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:

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and learning

Question Type

Do you feel your questions

were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Yes, my questions were straightforward and clearly understood by all the

students.

Did you use a variety of

question types?

No, as the students were working on metalwork, there wasnt many

questions that I could ask as the students had previously done something
similar and knew what they were doing.

Questions mainly related to how exactly they were working on their

What balances was there
between the various questions metal work. There arent many more questions that could have asked
given the circumstances of the lesson.
types?

Consider both why and when

you made use of the different
question types?

Questions were asked after the introduction to the lesson to see if they
knew what they were doing. Asking along the way if they understood
each part of the metalwork helped me to understand which students
would need more help than others.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any pattern

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

The pattern for questioning was generally when something new was
shown to make sure that everyone completely understood what had to be
done.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

If I saw some students confused about what they were suppose to be

done I would ask the class as a whole to help out the student. That way I
know that the other students know what is going on and they can help
their fellow classmate.

Have you used wait time?

I used a wait time when waiting for a response to a question and then re
direct the question to someone else who can help the student out.

Did you make eye contact with

the group as you directed your
questions?

Yes, body language is a powerful tool and making eye contact with
students is very important in showing them that you are interested in
what they have to say and hold value to their answers.

Reactions to Students Responses

Correct answers are always praised. Its always nice to get praised for
How do you deal with correct
responses? Do you qualify any correct responses even if the question wasnt that difficult. Make the
students feel good about themselves and you will see it flourish through
praise given?
their work.
How do you deal with incorrect
responses? How do you deal
with students who stumble and
grope for an answer?

If a student incorrectly answers a question I will never make the student

feel bad about it. I will redirect the question to another student with can
anyone help him/her out? this way you dont make the student feel bad
they can not answer the question.
In other cases all the student needs is a bit of encouragement to get the
answer out.

Yes redirecting questions with help students better understand the

concept of what is being taught. Say the student has partially answered
What use do you make of the
students responses to develop the question right. I will always ask the rest of the class to elaborate on

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the teaching point? Have you

redirected any questions in
order to add to an initial
response?

that or help the student out. I did not redirect any questions in my high
school placement but did in my primary.

Are you the only evaluator of

the students answers?

In the class I was teaching, no. The mentor teacher will evaluate the final
product when they are complete. Being metal work, the students dont
complete everything in one single lesson. It takes the students a good 2 to
3 lessons before they complete something. Therefore the final evaluator
would be the mentor teacher. As far as answering questions and having a
look at what the students have done during my lesson, I am the only
evaluator.

Overall Comments
In my secondary placement I was placed in metal and woodwork, I have never done metal or
woodwork so this was a first for me. As my placement was deferred I had come during a real bad time
where all the students were working on finishing their term project that was either a spade, cabinet or
mirror and only had one week left. Metal work and woodwork are hands on and require pretty
straightforward questioning and I struggled to focus on different types of questions as was required in
the BED150 handbook. After speaking to my mentor teacher, he informed me that there wasnt much
more I could ask, therefore I struggled to fill out the previous section in regards to questioning. Had I
been placed in a topic like maths, English or something with a bit more theory I feel this part would
have been answered a lot better.

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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 Yes, I found my lesson plan to be very effective for this particular lesson.
Everything I had planned in my lesson was done and most of the
for managing the class?
students had finished the task that I had given them. The mentor teacher
and I didnt expect them to finish as it was the last lesson of the day and
e.g. How did the students
year 9s can generally be a rowdy bunch during that time.
react to your lesson overall
and to your planned activities?
Besides some students getting off track, nothing really unexpected
happened during my lesson.
Did anything unexpected
happen?
There was only one activity and that was the main reason for this class,
using their metal work skill to complete the task.
Did you provide a variety of
activities?
I was very satisfied with my timing for the most part, the lesson ended
abruptly as a lot of the students wanted to finish their work before they
Were you satisfied with your
timing, particularly for the end left. This left them to rush while packing everything away and left me
putting a lot of the equipment back where they belonged.
of the lesson?
Did you feel you were able to
change things if needed?

Had I been in a situation where I needed to change things, I believe I

definitely could have.

Were you aware of classroom

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

Yes, my mentor teacher had informed me of disciplinary policies when I

first got to the school, fortunately I did not have to use any as the students
were fairly well behaved.

How did your mentor teacher

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

I had previously observed one of their classes so I did not know the
students that well. From my observation I quickly picked up which
students would be the ones mucking around and which would actually
be doing their work.
The mentor teacher constantly had a close eye on the students while they
were working with different types of equipment in both metalwork and
woodwork. The mentor teacher always used heavy machinery so the
students dont injure themselves.
The mentor teacher used his voice to control the class. He was a pretty
laid back kind of guy and the students respected him and always listened

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to him.

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?

My body language was always positive. I always made eye contact with
who ever I was talking to, smiled and joked around with the students to
keep the vibe positive. I also asked the students if they needed help and
praising students as they completed tasks. I had a sense of humour
which the students enjoyed and added light to the lessons.

I feel like keeping the introduction short, yet informative, keeping a lot of
the students included helped a lot with maintaining the classs attention.
The students stayed engaged and didnt go off mucking around or
talking over anyone. Getting the students to then get on with the task was
easy as the students loved doing hands on kind of work.

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 the students knew exactly what was expected of them.

Were you able to redirect

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

Yes I would guide the attention seeking students back to their station to
do work.

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Every student had plenty of work to do, surprisingly most of the students
finished close to the end of the class.

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?

For the most part I knew what was happening in all part of the
classroom. For metal work there is two workshops so I was walking in
and out of both classes to make sure the students kept on track. If I saw
students distracting others or mucking around doing things they should
be doing, I quickly encouraged them to continue on with their work or
help them out with something they struggled with.

Did you take any action when

you observed poor behaviour?
Why? Why not?

Yes, if I saw students behaving poorly I would make eye contact, letting
them know Im watching them, this generally got them to back on track.
If not I would walk towards them and around them as teacher presence
got them back on track. Being tall it isnt too hard to get the students back
on track as most students find my height intimidating.

Did you use non-verbal cues?

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

Yes, as stated above I make eye contact with students who are
misbehaving and moving towards the students so they know they need
to get back on track. If all these dont work I will say something for them
to continue their work.

Overall Comments
Overall I felt I did a good job keeping a safe and positive environment for the students as they worked
through my class. Even my mentor teacher was impressed most of the students got their work
finished, especially the ones he thought would muck around and do absolutely nothing that I
observed them do in the previous class. It was great to form relationships with the students in so little
time, I would joke around with the students and they would with me but they knew at the end of the
day they had to get their work done. I felt I kept a great working environment for the students to get as
much work as they can done as well as be able to have a laugh with their friends and myself making

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sure they are sensible and dont take things too far in the form of bullying (which I did not
experience).

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 wasnt a very new school but was well kept.
Everything was in working order and the buildings were all
labelled with different blocks for different subjects.
Being in woodwork and metalwork, I did not get to observe the
whole school but I did notice how resourceful the school was. The
woodwork area had its on shed which was full of wood and other
equipment such as saws and other instruments to help the
students with their work.
The metalwork section had a ton of equipment to aid the
students. This was different for me as this school was much
larger than my own and I did not get to experience these kind of
resources.
Next to the metal and woodwork area was a load of computer
labs which students use to design what they are making before
they actually start.
There was a big oval in the middle of the school.

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What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching staff
you observed?

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?

The roles and responsibilities of the teaching staff is to make sure

the students are kept in a safe working environment as they have
duty of care. The teachers have the responsibility to teach the
students what work is required from the curriculum and make
sure they completely understand in order for them to complete
upcoming and future tasks. Teachers are roll models to the
students so it is important for teachers to be professional at all
times as students will follow suit. My mentor teacher was always
a good role model for the students, he was laid back but made
sure the students kept on track to do their work and that is
essentially what you want in a good teacher.

Government cutting funding leaves teachers with more students

and are spending less time with each student which proves costly
to student development.
Trying to add more work into the curriculum, this means the
teachers have to teach more in the same period of time which
leads to cramming everything in and the students not learning as
effectively.

What did you observe non-teaching staff doing to

support teaching and learning in the school?

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In the metal and woodwork section there was a

man who helped cut different pieces of wood and
helped keep the stations in check as well as
performing maintenance on all the equipment. My
mentor teacher constantly praised him as without
him my mentor teacher would have to do all this
stuff himself and he just didnt have the time for
that. The man worked 3 times a weeks and
appeared to be a valuable asset to this section of the
school.

I noticed them walk around the school courtyard

and a Liberian was assisting with resources for
both students and teachers. I saw a group of special
needs students with some EAs that helped the
students work through the workshop. This was
essential to help the students get through the work
and help them with instructions they dont quite
understand.

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

There was a diverse culture in the classrooms as well as a

diverse ability in the students. Most of the students taking
woodwork and metalwork in the higher year levels were there
as they had planned to take on an apprenticeship and picked up
something hands on. As the instructions to what they were
doing were clear, they didnt need much assistance.
I observed a group of autistic students who werent in the
classes I was in but used the same workspace. I decided to stand
around and observe them as they were working. These students
were supported by EAs who helped them with their work and
what they were doing. They broke down the instructions for the
students and encouraged them to get their work done as best as
they could.

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

What do you think the function of

school is?

I did not observe the connection of my school with the broader

community.

Before taking my placements I always thought teachers were just

their to educate the students, teach them what they need to
know by the time they depart and enter the real world, but it is
much more than that.
The function of school to me is to help the students grow from
teenagers to adults. Teachers spend more time with students
than their own parents do, so they are one of the biggest role
models in the students life throughout high school. When the
students leave school it is important for them to have the skills
required when entering the real world (social skills, academic
skills etc.). When students graduate from school they need to be
ready for the real world and great teachers will make sure this
happens.

Reflection think about your

experiences during the week and
describe how your previous
experiences have informed your
view of teachers and schools.
Has anything changed?

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I also think the cultural diversity of the classrooms are very

important in integrating into our society. Australia is one of the
most multicultural countries in the world and bonding with
students from other cultures and learning about their different
traditions will see students transition to the real world much
easier. When students eventually find a job they will be dealing
with people from different cultural backgrounds and learning to
respect everyones culture throughout school will help them in
the real world.