I’m in my eleventh year of teaching and have been observed teaching in an official capacity at least eleven times. That’s one per year, minimum for all you non-mathematicians. I have had varying experiences of the process, but essentially this is how an observed lesson compares to a normal lesson:
Observed Lesson | Normal Lesson |
Find the latest lesson plan pro forma off the schools’ system. Type an in-depth lesson plan making sure to mention differentiation, any students that have particular needs, any health and safety issues, describe precisely what your objectives for the lesson are, point out what all, most and some of the class will be able to do by the end. On top of that, break down each individual minute of the lesson, saying what’s going to happen. Think of something to do on mini whiteboards that each individual student writes on. Try to make it relevant, although not always necessary to do so. Assess prior knowledge of the students with some carefully planned questions, maybe using the whiteboards again. Try to put across the message in a fun way, hopefully getting the students to interact with the objectives by coming up to the board, singing a song etc. Write a totally new worksheet that has lots of pictures on and looks really “funky” and engaging. Invent a game so that they remember the lesson and really enjoy it (in theory). Assess how much each of them have learnt during the lesson in whatever way was suggested in the most recent study. Plan for the students to assess each other’s work, whether it will be of any benefit to them or not. Plan to set a homework, whether it is the correct lesson for homework or not. Rehearse the lesson in your head so that you know pretty much exactly what you’re going to say. Photocopy and cut stuff up in readiness. Time to plan: 2-3 hours | Write the topic or a lesson title in the space designated for that lesson in your planner. Can you think of a starter activity? Maybe a couple of questions to find out what they know from previous lessons, although you have a rough idea of what they’ve been taught before (this is different to what they actually know, I hasten to add). Have a look at the text book to see what they want to cover in that particular topic, and look at the exercises to see if they’re any good. If not, find a worksheet that has better or more interesting questions. Work out the answers to the questions you are setting, so you don’t have to do them in your head and possibly look stupid. Think about playing a relevant game, if there isn’t one that springs to mind, don’t worry about it. If it’s the lesson where homework’s set, then either find a relevant worksheet or set an online one (the wonders of the internet!). Do some photocopying and paper/card slicing if you need to. Time to plan: Approx. 15-20 mins |
You are then judged by the observer as being outstanding, good, satisfactory or unsatisfactory according to Ofsted criteria, or the observer’s perception of those criteria and whether, in their eyes, you achieved them.
And to what ends? I reckon in my 11 years of teaching I have found approximately 2 lesson observations any use to my teaching. These lessons were OK, not outstanding, not unsatisfactory, but the useful bit was that the observer (2 different ones) pointed out some good parts of the lesson, then gave me some tips on how I could have improved the lesson and my teaching in general. They did it by making me feel good about myself initially before going onto to the parts I could work on. Good management that: the praise makes one far more open to suggestions of improvement. Basic Management 101.
The rest of the observations and subsequent feedback have been thoroughly demoralising. The observer has come into the lesson with a judgement already in mind, and then proceeded to tell me how rubbish I am for half an hour before giving me a good or satisfactory grade. Their justification for this judgement: I didn’t teach like they would have done. Pathetic! They then try to justify the judgement with some guess about what Ofsted would have thought think. Even more pathetic! As if most teachers really care about those bureaucrats.
Lesson observations are totally false and a waste of good teachers’ time and energy. If you don’t like the way they teach you shouldn’t have employed them. I’m not saying that teachers can’t improve, I know I can, but 30 minutes of being told you’re useless isn’t going to inspire anyone to do anything about it. What’s more laughable is that one observer will say good, the other will say bad – the whole process is subjective.
I have now opted to do exactly what I normally for a non-observation for the following reason: I might as well spend 20 minutes planning a lesson I’ll be slated for instead spending 3 hours for the same result. It’s a no-brainer in my eyes.
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