Firstly, while comparing my observation checklist with my partners I noticed we had similar views on the areas of strength shown by the teacher and the areas that could be improved. Although, something that surprised me while watching the videos is how often we may not recognise how our pupils are responding to our lessons until we receive feedback. I found it interesting that one teacher regularly recorder her lessons so she could easily identify the methods of teaching her students responded to and the methods they didn’t.

After watching the videos, I feel I gained vital knowledge into the importance of feedback and self-evaluation during my teaching career. It is clear the only way we can truly improve our practice is if we reflect on our areas of strengths and work to improve our areas of weakness. If all we are told for feedback is that our work is satisfactory we can never develop and improve as we feel what we are doing is adequate. Bill Gates Ted Talk spoke on how studies have shown that countries who result in the best academic performance provide their teachers with feedback. Thus, this allows teachers to constantly improve throughout their career, resulting in their learners being provided with the best education.

While the videos spoke on the importance of self-evaluation, they also stressed the importance of feedback from our peers / mentors through peer observation. Peer observation provides teachers with an insight into how our teaching methods are being received from a learner point of view and allows us to see which teaching methods are is effective for learners and which methods they interact with best. However, while peer observation and feedback is important, how we receive feedback from others is vital if we are to develop our practice. It is vital to remember to always receive feedback constructively and look at it as a positive way to improve so we can go on to provide our learners with better education. Therefore, when we provide feedback for our peers, which we will experience during placement, it is important to remember to always give constructive feedback and while we should give our peers areas of improvement we should never judge.