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?

I felt at the beginning I was very nervous, so my questions were not very
clear. As I got more comfortable and confident, it became easier for me to
give more clear instructions and sentences. However I do think I could
have made my instructions more detailed and step by step so they were
understood by all.

Did you use a variety of

question types?

Yes, we had an assessment that we had given the year 9s for our lesson
with them that had a variety of questions for them about the rules and
regulations of voting in Australia.

The questions that were given varied from simple to a little more
advanced, I made sure to go through the more difficult questions with
What balances was there
between the various questions them in more depth so they understood.
types?

Consider both why and when

you made use of the different
question types?

I would choose the easier or simpler questions for the students that
struggle, to include them in the discussion. I would get them to elaborate
if I felt they were capable of giving more, by saying things like yes, can
you tell me why/how?

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any pattern

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

I realised when I first started I was very quick with distributing my

questions, I felt as though I was very nervous and just wanted to get it
done as quickly as possible. When I became more confident I was better
at distributing the questions to the students, because I spoke slower and
in more detail.

How have you directed

questions to the group?

When directing questions, I made sure that I spoke in a loud clear voice,
making sure that I wasnt speaking in a condescending tone. I made sure
to keep trying to give each student eye contact, so they would keep
focused.

Have you used wait time?

Yes, when the class began to chat and lose focus I would stand at the
front not speaking and would wait until they all stopped talking, it didnt
take long for them to notice and stop talking.

Did you make eye contact with

the group as you directed your
questions?

Yes, I always made sure I would make eye contact with all students
throughout the lesson, especially those who would get distracted.

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with correct

responses? Do you qualify any
praise given?

Yes, I would always respond with praise. I would reply, yes, great
answer, or good job.

If the answer was incorrect I wouldnt say wrong or no, I would say
How do you deal with incorrect yes and get them to elaborate on their answer, and give them a hand by
responses? How do you deal starting off the answer. With the students that were having trouble
with students who stumble and getting their answers out I would help by starting off the answer, like the
first letter of the answer or revert back to the question to get them to
grope for an answer?
remember.
When I was teaching the year 9 class, a question came up, what are the
nine stages in voting? One of the students answered voting as one of the
What use do you make of the
students responses to develop stages, which was correct. I helped out the others by saying, What needs
the teaching point? Have you to be done before you can vote? You need to? and to which some

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redirected any questions in

order to add to an initial
response?

Are you the only evaluator of

the students answers?

Overall Comments

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replied enrol to vote which was correct.

While I was teaching my lesson I was the only evaluator of the students
answers, but while I was observing the classroom my mentor teacher was
the main evaluator and I would help where I could.

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 Some of the students reacted well and got majority of their work done,
however some of the students didnt get any work done and just wanted
for managing the class?
to talk to their friends, when this happened I tried to encourage them to
do more work by helping getting them started.
e.g. How did the students
In our large group lesson we had a question sheet for them to complete
react to your lesson overall
and to your planned activities? and a brain storm for them to do also.
Our timing was done quite well. I delivered the first part of the lesson
and Imogen then ended the lesson. We both thanked them for their hard
Did anything unexpected
work as they were leaving when the bell went. I felt that we couldnt
happen?
change the fact that some of the students just didnt want to work and
wanted to chat with their friends, however I could have done better with
Did you provide a variety of
my organisation at the start of the lesson, I had forgotten to ask them to
activities?
get out their files that had all the answers to the questions in there.
Were you satisfied with your
timing, particularly for the end
of the lesson?
Did you feel you were able to
change things if needed?

Were you aware of classroom

procedures and school
disciplinary policy? How
much did you know about
your students?
How did your mentor teacher
maintain a safe learning
environment?
What strategies did your
observe your mentor teacher
using to maintain this?

The students are given warnings, depending on what the student is doing
wrong, the number of warnings ranges from 3-5. If the student still
persists on do the wrong thing after being warned multiple times, they
will be sent to another classroom to do their work.
We were given a class list of the students with photos that were labelled if
they were; shy, anxious, had anger issues or anything else that we should
know about before doing the class lesson.
My mentor teacher let us know of the students that had anger issues and
that we should leave her to deal with them if needed.
Our mentor teacher had a great repour with the students, she had a laid
back, very kind attitude with the students. The students however knew
their limits ad were very responsive to her.

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom

How did you demonstrate to

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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?

I would walk around and chat to the students, I would always be friendly
and laid back with them because being high school students I found they
responded well to that. I would joke with them and answer any questions
they had about me, and then ask questions about them to keep the
conversation going.

At first I tried to be quite stern and emotionless, but soon found that the
students didnt respond to that and responded more to a laid back
approach, I tried to be very casual about the assessment towards the end,
I found that if you wanted them to do something, they wouldnt if they
were feeling pushed to and would do it in their own time.

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?

Were you able to redirect

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

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Yes, I had told them that it was an assessment and needed to be done
within two lessons, to which they responded well giving that it was a fair
amount of time to do it in. In the next lesson most students finished,
whereas some decided to take it home to complete.

With the more attention seeking students, I found it was easier to laugh
off their misbehaviour, (if they found it funny) and I found they wouldnt
continue to muck about as much because they are not getting a negative
reaction.

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?

Majority of the time, yes. We would constantly walk around the

classroom making sure that each student was on task and doing the right
thing. However, if I was helping another student, it made it difficult to
know what each student was up to.

Did you take any action when

you observed poor behaviour?
Why? Why not?

With some students yes. In one instance a child was talking while the
school Chaplin was speaking even after she asked him and other to stop
taking several times. I quietly said someone is talking can you please
stop talking. To which the student stopped talking.
One instance a child with anger problems was behaving inappropriately,
going in and out from the classroom, yelling and screaming at other
students. My mentor teacher had warned me prior about this student,
and had asked that we do not try to take any action or even give much
attention to the behaviour, because it will only encourage her bad
behaviour and make her more upset.

Did you use non-verbal cues?

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

Yes, when a student had made a paper airplane he was gesturing to

another student that he was going to throw it to him, I gained eye contact
with the student he was going to throw it to and shook my head to which
he turned away and didnt pay attention to the misbehaving student.

Overall Comments

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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 had beautiful gardens and was well looked after.
There was an industrial program for students down the bottom for
the school for the year 11s and 12s where students can gain
certificates in various construction, building and industrial
industry. I thought this was an amazing program, it not only helps
the students gain certificates before they leave school and more
of an opportunity for apprenticeships, but also is an incentive for
the students to stay in school past year 10, since the program is
only available from year 11 to year 12.

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching staff
you observed?

Each teacher specialised in a subject, such as Society and

Environment, English, Art etc. One that I noticed that I didnt have
the chance to meet was a teacher that worked in student services
that dealt with misbehaving students. The students seemed to
really respond to him, he had a very stern look about him and his
physical appearance was quite intimidating so I found that helped
him deal with the misbehaving students especially the boys.

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?

Our mentor teacher felt strongly that there should be more

consequences for the students actions. She felt that some reasons for
suspension were not valid reasons, for example; one student had be
suspended for swearing, whereas students that had decided to paint the
floor of the art room, refused to clean it up or leave the classroom, and
also displayed very aggressive behaviour was not suspended and back
at school the next day. She felt very threatened and scared at the time,
and thought there should have been more consequences for the
students because she didnt feel safe with that student again.

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What did you observe non-teaching staff doing to

support teaching and learning in the school?

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I noticed the student services workers, when

students that were either upset and needed to
speak to someone, or angry with bad behaviour
came into the office, they would deal with the
students and calm them dont until someone, either
the counsellor or another teacher was ready to see
them.

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

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Some of the students had a lot more trouble academically than

others did. So while the more academic students went along
with their work, the mentor teacher helped out the struggling
students more.

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

Yes, there was a beyond blue day on the Wednesday. The

students had different workshops that day that they went too to
learn about different emotions and how to deal with them. There
was a beyond blue fair on near the gym at lunch, with a sausage
sizzle, all different types of stalls and music which was a really
great atmosphere and the students were able to learn a lot
about mental health and all different resources to help.

What do you think the function of

school is?

After the two weeks of professional experience in low

socioeconomic school, I found that a school is not just
somewhere for children to learn. It is also having a place for
children to feel safe if their home lives are not great. I found after
these two weeks that teachers and school do not only build
children academically but also help build them as responsible
citizens of society as much as possible.

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 most certainly, after the last two weeks I have an even bigger
respect for teachers, not knowing how much work they do to
prepare each class, get to know each student inside the
classroom and about their home life has definitely opened my
eyes as to how much hard work it is, however still very
rewarding. I had always wanted to just work in early childhood,
but after being in a year 6 class I am a lot more confident in the
face that I can handle up to year 6, however I am still not
interested in high school teaching.

BED 150 Assignment 1: Rubric - Professional ePortfolio (40%)

Essential Requirements
ePortfolio site :
Site Password:
Upload to LMS site
Name: _Gracie Blackburn___________ Student Number: _32698703______________________
Part A: (Mark / 40 %)
Unsatisfactory
Satisfactory
Fail
Pass

Very effective
Credit

Excellent
Distinction

Exceptional
High Distinction

Primary (2) and Secondary (2) lessons plans included (4 plans total) feedback and final report
(10 marks)
If anything is missing please provide your tutor with an explanation.

Inadequate
planning
demonstrated

Minimal
planning.
Some
feedback
and reports
included.

Observation Sheets (30 marks)

Perfunctory no
Some detail
detail or evidence
included and
of engagement
evidence of
with the
some
professional
engagement
experience or with
with the
the content of the
professional
BED150.
experience
and the
content of
BED150.

Includes all plans,

but details are
lacking. Feedback
and final report
included.

Includes all plans

with thorough
detail. Feedback
and final report
included.

All plans with

detailed, careful
relationships
outlined. Feedback
and final report
included.

More detail
included and
evidence that
thought has gone
into the responses.
Some connection
with the content of
BED 150 included.

Detailed
observations
outlining a clear
engagement with
the professional
experience and
with the content
of BED150. An
understanding of
self clearly
indicated.

Careful, considered
observations with
reflection and clear
evidence of
engagement and
knowledge of the
self as a
prospective teacher
and with the
content of BED150.

Comments:

Total out of 40:

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Name of Marker: