Principal's Observation

Observation of Classroom Practice Alicia Prescott

Maths Lesson -16/05/19 

Effective Classrooms will be:	What this looks like in the classroom:	Examples of this in the classroom:
Well organised, tidy  and visually attractive	·  Flexible workspaces to support individual, pair and group work. ·  Well presented examples of children’s work displayed ·  Routines and clear expectations displayed ·  Consistent expectations ·  Children taught and consistently reminded about care of resources and tidiness of classroom. (their responsibility) ·  Learning tasks are challenging but  scaffolded to reflect prior learning. ·  Children are on task with independent activities	- Alicia has a desk where she can work with a small group effectively.  - some students are allowed to work independently in the corridor. - the classroom has some artwork and writing examples around the walls and is visually attractive. - the students were working from a roster that they were clearly familiar with and they knew the expectations  - Alicia talked one-on-one with the students who were not staying on task. Her tone was patient and respectful. - the lesson that Alicia was taking with the small group was a lesson on the concepts of reading timetables. She went over prior learning at the beginning of the lesson and the tasks that were set for the students to do were scaffolded well and at an appropriate level. - students who were in the other groups not working with the teacher were given a variety of activities and they were generally on task.
Well planned	·  Well paced instructions –clearly given and displayed if appropriate ·  Very clear learning intentions displayed ·  A range of activities that provide challenge to all children and are relevant to the learning intention ·  Workbooks will be regularly marked and specific feedback/feed forward comment made. ·  Target students are identified, appropriate programmes and learning tasks provided  and progress monitored very regularly. ·  Planning reflects assessment and monitoring information.	- Alicia gave very clear instructions which the students were confident in following.  - the students were working individually on a range of activities from problem solving challenges through to activities from a figure-it-out book.  - the way that the students are grouped shows that Alicia has a clear understanding of the levels that they are working at. - Alicia’s planning is detailed and reflects the needs of the students.  - I really enjoyed the bingo game that Alicia played with the whole class at the beginning of the lesson. It was designed to help the students learn to tell the time which was a necessary precursor to the lesson on reading timetables.  - students have a great way of giving feedback on the lesson - they write it on raffle tickets and hand them in.

Effective Teaching practice will:	How it will look in the classroom:	Examples of this in the Classroom:
Have lots of modelling	·  Modelling books / display charts/ whiteboard/ ·  Small group teaching ·  Individual teaching ·  Lots of related discussion ·  Effective questioning for deeper thinking ·  Open ended questioning ·  Learning intentions revisited ·  Risk taking is encouraged and celebrated and outcomes used for learning opportunities	- the students were using modelling books when working in the small group - the TV was used effectively as a teaching tool by showing the students a powerpoint with the information about reading timetables.  - I observed an effective small group lesson - the students felt comfortable to discuss their learning as they were working on their activities.  - the students were encouraged to make attempts in their answers when working independently. - there was high quality discussion happening with the small group working together.
Have a positive classroom climate	·  Children feel confident/safe to ask for help ·  Celebrate success ·  Fun and humour – ·  Optimism  (teacher and students) ·  Reciprocal respect / good manners ·  Positive peer relationships ·  Reflection /self – teacher and students – what’s working/what’s not ·  Personal comments – e.g you look happy today! ·  Connected relationships ·  Out of class successes celebrated ·  Children’s suggestions are valued and used to facilitate future learning opportunities ·  Children can articulate and discuss their own and the class learning intentions and goals	- this is a calm and respectful classroom. - the teacher/student and student/student interactions are respectful. - the students want to do well in maths. -  there were lots of positive comments from Alicia towards the students. - Alicia gave the students enough time to think about the answer before she chose a person to share the answer. - the students were asked to show the level of their understanding with a thumbs up/side/down. - students were confident enough to share their learning.

Advice - The figure-it-out books are a fantastic  resource and I encourage you to use them, but they can be overwhelming for students who are not strong readers and they really are true to label so only your strong mathematicians and readers will cope with level 4 books.  - please make sure that any work that is set is marked - even if they mark it themselves and then you discuss it with them.  - give the students a copy of  the maths progressions and let them see where they are and what might come next.

Student Voice - as I walked around the room I discussed many things with the students. They enjoy being in the class and they feel that Alicia supports them well.