it right. From
my observation the kindergarten kids kept trying when praised with giving it a
go even if their response was wrong. When students stumbled for an answer
I gave them what I thought was sufficient time to answer and if not I would
prompt the class to see if another student could help them out.

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?

When students answered incorrectly other students would help their peers
out. As questions were short and incredibly simple the teaching point was
generally achieved with relative ease and no redirection was needed. If a
student answered correctly it allowed the point to go ahead where I could
then add more on in order for students to fully understand the point.

Are you the only evaluator

of the students answers?

The other practical student also helped evaluate student answers

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?

Yes I believe it was. I had included low key techniques in my lesson plan in
order to remind myself what I should be doing in order to keep a well
managed classroom.

e.g. How did the students

react to your lesson overall
and to your planned
activities?

The students reacted well, they listened intently to the book that I read to
them and were incredibly excited to make Australian animal masks as they
had been learning about them in class.

Did anything unexpected

happen?

Students had to finish off another activity before they could start the masks so
that left only a handful of students to start the activity first.

Did you provide a variety of I read the students a book focusing on counting to 14 using Australian
activities?
animals. I then made Australian animal masks with them using a variety of
craft resources.
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
the end of the lesson?

I could have dragged out the mat session a bit longer, which was noted in my
lesson critique, but overall I was satisfied with my lesson timing.

Did you feel you were able Yes.

to change things if needed?

Were you aware of

classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
about your students?

Yes the classroom had a thinkspot that was used when students were
misbehaving and had already been given a warning. During observation my
mentor teacher discussed which students tended to misbehave and to watch
out for. She also gave details about what they had been learning about
previously in the year and daily routine of the students.

How did your mentor

teacher maintain a safe
learning environment?
What strategies did your
observe your mentor
teacher using to maintain
this?

My mentor teacher and the EA in the classroom were constantly watching the
students. To do this my mentor teacher generally split each session up into
smaller activities, one with her and one with the EA. There were two other
tables with educational activities/games on them which students who were
not with the mentor teacher or EA would go to. All tables were close together
enabling the staff to watch students and ensure the classroom was safe. She
called students out on their misbehaving and some students were not allowed
to be at an activity together due to the fact that when together they both
misbehaved. If students misbehaved they were sent to the think spot in order
to have some time out and think about what they had done.

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom

How did you demonstrate to
the students that you valued
them, and enjoyed
learning?
e.g. Tone of voice, facial
expression, sense of
humour, introduction to
students and topic.

My tone of voice was cheerful and excited meaning students understood I

was excited to be there and enjoyed learning. I used students names in order
to get them to quieten down in order to demonstrate I valued them. As the
topic of my lesson had been consistent from earlier in the week where
students attended an incursion, I reminded them about the incursion which
they had been so excited about and asked them to recall what they had saw,
I explained we were carrying on with this topic and then lead onto my activity.
My language, both verbal and physical, was positive in order to display to the
students I was happy to be there.

Which aspects of your

teaching style do you feel
helped you maintain class
attention?

I picked a book/activity that was at the interest of the class level which is an
aspect I believe helped maintain the attention of students. The activity was a
craft based one, I believe this also helped, as during my observation it was
clear that the students enjoyed craft based activities.

e.g. Variety of activities,

class or group discussion,
pace of lesson, interest at
class level.
Did the students know what
was expected of them?

Yes as I got them to remind me of the classroom rules before we started.

Were you able to redirect

energies of attention
seeking students? Did the
students have enough
to do?

Yes, when reading the book I called students to attention if they were getting
restless. The activity took anywhere from 5 10 minutes for the students,
other educational games/activities were set up for them to do when they had
finished.

Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour

Were you aware of what
was happening in all parts
of the classroom? Did you
know what each student
was doing?

Yes, as there were set stations it was easier to keep track of students.

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

Yes. I called on the kids who were misbehaving and asked if they were
supposed to be behaving/doing what they were doing. They generally replied
no and went back to being on task and behaving well.

Did you use non-verbal

cues? e.g. Contact, pause,
gesture, movement toward
student/s concerned.

When reading I would use pauses if students were talking or getting restless,
I also used the hands down gesture when students were putting their hands
up.

Overall Comments

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).

The school is mostly brick and in terms of space is quite spread out. The
kindergarten/pre primary area is at the front of the premises behind
reception and quite separate to the rest of the school. The year 3 block
was to the left of admin and 5s and 6s were straight ahead. Behind the
year 5/6 block year 4s were in a set of demountables. There was a
science lab, drama and music room that the students who were higher
up in the school used. The library had a huge range of resources that
caters for diversity; especially considering the school has a education
support learning system.

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the
teaching staff you observed?

My mentor teacher had a class of 19 students in one half and 20 in the

other. She had to ensure that all students were kept safe in the
classroom. Each day ranges of activities were put out for the students in
order to define their fine motor skills and to help them learn through play.
It was my mentor teachers role to develop and further both literacy and
numeracy levels of the students. With some students the mentor teacher
had to remind them to go to the toilet and wash their hands. She also
supervised their fruit/lunch time eating and also outdoor play time.
There was also an Education Assistant (EA) in the class. Her role was to
assist the teacher in the above tasks. She also set up all activities as
well as preparing ahead for other tasks and activities.

After discussion with your

mentor teacher describe how
policies and processes of
government, administration
and schools have an affect on
the work of the teacher?

In Kindergarten many of the curriculum changes dont affect them due to

curriculum content starting at pre primary. The school recently went
independent meaning teachers have a lot more work in educating the
parents and community on how the school will be different and how it will
now run.

What did you observe non-teaching

staff doing to support teaching and
learning in the school?

The EAs role was to assist the teacher in both assessment tas
classroom activites, which they set up for. They also was given
tasks of preparing ahead for other tasks and activities. The EA
photocopied documents/worksheets, hung up student work and
overlooked recess and lunch. The support the EAs gave the m
teacher was incredible and allowed the mentor teacher to give
attention to the students.

Students

You will have observed the diverse

nature of your classes. How was this
diversity supported?

In both classes the level of students was very different. Each

student was given the same task and appropriate levels of help
were given to each student depending on whether or not they
needed it.

Function of Schools

Did you observe the

connection of your schools
with the broader community?
How did this happen?

The teacher and EA constantly communicated with parents and family

members. This year the school had become an independent school,
meaning they relied on the families of students in the community to be
active in contributing to the school.

What do you think the

function of school is?

There are many different functions of a school, the primary one is to

educate although there are many more; for example:
- To provide a safe, positive and healthy environment.
- To provide support for both students and families
- To be a business.
- In some cases to act as a business.
- To shape and reflect on society.
- To develop student skills that will help benefit them in the
community
In kindergarten another function of school is to prepare the students for
pre-primary where they are at school for full days.