Primary Professional Placement

Question Type
Do you feel your questions
were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Yes, I feel that all students I interacted with had a good
understanding of what I asked them, or of them.
Did you use a variety of
question types?

I found that the lessons I was given to plan with the
primary students, that there wasnt as much opportunity
for open ended questions.

What balances was there
between the various
questions types?

With the primary school lessons, it was more questioning
their abilities so their answers were not really a discussion.

Consider both why and
when you made use of the
different question types?

The primary students were being tested on knowledge they
had already gained so I was not really able to get them to
elaborate too much as the answer was not an opinion.


Distributing and Directing Questions
Did you recognise any
pattern in the distribution
of your questions amongst
the students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?

No I didnt notice any real pattern, with the small group I
asked them questions as more of a group. In the whole
class, it was a matter of asking the class as a whole to
volunteer their answers. I did notice a pattern though of a
lot of the same students answering the questions.
How have you directed
questions to the group?

In the small group, it was to the group as a whole. In the
whole class lessons it was to the whole class and they
volunteered their answers.

Have you used wait time?

I used it while waiting for students to calm down when
getting prepared for their whole class lesson.

Did you make eye contact
with the group as you
directed your questions?

Yes I made sure I looked at the class when I asked them
questions.

Reactions to Students Responses
How do you deal with I would agree with the students if I thought they gave a
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?
good answer or tell them the answer they gave was good.

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

I didnt really have to deal with any incorrect answers in
questions face to face with the students, so I cant really
answer this question.
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?

I kept eye contact with the students while they answered
the questions. I didnt cut any of them off while they were
speaking.

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?

I found that I didnt really have an opportunity for this in
the primary school setting.
Are you the only evaluator
of the students answers?

No, the mentor teacher was also in the room and she was
able to hear what the students were saying.

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
I thought I planned both my small group and the whole
class lesson well as there was no real delay or confusion in
what the students had to do.


The students all appeared to be pleased with their lessons,
particularly the whole class lesson.



Nothing unexpected happened.


My small group activity was done as a group, so there was
no need to plan extra activities, as was the whole class
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?

lesson.

I think I had the timing mostly ok, I did talk a bit fast but it
timed out ok.


Yes I was very comfortable to change things as needed.
Was your organisation of
materials and resources
efficient and effective?

e.g. Did you and the
students have everything
you needed?

Yes I was pre prepared so I knew what I had to do and I
had all the materials I needed, as did the students.
Except when I realised I had misplaced a couple of pieces of
paper, but I was easily able to get a couple of new pieces.
Did you plan how and when
you would distribute and
collect materials?

Yes it went accordingly.
Were you aware of
classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
about your students?

I was only vaguely aware of school policies, as they were
actually not up around the school anywhere. I had asked
and was told about policy in the classroom.

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.

I participated in their activities where it was appropriate
and offered to help them out when needed. I was friendly
and polite to all the children and tried to learn as many
names as possible. I was able to joke around with some of
the students as they were a bit older in Year 6 and I
thought that was also helpful.
Which aspects of your
teaching style do you feel
helped you maintain class
Mainly for the whole class activity it was a subject they
were mostly all interested in and so it was easy to keep
their attention. I also added some extra information and
photos when I spoke to them about what they were doing
attention?

e.g. Variety of activities,
class or group discussion,
pace of lesson, interest at
class level.

so they could get a better feel for their activity.
Did the students know what
was expected of them?

Yes they knew what they were doing with no confusion.
Were you able to redirect
energies of attention
seeking students? Did the
students have enough to
do?

I didnt have too much trouble with this, except while they
were setting up for the art lesson. I had to call the classes
attention a couple of times to get them to quiet down and
get prepared but there was no individual who needed
specific attention from me.

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?

I could see what the class was doing in general, I didnt
notice any misbehaving while I was in charge of the class.
Did you take any action
when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

I didnt notice any when I was running the class. The class I
was in was generally well behaved, so any incidents that
needed discipline was outside of my authority. If I did
notice a student speaking out of turn that the teacher
hadnt noticed, I would try to catch their attention.

Did you use non-verbal
cues? e.g. Contact, pause,
gesture, movement toward
student/s concerned.

I did pause in conversation or instruction when the
students were too noisy.

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 in a middle/middle upper class sort of
demographic. It is also a private school in the Catholic
school system so it appeared to be well funded, students
had access to a lot of technology to use in the classroom
and around their school.
What were the roles and My mentor teacher was the only Year 6 teacher in this
responsibilities of the
teaching staff you
observed?

particular campus of the school. Apart from the general
teaching of the class, she was also involved in helping
organise the students confirmation in the church. We also
had some rostered playground duty. She also had to help
out with some students and parents with issues within the
class with work and with other students.

What did you observe
nonteaching staff doing to
support teaching and
learning in the school?

I really only saw one non teacher, and that was the
assistant principal. She had a non-teaching role at this
particular school, and so was assisting in school time
activities, also organising the confirmation and other things
around the school that needed organising.


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

I didnt find a huge amount of diversity within my
classroom, except for maybe their personal backgrounds.
All the children seemed to come from a similar
demographic, and if not of the same religion, they all
participated in the same religion. They were all of
reasonably similar abilities in the class, there was no one
really that was a lot behind the other students. Although
there were things on a more personal nature that there
was differences in the class and I believe my mentor
teacher was sensitive to this and it was like this was
accepted and not an issue which made it more comfortable
for the children that they were able to not have to worry
about their outside concerns.

Function of Schools
Did you observe the
connection of your schools
with the broader
community? How did this
happen?

I didnt see a lot of interaction myself with the school and
the community, but I know there is a church on the site of
the school and that they have a lot to do with the church,
being a Catholic school.
What do you think the
function of school is?

I think a school is a place for education, a place to learn
social skills and interact within a community.