You will all, I am sure, have been on a training course or had an advisor into your school who gives a demonstration lesson.
This is usually to support some or all of the training information given in the course and demonstrates how effective it can be!
The lesson shown will, of course, reinforce the training given but it will show an exhibition lesson that has all the factors that make up an outstanding lesson….
- It will be pacy
- Fun
- Interactive
- Differentiated
- Practical
- It will show huge progress and learning from all the children
It will also leave you feeling –
“Crikey my lessons aren’t like that…..should they be….am I doing it wrong?”
But then you talk to a colleague or friend at another school who says they have had the same advisor in – and guess what…yes the SAME lesson example was given! This will happen quite a few times until you begin to realise that the advisor had only 1 lesson example to give and he / she just kept repeating it time after time; and you know what –
“anyone can do an impressive one off lesson!”
So don’t feel too depressed!
When I was at college training to be a teacher I had one of my teaching practices at a school in Liverpool. I was in a class whose teacher was a member of the senior management team and just by the way was also keen on sport so we got along well.
All these years later I remember quite clearly something he said which has proved itself to be absolutely true across all the years I have been in education…..
“If you do 1 or maybe 2 all action lessons in a week then that’s all you will manage – the rest is just bread and butter.”
I can categorically tell you that he was right – in fact some weeks it might be ALL bread and butter. The core of a child’s education is bread and butter learning and we need to keep that in our thoughts as we plan the curriculum.
So what does this mean for my teaching?
Perhaps this is more pertinent for younger colleagues in the profession but it doesn’t hurt sometimes to be reminded however long we have been teaching.
The main message here is to NOT put yourself under pressure feeling that all your lessons have to be huge “funfests” or complicatedly organised child centred learning occasions…..they don’t and you shouldn’t try to achieve this.
Yes, in theory, you could attempt to make all your lessons amazing like the advisor lesson – but the amount of work, effort, pressure and stress that this would cause you would inevitably lead to you having a very short career.
Anyone who has been through a few OFSTED’s will tell you that to prepare all your lessons at this level for the inspection is a huge task – and we all sit back with a sigh of relief when they have gone and we can get back to normal.
I was asked a question recently as to how to teach this part of the Maths curriculum – “recognise angles as a property of a shape?”
Now there is no real problem in teaching this part of the curriculum and it’s pretty straightforward and easy to do – but the colleague concerned was trying to think of “wow ways” in which this could be done! This of course was turning a simple teaching point into something of a problem and of course there now existed the factor of overthinking the preparation!
My classes have always been great at comprehension – why…because we did it every week for the whole year. 3 groups and off we go!
There was no fuss and no great intro…on a Monday morning we did comprehension. The class moved into their groups, the Literacy books were handed out and we all got on. Nothing wow at all – it was bread and butter stuff; but boy could they handle comprehension!
So what I am trying to say is this “take the pressure off yourself – don’t keep thinking all your lessons have to be of exhibition quality and become a great teacher that delivers the full curriculum with a well thought out and practical approach.”
But doesn’t mean…. that your lessons can’t be fun. There’s an old adage that says if you’re enjoying teaching something then the class will be enjoying it as well. Your relationship with your class can brighten up even the dullest of subject areas resulting in a fun learning environment no matter how dull the subject area!
(Do be aware though, that your classroom atmosphere is dependent on your class management and behaviour management structures which will allow you to approach your teaching in this manner)
From my own arsenal of teaching methods is my “famous!” burglars analogy when teaching column subtraction….we actually act it out….its great fun but gets the method across to all the children!
So there will be many many times when it is not the lesson plan that is exciting and fun but it is your delivery and interaction with your class that results in them going home and telling mum and dad about it all.
What I am trying to convey in this article is the need to realise that you don’t have to pressurise yourself to constantly produce wow / advisor / OFSTED type lessons. Firstly it is not possible for you to work at this level and secondly the curriculum does not lend itself to doing this. Accept that most of what you do in class is “bread and butter” but give it your own personal twist (put some jam on the bread and butter!) and you will find that life becomes a little easier. Never worry – the children will still learn, make progress and you’ll all have fun doing so.