How often do you get told you are "very good"? As an adult, probably not that often. But today I was observed by my head teacher and that was the outcome... which doesn't necessarily sound inspiring, but she was assessing against OFSTED criteria and the only criterion higher is to be "outstanding" (so yes, that's what I'll be aiming for next time, those of you keeping score).
I should point out that this was a particularly stressful (and important) observation - the head had observed me last term (before Christmas) and had said that although it wasn't bad it wasn't what she would have expected, so she wouldn't enter that one as the official assessment and I should consider it a "dry run" in readiness for a further one. Hence the further observation this term.
You can imagine my joy.
Having said that, even before today's observation she had expressed her level of confidence in my teaching by offering me a contract for a further year next year. And while I accept that that should've helped me, I was still terrified this morning. Once in the lesson, most of the worries disappeared (as you would hope) and I knew I was going to be okay when she left only half-way through the lesson (if she's still there at the end, panic!) with a cheery wave.
So now my target is to further challenge the higher achievers in the class, to motivate and inspire them and teach them things above and beyond the primary curriculum (sounds rather fun, actually) with a view to them then leading one lesson per week (or so - maybe a fortnight). Then, once I've got that licked, I get to extend that to a weekly club for the whole of KS2 higher achievers.
*Yay, me*
No comments:
Post a Comment