Welcome to the first weekly update
When a weekly update is posted on the partnership website, beginning teachers and mentors will receive an email notification containing a link to the new post.
All the email addresses we have been given are now in the system. Please could beginning teachers and mentors check with each other that both have received the notification. Occasionally these emails may be directed to junk or spam folders, so please check these if the message is not in your inbox.
All weekly updates can be viewed on the Weekly Updates page. The most recent updates are also listed in the footer of every page on the partnership website.
The website contains all relevant placement documentation, including planning templates, observation forms and handbooks.
Induction
As part of their induction to the school, beginning teachers should familiarise themselves with the policies listed on pp. 7–8 of the Professional Development Journal (PDJ) and follow the guidance on p. 6.
Word versions of these pages are available on Blackboard so that beginning teachers can maintain electronic copies and save them in their PDAs folder on OneDrive.
The same further information about induction can be found on p.7 of the School Placement Handbook and on the Induction for Beginning Teachers page of this website.
iPads
All beginning teachers will be issued with a university iPad or iPad Air. These should be used only to record the formal lesson observation each week.
The devices should remain in school and should only leave the premises once all recordings have been deleted. Beginning teachers and mentors should therefore review recordings together in school. Further information is available on the guidance for recording lessons page.
This week
Further details of this week’s activities and responsibilities can be found in the Weekly Expectations grid on p.37 of the handbook.
For mentors, this week will involve:
- providing informal feedback on aspects of practice they observe;
- identifying, with their beginning teacher, Professional Development Activities (PDAs) from the Professional Development Journal that can be completed during the placement;
- identifying a Reading Buddy and Maths Mate with the beginning teacher;
- modelling the planning process; and
- discussing and agreeing targets for next week.
Formal lesson observation
This week, a formal lesson observation must take place and be recorded, with the beginning teacher teaching the whole class. Recording the observation is important because the video provides beginning teachers with evidence to support their subsequent reflection.
To prepare for this, we recommend that mentors and beginning teachers team-teach some lessons that can be recorded on the iPad and reviewed informally together. This will help beginning teachers become more comfortable watching and discussing their own teaching.
As outlined at the briefing meeting, mentors should identify two Teaching Moments from the formal lesson observation (see p.18 of the handbook) and record these on the observation form:
- Teaching Moment 1: a strength in practice.
- Teaching Moment 2: an appropriate area of practice for further development. This Teaching Moment will inform the beginning teacher’s FIA target for the following week (see p.11 of the handbook).
As this is the first week, mentors will not be able to complete the first two boxes on the observation form relating to progress towards the current week’s targets.
Please complete the lesson observation form and give it to the beginning teacher as soon as possible after the lesson. This ensures they know which Teaching Moments they need to reflect on before the Weekly Review Meeting.
Weekly Review Meeting
The Weekly Review Meeting should take place on Thursday this week. The agenda can be found on p. 11 of the handbook. The meeting will include discussion of the formal lesson observation, with particular attention to the two identified Teaching Moments.
Feedback on the observation should take the form of a professional discussion rather than the mentor simply telling the beginning teacher what they should do differently next time. Guidance for mentors on framing this conversation is available on the Framing the Teaching Moments Discussion page.
Targets
As this is the first week of the placement, beginning teachers do not have existing targets to work towards. However, during this week’s Weekly Review Meeting, three targets should be agreed for the following week:
- Target 1 (FIA): derived from Teaching Moment 2 of the formal lesson observation.
- Targets 2 and 3: these may focus on any other appropriate areas of practice.
The three targets should then be recorded on the Week 2 page of the SP1 tab in ePortfolio by the beginning teacher. Examples of written targets can be found on page 15 of the handbook.
Reading Buddy and Maths Mate
Beginning teachers should work with their mentors to identify the two children who will become their Reading Buddy and Maths Mate.
Regular intervention with these children should not begin until Week 3, allowing beginning teachers time to develop an appropriate intervention programme. During the interim, however, they should spend some time with their Reading Buddy and Maths Mate so that they can begin to get to know each other.
Further guidance is available on the Reading Buddy and Maths Mate page.
Planning
In preparation for next week, beginning teachers should start to familiarise themselves with the school’s planning and the plans from which they will be developing their own lessons.
Please could mentors therefore spend some time this week modelling the planning process with their beginning teacher, including how longer-term planning is translated into lesson planning.
Primary Entitlement Document
Please could mentors ensure they are familiar with the expectations that are laid out in the Primary Entitlement Document which can also be accessed from the homepage.
I’d make this a little tighter and more direct, particularly because both beginning teachers and mentors will be reading it quickly during a busy first week. I’ve also made the terminology consistent, corrected a few errors, and made the required actions clearer.