Placement Themes

This week’s theme is Justifying Choices and Actions. More information on this theme’s activities can be found on the theme 3 page. This is a two week theme and we suggest that activities 1 and 2 are completed this week.

Further details on how CMs can support the theme’s activities, and the integration of theory and practice, can be found on this page.

Activities 1 and 3 involve making a video recording, or audio if this is not possible. These recordings should be reviewed by CM and trainee together, and a reflection on this must be included within the trainee’s weekly reflection. As always, although trainees may find watching themselves slightly uncomfortable, they will come to realise things about themselves that they were previously unaware of and are more able to address them appropriately. This process is also powerful in revealing to trainees the strong elements of their practice.

All recordings should be compliant with school policy and be made on school devices. The recordings should be reviewed as soon as possible, to reduce the amount of time it is stored, and then deleted once the review is complete. Trainees and CMs may therefore need to identify and set aside a specific time for this purpose. If CMs have any concerns regarding the compliance of this exercise with school policy, they are asked to email Ian (i.campton@soton.ac.uk).

We have produced some guidance for CMs to help them support trainees in reviewing and reflecting on the video recording. Based on the article Using Digital Video in Professional Development by John Yandell, it includes a list of suggested questions that CMs may wish to ask trainees as they review the recordings together. There is a set of questions for each of this placement’s three themes.

A link to this guidance can be found on the school placement themes page or on the guidance for recording lessons page.

This Week’s Written Reflection

The trainee’s written reflection for this week should include a reflection on their learning from the differences between their perceived reasoning behind an action and the actual reasoning behind it (activity 1). Trainees should include a reflection on why there was a difference and what can be learnt from it in terms of developing their practice. There is no need for trainees to reflect on all the differences that they recorded when completing the table of activity 1 so they are encouraged to identify one or two that may link with a current target or that they found interesting or surprising. Why?

Professional Tutor Visits

Professional Tutors will begin making visits this week. Details of how to prepare can be found on the Professional Tutors’ Visits page and p.14 of the handbook.

Review Statement 3

The template for RS3 is now available to download from the Review Statement Templates page. It should be completed and returned to the university by 26 April.

General Reminders

• Rich Discussions: These should feature in every Weekly Review. Further details can be found in this post.
• CMs ePortfolio comments: Each week, please could CMs ensure they review the trainee’s Weekly Review page in ePortfolio and leave a comment to confirm the accuracy of the content.
• Planning: Trainees must not be planning by themselves. CMs should therefore continue to model the planning process to their trainees. Further guidance can be found on the Lesson Planning page.
• Focus Improvement Area: Each week it is important to identify a FIA (see p.9 of the handbook) which is then assessed and reflected on the following week.
• Weekly Expectations: Please refer to the guidance on p.36 of the handbook.
• The Tracker: Areas of the tracker relevant to the trainee’s progress this week should be reviewed and strands highlighted accordingly.
• Target Setting: Targets are set at each Weekly Review and should be achievable within a week (see p.9 of the handbook).
• PDAs: These should be discussed regularly and, for continuity, the PDJ page also has a copy of the booklet containing the PDAs that trainees completed during their LATiS days so CMs can become familiar with them.