5th May

Today I observed lessons with my mentor teacher. This involved watching three double lessons
throughout the course of the day. It was interesting to watch the dynamics of the classroom and the
way that activities were performed and executed. Through discussion with my mentor I was able to see
the importance of organizing classroom activities for the best interest of student performance and their
learning. Group work wasnt started until work was completed and they werent aware that it was going
to happen until it did. It kept the class on their toes and they completed the task at hand. I also had the
opportunity to walk around the room through the year 8 and 10 class to discuss some of their ideas and
help them out with their writing. It was interesting to see the knowledge and ideas they had for
discussion and how they applied their ideas to their writing.

11th May

Today I successfully had a discussion with my mentor about where my work was going. The activities I
have organized and ideas are all on the right track. I also had the opportunity to do group marking on a
year 7 assessment, this was really useful as I was able to see the routine and actions that are taken. I
was also on the same level of marking as the teachers which was great to see I was on the right track.
Today the police also came to the school to talk about cyber bullying with year 11. This shows the
community and school relationship that is fundamental to get through to the students going out into the
real world!

17th May

Year 8. I had a good lesson and structure of the lesson. I thought my timing of the lesson was good, but I
need to focus on wrapping up the group work before it gets out of hand. When watching the video I
should have paused it, but I just wanted to get through the content rather than focus on it deeper, I
made the assumption that they would follow and understand it. Next lesson in activities like that I will
attempt to be more deliberate in instructions and move slower ensuring that everyone understands it.

Year 10. My issue is I do not know all the students names, so I get stuck in singling students out. I have a
printed class roll to familiarize myself with it. I need to focus more on behavior. To me, the behavior
wasnt that bad compared to my previous pracs and I felt that I could work with the minimal chatting
but when my mentor told me at the end I realized that I do need to take a deeper focus on the
behaviour and the chatting. One of the girls hadnt finished the work yet so I had her complete it, I made
her show me her work at the end of the lesson, I wanted to make sure I keep up on behaviour and
consequences but next lesson I will focus more on the physical, chatty behaviors that occur.

18th May

Year 8 I took a lot of the ideas from last lesson and made a scaffold for the character activity. However I
should have placed it onto the board as well to ensure that it was there entirely as I was going through
the Prezi and making use of both the smart and white board. Ensure to be more confident with content
and activities.

19th May

Had year 10 period 6 today and I was anticipating it to be a difficult lesson but when I came in I moved
the boys at the back of the room straight away as they came in talking and disrupted. The class was
quiet and I was able to bring their attention back to me by saying come on guys back to me. We had a
great discussion about the content we were studying and engaged in the material. We were able to
bounce ideas off each other and create a collaborative atmosphere. It was really rewarding as they were
starting to make their connections between techniques and the ideas of identity that we were
discussing.

Monday 29th May

Yr 10: This lesson I continued on with the image they had looked at last week. The lesson was a little
disjointed because of camp last week I had to go back and recap. I would have been better to stop and
go back to the beginning and reaffirm what was discussed. I went through the content and focused on
their writing. Some parts I could have gone through quicker and when giving instruction I spoke it rather
than place onto the board. Rather than wait for the whole class to finish, give another activity for them
to do in the meantime. I felt I spent a bit of time on activities and the class slowly lost interest. I feel I am
slowly starting to adhere to ideas but defining and structuring lessons and activities is crucial.

30th May

Yr 8: started off with a good lesson , though the activities I had planned for them were taking too long,
next time I would ensure to have a quick pace and movement through the lesson. Rather than give the
class sheets to cut out; I would have them cut out myself, it took too long for them to cut and paste.
Since I hadnt seen them for a few weeks, had to do a bit of recapping to get the understanding back in
with the play.

Yr10: this lesson was a really good lesson, I was able to engage with the class and they were attentive to
everything that was going on. They were able to have a good discussion and kept on task. I felt that the
lesson moved very well and we were able to get everything we needed done in the lesson. It made a
huge difference that I knew and had completed the tasks beforehand so I was able to engage with
discussions and expand my knowledge further.

1st June
Yr9: today I sat in on this class for the first time, I will be taking their lessons starting next week. Their
regular teacher wasnt in, so the casual set up the work from the textbook. The class was quite
disruptive and hard to get on task, with the boys up the front getting the work done and the boys at the
back chatting and not starting. With 20 minutes left of the lesson I went through the answers with the
class. I was able to ask the question and get ideas, when they werent responding as well, I reworded
and asked different questions. For example they had to pull a part sources about the conditions of the
war, I then asked them what does the picture look like to them? In the end they expanded their
background knowledge and developed their answers in an easier way.

Yr8: we started the play today, and it was great I was able to establish the parts of the play and get
straight into it, I stopped and started at relevant moments to talk about and pull a part what has
happened so far. I wrote notes on the board and the class copied them down and we moved through
the play. We went back to our cornell page and wrote down one of the techniques we have found with a
quote. By the end of the lesson we made another page for the themes of the play and the class chose a
quote for each theme love, power and conflict to write onto the page. This will help them later on when
asked a question they can go back and support their answer.

5th June

Year 8 I started the lesson by reading the play as a class. It worked well as I was able to get them all on
the same page. They then went into groups of three and continued to read the play and fill out their
activity page. I brought them back to attention when they began chatting and wrote notes on the board
for others to copy into their books. I then had them continue. I would have preferred to focus again on
the techniques and this will be done in activities later.

Year 10, we started watching a film for study. They were engaged and watched the movie pleasantly and
filled out the activity sheet. I felt that I didnt know the techniques and the film as much as I did and
should go back over it again.

6th June

Year 10, they came in very disrupted and silly having come from recess. I had them stand up and shake
themselves off before proceeding again. They settled down after that and continued to read. It was a
disrupted day due to photos being taken though they watched the movie and completed more of their
techniques and discussions.

Year 8, period 6 left the class distracted and off task for most of the lesson. They wouldnt settle down
and I sent one of the girls outside to take a moment outside before coming back. In hindsight I would
have left her out there and spoken to her before letting her come back in, though she just came in when
she thought she was ready. Once again I let them work on their own and then discussed together which
worked and to finish the lesson they had a crossword which they finished and worked very well together
going through it.

7th June

Year 9 was a really good lesson, the whole class wasnt there this lesson, but I was able to get through
some of the ideas of conscription. They understood the content and what it was about and we were
able to move through content quickly. By probing questions to them I was able ot engage their
understanding of the topic and was able to see if they were listening or not.

8th June

Year 9 the class was well prepared and eager to learn. I was able to move through work quickly and get
to the important things. I noticed the class get a little distracted where I should have moved through the
content a bit quicker.

Year 10 as a group were given their assessment tasks back. I found this worked really well as the
teachers all had their discussions and gave their feedback so it was on a collaborative and all inclusive
environment. It means all students are on the same page and have the support of all the teachers.

9th June

Year 9 looked at the treaty of Versailles today where they understood and worked through the content.
I wanted to move a little bit quicker through the work but we finished it all. They got a little distracted
but moving through helped. The Kahoot that was made worked really well and gave them some revision
for their upcoming exam.

14th June

Year 8 I began their task activities for the play. They worked well with the activities and got through a bit
of the work. I hadnt had a class with them for nearly a week so I should have recapped and discussed
things a little bit more to begin with.

Year 10: they finished watching the film, they really enjoyed it and understood what was happening. It
was really good because my mentor finished the lesson by explaining a new technique to the class to
assist them with their writing. The team teaching works very well.

Year 9 I had last period, I wish I had have had a different lesson for them because they were disruptive
and very chatty. I paused and waited though I should have been more stern with them. It really felt like
a losing battle, though they did the work they had to it just took them a longer time.

15th June:

Year 9 again today having year 9 first period was much better, they did the work very well and worked
hard. They had a different attitude and we got through the work quickly. They enjoyed the lesson and
showed keen and eager discussion and answers throughout the lesson.

I didnt realize that I had another period of yr9 during the day, as they are with a different teacher. I felt
that I was able to get another lesson organized quickly touching base on what they had previously done
and extending their ability to read and understand sources. I was very pleased with the work I had come
up with and the class were really attentive and enjoyed the lesson. They engaged with the stimulus
material and were able to discuss and relate back to what it would have been like to have been in a
situation like that.
16th June:

Year 10: I had year 10 period 6 and they had a rock and roll dance that morning. When they came in I
had them read as per usual. Though it was really effective that I had them read and then they were not
motivated I had them organize their books for next week of lessons. Since we are pulling a part scenes
from 500 Days of Summer; they had three tables set up for each scene. They settled down when doing
this and then they were then able to finish another activity.

19th June:

With a double year 10 I felt very confident with the content and the way I had presented. The class was
very engaged and willing to learn. Understanding the techniques and the links that needed to be made
with the concept and ideas.

Year 8 were very rowdy and it was extremely difficult to settle them all down and I had given them an
activity that could have been done at a different time. I felt like I should have just continued with a
backup lesson. But I tried to keep them going with it a little bit before bringing them all back in and
working on the text as a class.

20th June:

Another successful lesson with year 10. I felt it was very productive in the fact that both Paul and I were
working together in the teaching. Whatever things I had missed he was able to add and expand on.

I took a different road with year 8 today and gave them more activities similar to what they had done
with Act 3. It gave them directed learning to find answers, techniques and examples of theatricality and
they work very well when having something to look for rather than finding something from scratch.
Shakespeare is a very difficult text and I noticed that with year 8 it is very hard to grasp the terminology
and the ideas, but with smaller chunked activities like that, they are forced to find the necessary things
and they are given direction.

24th June

Year 9 period 4, before lunch I gave them some self directed learning from their textbook and then to do
a research task from their computers. They were quite distracted and I would stop the class and bring
back their attention to discuss the answers that we have come up with so far. When the bell went they
didnt complete the work so I kept those students in, it made me realise that why should those who
have done no work be able to leave for lunch with those who have done a lot.