The grade one lesson plan

Creating an Oftsted outstanding lesson

Yesterday I went home with a feeling of dread as I had been informed at lunch time that a number Ofsted inspectors will be coming in during the first week of March. Although this isn’t a full Ofsted inspection I can’t help but feel anxious as this is the first time that I will have experienced such a formal inspection. To provide our team with the best possible chance of achieving an overall grade of outstanding we were booked in for a meeting with the advanced teacher. Below are a few areas that I was told the inspectors would be looking for:

Lesson Plans.  You should have a lesson plan for the lesson you are teaching, one from the previous week and one for the following week.

Active Learning. All students need to be involved in the lesson – students shouldn’t be allowed to mess around on mobile phones, stare out of the window etc.

Keep the pace. Activities should change at least every 15minutes to prevent the lesson from becoming stale and repetitive.

Evaluate the learning. Learning should be checked throughout the lessons. This could include Q & A sessions, writing on a postcard write three things that you have learnt today or an informal discussion.

Knowing the needs of your students. For example having a table for each one of your classes that documents their particular learning needs and issues that they are having. This could include ‘Large tasks faze Jonny, he needs his work breaking down into small chunks’, ‘Claire has caring issues’.

Equality and Diversity. Make sure that your examples aren’t stereotypical and that you use a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds  in your worksheets, discussions and board work.

Creative use of ICT. One way of ticking this box would be to use some of the software mentioned in my multimedia and e-learning teach meet post which explores a range of free software, including animation production and video capture, that you can use with your students.

I have a 40 page booklet on how to become an outstanding teacher so there will be more hints and tips to follow.