Questioning

Throughout my placement I have come to realise the importance of effective questioning and how it is used. I have been getting feedback that my questioning is good, however in the modern world of teaching outstanding is the target.

This is clearly relatively new as I have heard many conversations and attended CPD session on how and why to use questioning effectively. Bloom's taxonomy keeps popping up and question roots and learning stems are two things that I have held on to in order to benefit my teaching. On a very basic level I will ask a what, why and how question and will target the question at specific students. I have also now began to incorporate learning skills into my lesson outcomes.

I understand how beneficial effective questioning is but have argued my case for how it is to be delivered. The recent feedback I received stated that my questioning was good but instead of asking the question and then saying the pupil's name, I have been advised to start with a name first. I disagreed because I feel that by directing the question first immediately closes many doors and children will switch off as they feel it does not concern them. However, my emotional intelligence persuaded me to take the feedback in board and try and implement in my lessons.

In order for me to master questoning I feel that I have to ask every student at least one question per lesson and plan what questions I am going to ask. I see the benefits of this but I also like to question as a behaviour management strategy. By this I mean if I direct a question at someone that is clearly not paying attention it will encourage them to pay attention. Moreover, as one of my targets, I have been told to keep talk time down so am confused as to how I am going to question every member of the class and try and talk less.

As with teaching in this modern era, outstanding lessons are impossible to hit all of the time and the framework makes it extremely challenging and time constraining to hit these elements. However, I personally feel that if you are asking appropriate and differentiated questions when necessary then you are doing a fantastic job of ensuring pupils understand and consolidating the learning.

New teaching experiences

I am now well into my second week teaching and there many things I have learned and many more aspects of teaching I am yet to learn.

I feel, through my previous experiences, that I have good behaviour management and good rapport with the students. However, through the feedback given, there are various aspects of teaching that needs improvement. In order to develop my teaching I am going to try and focus on a particular area every week.

Differentiation is the first area. I always have three differentiated learning outcomes and can differentiate the whole group. However, I feel I need to master individual differentiation through outcome. To do this I am creating a groupings sheet based on ability. This will include pairs and groups of the same ability and pairs and groups of different abilities. From this I can group the class accordingly and progress certain individuals at different times as well as individualise the learning.

Classroom rules and routines

Every classroom has its own rules and routines and it is down to the teacher to ensure they're followed and respected. I have seen many different classrooms and experienced a range of different classroom rules. Some I agree with and others I feel can be more specific so that students are not bombarded with a list of rules.

I personally believe that a few simple rules are very much necessary but only if delivered correctly. For example a teacher that reads off a list of rules at the start of the year and not once mentions them again has wasted their time in my opinion. Similarly a teacher that does not agree on them with the class' approval will have wasted their time as they may not be agreeable.

Therefore, with my classes I will ask to expect one thing and that is respect. If a child respects themselves, others, equipment and the environment then I feel that every child will be able to access the curriculum and be able to learn in an appropriate manner. However, as mentioned previously, I need to ensure that the children agree on the rules.

Once the children have agreed on my rules I will then ask them to suggest what they expect of me as a teacher. From experience, I have found that children want the teacher to be fair and ensure that the classroom is emotionally safe. This will mean that the child feels that the rules are a two way factor and that they're responsible for holding up their end of the deal.

Once these rules have been made I will actively ensure that they are reiterated to the student if they decide to break the rules. Through experience I have noticed that if the teacher upholds their end of the bargain then they can use that against the misbehaving student and explain that if I am keeping my end of the deal why aren't you?

Classroom ethos

Through my experience in different schools and classrooms over the past 3 years I have seen classroom ethos that is very different, and some very interesting. As well as the classrooms I have visited I have also seen many school's ethos. I feel ethos is very important to both classrooms and to schools and it ensures that all children are aware of the boundaries and the beliefs of the teacher and the school.

As a trainee PE teacher it is very challenging to get a particular 'classroom' ethos as there are many different environments in which I will be expected to teach. However, I now feel that I have seen enough to have my own opinion on what I believe my ethos to be. I would like to think that I can challenge each individual whether that be their health, physically, socially or cognitively. I feel that PE offers a way to educate the whole child, however, I also deem it vital that the students are made aware of the progress they've made.

As a teacher I want to be an approachable person where children feel safe in my lessons and respect myself and others. I will also bring my sense of humour to every lesson as this, I feel, is essential in allowing children to enjoy my lessons and education as a whole.

Re-integrating students

As my teacher training continues and develops I fortunately had the opportunity to observe how a federation schools tries to re-integrate students back into the classroom.

I have seen how a pupil referral unit (PRU) operates in a normal environment and saw how they operate. I can see and understand their importance but after my recent experience would argue are they the most effective? 

My day began and there was a huge emphasis on breakfast and target setting for the day. This involved children sitting at a table together (extremely rare in some homes) and discussing the day ahead and their targets. I found this extremely effective as most students who access this facility may not have the opportunity to have breakfast at home. 

I was offered toast and a coffee by one student who, before he arrived had to get their younger sister up and dressed and then to school and also was their mothers' full time carer! Wow, I must have been bottom of their list but they still took the time to offer others breakfast. I found this to be enlightening, as I got to know this student it made me realise what they have to go through even before they get to school. With that in mind you must be able to appreciate how minor their shirt tucked in is on their agenda. That may happen a few times throughout the day and can turn into a major issue instead of the teacher approaching that in a different way! 

The day made me aware of some students' lives and why they may have been sent to this centre. The centre listens to their issues and supports them to try and be able to integrate them back into main stream education.

The day enlightened me on how important these places are but more importantly we, as teachers, must understand that each child has different issues so we may need to approach minor things in a different approach otherwise things may escalate very rapidly. 

Evolving Philosophy

As part of my PGCE I was fortunate to observe a particular school in Bath on a fascinating journey.

Upon arrival we were informed of the background and the location of the school. This school, although being in Bath is I'm the bottom 2% of deprived areas in the country. The school had failed ofsted and were on the brink of closing before their immense change. 

The school is still in it's developmental stages but already it is fascinating to see the determination and work ethic of the staff. 

I, as a trainee PE teacher, was placed I'm the PE department and was immediately taken by the philosophy that they've adopted and the rationale behind it. Although we were merely observing we were asked to complete a card sort exercise. We were  given about 40 cards that had desirables skills of a person. Ranging from physical skills to emotional skills and we were asked to take the role of a British and lions coach and chose 10 qualities that we thought would be desirable for a lions player. The outcome was inspirational, we had chose qualities such as passion, growth mindset and inspiring others instead of skills such as passing off both hands, strength and speed!

Upon reflection how many PE lessons are skill based first? A good lesson may include an element of developing the whole child! So if we think that skills are not as desirable as skills necessarily then why are the vast majority of PE lessons skills based! 

My small experience of this school has definitely got me questioning my own philosophy and as a trainee it will constantly develop. I have been truly inspired by this one school and it solidifies my belief that this is such an exciting time to be a trainee teacher

It's a question that has so many responses and most of them a straight forward but different depending on who you ask.
Today we interviewed teachers, NQTs, students and support staff and asked them all the same question. It is very interesting to hear the different responses. Words such as consistency and honesty were key throughout. Obviously, the most important responses we received were from the children and what was interesting is they preferred teachers to personalise the learning to suit their needs, hold no grudges, be approachable and be fair in their rewards and sanctions. I feel that it is a great experience to get the opinions of the children so you can best adapt your teaching to ensure they benefit from your lessons.