If I receive any more stuff on how to deliver an outstanding lesson I am going to scream

[orangeandlemons]

...and scream!

I can only do so much in one lesson. I am so sick of OFSTED being rammed down our throats.

I used to enjoy my job

I know. It's ridiculous. She has said that kids coming in with 4s at KS2 need to be leaving us with A or A* at GCSE.

Actually to take a step back and think.....

Where has all this shit come from? Why are Ofsted suddenly so powerful? Is this good for the students?

I don't understand anymore...

It's awful. Now OFSTED only has 3 categories as well, there will be a hell of a lot more work. We were in SM til last October so have been inspected and scrutinised to death. It's wearing. The amount of work that goes into moving unsatisfactory teaching to satisfactory (prob 3 or 4 teachers) is amazing. Now that satisfactory has gone, this will increase hugely.

The next person who asks me why I left mainstream teaching will be directed to this thread!

Naveed's always really good for me - I never have any problems with him.

It will be a great day when Ofsted is relegated to the dustbin of educational history.

The last school I taught in let Naveed have the week off when OFSTED came in. That was 2003 though. Don't suppose we'd get away with that now.

Naveed's always really good for me - I never have any problems with him.

Well that's cos you let him play games on his phone all the way through the lesson. (That's what he told me anyway.)

I thought plenaries were out. I do a bit if low level gambling for mine with the heads and tails game

Yeah, and listen to music too

My school has announced that from now on observations will be 20 minutes long. I can see why they're doing it, because that's what Ofsted do, but when Ofsted do it it's shit.

Well, he's a good boy really. He's just misunderstood.

I heard Naveed is brilliant in Drama, perhaps you could incorporate some drama activities into your lessons to try to motivate him? Y'know, you're failing him really by not catering to his learning style.

I was observed this week by a trainee Ofsted inspector.

The big watchword is independence - you're supposed to let them try, get it wrong, then work out how to get it right, rather than trying to pre-empt potential hiccups yourself.

She also said my lesson content was dry, and I needed to be more enthusiastic about it. (In fairness, it was a bit. I just did a very basic bread-and-butter exam prep lesson. Naveed liked it though.) So, basically, camp it up a bit, dance around, give them no instructions and you've cracked it.

Absolute bolleaux.

Our last department review had 20 minutes obs. We didn't know they would be 20 minutes. I wanted to barricade the door when the Deputy Head went to leave, so he would be able to see the progress they had made by the time they'd actually finished the sodding practical. They were just lighting the bunsen burners...

Oh, and (getting cross again now!) every pupil is supposed to make sustained and rapid progress every lesson. How, exactly??

Oh yes, independent learning.

Aren't you meant to wander about the classroom going hmmm over their shoulders, but not actually doing anything? Because they are doing it all you seee

Sustained for 20 minutes anyway...

I'm doing a GTP on the job, after having changed career into teaching just over a year ago. I was wondering aloud to my DH (university lecturer, no learning objectives or observations for him, lucky s*d), how you can really personalise learning to the student/differentiate effectively, every lesson. He pointed out that my training organisation have made no attempt to differentiate or personalise anything they've taught me or asked me to do. It's like I stepped through a time portal straight from university to be a school teacher 15 years later...apparently there are no transferable skills from doing other jobs whatsover...!

I wish I knew AViewfromhtefrideg.

I don't know how they can tell. 20 mins obs, 25 kids in class. How can they see if they all make outstanding progress? How? How?

All on task? No one asleep? No one bickering, or even speaking How?

A long time ago a colleague had a kid with a shaved head fall asleep in her lesson. She discovered all the other kids drawing on his head.

Ofsted really takes the fun out of everything

A student teacher at my school tried to get the kids to 'independently discover' how to solve quadratic equations (presumably she'd been fed this line of bollocks in her PGCE). After a fortnight of no progress the kids got together a petition begging for a proper teacher who wouldn't damage their exam prospects.

Noblegiraffe. That is so funny!

In our last OFSTED, I was told that I would have got outstanding if the children had ' idependently discovered' how to achieve the L.O, he then admitted that if that had happened, they would not have achieved at all and the behaviour would have been appalling - WTF!!!!!

I'm sure 'independent learning' was the in thing when i was at school. We had those SMP maths booklets that you did by yourself then got the teacher to mark before you went on to the next one. It was incredibly dull and the teacher didn't ever have time to help when people didn't understand. I think in year 10 our school suddenly said 'oh, bugger!! None of these kids know ANY maths, we'd better start actually teaching them stuff!'

I get the kids to 'independently discover' some things but by the end of the lesson they ALL know what they are supposed to have 'discovered'. My friend was observed by Ofsted while her class were doing an A level past paper, she was graded as good because she knew exactly what their targets were and could talk about what she was doing to get them there. I'm not convinced that Ofsted really care about all the crap that Heads are telling us are all for Ofsted.

Haha. I think you're supposed to let them struggle for 20 minutes, not 2 weeks!

Basically, they're saying don't teach. Fine with me! "Here's To Kill a Mockingbird. Read it, analyse the characters and themes, then work out how to write an essay about them. See you on Results Day!"