Observation Sheet Questioning

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and
place in your ePortfolio)
Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Knowledge:
Professional Practice:
learning

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Plan and implement effective teaching and

Question Type

Do you feel your questions

were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?

Did you use a variety of

question types?

What balances was there

between the various
questions types?

Consider both why and

when you made use of the
different question types?

Yes, due to these students being year 1s (6 and 7), I

mainly used convergent questions that led to a particular
and clear instruction or idea. Although the questions were
simple and did not lead to a range of responses, I believe
they were focused on the childrens academic level and
the learners were encouraged to explore their options.
Most of my questions were structured to have a particular
outcome but I believe due to their age and maturity; the
questions were usually low level.
My questions were mainly convergent and divergent due
to their academic level. This is due to the fact that the
students were new to learning full-time in a classroom and
an evaluative question will lead the learners to really think
about their answers and the reason for it.
Convergent questions were my main focus to gain a
particular answer from my students, and to ultimately
have a set outcome and lesson. However, I wanted the
students to expand their minds and encourage them to be
creative and therefore included divergent questions in
order for a variety of answers that led to a discussion. This
was helpful to me, as a teacher, as I was able to learn how
the students thought and their own personal relation with
my lesson that was family structures.
I used convergent questions when I was walking around
the classroom, for example, Can you write your name?
Can you show me how you would spell this word? I also
used closed questions when I wanted the students to
listen to me or if they were getting a bit out of control. An
example of this is, do you want to stay in at recess? and
this led to the students calming down. I used divergent
questions when I was teaching the students, as I wanted
to understand them a bit better and encourage them to
become creative. An example of this was, why do you
think there are different types of families? What do we

think is a traditional family structure? This also led to a

few evaluative questions as the students could make
judgements on family structures with considerate
reasoning.
Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any

pattern in the distribution of
your questions amongst the
students? Consider
reasons for this pattern?

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Have you used wait time?

Did you make eye contact

with the group as you
directed your questions?

I used wait time when the students were sitting on the

mat and were speaking whilst I was trying to give them
instructions and teach them. Therefore, I waited and they
understood that I didnt want to wait around for them and
they settled down. If they werent quiet, I gave them an
ultimatum (you will have to stay in at recess.) and they
understood that they had to listen to what I was saying.
I was sure to use eye contact so they students felt
connected and intrigued with what I was telling them.
When a child was not paying attention, I would make eye
contact with them whilst teaching, so they aware that I
knew they were daydreaming and not involved with the
lesson. Making eye contact, to the group as a whole, was
mainly used when I was teaching them on the mat
(reading them a story, giving instructions) as they all were
looking up at me and I wanted them to respect me and for
them to also know that I respect them.

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do you
qualify any praise given?

Murdoch University
2

When the student gave a correct answer or response, I

was sure to praise them and encourage them to continue
with their work. I feel like it is very important to praise
correct responses from students, especially at that age, as
it gives them a positive attitude towards learning and
supports them to continue giving answers and ultimately;

How do you deal with

incorrect responses? How
do you deal with students
who stumble and grope for
an answer?

What use do you make of

the students responses to
develop the teaching point?
Have you redirected any
questions in order to add to
an initial response?
Are you the only evaluator
of the students answers?

learning more effectively.

I did not want to encourage the students from answering
questions (even if they were incorrect) therefore, I found it
important to still say good try, but not quite etc. This led
for the student to not be discouraged from participating in
class and determined them to find the right answer. My
year 1 students were all eager to learn and therefore, I did
not experience a problem with them fighting for an
answer from me.

I used the students responses to get an understanding of

their level and what they did and did not understand. This
resulted in being able to change around the lesson (make
it harder or easier) due to either questions of confusion or
if they were questioning what they could do when they
finished the set task.
On my placement, no, I was not. My mentor teacher and
also my partner evaluated the students answers to use in
future lessons and to understand their level and
understanding. However, when teaching my own class, I
will be the main evaluator.

Overall Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement in primary school and therefore plan to

change my bachelor to primary education. I feel like the questioning of the
students led me to get to know them more and also let me understand how a
classroom works.

Murdoch University
3

Observation Sheet Management

(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and
place in your e portfolio)
Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice:
1. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
2. Planning for Effective Management

Was your lesson plan

effective for managing the
class?
e.g. How did the students
react to your lesson overall
and to your planned
activities?

I believe my lesson plan was effective; the students

enjoyed the activities and this meant they were dedicated
to doing their work and did not get restless. If I were to do
the lesson again, I would have my lesson plan with me as
then I could follow my own instructions and questions
step-by-step.

Nothing unexpected happened in my whole class lesson.

One child, who has trouble with his behaviour, refused to
contribute in the small group lesson and this was dealt
with by taking away a luxury (playing on the iPad). He did
Did anything unexpected
not deal with this well but I stayed in with him at lunch
happen?
and completed the worksheet. He was then able to play on
Did you provide a variety of the iPad after lunch. I praised him, as he was very capable
of doing the work, but made sure he understood that his
activities?
behaviour was unacceptable (taking away his iPad time
and doing the worksheet on his lunchtime).
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly for
Due to the children being on different academic levels, I
the end of the lesson?
had different worksheets for each maths group (small
Did you feel you were able group lesson) but for the whole class lesson, they all had
to change things if needed? the same sheet. Those who finished early were able to go
around the family tree in texta that was an award and a
luxury for finishing their work quickly. This also
encouraged the other children to complete their work, as
they wanted the same luxury.

Were you aware of

classroom procedures and
school disciplinary policy?
How much did you know
about your students?

Murdoch University
4

I did not change the lesson but I did feel like I had the
control and authority to do so if needed. I felt very
comfortable in the primary classroom and therefore had a
lot of confidence to complete the lesson and I was very
happy with the end outcome.
At the beginning of the first day, before we were placed in
our classrooms, all the prac students had a meeting with
someone who told us the school policies and expectations.
This was very helpful and we were also given a booklet
with all the information we would need (signing in and out,
dress code, behaviour management, etc.). When entering
the classroom, my mentor teacher explained the

How did your mentor

teacher maintain a safe
learning environment?
What strategies did your
observe your mentor
teacher using to maintain
this?

behaviour rewards and disciplines and if there were any

troublesome students. She did not make us deal with
these students on the first two days and let us just
observe and help the students who were welcoming to us.
My mentor teacher was sure to introduce us to the
students and parents and this led me to feel a lot more
comfortable and confident in the classroom. The mentor
teacher used a peg system to reward and discipline and
also used another childs good behaviour to call out a child
who was misbehaving: I love how ----- is sitting up, ----could you sit like her please? Students reacted well to this
as the well-behaved student was praised and also gave an
example to the expectations the teacher expected.

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom

How did you demonstrate to
the students that you valued
them, and enjoyed
learning?
e.g. Tone of voice, facial
expression, sense of
humour, introduction to
students and topic.

Which aspects of your

teaching style do you feel
helped you maintain class
attention?
e.g. Variety of activities,
class or group discussion,
pace of lesson, interest at
class level.

Did the students know what

was expected of them?
Were you able to redirect

Murdoch University
5

When reading them the story I used for my lesson; I used

different tones of voice for each character and let them
join in on the recurring sentence; Just the Way We Are.
As I was teaching family structures I demonstrated to the
children that I valued them by asking about their own
families and having them draw them out on a family tree.
I used facial expressions to show excitement and interest
in their families and also asked them all about their pets
and what they were called. This let me engage with the
students on a more personal level but was also still
related to my lesson. I believe the students valued this
and understood that I was interested in them as a person
and had good intentions when teaching them.
I believe on focusing on the positive and not the negative.
Praising a students good behaviour is a lot more
important than discipline for bad behaviour. This leads to
the students realising that they will only get the attention
they want from good behaviour. I feel this helped maintain
my class attention as they knew that I was going to
praise good behaviour (lollies) and I would simply ignore
bad behaviour in the class and take away a luxury or keep
them in at lunch and complete the work. During the week,
I observed that the children loved having stories read to
them so I incorporated this into my lesson to gain their
positive attention and start off with something I knew
would interest them.
At the beginning of the lesson, I was sure to discuss the
idea that I would be handing out lollies to the children who
behaved and a child who did not finish their work would
have to complete it at lunch.
There was only one troubled student (when it came to

energies of attention
seeking students? Did the
students have enough to
do?

behaviour) in my class. However, he was so capable and I

saw a lot of potential in him. He was always seeking
attention but I simply explained that the work had to be
done and helped him through it. This led me to realise
that he only struggled when he didnt understand; he was
simply his own worst enemy. This child needed a lot of
praise and I was sure to give it to him when he made the
right choice. For the students who finished early, I gave
them the choice to either silent read or go around their
drawing in texture (which all of them chose). During the
week, I observed that they all enjoyed the luxury of
drawing in texta and this led me to reward them with this.
All students were then determined to finish their work in
order to use their textas also.

Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour

Were you aware of what

was happening in all parts
of the classroom? Did you
know what each student
was doing?

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

Did you use non-verbal

cues? e.g. Contact, pause,
gesture, movement toward
student/s concerned.

Overall Comments

Murdoch University
6

I asked my prac partner, and mentor teacher, to join me in

walking around and observing the children. This gave me
more insight on what everyone was doing and if they were
struggling. For the students who I knew had learning
difficulty; I sat with them and explained it again
separately with more detail and examples. I found working
1 on 1 with students was one of my strong points.
At the beginning of the week, I was apprehensive to take
action with bad behaviour, as I did not know how the
children reacted to different types of discipline and what
worked well for the classroom. However, from the middle
and end of the week, I was more familiar with the
students and the classroom structure and I was more
comfortable to take action and help out my teacher with
the poor behaviour happening in the classroom.
Yes I did, when I was teaching my lesson, or simply
observing, I used these non-verbal cues so students
realised my authority. Pausing whilst reading the story (if
students were speaking) made them realise that I was
waiting for them and their behaviour wasnt appropriate
and eye contact whilst teaching and explaining their
instructions I found to be very effective.

Dealing with misbehaving children was challenging but also very fulfilling. At the
beginning of the week, I was quite drawn back from dealing with the students
that misbehaved but with the encouragement from my mentor teacher and with
practice, I realised that I was capable of having the children respect me and it did
make me feel much more confident for my future teacher roles.

Murdoch University
7

Schools as text looking at the whole school

Describe the school in terms of
its demographics, appearance
and resources (be general here
and do not name the school).
What were the roles and
responsibilities of the teaching
staff you observed?

After discussion with your

mentor teacher describe how
policies and processes of
government, administration and
schools have an affect on the
work of the teacher?

The school was very welcoming and easy to work

my way around. They had plenty of resources for
prac students to use and they were very clear in
letting us know this. Everyone was welcoming and
this was portrayed throughout the whole school.
I mainly observed the year one teachers. They all taught
differently and I learnt something from each of them that I
will take with me in the future. I also got to observe the
Deputy Head who dealt with the students with behavioural
problems. This was insightful as it taught me a schools way
of dealing with behaviour management and different
relationships with the students.
The policies and processes of government, administration
and schools have an affect on the work of the teacher due
to the rules and regulations they need to follow. Certain
schools have different images (high academic results,
sports) and therefore have to aim for whatever the school
wants to be seen as.

What did you observe non-teaching

staff doing to support teaching and
learning in the school?

As I was there during book week, I was able to observe

the librarians and the work they put in to encourage and
make sure the students are reading. They supported the
teachers will lending the children books to their academic
level and this means that they need to study the students
and know all of their capabilities. They all worked
incredibly hard during book week and it was really
interesting to observe their relationship with the students.

Students
You will have observed the
diverse nature of your classes.
How was this diversity
supported?

Function of Schools

Murdoch University
8

Children all have different backgrounds and

attitudes and this was evident in the classroom but
was not an issue. I believe, at this age, the
students didnt have any problem with the
differences between them and this was definitely
supported. When teaching my lesson about family
structures, children explained their home situation
(step-parents and siblings, grandparents, etc.) and
all circumstances were accepted by everyone. This
was really good to see and I thoroughly
encouraged all the students learning about
different family structures.

Did you observe the connection

of your schools with the broader
community? How did this
happen?
What do you think the function
of school is?

Murdoch University
9

No I did not. As I was only there a week, I did not have the
chance to see the schools connection with the broader
community.
I think the function of a school (in particular, a
primary school) is to teach the children how to act in
a social environment. I do not think the school
should be a parent, or be expected to fulfil this role,
but needs to understand that all students have
different home lives and the school should make
them feel welcome and safe. A primary school is a
childs first real experience away from home a the
school and their teachers should not only teach
them what is required in the curriculum but also
teach them the correct mannerisms and lessons
that they will need later on in life, in a social way.

Professional ePortfolio
Professional Experience Portfolio (50%) Site address (link) and your name.
_____________________________________
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

COMMENTS

PART A (20%)
Required components for both the Primary
and Secondary Professional experiences:
Lesson Plans (4)
Observation Sheets (one set for primary and
one set for seconday):
Questioning
Management and
Schools as text
Evaluation Form/Final report (2)
Lesson Critiques (At least 2)

PART B (30%)
Essay Tell the story of your Professional
experience and reflect on your choice of
Primary or Secondary Teaching.
Frame your story using the unit outcomes
(Unit Information).
Correct essay conventions are required as
are in text referencing and standard writing
conventions. (500 words)
Tutor

Murdoch University
10

TOTAL MARK for

Observations
and Essay
/50

Murdoch University
11