The Importance of Detailed Lesson Planning

Now we have reached the half-way point of the placement, we thought this was a good opportunity to remind beginning teachers and mentors of the importance of detailed lesson planning.

Beginning teachers are required to create a full and detailed lesson plan for every lesson they teach, and further details can be found on this page about why it is important and what should be included.

As well as helping beginning teachers to think carefully about what it is they are going to do and say during the lesson, each plan provides some evidence that the Teaching Standards are being met.

Unless tutors have said otherwise, particularly during their visits, beginning teachers and mentors should follow the guidance on this page. To support the process, this month’s mentor development activity involves mentors co-planning with beginning teachers. Please see below for further details.

Beginning Teachers’ Individual Needs

At this stage of the programme, the individual learning needs of beginning teachers often start to become apparent. To support these needs, tutors work with mentors to provide tailored guidance and provision. Beginning teachers should be aware that tutors may advise different approaches for different individuals, and not all tasks or actions will be the same for everyone. If there is any uncertainty, beginning teachers are encouraged to check with their tutor rather than assuming all participants should follow identical steps.

Beginning teachers are also advised to avoid comparing their progress with that of their peers, as this can cause unnecessary worry. Instead, they should focus on comparing their current level of practice with their own starting point at the beginning of the programme. This provides a clearer and more constructive measure of development.

This Week

Once again, beginning teachers will be in school Monday to Thursday. The percentages in the Weekly Expectation grid, on p32 of the School Placement 1 Handbook, should continue to be of four days. Further details of this week’s activities and responsibilities can also be found in this grid. Please remember, the information provided in the grid is guidance and need not be adhered to if it is not in the interest of the beginning teacher’s learning to teach. If mentors have any concerns regarding the pace at which their beginning teacher is progressing, they should contact the relevant tutor.

Placement Theme

Over the placement, there are three themes to focus on in supporting the trainees’ learning. Each one lasts a week and they are designed to integrate theory and practice by building upon the trainees’ learning from the LATiS days. Full details cam be found on the themes page.

This week is Theme 3, Adaptive Teaching, and involves some activities that trainees must complete. Full details can be found on the Theme 3 page.

Targets have been pre-set and written in ePortfolio. Discussions at the Weekly Review will therefore focus on these.

The Weekly Review

The agenda from this week on will follow that which is set out on p.8 of the placement handbook. However, in short, the agenda is as follows:

1. Review pupil progress
2. Discussion the reflection on the targets beginning teachers have been working on
3. Review teaching moments 1 and 2
4. Set three targets, and their action plans, for next week
5. Discuss any findings from the PDAs completed during the week
6. Plan which lessons will be taught next week and discuss any other logistics for the week ahead

From Week 9 (26-29 Jan.) there are no more themes for this placement. Beginning teachers and mentors can therefore focus on any aspect of practice when identifying Teaching Moment 1 and Teaching Moment 2 at this week’s Weekly Review.

Once again, we suggest that the Tracker is reviewed this week but focusing areas that haven’t been looked at, especially if they relate to the beginning teacher’s targets.

For convenience, page 8 of the placement handbook can also be found on the Weekly Reviews page.

Tutor Visits

These continue this week. Further details of what to expect and how to prepare can be found on this page. Beginning teachers must ensure their ePortfolios are up-to-date, shared their OneDrive teaching file and have completed the January Preparedness to Teach Survey (link available on Bb) prior to the day of the visit.

Our quality assurance processes aim to support placement schools in creating opportunities for beginning teachers to develop their practice in line with the Primary Entitlement Document. Mentors and beginning teachers may therefore find it helpful to revisit this document so that any concerns or issues related to the current provision can be raised and discussed with the tutor during the visit.

On the visit, tutors may need to view recorded lessons. Trainees and mentors are reminded to keep as many recordings as possible to assist with this.

Mentor Development Activity 2

Please may we remind mentors of this month’s development activity which is now available on this page. It has been designed to coincide with the current focus on detailed lesson planning (see above).

It involves co-planning with their beginning teachers. The plan produced should be flagged by the inclusion of “(Co-planned)” on the relevant lesson plan after the beginning teacher’s name.

Mentors are reminder that these activities form part of the annual refresher training and when completed, should be recorded on the Primary Mentor Development Log so that funding can be claimed by schools directly from the DfE at the end of the year.

Early Reading including SSP (PDA12)

Finally, a reminder for all trainees in a KS1 environment that PDA12 (Early Reading including Systematic Synthetic Phonics), in the Professional Development Journal, needs to be completed by the end of the placement. If beginning teachers and mentors have any questions about completing this PDA (Professional Development Activity) please could they be emailed to Tiffany copying in the beginning teacher’s tutor.

Reminders

Previous updates will contain further information about these reminders:

• Teaching Moments: Please may we remind mentors and beginning teachers about the guidance on teaching moments that can be found in the Week 6 update.
• Planning: Please could mentors continue to model the planning process to their beginning teachers (see this post and this page).
• Mentor Training: Annotated slides from the briefing meeting are available on the Mentor Briefing Meeting page and the mentor log can be downloaded from the Level 1 and Level 2 Training page.
• Update Notifications: Please remember to check your junk or spam folders if you are not receiving email notifications about these updates in your inbox. See the Reminder: Updates and Notifications in this post for more details.
• Reading Buddy & Maths Mate: Intervention work should be underway. More information can be found here.
• Lesson observations: Forms can be downloaded here, and guidance on recording the formal lessons can be found here.
• Target setting: All 3 targets set should be achievable in a week, including the FIA.
• Professional Development Activities: Completion of relevant PDAs should continue this week.
• Please could all mentors and beginning teachers ensure they have read and are familiar with the contents of the Primary Entitlement Document. Thank you.