Martian Bishop, are you around? Or anyone else who might be able to advise re web resources for teachers

[exasperatedmummy]

I am getting my presentation ready, im at the stage where i want to put it together. Two things i could do with some help with really.

1. MB, can you point me in the direction of where you got the info about the straw - i really want to include this, but imagine that they might be a bit about mumsnet as a reference

1. Lesson plan templates anyone? Just wondered how much detail i should include, totally in the dark about this one.

I have a ten minute presentation slot, so was going to use that as my intro to class, then refer to the lesson plan to how the rest of the lesson might pan out.

I'm shitting my pants and having a crisis of confidence, so heeelllllllp

I'll be around for the next half-hour or so (am a teacher).

What is it that you are trying to do?

lol - my post was a bit unclear really, without the previous one, that i can't find now

I have a job interview on wednesday, for a biology lecturer position at FE college. I don't have any teaching experience really, apart from some undergrad teaching i did during my phd.

I am going present on cystic fibrosis, and there is apparently a demo with a straw that is quite good. MB had suggested this but i can't find the link she suggested.

What i need help with is the lesson plan - having never produced one, would be great to get a link for a template. Also, a site that would indicate if i am pitching it right, im going for A level Biology in this talk. Found a few sites with downloadable lessons but not that great tbh.

Me too.

Sorry, am primary - this is way over my head! Hope martianbishop comes along soon.

A-level biology is way out of my league - I don't really think I can be much help.

A lesson plan will have a place for your Learning Outcomes (aim of your lesson), number and makeup of students (you probably don't have a lot of info to complete this), prior learning, and LOs of subsequent lesson.

Then in the body of it, a place for timings.

In the plenary/wrap-up, you will want to check what they have learnt in your lesson.

That is a great help re the lesson plan, they will know that ive had no formal teaching experience but at least if i can get something on paper that suggests i have half an idea it might help.

Im wanting to do my PGCE at some point, this is a part time position at a college, i NEED the money and obviously this will be good experience, im torn between secondary and primary tbh. A level biology feels over my head tbh, im very rusty

In the lesson plans that we use for hour-long lessons (in secondary) the basic pattern tends to be:
Starter - to get the class thinking and engaged, probably in a skill or thought-pattern they will be needing in the lesson

Introduction - Set your learning objectives ('by the end of this lesson you will be able to...') and then introduce the subject and the task(s) you want them to be able to undertake this lesson; this may also include you modelling (demonstrating) the task

Development - Practical task for them to undertake, possibly in pairs or small groups; set time limit then circulate to ensure everyone understands and is on task

Plenary - feedback what their findings have been; discuss, make sure learning is consolidated and have a way of showing they have all moved on and learned something from when they started the lesson (could be something as simple as hands up)

Thanks for this, still shitting my pants but at least getting somewhere now.

Establish your learning outcomes, and then plan the main teaching bit. How are you going to deliver this (Powerpoint?) and what will you have the students do? Do you need to prepare anything to hand out to them?

Once you have sorted out this, you can add on the Starter and Plenary.

The school will be assessing you on your manner in front of the class - friendly, interacting with the students, pitching at their level etc.

They won't worry too much about the content of your lesson, and certainly won't if it doesn't have all the bells and whistles.

Is this the thread you are looking for?

bugger i fogot to include a hat

Yes, i have it now weasley, thanks

The involving the students bit is what is stumping me.

Was thinking along the lines of doing the ten minute presentation, make them stick straws up their noses as the starter, to get them interested. Describe CF symptoms, treatments, genetics of, and then gene therapy.

Was then thinking of a crossword for an activity, maybe that the students could fill in on their own, and then we could fill it in on the computor?? As a class?

Then have a slide of important facts/take home message. Then set a research task for gene therapy in the form of either questions or an essay? With the intention to use this as an intro to gene therapy techniques in the next lesson?

I think if they were to ask me to actually do the lesson, i might find it less daunting than presenting to a panel of four interveiwers. Not sure how i can involve them really - uggghhhh, this is harder than i thought.

Approximate timings. How the lesson accommodates different learning styles and ILT and, crucially, differentiation. You also need to have 2 columns - what the students are doing and what the teacher is doing e.g. students work in groups on x, teacher monitors achievement through circulating and targeted questions.

So is the crossword a bit of a crap activity do you think? Doesn't really call for much teacher intervention does it? Would take them what? Ten minutes i guess, then another ten minutes or so doing it on the board - where can i get a crossword generator anyway? I suppose i could do OHP no problem.

Maybe during my intro speech i should be asking questions of the students? Something like - Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive condition, can someone tell me what this means in terms of inheritance? I would of course be assuming some prior knowledge of genetics and inheritance at this stage. Just i might feel a bit daft asking people who obviously know this iyswim

Ah, i can cheat re the crossword though, assuming i wont get to present that, it can be part of my lesson plan, so a completed crossword given to the panel, done in powerpoint maybe, might be the way to go? This is hard, fun, but hard

any thoughts on the crossword?

tes has a resource section.

A crossword is fine for 'what have I learnt today', but not the learning itself.

I only use crosswords for revision in KS3.

I would never use a crossword in an interview espcially not as a main activity.

When learning key words I get my a level classes to play taboo or I stick a key words or idea on a post it note on someones head and they have to wonder the room asking questions trying to work out what the post it note said. Or we play ask the expert, as a plenary they have to ask the class expert questions, if you ask a question they can't answer ( but you can) you become the expert, Whoever is expert at the end wins.

Roll play is good - it gets the kids to really think what it is like to be a kid that suffers CF, a parent who cares for them, a doctor, a researcher, even a charity fundraiser - but if you have only 10 minutes, it's not really enough time.

On the other thread, you say that you have to give a 10 minute preentation and a lesson plan.

Is the lesson plan a fictitious one - ie what you would do if you had the full hour - or is it what you are doing in the 10 minutes.

Are you sure you don't have to do a complete lesson for students? I work in a secondary and we would always include as part of the interview an observation of a lesson with real students - usually a half class rather than a full class. I think this would be even more so the case if someone was coming without very much experience.

I have to give a ten minute presentation, it says, i have to chose a subject and present it as if it were a lesson. I then have to produce a lesson plan for what i would assume to be the whole lesson - hmmm, i need to check this.

That is a good idea squeaky, although the Cystic Fibrosis angle is being used to introduce concepts about genetics and gene therapy rather than being completely about the disease iyswim. Will have to sit down to this tonight and try and get it licked.

Scrapped the crossword idea, i thought it was pants too

Ah, i have looked again at the interview letter, i have to do a lesson plan for the ten minute presentation - that makes life ALOT easier.

If you are unclear, you could produce a lesson plan for what you are actually doing (you need to do that anyway so you can deliver the 10 minute lesson) and a theoretical one for a one-hour lesson.

Ten minutes is such a short time to assess your teaching skills. I imagine they are only looking at you manner, enthusiasm etc.

Key is that you enjoy what you are doing and are enthusiastic for your subject.

I'd definitely do the 'expert' groups idea: Split class into equal groups and number each member of the group. Then get all the number 1s to meet up, all the number 2s, etc. Each number group then reads/researches about one aspect of the subject you want them to learn about (I'd have about 5 or 6 sub-topics); then get them to go back to their orginal group and feedback, orally, using diagrams, notes or whatever.

The plenary then should gauge what they have learned and whether there are any gaps in their knowledge - each student filling in the crossword should show this, then you can add the idea that you will collect in the crosswords and fill in any gaps in their learning for the next lesson.

It's not a new idea but it's a good solid way of ensuring independence and a student's ability to learn about something and then successfully transfer that knowledge to someone else.

Your presentation would then be to explain the lesson subject and talk through the learning objective(s), go through this task and concept, outlining the heading for each sub-group. It's a good idea to have 2 learning objectives: one focusing on the concept and one focusing on skills, (so in this case the second one might be "To develop our group skills in independent learning").

Does this help?