REFLECTING ON OUR TEACHING – BEFORE AND AFTER OBSERVATIONS

In what ways can having our classes observed and observing other teachers help us explore
our teaching?
When we are observed and reflect on this shared experience, we are more able to notice and
understand the patterns we follow in our teaching. We might then be more aware and open
to pursuing alternative ways to teach.
Lesson observations are shared experience moments. Although sometimes uncomfortable,
they can be regarded as enriching experiences for all involved when we gain awareness of
teaching beliefs and practices.
Thinking about a lesson before being observed. Two complementary views.

Seeing the BIG PICTURE.

 What is the core of the lesson today?

 What is the topic?
 What is your goal for today – where do you want to get at by the end of the class?
(e.g.: By the end of the class, I want my Ss to be more aware of how to ask for and give
recommendations to a visitor; I want to enable Ss to talk about their own circle of friends using
more elaborate vocabulary and being more aware of relative clauses to do it)
 Does the class revolve around vocabulary? (e.g.: describing people)? specific functions?
(e.g.: asking for and giving suggestions to a visitor in Brazil); a specific grammar point? (e.g.:
talking about sleeping habits – present tense – time adverbials – conditions)

 If you just could only bring half a page/use just one screen for notes to remind you of
your lesson plan, what would you include there?
 Looking into detail

 What is a possible lead-in to the new unit? or What is a good warm-up to highlight
something from the first part of the class, the platform, or recycle something that was
taught in a previous class you believe should be seen again?
 What do you think you can elicit from Ss before providing more input on the point?
 How can you personalize the issues in the lesson? Are there activities suggested that
foster personalization?
 If you need to prioritize because there is not enough time, what will you choose to
leave out? How can you shorten/extend activities you planned if need be?
 Do you relate to the suggestions in the student’s book and in the Reflective Teaching
Notes or do you want to adjust them?
 How flexible is your plan to include students’ contributions?
 What is one way to teach vocabulary you anticipate your students will have trouble
understanding?
 How can you tweak tasks and make them more engaging or challenging?
 Can you anticipate points that could be highlighted on the whiteboard/any sharing
device?
 Can you think of short links to make your class flow better?
 How can you make the ‘plot’/’story’ become more concrete for your students in the
first levels? (you have to know ‘the plot’ yourself)
 How can you increase the volume of the vocabulary practice proposed? What kind of
questions would help?
 What kind of questions can you ask to help Ss notice language features?
 What can you do to make sure your TTT is not high, or rather, how can you increase
SST?
 What tasks do you have to model?
 Looking back

Think about the issues below and recall what happened in your class more clearly.
 Did you manage to show you can create a nice atmosphere in the classroom?
 Did you check what students know before providing input, and give them a chance to
contribute with what they already know?
 Was there a balance between your TTT and STT, or does it seem you talked too much?
 Did you provide a good volume of practice throughout the class?
 Did you model the activities you proposed?
 Did you find plenty of time for students to talk about themselves or did you spend
more time systematizing and explaining?
 Did you refrain from asking questions and answering them yourself?
 Did you mostly ask yes/no or ‘X or Y’ and what-questions?
 Did you notice if you called on all the students, or mainly those who are better or more
disruptive?
 Did you keep a good pace, or did class seem to drag on and on?
 Did you have time to do what you had planned, or did you have to rush towards the
end?
 Were your instructions mostly clear or did you have to clarify them?
 Was your board organized? What did you tend to write on it: frames? grammar
explanations? lexical chunks? unanticipated vocabulary? pronunciation patterns?
 Did you use a variety of student grouping (e.g.: pairs/groups of three/teams...) or was
it difficult to do it?
 Do you think you made the most of the 50 minutes of class or would you do things
differently next time?