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, I used a variety of questions not only during my lessons but

the whole week while walking around the classroom. The students
seemed to understand what I was saying, I can only think of one
occasion where a student just shook her head at me and said no,
but I was told she was quite shy and answered to another teacher
later.

Did you use a variety of

question types?

Yes I used plenty of open ended questions and a few close ended
questions, however I did not use close ended questions as an
attempt to disguise a request, if I wanted the class to come sit on
the mat for example I would as politely if everyone could come join
me on the mat.

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

A lot more open ended questions than close ended ones.

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

I used open ended questions to try and engage the class in

learning, for my small group lesson I would ask on each page of
the book that was being read what the group thought was
happening in the pictures, getting around to at least everyone in
the group to see what they thought. I tried to use close ended
questions to prompt learning as well, for example I would ask the
students what they thought the time was on the clock at the front of
the room and point them in the right direction if they were having
trouble.

Distributing and Directing Questions

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

Not so much a pattern of distribution but a pattern of answering, it

was really only the same people wanting to answer my questions
on the mat. The classroom had a lucky dip for answering
questions so I used that to distribute the questions to the students
at random. This also helped keep the classrooms attention
because the students knew that they might get picked to answer a
question.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Standing at the front of the classroom I kept my posture straight,

used hand gestures and kept a happy facial expression and spoke
kindly.

Have you used wait time?

Yes I tried to, but the students were all extremely eager to answer
my questions.

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

Yes always, also while reading books I would memorise the pages
as well as possible and try read the book facing the whole class.

Reactions to Students Responses

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

How do you deal with

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

Yes with a correct answer I would praise the student with a great
answer, well said or good work.

With an incorrect response that was still on the right track I would
let the students know that they were on the right track but not quite
there. If a student was struggling to answer a question I would ask
the rest of the class if anyone would be able to 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?

Are you the only evaluator

of the students answers?

Overall Comments

The class I had was pretty good at answering my questions. I

found it rare for me to be asking more questions to add to an initial
response. For my big lesson I had the class answering questions
in regards to how they could be sunwise at the local pool or
school. I asked the question what can we wear to be sunwise at
the local pool and the class had answered everything except for a
rashie. I asked another question There is one more thing we can
wear, its like a shirt but we can wear it in the water and after that
question someone answered rashie.
During my lessons I was but for some questions I was asked
during the week I had to go ask my mentor teacher what we had to
do.

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, there was just a little problem with some of the students
colouring in my worksheets before drawing on clothes with a
writing pencil. I could have coloured in the worksheet myself to
begin with to set an example I feel.

e.g. How did the students

react to your lesson overall
and to your planned
activities?

The students enjoyed watching the video and answering the

questions I had prepared and really enjoyed colouring in.

Did anything unexpected

happen?

One student kept walking up to me and holding my leg asking me

to look at his work every few minutes.

Did you provide a variety of Only the video, colouring in and question at the end. I dont think I
activities?
could have fit anything else in.
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
the end of the lesson?

Yes, there was a couple of students who hadnt finished colouring

in when it was time to go back on the mat and answer some more
questions.

Did you feel you were able Sort of, they had apps on their iPads for sun safety but I felt the
to change things if needed? worksheet was a better activity.
\Were you aware of
classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
about your students?

I learnt quickly of all the procedures my mentor teacher had to get

all the students attention and was using them almost straight away
myself. On the first day my mentor went through all the students in
her class with me, informing me of what some students will and
wont do.

How did your mentor

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

You could see my mentor teacher put a lot of effort into keeping
the classroom a safe learning environment. The classroom was
well organised and colourful, with students work all over the room.
I felt like this made the classroom feel more inviting and also felt
like the whole class were friends. At the same time there was no
best work for all the sheets around the class, everyones work
was considered equal.

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 always kept a smile on my face and stayed friendly and happy. I

would have a laugh with them but still keep them on task. When
asking questions I sounded enthusiastic, like I was excited for
them to learn. When students were misbehaving I would drop the
tone of my voice but still ask them politely to get back to their work
or stop what theyre doing.

Which aspects of your

teaching style do you feel
helped you maintain class
attention?

A positive attitude towards the classroom and its students and also
an interest in all the students. I was also told that the whole class
loved to watch videos so I felt that a video would give the students
an incentive to give me their full attention and not misbehave.

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 they did, I made sure to let them know as clearly as possible,
and as I walked around the classroom I would remind them.

Were you able to redirect

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

Yes the students had enough to do however I had one student

who I think had grown fond of me grabbing onto my leg to get my
attention to go look at his work. I would tell him to go sit back down
and I'll come see his work and he would but eventually would
come back to 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?

Yes, I was constantly looking around the class with a keen eye
making sure all the students were on task and not causing
distractions.

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

Yes, one student was drawing on another students sheet of paper

which the student really didn't like, so I told him politely to keep his
pencils on his sheet of paper or he would get a verbal warning. I
took this action because I could physically see that the other
student did not want another person drawing on their sheet, and
this student in particular was one to throw tantrums.
My mentor teacher would treat behaviour as a good or bad choice.

Did you use non-verbal

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

I would stand closest to the students who I thought would cause

the most distractions so that they knew I was keeping an eye on
them. If a student was starting to move off task and noticed me I
would give them a gesture as if to stop mucking around and get
back to the worksheet.

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 looked new, clean and well funded. Judging by

the area it was in I would assume that it is a pretty new
school. The school meeting I attended had two teachers
(not my mentor) talking about teaching styles and
conventions, which I thought was very well done and the
application of this helped all the other teachers at the
school develop new ways of teaching and understanding
their students.

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?

Aiding students and tending to their needs, offering tutor

lessons out of class time (mainly after school, which I
thought was really great), lunch duty, which I got to have a
go at (which was mainly telling students off for no hats and
keeping an eye on all the students, but I did have a few
students come up to me telling me they were pushed by
someone)

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?

As a teacher you will have your own style of teaching, one

you will find is the most comfortable for you and you can
teach content completely different to others, but ultimately
what you teach is bound to the curriculum and curriculum
only.

What did you observe non-teaching

staff doing to support teaching and
learning in the school?

I saw admin staff and the deputy principals coming to

classes and just seeing how all the classes are taught.
They would have been there just to check that curriculum
is being followed and all teachers put care into their work.

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, although in one instance I sort of lost my words on a question

so I decided to just repeat what I said to make sure the students
understood.

Did you use a variety of

question types?

Because my lesson was in humanities and a lot of the lesson went

to reading, I used as many open ended questions as I could to
promote discussion. I also used rhetorical questions for certain
parts of the reading. There was one occasion where I used a close
ended question

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

Mainly open ended questions, a lot more then the rhetorical and
only the one close ended question.

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

I used open ended questions to encourage somewhat of a

discussion in the classroom on the topic, and when getting the
students to provide answers from their worksheet. I used rhetorical
questions while reading from the textbook to give a bit more insight
of what was being discussed.

Distributing and Directing Questions

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

None of the students in the classroom wanted to read from the

textbook when I asked them if they wanted to, so it was me doing
all the reading. The only pattern I could say I recognised was that
it was rhetorical questions over and over while reading from the
textbook. When it was time for students to answer questions it was
really only the same three students answering the questions. From
observing this classroom I noticed that none of them liked to speak
to the whole class.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Straight posture at the front of the classroom, projected my voice

so the whole class could hear, spoke with a positive attitude as if I
was excited to teach the class. While reading from the textbook I
would maintain eye contact with the class as much as possible.

Have you used wait time?

Yes I used wait time between asking a question and choosing

someone to answer it.

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

Yes, always. I also kept eye contact as much as possible while

reading from the textbook.

Reactions to Students Responses

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

A correct response was given praise, I would reply with a

'good answer' or 'good response'

How do you deal with

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

Incorrect responses were considered somewhat on track, as

the teacher I would just try to push them in the right direction
or get another student to help them out. There was never
really a chance for a wrong answer because almost no one
wanted to answer any questions.

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?

No, I did not get a chance to.

Are you the only evaluator

of the students answers?

It was me and another student from Murdoch on prac.

Overall Comments

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?

The whole lesson the class was quite tame, I wasn't too sure what
to expect going into high school but it was pretty disciplined.

e.g. How did the students

react to your lesson overall
and to your planned
activities?

The students seemed to enjoy it, they all got through the
worksheet pretty quickly which impressed me.

Did anything unexpected

happen?

We spoke to fast while reading from the textbook and the lesson
ended about 5 minutes early

Did you provide a variety of No it was only the worksheet which was meant to take 10 minutes.
activities?
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
the end of the lesson?

No as I stated before the lesson ended a bit short but we managed

to make use of the remaining time.

Did you feel you were able Yes, when our lesson finished a bit early we asked all the students
to change things if needed? to raise their hands and share their answers, while walking around
the room during the worksheet I noticed a few students were going
a bit slow on their worksheet so I feel this helped the students
catch up by obtaining other peers answers.
Were you aware of
Yes at the school there was a name tick office policy, and 5 of
classroom procedures and these would get you expelled. My mentor teacher on the first day
school disciplinary policy?
went through lists for all the classes we would be observing with
How much did you know
him and this gave general information about the students,
about your students?
including disabilities.
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 did a great job at making the class feel like he
was more a friend then a teacher. He mentioned to me all you
need to know is one thing about each student and this will give you
a chance to talk to your students about something out of school
which I feel is what helps develop a friend role as opposed to the
teacher role.

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.

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.

I always kept a smile on my face and stayed friendly and happy. I

would have a laugh with them but still keep them on task. When
asking questions I sounded enthusiastic, like I was excited for
them to learn. When students were misbehaving I would drop the
tone of my voice but still ask them politely to get back to their work
or stop what theyre doing.

An interest at class level helped I think. Humanities was never my

strongest subject so during the whole week I was sitting down
taking notes on the same things the students were. When the
students weren't having to do work I'd have a chat with some of
them, just to see how they were going with their school and what
their favourite subjects were etc.

Did the students know what

was expected of them?

Yes, they knew when to listen and when to be quiet and do their
work.

Were you able to redirect

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

There really wasn't any attention seeking students, in another

class I observed without my mentor teacher there was a student
mucking around with lego that the group was supposed to be
using to build contours. I pat him on the back and politely told him
to stay on task and do his work.

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, while reading I was scanning the class with my eyes and
during the worksheet I was walking around the classroom making
sure everyone was on task and also trying to stand near the
trouble areas.

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

I really didn't notice any bad behaviour besides the student with
the lego, and I wouldn't consider that bad behaviour as lego can
be very distracting especially in younger people.

Did you use non-verbal

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

I used contact on a student and I placed myself around areas of

the classroom I thought were trouble areas.

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 was extremely tidy and look for the most part
new. I think this is because it was two schools recently
merged into the one. The school had plenty of resources,
the first school I was at I wasn't allowed to even touch a
printer and at this school I was allowed to print whatever I
pleased.

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?

Aiding students and tending to their needs, offering tutor

lessons out of class time (mainly after school, which I
thought was really great), lunch duty, which I got to have a
go at (which was mainly telling students off for no hats and
keeping an eye on all the students, but I did have a few
students come up to me telling me they were pushed by
someone)

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?

As a teacher you will have your own style of teaching, one

you will find is the most comfortable for you and you can
teach content completely different to others, but ultimately
what you teach is bound to the curriculum and curriculum
only.

What did you observe non-teaching staff doing

to support teaching and learning in the school?

I saw admin staff and the deputy principals

coming to classes and just seeing how all the
classes are taught. They would have been
there just to check that curriculum is being
followed and all teachers put care into their
work.

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

Most students who you would see and assume that they
might speak a different language at home all seemed to
be spot on with their English. I also went to a Christian
school and noticed that the school accepted students from
all different religions, although the only noticeable one
was Muslim. In one class I met a student who I was told
was a 'selective mute'. He was provided with an emotion
chart to help the teachers understand how he was feeling.

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

The first day of my prac the school I went to held a school

book day where all the school dressed up as their favourite
book characters (which ended up just being movie
characters, not that it matters) and in the middle of the
week the class I was with had assembly. So both times I
got to speak to a few of the parents and other teachers. I
also witnessed on a few occasions a support group that
came and spoke to students. On every occasion in these
support groups there would be at least one person who has
gone through a tough period in their life and they were just
there to tell the students not to give up and that it's not
always the end.

What do you think the function

of school is?

The function of a school is to facilitate learning in a way that

students are eager to learn. Schools also provide
somewhat of a day-care service so that parents can
continue to work to afford to live. Schools also provide a
social aspect to children, which I feel is extremely important
for adult life.

Professional ePortfolio
Professional Experience Portfolio (50%) Site address (link) and your name.
_____________________________________
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

COMMENTS

PART A (20%)
Required components for both the Primary
and Secondary Professional experiences:
Lesson Plans (4)
Observation Sheets (one set for primary and
one set for seconday):
Questioning
Management and
Schools as text
Evaluation Form/Final report (2)
Lesson Critiques (At least 2)

PART B (30%)
Essay Tell the story of your Professional
experience and reflect on your choice of
Primary or Secondary Teaching.
Frame your story using the unit outcomes
(Unit Information).
Correct essay conventions are required as
are in text referencing and standard writing
conventions. (500 words)
Tutor

TOTAL MARK for

Observations
and Essay
/50