Latest news in becoming a 'Qualified' Teacher!

That's right - i'm still officially that crazy foreign teacher who's not actually qualified to teach in England! In my defence I've got four years to get it done - but today "dun da da dhuuuuun" I was observed by a professor from the University and my lesson was assessed as 'very good'. Wouldn't Eileen Cooper & Dave Dunnet be proud :D

It's fun getting feed back on good teaching in another country. There's hoops you've got to jump through to meet the minimum requirements. For instance every lesson must have a clear starter activity; you must state verbally and write out clear learning objective for the lesson and identify what pupils will achieve by the end of the lesson; the main activity must include differentiated tasks where higher and lower ability students can find success and be challenged at the appropriate level; & there must be a plenary (confirmation of learning at the end of the lesson). If these corner stones aren't met you can't 'possibly' have a good lesson. They have so many standards to tick off. Did you make cross curricular links? Was self, peer or teacher assessment used? Was there timely, accurate and constructive feedback? Does the lesson identify prior attainment of pupils and show links to national levels and expectations?

My lesson was pretty good. We discussed the main conventions and instrumentation of African Music. I had a couple video clips I ripped off youtube to demonstrate the different instruments and then made pupils make a web diagram before creating crossrhythms, polyrhythms, hockets and call & response on hand percussion. It was kinda funny because my class can be total monsters but they seemed to step it for the evaluation. I was pretty impressed because they have been pretty difficult in the past.

I did have to tell the evaluator that I'm still working on classroom discipline. It's tough being consistent!! That's my biggest down fall although some improvements been made. I just hate nit picking stupid things like lining up, correct uniform, being prepared with all your equipment, not distracting others or talking out, not throwing things, completing assignments or participating in tasks. These things detract and divert my energy from maintaining high energy levels and delivering excellent lessons. I've got to figure it out, but it's pretty exhausting. I think if I had a police officer in my classrooms teaching would be awesome!!

I have 2 more observations left before they decided if I'm qualified or not. Either way I get a pay check and feedback's always nice. I'll keep you posted :D