Professional Experience - Primary

Observation Notes

Class Details
Year 3/ 4.
25 students with average of 20 students/ day attendance.
Mixed abilities.
1 Education Assistant 1:1 support for student with disability.

School/Classroom Reward Systems
Race the Teacher a race to beat the teacher using positive behaviour.
Meow Bux for use at the end of term to auction on toys.
Super Stars levels of stars where prizes are awarded at the completion of each
level (the higher the level the better the prize). The star levels are bronze, silver, gold,
platinum and diamond.

Behaviour Management Strategies
Ignored fidgety behaviour.
Positive praise.
Finger to lips.
Stand, look & wait for class attention.
Helping Hand drawn randomly to select a student who assists in jobs such as giving out
worksheets, and being the line leader.
The Look.
Clapping (to different rhythms).
Teacher speaks to students about self-control and calming themselves down at times when the
noise level rises.
Constantly implemented reward systems.
Countdown I want you sitting on your chairs in 10, 9, 8

Classroom Management Strategies
Helping Hand drawn randomly to select a student who assists in jobs such as giving out
worksheets, and being the line leader.
Students are allowed to get out of seats if required but expected to be back on task as soon as
possible.
Students are allowed to eat fruit and drink water during lesson times (both fruit and drink
bottles can be placed on their desks).

Whole School
School announcements were made over the PA just before recess and lunch times. The
announcements made concerned:
o Student activities during break times.
o Teacher duties.
o Other school announcements.


Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Behaviours
This class consisted of a diverse range of students from a diverse range of cultural and socio-
economic backgrounds. As a result, these students displayed behaviours ranging from non-
attendance, disrupting other students by talking and wandering around the classroom, being off-task,
and displaying lack of ability or knowledge towards the set task/s.

I observed overall, that the classroom-teacher, had worked hard to implement positive and effective
classroom and behaviour management strategies that worked towards the individual success of each
student.

During the week, the students were involved in specialist classes which were LOTE and Art. During
these times, I observed that the students behaviour became less in control compared to when they
were in their usual classroom with their usual teacher. The behaviours displayed were off-task
behaviour, not listening, high noise level, and wandering from seat. I concluded by this observation
that the students were more settled in their usual environment under the instruction of their usual
teacher in comparison to being in an environment that was not as regular as their daily classroom.

Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Day 1 Monday, 18
th
August 2014
The day commenced with students being allowed to enter the classroom at 8:30am to
organize and settle themselves then commence on the daily independent work task which was
a Mathematics worksheet named Ten a Day.

Session 1 (8:55am)
This lesson was a Literacy Lesson comprising of a Spelling activity which utilized the
programme Sound Waves. Students progressed through the selected worksheet, working
on Phonemes and Graphemes involving the k, c, q, ck, x(ks), ch.

The class teacher showed a short video on the interactive whiteboard where the students
could view mouth and throat exercises that showed how to form different sounds. The video
also assisted students in remembering Phonemes such as crazy kites..k, k, k.

The class teacher accommodated for both year levels (3/ 4) by providing two different year
level worksheets to be completed. He gave clear expectations and timelines for the students
to continue independently with their work.

Session 2 (9:40am)
This session comprised of a Fitness Lesson where the class teacher conducted a ball skills lesson
(tunnel ball) in preparation for their upcoming Sports Carnival.

Session 3 (Prior to Recess)
This lesson continued with the Literacy Lesson where the students were instructed to continue with
their Sound Waves worksheets.

Session 4 (After Recess)
The students continued with their Sound Waves worksheets (Phonemes & Graphemes).

Session 5 (After Recess)
The class teacher conducted a class lesson involving addition and subtraction using the Partitioning
method. During his explanation he illustrated to the students both the place value & non-standard
versions of Partitioning. The students then worked independently on addition and subtraction
problems using this method. At this point our Mentor Teacher was happy for us to both observe and
assists students with Mathematics problems as required.

Session 6 (After Lunch)
Every day after lunch the class teacher conducts a Silent Reading program for 15 minutes to enable
the students to calm themselves down after their high energy activities in the playground during their
lunch break. The teacher advised the students of his expectations during the silent reading session,
and advised the students that if these were not met, then he would reset the time until 15 minutes
complete silent reading was achieved.

Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes


Session 7 (After Lunch)
During this time a session titled Reflection Circle was conducted. This session is related to the
School Behaviour Management System (Traffic Light System). It enabled students who had made
wrong choices and broken school/class rules to redeem themselves from being on either a red or
orange traffic light. The students were required to stand in front of the class and reflect on their
behaviour. The other students were given the opportunity to say whether or not they thought that the
particular student had worked towards changing their behaviour for the better. A class vote was then
conducted to vote for or against the student being moved upwards to a positive traffic light colour.

This system is designed to assist students in being responsible for their behaviour, and it helps them to
reflect on their negative behaviour, and what they could do better in the future. This process also
involves peer reflection and adjudication.

Session 8 (Last Session)
The final session of the day was a Technology & Enterprise (T & E) lesson. The topic that the
students were learning about was Materials used to make things. After initial instruction to the
whole class, the teacher advised the students of his expectations for them to independently complete
the worksheets he had provided for them to place in their workbooks, along with instructions given on
the whiteboard. The students completed a materials bubble where they could list materials used to
make everyday items. The class teacher listed several items on the whiteboard that required the
students to list the materials required to make these items. The final activity for this lesson was a
group of pictures that the students were required to cut and paste into their workbooks, then list the
required materials of each picture.

End of Day 1



Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Day 2 Tuesday, 19
th
August 2014
The day commenced with students being allowed to enter the classroom at 8:30am to
organize and settle themselves then commence on the daily independent work task which was
a Mathematics worksheet named Ten a Day.

Book Week Activities were arranged for the day until 2:30pm
The school was divided into groups of four (1-4) for the day so that students from different
classes could participate in various reading activities for Book Week (approximately 40
minute sessions).

Our Mentor Teacher, for his group activity chose a book titled The Fearsome, Frightening,
Ferocious Box. Afterwards the teacher guided each group to participate in a drama activity
whereby they were required to give an imaginary box to a classmate and the classmate was
required to name the gift dependent on the other students actions e.g. the student receiving
the box had to determine whether the box was heavy or light, large or small by the way the
other student was carrying the box.

Reading strategies used by the teacher were the incorporation of questioning techniques into
the reading activity for each group of students throughout the day e.g. what can you see?
The other strategy was when reading to the group, the teacher asked the students to reflect on
the pictures or text of different pages.

The teacher implemented a buddy system within each group of students whereby he chose a
buddy from the Year 3/ 4 group to take care of students from the Year 1/ 2 group for the day.
The buddies were responsible for ensuring the younger students remained with the group for
the entire day.

Observation
When conducting whole school group sessions, being part of a small community school had
the advantage of the teacher knowing all the students names from different classes. This
made it easier when questioning students regarding the text in the story, or when addressing
student behaviour management.

Students returned to their regular classrooms at approximately 2:30pm where our class
teacher read a Dr Seuss story to the class group before the end of the school day.

End of Day 2





Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes




Day 3 Wednesday, 20
th
August 2014
The day commenced with students being allowed to enter the classroom at 8:30am to
organize and settle themselves then commence on the daily independent work task which was
a Mathematics worksheet named Ten a Day.

Session 1 (8:55am)
This session comprised of a Mathematics lesson whereby the students continued working
independently on their Ten a Day Maths worksheets. I assisted two Year 3 students who
required support to understand Mathematics concepts. Once the students could understand
the concepts they were able to stay on task.

Session 2 (9:40am)
This session comprised of a Fitness Lesson whereby the teacher prepared the students for the
upcoming Sports Carnival.

Session 3 Micro Lesson (9:50am)
Whilst the teacher continued to conduct a Fitness Lesson I conducted my Micro Lesson with a group
of six students. I conducted a Literacy lesson involving Reading Comprehension. During the session
I read a story to the students. Prior to commencement of the story I conducted a questioning session.
At the completion of the reading session the students completed a comprehension worksheet I had
developed. The worksheet comprised of questions regarding the story I had just read.

Session 4 (After Recess)
The students attended an Art lesson with the schools specialist Art Teacher during the session
between recess and lunch. They were continuing to make models of imaginary animals made out of
paper mache. I observed the students to be rather noisy during this session, however the students
appeared to enjoy the lesson, and were creative with their models and supportive of one another.

Session 5 (After Lunch)
The daily Silent Reading program commenced immediately after lunch with the students completing
15 minutes of silent reading in order to calm themselves down after their high energy activities in the
playground during their lunch break. The students appeared to settle down quicker on this occasion
than during the silent reading session on Monday.

Session 6 (After Lunch)
During this time a Reflection Circle session was conducted. This session is related to the School
Behaviour Management System (Traffic Light System). It was a continuation of Mondays reflection
whereby students who still needed to redeem themselves were given the opportunity to do so.

Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Session 7 (After Lunch)
Due to illness the class teacher went home sick. During this session the Vice Principal supervised and
independent Literacy session. During this session the students were expected to complete Literacy
tasks independently. I observed that the students stayed well on task, working quietly and diligently
with minimal disturbance. The students that showed excellent behaviour were rewarded with
Superstars (part of the class/school reward system).

Session 8 (Last Session)
During the last session of the day the students attended a LOTE (Noongar) Lesson with the schools
specialist LOTE Teacher. During the lesson the students were expected to complete a gluing and
matching activity whereby the students match Noongar words to different pictures of insects.

End of Day 3

Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Day 4 Thursday, 21
st
August 2014
The day commenced with students being allowed to enter the classroom at 8:30am to
organize and settle themselves then commence on the daily independent work task which was
a Mathematics worksheet named Ten a Day.

Session 1 (9:30am)
To celebrate Book Week a whole school Assembly/Costume Parade was held. Those
students who came dressed up for Book Week were able to parade their costumes in front of
the school.

Session 2 (9:50am)
During this session I conducted my whole class Literacy lesson. I focused on Reading
Comprehension for this lesson. The activity comprised of me reading a Dr Seuss story to the
class. At the conclusion of the story I handed out a worksheet for the students to complete. I
included questioning strategies in the context of my worksheet. Completing sentences and
writing a short description about the moral of the story were also included in the worksheet.

Session 3 (After Recess)
During this session I observed the other Pre-Service Teacher conducting a Mathematics
lesson with the class.

Session 4 (After Lunch)
During the period after lunch the class teacher set independent tasks for the students to
complete. These tasks covered the Science, Literacy and Technology & Enterprise Learning
Areas. The students were to complete a Soil Sample Worksheet for the Science component,
a comprehension worksheet for the Literacy component and a Materials worksheet for
Technology & Enterprise component of the session.

Whilst students were working through the tasks the teacher would request students to bring
him their Superstar Books. The teacher marked the students books with stamps as part of
school/class reward system.

An inspection of the students trays was conducted to encourage the students to be respectful
of their classroom by keeping their trays and areas around them clean and tidy.

Session 5 (Last Session)
The class teacher conducted a Society & Environment lesson where the students were taught about
different cities around the world using visual examples. On conclusion of the class discussion the
teacher set the students an independent task of designing their own city.

End of Day 4

Professional Experience - Primary
Observation Notes

Day 5 Thursday, 25
th
August 2014
The day commenced with students being allowed to enter the classroom at 8:30am to
organize and settle themselves then commence on the daily independent work task which was
a Mathematics worksheet named Ten a Day.

Note: Class Teacher was absent due to illness therefore I became more involved in working
with the students throughout the day to assist the Relief Teacher.

Session 1 (8:50am)
This session comprised of a Mathematics lesson whereby the students continued working
independently on their Ten a Day Maths worksheets. The Relief Teacher assigned me a
particular student to assist during the session.

Session 2 (9:30am)
A whole school fitness session was conducted during this period. The session comprised of
stations where groups of students participated in different skipping activities.

Session 3 (After Recess)
Independent work was completed during this session. The Relief Teacher re-assigned me to
the same student to continue assisting with completion of set tasks.

Session 4 (After Lunch)
The daily Silent Reading program commenced immediately after lunch with the students completing
15 minutes of silent reading in order to calm themselves down after their high energy activities in the
playground during their lunch break.

Session 5 (After Lunch)
The Relief Teacher oversaw a computer session subsequent to silent reading. The session
took place in the Computer Laboratory. Students completed activities using the Matheletics
Programme.

Session 6 (Last Session)
The last session of the week was a senior school Sports session. This session was being
conducted in preparation for the upcoming Sports Carnival. During this session the students
were placed in their sports factions and practiced for events such as relay races, long jump
and triple jump.

End of Day 5
End of Professional Experience - Primary