Observation Task 1:

Do any patterns emerge? Were some students named or attended to more often than others?
 This data was collected over a 10 min period which included a set of instructions and individual student work.
 As seen in appendix 1, there are two pairs of boys that received more attending behaviours than the rest of the students.
 The remaining students (four girls and two boys) were still attended to, but less frequently.

Is there any pattern within the pattern?

 The first pair of boys with increased teacher attendance were not misbehaving, but needed reminders to stay on topic and focused.
 The other pair of boys had a lower level understanding of the topic being explored in class (have been in Australia for a lesser time) thus
need more assistance.
 Although the gender of both pairs that were highly attended to are males, I do not think it is because of their gender that they are receiving
the extra assistance. I believe it is coincidental that the behaviours and circumstances belong to the male students.
 The stronger and more autonomous tend to ‘disappear’ but were still visited to check for understanding from the teacher as seen by the
diagram

Focus on the use of names. Try to recall how these were used.
 In private dialogue/rapport building with students- “Emily, why aren’t you wearing your glasses today? Can you see the board?”
 When asking questions- the teacher would pose the question and then use wait time. He would then decide if he would pick someone with
their hand up or he would use a name if he wanted to nominate a student.
 As exemplars- “Knight came up with a great idea”
 As praise- “Charity, when will you stop improving?”

Now consider that range of attending strategies used by the teacher. What others are possible?
 The teacher used an open hand facing palm up to gesture to students he wanted to hear from. He used this when he had posed a question and
did not want to designate a student to answer.

Did you happen to notice anything about the students’ own attending behaviours towards other students? How important is this?
 Some of the girls tell the more boisterous boys to be quiet which indicates high expectations in the classroom.
 The students are very relaxed with each other. The ‘banter’ when students tell each other off is similar to how siblings interact rather than
one student wanting to be authoritative over another.
Reflection: Using the lesson as a mirror of your own attending skills, what comment can you make about your own teaching behaviour?
What have you learned from this observation that you can apply to your own teaching?

I found it interesting how frequently the teacher used attending skills, and it was not until I reflected back on my own teaching that I realised I would
perform similarly. Having a smaller class of ten, my mentor teacher was able to check up on students more regularly than I would in a mainstream
class. Although the class is small, he was still dividing and utilizing his time well. This level of attendance may also be due to the nature of the lesson
as it was student-centered, allowing the teacher the time to monitor each individual student.

Some of the attending skills that my mentor teacher and I have in common that are highly used include the smile, name for nomination and praise. I
witnessed these attending behaviours having a positive effect on the classroom environment, which has reinforced the importance of their use.

I found it interesting that the teacher did not once use names for behaviour management. While the class is relatively well behaved, he managed the
low-key behaviours with non-verbal tendencies such as raised eyebrows, finger to mouth in a shushing motion and proximity. I thought this was
very effective, as the students knew the teacher was monitoring their behaviour without singling out or degrading any students. In regard to the pair
of boys that were getting off task I found it interesting that my mentor teacher had not moved the boys away from each other. This is a step that I
would usually take in a mainstream classroom and I assumed that the same would apply in an EAL/D classroom. When I bought this up with my
mentor he shared that he had been stricter with the behaviour management at the beginning of the year, and he lost all rapport with one of the boys
from the pair. The amount of work completed in class declined and the student began acting up and distracting the whole class. As a compromise, my
mentor teacher allowed the boys to sit together again if they would do their work. While they are not on task 100% of the time, they respond well to
my mentor teacher keeping them on task and are still able to complete the expected amount of work.

My mentor teacher also had a strong rapport with one of the students who was socially withdrawn in the classroom. It was fantastic to see that this
student was not a wallflower in class activities but was not made uncomfortable by being put on the spot. It was a very delicate balance that I
believe I would struggle to replicate. I think this is an advanced level of knowing your students and it is something that I will strive towards in my
future teaching practice.
Appendix 1: