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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

Original poster

Learning walk feedback. Ffs.

21 replies

OneOfTheGrundys · 07/12/2017 19:15

Y9.
Working pretty much solidly and almost independently for 20 mins.
Slight silliness from 2 at the end.
Feedback from HT: this was too much for them.
Sooo... I’m expecting a lot of them. They’re mostly doing it. They’re a tricky bunch.
Aaaaand it’s not good enough. 🙄

OP posts:
MadeinBelfast · 07/12/2017 19:21

Offer to let the head have them one day for 20 minutes to show you how it's done.... Bet they'd eat the head alive 😉

Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 07/12/2017 20:14

Hehe. He can barely string a sentence together...
He was all ‘oh, they’re all keen and ready to learn.’ Erm... he should’ve seen them at the start of the year. Does he honestly think they arrive in the classroom like that? 2 with ODD, 3 on multiple exclusions.
You’re right, they’d have him for breakfast.

OP posts:
Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 07/12/2017 20:15

And thank you btw Brew

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BeingATwatItsABingThing · 07/12/2017 20:17

My Y5s work for that amount of time and longer independently. Not every lesson but when I need to see what they can do without adult support...

phlebasconsidered · 07/12/2017 20:35

I've taught secondary and primary, and trust me when I say that year 5 will always work better and for longer than a year 9 class! Year 9 is the year that most closely resembles working with year 2. Grin

Chaosofcalm · 07/12/2017 20:49

Was the head saying expecting them to work independently for 20 minutes was too much for them?

noblegiraffe · 07/12/2017 21:34

Blimey well done. My tricky Y9s couldn't work independently or solidly for more than about 3 minutes without one of them doing something silly so I'm really impressed even if your HT wasn't!

Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 07/12/2017 21:53

Yes-that I should be expecting less of them and doing a mini plenary half way through.
Why I would unsettle a group that I’ve been working on since September to be more independent and work for longer stretches I have no idea.
We have good days and bad ones noble 😂

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Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 07/12/2017 21:55

Lol re the Y2 Y9 parallels! I can imagine the indignant faces if I ever mentioned that to my jolly bunch of reprobates!

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leccybill · 08/12/2017 00:02

Oh I frequently tell mine when they are acting like infants. Have been known to say '#Year1Behaviour' when they start petty disputes over broken/hidden/exploded pens, messing with bottles, coins, gluesticks, making silly noises, leaning back, the list goes on....
Well done OP on whipping a bunch of Y9s into shape, it's not easy.

OpalTree · 08/12/2017 12:43

A secondary school teacher once told me year 9 girls are the worst of all. Is that right? (I have a year 9 daughter.Grin)

CuckooCuckooClock · 08/12/2017 13:13

I frequently tell mine year 9s (and 10s and 11s) that they're behaving like 6 year olds. Not a chance they could work for 20 mins solidly.

Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 08/12/2017 16:05

I was just surprised that he marked me down for it.
I say that but as the new missive on lesson planning from him is to do 8 minute activities with a million mini plenaries in between I may have been a victim to the latest fad...

I’d say that 9s in general are widely perceived to be the worst year at secondary! I could be wrong though!

Also, to clarify, the 20 minutes of independent work isn’t successful every day!!!

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elephantoverthehill · 08/12/2017 21:59

Sounds like a very good lesson taught by you and well done for getting a group of odious Y9s into extended independent learning. For your Head though it is all about ticking boxes. SLT have to find something to criticise to justify their job role otherwise they are not being incisive enough.

Everytimeref · 08/12/2017 22:07

This teaching in mini blocks with "advert" breaks is just silly. How can you expect students to concentrate to 2 hours to complete exams if you only ever expect them to complete work in 10 mins slots.

noblegiraffe · 08/12/2017 22:24

The mini-plenary obsession came out as a result of Ofsted's focus on showing progress. Given that they're only in the classroom for 20 minutes, you can't have a learning objective that takes a whole lesson or more to achieve, so little bite-sized observable chunks it is.

I got observed by Ofsted years ago just as I was launching GCSE maths coursework with my Y10s. It was a substantial piece of work which would take a fortnight. He said he was going to downgrade me as I hadn't stretched the most able in the 20 minutes he saw. I had to argue with a sodding Ofsted inspector that over the course of two weeks they would find this coursework very stretching indeed and he capitulated.

Piggywaspushed · 09/12/2017 08:30

When you say marked me down, what is the purpose of this Learning Walk? They shouldn't be graded/ used for formal observation purposes or centred on individual teachers but used to gain a picture of working practices, such as independent learning, or supporting the less able, or questioning or some such.

This sounds a bit dodgy!

Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 09/12/2017 09:36

It’s fed back (individually) to the hod and the slt in charge of t&l in both academy schools. He was in there for about 30 mins and was, essentially, a lesson obs by another name. I’m meeting him next week to take issue with it and I intend to be a very polite and hard working thorn in his side until he changes my written feedback to incorporate my reasoning for the task!

They only get to do another 1 hour 15 mins obs on me the rest of the year though now.

Agreed re ofsted. Our t&l meeting the other day stated that the kids had to learn something new every lesson but in my subject (English, skills based a lot of the time) that isn’t always possible. Apart from studying a new text etc.

Lovely lovely staffroom. ❤️

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Original poster
OneOfTheGrundys · 09/12/2017 09:38

It wasn’t graded but the feedback was very specific to me.
I’m new at this school since September but have never been learning walked like this before.

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 09/12/2017 11:25

There also shouldn't be written feedback on a learning walk. This does sound like an observation and your union would be interested in that!

We have learning walks once a term I think, and don't like them because they are unannounced. We get a very short email sometimes telling us what they noticed but it is usually very general and about the students not the teaching.

Ofsted do not grade lessons at all but the mini plenary did indeed come out of obsessions with showing progress in 20 minutes.

MsJaneAusten · 09/12/2017 22:27

I’m pretty sure ofsted have backed away from the need for mini plenaries etc and now focus on ‘progress over time’ (judged by book scrutinies and data rather than lesson obs) so your observer is also out of date

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