Teaching File:
Evaluations
The quality and sophistication of thinking
embodied in your teaching file is one of the most important facets of your
administrative responsibilities in the PGCE year. It is one of the main points
of reference for external examiners in their visits, and is one of the
principal bases for dialogue between the trainee, mentor and curriculum tutor.
There is generally a strong correlation between the quality of a trainee's
teaching file, and the quality of their classroom teaching. Two of the most
important elements of the file are the learning objectives for lessons, and the
evaluations of lessons. They provide insight into the quality of your thinking
in terms of planning for learning.
This is what HMI reported in their comments
on history trainees' record keeping after the last round of HMI
inspections:
'Records varied in their usefulness. Some
trainees kept records to meet their professional obligations- entirely
understandable and justifiable- but failed to reflect on why they kept the
records, or whether keeping them in this or that particular form was either the
most efficient means or helped them and their pupils achieve thier ultimate
teaching and learning objectives respectively. Those trainees who adapted and
modified departmental practice in the keeping of records found the whole
process of record keeping much more useful, informative and beneficial in
shaping and informing their planning and teaching than did those who simply
adopted and conformed to departmental practice.'
Baker, C., Cohn, T. and McLaughlin, M. (2000)
'HMI perspectives of current training issues', in Arthur, J. and Phillips, R.
(eds) Issues in history teaching, London, Routledge
Why doing lesson evaluations is
difficult:
Often doing evaluations becomes a tedious
chore; you are tight for time and have other lessons to prepare, books to mark
etc. Try to keep reasonably up to date if you can; there are few things more
dispiriting than having to write up several days worth of evaluations on an
evening, especially when you can't clearly remember much about the lessons by
then. Do keep in mind however, that is sometimes interesting to delay the
evaluation until after the next lesson with the class, or until after you have
marked the pupils' work, so that you can gauge how much the pupils have learned
from the lesson.
Over a long placement, it is difficult to
ensure that your evaluations do not become repetitive and formulaic ('This
lesson went quite well.... The pupils behaviour was quite good... They were on
task for most of the lesson etc). Keep in mind the full breadth of the
standards for QTS, and try to cover different aspects of the standards over
time. If you have a template of paragraphs for your evaluations, always
commnenting on the same things, this can make it harder to avoid repetition.
(Some trainees experiment with different evaluation formats over the course of
the placement). Do all evaluations need to be of similar length? Some lessons
throw up more to think about than others. If you are beginning to think that
doing evaluations is a pointless chore, it may be because you are not varying
your thinking enough, and reflecting on the full breadth of the standards, and
all the things there are to think about in your teaching.
To think
about:
Is it obvious that it is an evaluation of
a history lesson or is all the comment generic?
Is comment largely restricted to teaching
and class/task management or are you covering the breadth of the standards over
a period of time?
Are there any comments about the influence
of subject knowledge issues on your teaching?
Are there any comments about assessment
issues ?
Is there anything on able
pupils?
Do you talk about the class as an
undifferentiated whole or do you sometimes talk about groups or individuals
within the class? (In how many lessons do all the pupils learn all that the
teacher is trying to teach?)
Are your comments largely descriptive, or
is there analysis and reflection on teaching and learning
issues?
Is there a balance between reflecting on
the behaviour, achievements and learning of the pupils, and your own learning
in respect of learning to teach?
You might comment on such
things as:
What you need to think about for the next
lesson with the class in the light of this lesson.
How appropriate were the materials
presented to the pupils?
What might be improved to improve the
lesson?
To what extent were your learning
objectives achieved? (Some pupils..., others...)
Now you know what they've learned, what do
you teach next?
What was it that made it a good/bad
lesson?
Which bits worked well and which
didn't?
What was your exposition and questioning
like?
How good was your
introduction?
Did you draw things together and finish
the lesson effectively?
Which of the standards are you making
progress in and which are you struggling with?
Are you setting any targets for the next
lesson? Are they genuine targets or just vague good intentions (Must do
something about class management.) Do you reflect back on your aims and targets
or are they lost in the ether?
There are hundreds of
interesting and relevant things you might mention in your evaluations; don't
waste time simply describing or reiterating things that you have already said,
and already understand.
Back to planning
Back to History PGCE
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