Term 2 Observation feedback and reflections - 3/7/16

I was nervous about doing this observation as writing is not a strength of mine, but I like having feedback about what I can improve on.

This was a basic lesson, but it was pitched to students who really needed to work on this in their writing.  I had observed incorrect use of tense in their writing done in class as well as a low score (<2B or 2A) in the sentence structure section of the e-asTTle writing text (these were just a handful).

I was caught off guard as I assumed that they knew what a verb was, however the progression of the lesson meant that I had to spend time on going over what a verb was.  This gave the students a better understanding and had me thinking quickly on my feet for a quick little activity that we could do to improve their understanding of verbs.  I forgot to go back to the ‘ing’ part that I underlined when they gave their verb suggestions, however I will do this in the next lesson as part of their revision.

I had planned to have them work on some other sheets, with a small part being the assessment part of the lesson as well as a small exit card activity.  I will also do these with them in the next lesson.  

Thinking about the lesson and the number of students who scored low in the sentence structure section of the e-asTTle writing test - it would probably be of benefit to all to go over this as a half class lesson and then have follow up with those that need extra help.  

Other follow up activities that I would like to do with this group (and others)

• is have a piece of their writing and look for where they have used tense incorrectly and make corrections
• exceptions to the rules (on the sheet handed out) e.g. swam not swimmed

I think the lesson went well.  I liked how engaged they were.  The thing I liked the most was the change in how unsure Martino was at the beginning to how confident he was in the end.  They were all giving it a go.  I was also pleased that Hamish prompted me to build the SC with them at the end of the lesson.  I had forgotten about it after hearing the bell go and trying to wrap up the lesson.