LESSON OBSERVATION FEEDBACK Teacher: Observer: ear 1 Subject: Derek Courson Centre: ZJG Mary Margaret Magee Programme

and Year Group: IGCSE Literature Date of Lesson: 18.11.2013

IGCSE, Y

The following were viewed: Individual lesson plan nt records Curriculum planning Student assessme

Brief statement of lesson objectives: Written on the board at the start of the lesson: Today we are going to learn about rhyme and a poem called Horses by Edwin Muir. It s more effective to articulate the objectives in this way: 1. students will learn the first steps (locating unfamiliar words, identifying the rhyme sch eme for example) in how to approach a new poem. 2. Students will understand the p ros and cons of using the poet s biography as a way of understanding a poem. This way of framing objectives helps students see that they are learning skills. Both teacher and student can then assess progress in these areas. Planning: Derek was given short notice about this observation so wasn t expected t o produce a formal lesson plan. Relationship with students: Derek addresses the students by name and asks for a student to remind him of his/her name if he doesn t remember it. He has a patien t and attentive manner with the students. This lesson is only the second time h e has met with this group. Organisation and delivery of the learning: Derek asks students to collect poem handouts in their notebooks so he doesn t have to keep making copies. What is a r hyme? The same pronunciation, a student says. Similar sound or similar word. Slide with the definition of rhyme on the board. Derek taps out a rhyme (or bea t) on a desk. Rhythm and rhyme are different. Find rhyme and rhythm in this po em. What rhymes and what is the rhythm? Read your poems, please. Suggestion: model this task by going through the first stanza showing the rhyme/rhythm. Als o, just give students one stanza to work on at a time. Derek tells students not to worry about looking up the unfamiliar words yet. Think about recurrence. D erek walks around as students work on this. Always read a poem through. Derek tells students that he doesn t always know what the words mean. Derek asks studen t for her name (he s only seen them once). Alexi. What do you think this poem is about? Student replies. What is the first thing you look for when you read a p oem? The title. Did anybody find a rhyme in the poem? Strange and grange. Dawn , what is that a type of? That creates a type of rhythm. If you were writing a bout this poem you would want to mention that. Derek reads the first stanza alo ud. Dawn, read the next one aloud. Stacy, read next. Suggestion: When student s come to a hard word (hulks, seraphims, ecstatic), repeat it clearly and have a ll students repeat and copy. Alice, read. Derek reads the whole poem aloud. Students read aloud with him this is a nice touch. Stop and think, write down if you thought of anything new. See if you can come up with something new, discuss with partner good reflective moment. 6:25: Derek asks students to think about Where and When in this poem. Write a r esponse on your white board. Where do you think this is happening, and when. G eneral location. Force yourselves to come up with an answer. Has everybody got something? First impression. What do you girls have? Derek calls on the 2 bo ys. Suggestion: Make sure all students attend and can hear other students comment

s. Ask students to stand and address class when they are making a comment or res ponding to a question. Where do you get the idea it comes from a memory? What p art of the poem did you take that from? Other students not paying attention to these good comments. Off the top of my head: I would probably put down FARM fo r Where Derek writes this on the board. Student read lines aloud. 6:31: Go over vocab. Derek projects a picture of horses pulling a plough. What do we call this trench he s digging? Derek hands out a list of words he thought they might have trouble understanding. On the word list, which one is another w ord for trench? Furrow. Images of old buildings. Students don t know what these are. How can they know grange or furrow? A grange is actually a farmhouse. A grange is like a farm complex. Pictures of horse s hooves and a mill. The slide has a picture and a definition. Derek reinforces the 5 words they ve just review ed by listing them on a slide. More definition slides. Ritual, seraphim (angel ic-type being). Gloam: dark, creepy place. Students read the definition and se e the picture, and find the word in the poem. 6:48: You know some vocabulary so go back through and read the poem and answer t he questions where and when. When is the hardest part of this poem to figure ou t. I cheated by reading up on the author. Derek projects a picture of Edwin Mu ir. The observer left at this point. Monitoring of student progress: Derek calls on students by name and listens car efully to their contributions. He circulates while students are working at thei r desks. Preparation and use of resources: Copies of poem; attractive slides of poem tex t and later of vocabulary + images projected on board at front Centre teaching and learning target: Summary: The number of students attending this optional 6 pm class has varied; 8 students present. The class is intended for Year 1 students, and follows the IGCSE Lite rature syllabus. Areas of strength: Patient and nonjudgmental manner Integrating some student-centered methods: independent reading, white board acti vity Calling on students by name Good use of images to reinforce vocabulary learning Areas for improvement: Articulate the objectives as described at the start of this report. This makes clear to students which skills the lesson is meant to teach or reinforce. This kind of objective also gives the teacher and students something to assess at the end of the lesson. Asking students to reflect on learning at the end of the le sson is one way to reinforce purpose of the objective Reinforce vocabulary by having students repeat the new words aloud emulating you r correct pronunciation Provide the list of new words in order as they appear in the poem In a class this small, seat the students in a circle or in table groups so that they can hear each other clearly

Grading: Development required

Outstanding X Unsatisfactory

Good

Observer s Signature:

Mary Margaret Magee

Date: 11.19.2013