#nobservation

[noblegiraffe]

If you haven't seen the nobservation hashtag on Twitter yet, you should check it out. Teachers sharing their truly crap observation feedback. My favourite so far:
"#nobservation. A lesson on Gandhi adjudged to be insufficiently Welsh. Suggestion: call Mahatma "Geraint" instead."

I seem to have blocked out years of observation feedback but I do remember being told years ago my lesson would have been better if I'd got 34 year 8s out of their seats and moving around the tiny classroom. Pretty sure it would have been chaos! That was back when kinaesthetic was a thing.

Sadly it seems like they can! Mind you after 20 years I realise how pointless the findings are anyway!

Plus our Head does a few days for OFSTED so his rules

From my NQT mentor.
"You shouldn't have lent the grade 11 students rulers. Let them sit twiddling their thumbs for a few lessons, then they'll remember to bring them."

From a colleague as part of appraisal.
"Some of the students couldn't use scissors, so you shouldn't expect them to." Most could I helped those who struggled, it was laziness not any real difficultly.
"There wasn't enough Maths" it was all maths, just not pages of problems.

Head observing a maths circle time in an ASD class with severe learning difficulties. We did various games and attention activities (parachute games, throwing bean bags, pouring water etc). His feedback? You only did one maths activity (meaning the counting song we sang). Does he even know what maths is at the mid P Levels?

This thread makes cathartic reading.

I’ll do a confession now...

Many years ago I was being forced to teach what I could only describe as my fourth/fifth/last subject out of timetabling desperation.. and I got the feedback-
‘I love how much struggle time you give them when they ask a question, it really makes them independent learners’.

Yes reader, you guessed it- I had been asked a question and I didn’t have a scooby as to the answer but didn’t feel like I could say that in front of the SLT nobserver...

Captain you would be demonstrating pathetic fallacy then! 😂

I once had an observation teaching a Primary maths group of 30 (not my class, but a new ability set, with no children I knew, year above, highest set, new SLT idea to raise attainment - setting across two year groups, introduced that week without consultation.) The atmosphere in school at the time was AWFUL. Academisation was about to happen. Acting Head and SLT all introducing a barrage of new initiatives, with threats and intimidation. Workload expectations were going through the roof. Three experienced staff (read 'UPS so expensive) had just been placed on capability in the days before during current round of observations, and in the staff meeting that week it had been announced that anyone on UPS (me) not getting outstanding on observations would need to consider whether they wanted to stay on that pay scale, whether the school was the right place for them or they could be re-observed regularly over a 6 week period, with their books, work and the 'extra' they gave to the School closely monitored to ensure they deserved it. That morning the Head had said he wasn't sure I was committed enough as I had declined the offer of data analysis training taking place at school 7am-7.45am as my childcare didn't start earlier enough.
I was observed by FOUR steely faced men - Head, Maths Lead, new Academy CEO and LEA bod. No one gave me eye contact on entering the room, or during entire observation. No one spoke to me. They all had clipboards and sat motionless in a row. At the end they left without eye contact or speaking to me.

Feedback was that the teaching, progress, engagement etc were all excellent but it couldn't be considered outstanding as I wasn't 'jolly' enough, didn't smile enough or seem relaxed in my role.

No shit Sherlock.

I resigned shortly afterwards, of my own violation and escaped.

I was told, in a mocksted, by a headteacher of a different school who didn't know me from Adam....

Everything was good about your lesson. I have no negatives. But you just didn't sparkle and I just know you can do more (head tilt).

As I said, she didn't know me, so had no clue. So got a head tilt and a bemused nod back.

In the actual inspection, an inspector came over to me in the lesson to tell me how lovely the lesson was and how well it was all going.

Your power point is the wrong shade of green. Yes...seriously!

Christ this is so depressing.

‘You’re too slick.’

Apparently having excellent presentation skills, being very organised was.....a criticism?
#nobservation

A friend’s only criticism was that she didn’t clean the whiteboard at the end of the lesson.

It was suggested by OFSTED that I might try to differentiate by giving some students in my GCSE class a different/"easier" poem to the others.

This poem was part of their GCSE set cluster. Not sure the exam would differentiate!! 🤔

Funnily enough I had the opposite. In a joint observation my SLT bod said to the OFSRED woman what a good job I was doing of engaging weak children in a very difficult text. She relied 'meh; it's on the specification, so she has to.'

Ofsted inspector: "I couldn't see what the TA was doing during the lesson."

"Oh that's a shame, she was supporting [name of child] who is nearly blind and he could see what she was doing .

"Thank you. I did notice a child with a funny-looking eye."

My head put in an official complaint about that. Not up-held, perfectly acceptable.

Is it wrong that I read that as #Knobservation?!

My fractions lesson didnt contain enough on equality and diversity apparently.

It's meant to be nobservation, ohreally!

I had a 20 min #nobservation when we had Ofsted a few years ago. Y3 Science lesson on food chains. Showed a clip from Living Planet.
First task was chn putting arrows, sun, plants and animals in the right order for a food chain. Lots of good, quality chat from the class about their task and they finished quickly. Inspector left. None of the chn got it right as they all put the arrows going from predator to prey rather than from the producer to plant to prey to predator (i.e following the energy initially created by the sun). Knew this was going to happen, had it in my lesson plan and was going to spend the rest of the lesson addressing the misconception looking at how the energy goes through the food chain/web. Anyhoo, saw the inspector to get feedback after school. She said that the lesson was satisfactory as it was too easy as all of the chn got it right in the first task and that there was no challenge. I patiently explained that she was wrong, food chains blah blah. Showed books but because she "didn't observe it" she couldn't change her decision. #nob

Not on a par with some of these, but...

Academy chain. Observation by two of the 'top dogs'. One of them didn't bother to stay for the whole lesson, and left me a scrawl on a torn out page from an exercise book as feedback. The other criticised me because some children answered the register "Here" and others "Yes, Sir". Apparently it was critical that they all answered identically.

I left the term after.

Ha! I clearly won't tick the 'with it'bocx on my next observation noble

I'll quit whilst I'm ahead...!

Good grief this is so depressing......

I’m so pleased to be out of education.

I didn’t get outstanding once in 2008 because I called the children guys and I didn’t use a tiny voice. (I’m loud at the best of times, especially when I’m nervous!)
When I asked what I should call them instead of guys and she suggested ducklings!!!
I’d criticise her feedback now that’s for sure.
(The next ofsted I had lower ability English and a child sobbed for 5 minutes in the lesson and I got outstanding- you never can tell can you!!!)

The last Ofsted at my school arrived in the last week before year 11 left for study leave. I was observed in my last ever lesson with a weak year 11 class who needed to be exposed to as many topics as possible just before their exam as experience had taught me that was the best chance they had of remembering it in the exam. I was told "you jumped around from topic to topic without allowing them to make any deep learning". No shit Sherlock! This was our last ever lesson and we were revising, the deep learning was supposed to have been done in the previous 5 years! They all meet or exceeded their targets but I was judged on that 20 minute segment of their last lesson, and it apparently wasn't good enough.

I’ve managed to avoid OFSTED so far - but I have been criticised for my appearance m (hair not neat enough, outfit too dark), my energy levels (you were too enthusiastic at the beginning of the lesson and when greeting the class) and was told my lesson was chaotic and that I hadnt differentated properly as all the kids weren’t working at the same pace. It was a food tech lesson. The differentiation WAS them working at their own pace with support and this was mentioned in the plan - how the fuck do I differentiate whisking? Different sized whisks?!