Today I was able to use my CRT to observe a colleague teach writing to a group of Year 3s And Year 5s. In the previous lesson she had taught the children how to use 3 good (or bad) statements and worked on NOTICING what was in the writing. The children worked with their buddies on IMITATING the exemplar and working on using the writing skills as part of their own practice.
When I arrived she was unpacking the next part of the lesson - sharing the aim with the children, which was to create a Monster Menu. She shared menus and asked them what they noticed. The most powerful part for me was the range of exemplars she used, this made me think that I am not giving enough time to the discussion and the noticing. She used prompting and modelling and asked hinge questions to see what they children could tell her about the exemplars. She praised the children when they gave her the answers she was looking for and revoiced what they had said. To finish that part of the lesson she showed them paper copies of the exemplars and asked them to highlight what the things that were the same in the exemplars.
“If I was going to highlight I need to look and find what is the same in both.” She told the children that she would be giving them only 4 minutes to do the activity before they had to share with the rest of the group. She also shared the fact that this was going to help them to write their success criteria for their own writing.
What have I learnt?
When I arrived she was unpacking the next part of the lesson - sharing the aim with the children, which was to create a Monster Menu. She shared menus and asked them what they noticed. The most powerful part for me was the range of exemplars she used, this made me think that I am not giving enough time to the discussion and the noticing. She used prompting and modelling and asked hinge questions to see what they children could tell her about the exemplars. She praised the children when they gave her the answers she was looking for and revoiced what they had said. To finish that part of the lesson she showed them paper copies of the exemplars and asked them to highlight what the things that were the same in the exemplars.
“If I was going to highlight I need to look and find what is the same in both.” She told the children that she would be giving them only 4 minutes to do the activity before they had to share with the rest of the group. She also shared the fact that this was going to help them to write their success criteria for their own writing.
What have I learnt?
- That it is important to have a range of exemplars ready so the children can discuss (Notice/Think) what they are trying to achieve with their own writing.
- That there needs to be time given to practising the writing craft.
- By using questions I can ensure that everyone knows what to do
Where to next?
- Give more time to the discussion
- I could used Google classroom to store the exemplars so the children can access at later date.
- I need to share the why and relate it back to their writing goals.
- I need to constantly share and revoice what has been said and make it relevant.
- I need to be more explicit with my use of visual success criteria.
- When giving the children an activity, tell for how long and move on with the lesson
What am I uneasy about?
- While watching the lesson, most of the boys seemed to be uninterested in the lesson although the subject matter “roasted rotten rats” appealed to the boys. I think that the children probably sat for longer than usual.
- How can I ensure that my lesson has enough time to discuss, practice, write, share?
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