ES 1.1 - Task 1: Lesson Observation

This is the observation of a biology lesson at the International School Haren.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6wM35vioIY

2.1.2 Analysing the beginning, middle and end of a lesson

OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM AND SETTLING INTO PLACE

We do not know what procedures were used to gather outside the classroom, because the camera is positioned inside. Pupils were free to enter as they arrived and therefore a very confusing and loud environment was created. Students did not acknowledge the teachers, who were waiting for them inside the classroom, and kept talking to each other and wandering around the classroom and someone even burped out loud behind the camera. However, at first the teachers did not acknowledge the students either. They could have greeted each student that entered the classroom to acknowledge them and be acknowledged.

There were no assigned seats nor a register was taken. The teachers did not give any rules or conduct reminders and this caused students’ misbehaviour. Also, there were no consequences for the student who arrived late. The teachers could have set some behavioural rules before getting started with the lesson. These rules would have to be rehearsed at the beginning of each lesson from this point on.

THE BEGINNING OF THE LESSON

To indicate the beginning of the lesson —after four minutes from the moment pupils entered the classroom— the teacher told the students what topic they were going to learn about and pointed out the lesson aims. She asked them if they had any questions but did not even leave enough time for them to raise a hand. My tip is to wait about ten seconds before assuming nobody has questions.

THE BODY OF THE LESSON

She gave unclear instructions for the task and asked “Is that clear?”, which is not a proper ICQ (Instruction Checking Question), because students tend to answer “Yes” in order to avoid the shame of asking for clarifications. She could have asked a question related to the instruction instead (for example: do you have to work in pairs or individually?; Do you have to write or speak?). When a student asked a question about the instructions, she still gave an unclear explanation and she was not even sure about the number of words the students were supposed to write down. Moreover, she answered the question by addressing only the student who asked it and not the whole class. As a result, during the task students asked for clarifications more than once. To avoid this inconvenience, she could have asked the whole class to interrupt what they were doing and then answer the student's question out loud, facing all his peers. Then, ask the others if they have any further questions or ask ICQ's to random students.

For the first task students had to work independently and quietly at first and then, after a few minutes, work in pairs or groups of four to discuss their answers. They knew the topic, because it was a revision of what they had previously studied, so the exercise was engaging.

The second task was a guessing game to engage the students in the upcoming explanation, that consisted of Teacher Talking Time, which required their attention. So the guessing game was a good strategy to create interest. If they guessed right, the teachers praised them; if they did not guess right, then the teachers explained why the answer was wrong. This kind of feedback improved their understanding while being fun at the same time. However, the two boys in the back are often unengaged, but the teacher does not do much about it. When she asks them a question and they do not know the answer, she moves on to the most engaged students in the front, without giving them a second chance. My tip here would be to keep asking them questions every now and then, to check that they are following the lesson and understanding the topic. Overall, this exercise was effective in order to develop students’ knowledge because it was fun and gave them the chance to be engaged and contribute to their classmates’ learning.

The male teacher’s explanation of the lesson topic lasted 15 minutes, which is a lot of Teacher Talking Time. Afterwards he gave students a task to do in pairs and I can see they enjoyed it because they were very engaged. Some students walked around the classroom to work with different partners and there were no obstacles, so it was a safe environment. I would suggest to split the explanation (Teacher Talking Time) in two or more parts, by letting students do small activities related to the topic between these parts. In this way, students would remain engaged and would not get bored by having to listen to the same person talking for 15 minutes without any interaction.

THE END OF THE LESSON

Most pupils were able to respond to questions satisfactorily during the plenary, demonstrating that they could recall and understand what they had learned. The teachers found out by asking questions related to the topic of the lesson. Some students tended to avoid answering, but the ones who did answer were able to recall and understand the topics. The learning outcomes were therefore achieved. My tip is to ask questions directly to the students who avoid answering, in order to check their acquired knowledge. If they are unable to answer, then the teacher will have to explain the critical points again.

The class was quietly dismissed in small groups. However, beforehand, students were wandering around the class, talking loudly and the two boys in the back were simulating a fist fight. Like I said before, this problem could be avoided by setting some behavioural rules to rehears before each lesson.

2.1.1 Learning Environment

The layout of the classroom does not support collaborative group working very much: just pairs and groups of four. In this case students have to turn around and when they do not work in groups of four, they never see each other’s faces. There are no displays in the classroom, so pupils’ work is not really valued and the classroom has a gloomy vibe. As for any technological tools, there is a projector, which is used by the teacher to implement visual learning, and some microscopes, which are not being used.

Personally, I would hate being taught —or teaching— in this classroom. It has a very depressing vibe because of the lack of colours and because of the disposition of the desks, which should be either a horseshoe or islands (4 desks per island), in order to implement student engagement and group work. So I would definitely change the disposition of the desks and add colours to the classrom either by requesting for the walls to be painted in a bright colour or by adding decorations and displays made by students.

2.1.4 Teacher’s questions and development of questioning skills

Teachers mainly asked open questions and, since it was a biology lesson, only right answers were accepted. However, teachers welcomed wrong answers and explained why they were wrong.

Only in a few occasions they did not give enough time for the students to give an answer, but overall the teachers did a good job under this point of view. They provided scaffolding by answering questions related to the previous lessons. They also ask questions about students’ life experiences (ex. hay fever) linked to the topic they were going to deal with.

Feedback

Overall it was a well-structured, engaging lesson, in which the learning outcomes were achieved.

However, the teachers should set rules to avoid misbehaviour, improve the way they give instructions and decrease Teacher Talking Time.

I am though very impressed by the techniques they used to engage students, which seemed to be very effective, especially the guessing game prior the explanation of the theory.