Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Big deep breaths now that it is over

I had a lesson observation yesterday. It's been praying on my mind a little ... I know that in business audit's can happen at any time. They did when I was a civil servant, along with annual reviews. It's just that lesson observations just seem so much more personal and recently the official terms that are used to feedback to teachers have changed. Yes you still get detailed feedback about the content and points of action for the future but right at the bottom of the feedback form marked quite plainly is the sentence "This lesson has been judged as ..." followed by one of the following words ... OUSTANDING, GOOD, SATISFACTORY or ... wait for this, INADEQUATE! And there in the problem lies ... INADEQUATE! Such a bad choice of words. It makes it sound as if a personal judgement is being made about a person and not about teaching in a lesson. These are not words that have been chosen by our headteacher to label us but instead have been chosen by the government's inspectors of schools ~ OFSTED.
So, yesterday's observation was in the afternoon and was not only the headteacher but also an LEA Early Years advisor. They arrived just as I sat down to my talk-time (main teaching time in a nuresery) ... we were learning all about 1 more / 1 less. The kids were really focused. We sang 5 little ducks went swimming one day. We counted keys and asked lots of questions. We talked about what we were going to do when we went off to play later.
Everyone was pleased. The LEA Advisor was happy and reckoned OFSTED would be if they came in tomorrow. And the headteacher said my lesson was good with elements of outstanding particularly in my behaviour management. Phew!
I slept really well last night, nothing to worry about obviously. Now I've just got to wait for OFSTED!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to be observed when I worked for UPS, it would make me so nervous. Good luck!

Recovery Road London said...

I can read your blog with both eyes open. I used to have to close one eye and squint with the other.

Hope you're well today. :)

Fizzy said...

No wonder you have not been around lately. It is a terrible thing to have happen to you. just be thankful that you are not a church school.... we were OFSTEDed last week and now have a SIAS inspection on Monday.
Look after yourself and 5 little ducks always a good song to use ;)

An Extraordinary woman in a mediocre life said...

Well done chica.. im sure OFSTED are gonna be impressed.

xxxxxxxxx

Melissa said...

I hate being observed when teaching! It's maddening!!!!!! Congrats on the high compliments! Way to Go!

MaR said...

Congrats, congrats!!! ¨)