The notes Rebecca and I made were very closely aligned as we both agreed on certain strengths and areas for development for the teacher and nothing she’d written surprised me. We both thought that all members of the classroom could see and hear the teacher from the first video which is a crucial factor for a successful lesson. However we both felt that the teacher had the tendency to ramble which could result in the children losing focus. Also we agreed that occasionally his body language was closed off by folding his arms for example.

Something that surprised me from the videos was the clip Bill Gates showed in the final video of the teacher who records all her lessons. The effectiveness of this task surprised me a little as I thought the children may find it distracting or off-putting to constantly be getting filmed. It also seems a rather time consuming technique.

I found these tasks relatively easy as I was under little-to-no pressure to spot everything the first time around. I could pause, rewind, and rewatch the videos to find and development my answers to evaluation points. Completing this task on placement will likely be much harder as it is only one-take and there is a lot to be observing and evaluating at the same time.

One idea I would like to hang on to from these tasks for the forthcoming placement is the use of positive body language. This is because if I display negative body language I could become unapproachable in the classroom.

I’m feeling rather nervous ahead of my placement as I really want to do well. However, I am also extremely excited for the experience and the challenge and hope to develop some great bonds with the pupils and staff at the school.