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Observation of practice is an expectation for all teachers that is described in both the Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework and the NSW DEC Performance and Development Framework
Effective feedback, review and observation processes support the ongoing development of the teacher and the promotion of high quality learning experiences for students.
Using this tool to scaffold professional conversations before and after observation will assist teachers to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). Before using this tool it is important to reach agreement about:
- the purpose of the observation
- the curriculum context of the lesson/learning situation
- the profile of the students/children
- who will have access to the data collected.
Pre-observation conversation
The pre-observation conversation can be
scaffolded using the Professional Knowledge
and Professional Practice domains of the APST.
Date
Teacher
Accreditation Stage
Link with PDP Goal
Observer
Domain Standard Discussion
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Standard 1
Know the students and
how they learn
Describe the class, age, any special needs students/children or groups
Standard 2
Know the content and
how to teach it
Describe the curriculum context/lesson sequence/purpose and any cross curriculum links
Standard 3
Plan for and implement
effective teaching and
learning
What is your learning intention or goal for the students/children during the observation?
What particular strategies or methodologies will be used, including any plans to differentiate the learning?
Standard 4
Create and maintain
supportive and safe
learning environment
Describe any specific classroom routines or strategies, including the use of ICT, intended to support engagement
Standard 5
Assess, provide feedback
and report on student
learning
How and when will the students/children receive feedback? This can be over a length of time.
identify the agreed
APST Standard or focus
area(s) for the
observation
(e.g. 3. 5 Use effective classroom communication )
Lesson Observation Tool
Incorporating the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
2
During the observation
Some suggestions...
Domain APST Standard & Focus Areas^ What might the observer look for?
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Standard 1 Knows students and how they learn 1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
how does the teacher engage students to be able to deconstruct, reconstruct and assess learning?
consider the ways in which tasks are challenging, relevant and achievable by the students?
how do the variety of activities within the lesson support learning?
observe how the lesson and/or classroom was organised to accommodate specific students’ intellectual, physical and/or social needs?
how did the teaching and learning activities take into account students’ prior learning, skills and/or interests both within and outside the school context?
how does the teacher differentiate the lesson?
Standard 2 Know the content and how to teach it
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
how was the lesson made relevant for the students whilst still meeting syllabus requirements?
- was a deep knowledge of relevant concepts, topics and themes demonstrated, including ATSI perspectives?
- look for ways the teacher developed a clear and coherent sequence of activities undertaken to engage and support the learning of all students.
- how were resources and materials used to support learning?
- how where models and scaffolds used to support literacy and numeracy?
- how did ICT used to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students?
Teacher’s Signature ____________________________ Date ____________________________
Observer’s Signature ____________________________ Date ____________________________
3
Post-lesson observation conversations
The goal of the post lesson conversation(s) is to encourage self-reflection by the teacher and to collaboratively analyse the observations in
relation to the APST. The NSW DEC Performance and Development Framework provides an appropriate context for post lesson conversations by
encouraging non-judgemental, learning focussed and reflective dialogue between colleagues. The DEC Website provides resources to support effective classroom observations and feedback.
The GROWTH Model is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring
post-lesson observation conversations. GROWTH stands for:
G oal- What do you need to achieve?
R eality – What is happening now?
O ptions- What could you do?
W ill – What will you do?
T actics – How and when will you do it?
H abits – How will you sustain success?
Example prompts to commence a post-lesson conversation:
Did the students learn what was intended? How do we know?
Given your intention to... how do you think the lesson went?
What was the best thing about this lesson?
I observed... Could you tell me more about that?
When... happened... Why do you think that was?
What do you think would happen if...?
What might be improved or changed? How could this lesson be built on for the future What aspects of our professional conversation have made a positive contribution to your learning? How could you use your self-reflection from this learning to guide your professional learning goals & priorities for future development? How might you seek and use feedback from your students to improve your practice? How might you further engage with colleagues or a professional network to improve your practice? How might this feedback contribute to your Performance and Development Plan?
- How and when will you do it?
- What barriers do we need to remove for sustained performance?
- What opportunities do you see for practice and consolidation of this skill? (more examples of GROWTH questions are on the following pages)
Professional Engagement
Summary of key points discussed in the post-lesson observation conversation
Standard 6 – Engage in professional learning
Identify and plan professional learning needs
Engage in professional learning and improve practice
Engage with colleagues and improve practice
Apply professional learning and improve student learning
Standard 7 – Engage professional with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
Engage with parents/carers
Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
Further examples of GROWTH questions
Goals – What do you need to achieve?
- What are the main things you’re doing now?
- What would you want to achieve by the end of this month project/quarter/year?
- In this area, what would it look like if you had achieved everything you wanted? What would it feel like? How would things be
better?
- What are the worst things happening now? What is the opposite of that?
What measurements could be put in place so we know you have achieved this?
- Who do you know that is already getting the results you desire? What do those results look like? How would that make things
better for you?
- Out of all those things you’ve shared with me about this goal area, what are the most important to achieve by the end of this
coaching process?
- What would be the result of that?
- What is it that you want?
- What do your students/parents/community want?
- What is your passion?
- What do you need to achieve?
- What would you like from this session?
- What would need to happen for you to walk away feeling that this time was well spent?
- What would you like to happen that is not happening now?
- Is that realistic? Can we do that in the time we have available?
- How will that be of real value to you?
- Is that challenging/inspiring yet achievable?
- What are the critical success factors to achieving this goal?
Reality – What is happening now?
- What skills/knowledge/resources do you have now that is most likely to facilitate achievement of your desired outcomes?
- What skills/knowledge/resources do you have now that is most likely to inhibit achievement of your desired outcomes?
- What is happening now?
- How do you know that this is accurate?
- When does this happen? Be precise if possible.
- What effect does this have?
- How could you verify that this is so?
- What other factors are relevant?
- What is their perception of the situation?
- What have you tried so far? What is working/not working?
- What is within your area of control?
- What else is missing?
- What results are you getting now?
- What external factors help you perform well?
- What factors inhibit your performance?
- What did you do that affected your performance?
Options – What could you do?
- What could you do to achieve your goal?
- What could you do to change the situation?
- What alternatives are there to that approach?
- Tell me what possibilities for action you see. Don’t worry about whether they are realistic at this stage.
- What approaches have you seen used, or used yourself, in similar circumstances?
- Who might be able to help?
- What options do you like the most?
- What are the benefits and pitfalls of these options?
- How could you improve in the areas within your control?
