Last week I was lucky enough to see two more of my colleagues deliver lessons, and from each one I learned a few things.
The first I saw was an A-level physics lesson, this was delivered by an experienced colleague of mine who has a background in FE colleges and as such is very experienced in post 16 teaching. He welcomed m into a year 12 lesson on Hooke’s law, and I am pleased to report that I enjoyed it immensely, The lesson atmosphere was very similar to my own post sixteen lessons and his approach to the topic was similar to the one I would have taken if I as teaching it, so I could take away the knowledge that I’m not completely wrong! I was a little worried as to the length of time it took the pupils to draw and plot two graphs though. This made me think about my own teaching of graphs. From year seven upwards I normally give out graph paper with axes already drawn on to pupils when touching on graphs, as the drawing of axes can take a while and they are always given axes in the exam paper. I realise now this is a rather insular way to look at it. My question usually is: “when will they ever need to draw a set of axes?” this question hasn’t changed, but the answer has. Before, my answer would have been “never!”, but now I know the answer is “for A-Level physics”. They need this skill for their A-Level in physics and I would assume Biology and Chemistry also. It is something they need to do as part of their assessed practical, and it is a skill I can start to hone in my pupils way before they get there, meaning their A-Level science might be a tad easier. I am going to insist that the higher ability pupils I teach learn these skills early, so that in the future our A-Level science students are already equipped with them.
The other lesson I saw was taught by an NQT within the department, we share a class and I went to see her teach the class we share. It was great to see the class in a different light, and to see how they respond to another teacher. There was also an IT failure at the start of the lesson, and I was amazed by the calmness the teacher had and the way she adapted her plans to go without it. I also gained a superb starter task out of it (see below)!
Filed under: A Level, cross-curricular, etmooc, Maths, Starters, Teaching Tagged: A-Level, Cross-curricular, Education, etmooc, Maths, Puzzles, Sixth Form, Starters, Teaching 
