It's D-day!

Its D-day! Archana and I had our observation from Anne Sinclair (from Manaiakalani) this morning, where she watched us for the whole middle block teaching our shared reading lesson.

We continued from yesterday (see my blog post about that lesson here), and the students were engaged, responsive and could talk about their learning. 

Anne gave us feedback later that afternoon, here are some snippets;

"This was a truly shared lesson for both the teachers and the learners! The plan was designed with parts of the lesson divided up very evenly between both of you. The class is very well organised and managed, so you will be able attempt a lot of new things and really push the boundaries of ideas to accelerate the learners. You seem very comfortable in the class Ashley and you have developed a good relationship with the learners. You have a very calm and assured manner with the learners and they feel safe and secure with you as the teacher. You obviously know the learners and can draw on their backgrounds and understandings, to provide feedback"

" You fitted seamlessly into the role of teacher when it was your turn to teach Ashley and you got the learners involved by getting them to turn to each other and check with a buddy on the WALT."

" The learners enjoyed being part of the process of creating the ‘story’.  By referring back to the Y chart you were reinforcing the adjectives they used and cementing their knowledge and understanding."

"The children in the class are a very cohesive group and seem genuinely wanting to learn. "

" I am sure you and Archana will come up with some awesome learning experiences and opportunities this year to double the acceleration in this class. You work well together and have similar values and pedagogical beliefs. "

" It is very affirming to see the relationship you and Archana have established and also seeing co-teaching done so easily.  There is no Queen of the class, but 2 colleagues working together for the benefit of their learners."

And things for me to think about/work on...

"Important to keep probing when you ask a question to give the learners time to process rather than asking another question. We often do not give learners ‘wait time’ to think and your learners needed that."

"Remember to retain Miss Ashley’s persona and character, as we want a diversity of teachers, not clones. The idea of co-teachers is to use the skills and talents of both of you to enrich and enhance the learning for everyone (including yourselves)." - thinking point... it is great to have similar values etc, but what do I bring that is different/new/extra/diverse?

So overall, a very positive observation, and it is good to have some things to think about as we are never perfect, and are always looking to improve ourselves and our teaching.

Thank you Anne for your observation notes! All the best to my MDTA colleagues who will be observed over the next couple of weeks.