Monday, 30 December 2013

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on account of practice 7: What makes a good lesson?

After watching the video and comparing and contrasting the views of others with yours, what do you think are the ingredients of a good lesson?
From the video I would say that a good lesson consists of three key elements:
Preparation
Planning, well organised, subject knowledge, well informed teachers, resources, reliability (clarity, well evidenced, well thought through)
Learning
Students understanding of expectation of lesson, objectives, clarity of outcomes - what do we want to achieve? Pulled together at the end - what have we learnt? Learning is assessed and reviewed
Appropriately selected visible learning methods - making the learning process explicit with the teacher as an enabler
Engagement
Passionate teachers that interest pupils, if not then teacher can engage because of subject knowledge, engaging content that connects with the real world, challenge and element of surprise- blow your mind, take you somewhere else, use your senses, unpredictability to avoid a 'sanitised' learning environment.

I particularly liked the idea that a good lesson makes a difference, has an impact and is a social process where students take mutual responsibility for the learning of themselves and others.

Another element that I would perhaps add to this list is this pastoral aspect of teaching. Students, particular those from deprived backgrounds, often rely on their subject teachers for emotional support and, whilst it might be possible to recognise a positive learning environment during an observation, it is not always possible to recognise the extent to which a teacher might be supporting a student beyond the curriculum.

I think that I personally spend quite a lot of time of the first two elements and sometimes struggle to incorporate the third element - engagement. I think this is something that I need to seek the advice of other members of my department on and by modelling this encourage them to do the same for their weaker areas in teaching and learning.

How can you develop a shared understanding of what makes a good lesson across your team?
ACTION POINTS:
1.       Ask my team what they think a good lesson looks like and them compare to my answer above

2.       Get our team to work together and go into lessons to 'talent spot' and see what makes a good lesson

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