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John Goulter EDFD173 Observation Presentation

Bracken Ridge state high school is a public co-education school meaning they
teach both genders. It has 501 enrolled students with 70 staff members. These
student to teacher numbers allow for varied class sizes across the year levels
with the larger classes tending to be in the lower years 8-9 and smaller class
sizes are more prominent in the higher grades 10-12 with one year 12 ICT class I
observable had 9 students in it.
In the lower grades most teachers had their students stand behind their chairs
before being allowed to sit down, I think was to ensure that everybody had focus
on the teacher and prepare the students for work.
Teachers would normally explain and give clear goal at the beginning of class
regarding what they were going or expected to cover today. This was through a
range of styles, direct and discovery teaching teaching, assessment work and
individual, group and whole class work. All activates were directed and
instructed by the teacher; students were told what the teacher expected them to
cover before letting them break off into their own work.
Teachers used a variety of methods of motivation including: if you finish this
work we can spend the rest of the lesson doing things practical; mainly in music
and science classes. Teachers utilized the area to have students do activities
which brought a new sense to question asking.
Some of the behaviour management style I observed included non-verbal
actions, verbal and physical (moving them outside or changing chairs not hitting
them). Verbal warning normally consisted of asking the students what they
were doing and how that affects their own and others work and making them
responsible for their actions.
Observation 1 Maths Class
In one Maths lesson I observed students were working on assessment on
computers. During the course of the lesson the teacher went to go help a student
with a problem. The teacher bent over slightly and a student behind him decided
to drop a pen drop the back of his pants.
The teacher understandably did a bit of a jump and took a second to recover
himself but he took the whole event very lightly and jokingly saying that I dont
know where you are from but where I am from doing that is a bit strange. That
was the extent of his reprimand to the student and he continued on with his
lesson.
The teacher explained to me later that there was no real point of getting angry
with the student because it would have only demotivated the student and that
boys will be boys.
I learnt from this experience that it is good to be able to take things that students
do lightly because most likely they are just experimenting and what to see what
happens.

John Goulter EDFD173 Observation Presentation

Observation 2 Music Class


I observed a music class run by a second year music class who at the end of it
told me he was happy being watched teach but was a little nervous. Due to this
he was stricter to his class (making them line up, being quite strict with talking in
class) with whom he is normally very relaxed with. The students responded to
this by talking back a lot and being cheeky. He realised this immediately used the
Premac Principle, if you do what I want then we can do what you want, to help
guide the class through the lesson. The next week when I went to the class he
was more relaxed and the student participation was much better and the class
was smoother.
I also learnt that being consistent with your class is important, because students
will notice when something is different and if your try to behave differently for
no good reason then bad consequences may occur.
Observation 3 English Class
I observed a year 12 English class Friday last period before the holidays. They
were watching a documentary but even then the teacher still managed to
generate and maintain interest and motivation about the subject, instead of just
have a bludge lesson.
She used a variety of teaching resources and styles such as classroom space,
projector to watch a movie, dictionary to motivate and give the students a wide
range of opportunities to participate and learn.
The teacher used situational interests by having them watch a documentary
Super Size Me and turned that into personal interest by asking students about
their own thoughts and ideas about the documentary. By doing this Schraw &
Lehman say that she generated more interest that leads to greater processing
and memorization.
I learnt from this lesson that being creative and resourceful as a teacher is quite
important so that you can use the resources you have to their greatest potential

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