How to Expertly Observe a Maths Lesson without Being an Expert in Maths

Hello, and my name is Alana Gay, I'm deputy head teacher at Lee Valley Primary School and I'm here today to share with you those ideas that you need in order to do a lesson observation, especially in a maths classroom when you're not a specialist. So we're looking at those lesson observations that when you're finished, the teachers don't give you the eye roll of another one. Done. But it actually becomes something really useful. First we need to start with how you feel about maths because let's face it, for some of us it is a case that I really love maths and it's the best thing ever in the world. But for others it's that case where we don't really feel that we got that much out of maths. It's confusing and there's that fear factor that we need to get ourselves beyond. And it's not just us in the room because let's face it, the teacher is going through all sorts of emotions when their classroom goes from total order when you're not there into absolute chaos once the word observation happens and when you want that, when you're in that situation and that's going to happen, you don't want to be the person going, well, I don't know, how am I supposed to help you? Not really sure on that. So let's see what are the things that you can do? So let's go through the stages that you need in order to carry out an observation. When we're looking at an observation, the first thing you want to think about is, well, what's the wider concept? What's the big story behind this mathematical story? What are we going to do in order to make that subject come across a little better? That's a really important part because maths is one of the core subjects and where it's set in the school gives particular significance to the observation and feedback you're going to do next. And this is probably one of the most neglected parts, the pre observation talk. It's not just about you, it's not just about the subject, it's about what am I going to give that teacher that's going to enhance their practice. Especially since I don't know much about maths myself and maths practitioner, I'm not a maths practitioner myself. So we need to make sure that before we go into the classroom we're extremely well prepared. We'll talk about that in a bit more detail a little later on. Then there is the part that we all know and love. The actual classroom observation, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 40 minutes, 15 minutes, however long that is, your opportunity to see maths in practice, that practitioner in practice, and for you to see what ideas they have and make sure that you're helping them become even a little better. And then really important, our feedback. What are you going to say? What are you going to do? What follow up are you going to give that's going to make that maths lesson a little bit better when you see it the next time. So let's start off by looking at, well, what's the wider context? When you need to know the wider context, you have to have a really strong baseline of understanding. And that's something that we can all get no matter what subject you're within. We all have pressures that come within our subject areas. But when you come to maths, you need to remember it's one of the core and fundamental subjects that goes right through from early years into our foundation stages at primary, into our Key Stage 2, right up until you get to that A level mark, it's really important that you understand where that subject lies in the context and the significance of the work that teacher is doing in the classroom. So let's think about, first of all, the timing. It's really different depending on what time of year you're in. If I'm at the start of the year and I'm looking at a lesson on multiplication, then I can expect that the teacher might be teaching the fundamentals of multiplication, teaching them how it actually occurs, checking their times tables, etc. But if I'm in the middle of the school year, if I'm approaching Easter and they're still looking at the fundamentals, that signals to me that perhaps there is a bit of an issue within that classroom. The pace and the timing of the learning needs to be a little bit faster so that they're looking more at the reasoning aspects. So it's really important that you know the school expectations for that time of year next we have what stage they're at. When our students come into our classroom, we receive them all happy and ready to learn, but we need to make sure that they actually have the ability to access. We have to know their prior attainment. If you walk into that classroom to observe a teacher confident that you actually know what the prior attainment of that class is, then you will be stepping in with a sound understanding of what that class should be achieving, what they're aiming to achieve, and how that teacher is helping them to get there. You're starting to get the whole Story, you need to look at trends. I always recommend do a few learning walks. They don't have to be official learning walks, but speak to the head of department, speak to the head of subject and go with them and walk through the department. A five minute drop in through the maths department gives you that idea of learning over time. And that's really important for the observation process. That we know that over time we are able to get a pattern or a trend of learning that occurs in that classroom. When you go into an actual observation, it's only a snapshot, it's a one off. We need to make sure that we maintain the significance of having that trend over time so that we can fairly evaluate the learning that we observe. And always, always think about what is important to the school. Because let's face it, every school has a focus for the year. What is it about the learning that you're going to see that's going to feed into that focus? What's going to make that focus a little bit better? What would you expect to see in the maths classroom? Again, this is the point where as a non specialist, I would expect that you'd have a conversation with the subject leader because how they are embedding learning and training for their teachers into that department will feed into what you should be seeing occurring in the classroom. So you go through the whole process. You've now done all your research, you've done your homework, you've walked the department, you know what learning looks like. You even have a flavor of what the behavior is like during maths. You can see where the engagement is taking place, or not taking place as the case may be. And you're building a picture that's really wide. Now we're going to narrow that picture down and get a bit more personalized. So let's think about what would I want to have in that conversation before the observation. As teachers, observations do tend to be very stressful. It's the opportunity for you to improve, but it's also the opportunity for someone to be very critical. If you're going to demonstrate to the staff that you're working with that you're there in a collegiate sense, even as a non specialist, you're there to look at the actual teaching and learning and the impact of their actions, then you have to have this conversation to reassure them and allow them to know exactly what you're expecting to see or exactly what they are able to show you and demonstrate in the classroom itself. So first you look at, well, what's the lesson sequence? Ask A question that says the lesson sequence in the medium term scheme. Where does this lesson fall in the grand scheme of things? It's always good to set the context so that the teacher has an understanding that you're trying to get the bigger picture. You're trying to understand where they're working from, and you're trying to make sure that you're giving them a fair chance to demonstrate and discuss the learning that has happened prior to the lesson you're going to observe and the lessons that will occur in the future after the lessons you observe. That's the fairest chance to look at the trend of learning that happens over time. Next and always, always, always, always get a sense of the composition of the classroom. Who are the kids in your group? Who are your SEMD kids? Who are your pupil premium kids? Who are which children find maths the most challenging? Which ones would you expect to be excelling when they get into the maths classroom? Once you've got the composition and profile, a good question is to say so on a regular basis. What do you do to differentiate for all of these different types of children you have in your classroom? Because let's face it, differentiation is one of those aspects that can either be done extremely well and therefore have a teacher glowing with pride, or it can make a teacher feel as though they're not doing enough and contributing enough to develop their students. You have to have an understanding of how they're catering for the different groups so that when you go into the classroom, it's a case of aha, I see what we talked about. That's what you did for that child. I'm glad I saw that explanation happen. We need to think about what challenges there are in the lesson. And this is a point where you're building a relationship with the teacher through this pre observation talk. What challenges do you face in your classroom? A very open question, one that any teacher would be able to say, well, either I face none because I've gotten to grips with my class, that happens at some points of the year, or they can say, actually I'm really struggling to find some activities to engage this learner. I'd be really grateful if you'd help me think of some, after this, ways that I can get this learner to engage with my lesson. Either way, that question becomes one that builds a really strong collegiate relationship between yourself as the observer and the person being observed. Because let's face it, the point of observation is to make sure that everyone leaves a little bit better in their practice. So talk to the teacher about what they want out of the observation. Because it's not just about the children and their learning, it's about the teacher and their practice. And for us, we need to make sure that their practice becomes one of the fundamental parts of development that they have, because this goes towards their performance management, this goes towards their future development, and it might even go towards them determining how they want to aspire in the future within the subject and reassure them. One of the worst things you'll ever see is a showcase lesson. Something that's got bells and whistles and everything happening. Because it's not real, it's not the everyday practice, it's not the daily diet. As far as possible, encourage the teacher that you're going to observe to say, look, I'm really just coming in to see what you do day in, day out. Because I know that is what is making all of our students here progress. That reassurance allows them to go along doing their practice in front of you, not for the purpose of the observation, but with a maintained focus on the learning that students are going to get. And that's the most significant part in any lesson observation. Then you get to the actual observation and the classroom observation is going to happen. If you are a note taker, my advice to you is keep it simple. Having really simple notes allows you to reflect within the given time on what you are seeing and the impact it's having. When you think about a 30 minute observation, if you make notes every five minutes, there are only a few things that you actually need to pay attention to. What was the teacher's action? So when you think about the action, what did that teacher do? Did that teacher say, class, here's the question, get to it. Did that teacher say, class, here's the question, let's go through it together. Did that teacher just put up the question and walk around the classroom and not say anything to the students at all? Either way, if you note every five minutes what action that teacher has taken, the real crux of the matter comes from, well, what effect did that have on the students? So if a teacher says, class, here's your question, get on with it, did the class immediately go to the question and get on with it? Did some put their hands up and say, miss, can I have some assistance? Did others take that as an opportunity to just switch off and go and look at something different? It gives you a real sense of the learning and the attitude to learning that happens in that classroom. All you need to note is what's the action and what's the effect, then you have a look at the learning culture. That's the third part I always like to have a look at because it gives a sense of what's the daily practice and what is it that the kids in that classroom are going to get every single time. How do they respond to those actions of the teachers and is that the habit that they've built? If you have a really positive learning culture, you can rest assured that achievement is going to happen in that classroom. And if you can detect that there's some parts of the culture that could do with a slight improvement in attitude and independence, then that's also something that you should share with any of the teachers that you come into contact with. But when we're looking at teacher action in detail, allow me to stress this. There is no, no single way. There is no single correct way how you teach, how a teacher decides to teach, how they decide to put information across. There are a plethora of methods that they can use. What is significant within teacher action? And when you're observing teacher action is are they noting the effect that action has on the students? And if it's not working, are they able to choose a different course of action to take? But there are really simple aspects that you need to look for. First, what's the clarity of the explanation? And this is the one time that being a non specialist actually helps because you sit in the classroom as a learner, you take the role of a learner and you're trying to understand well from the explanation that they're giving, can I actually follow on and do the same work as the students? Secondly, look for what are they emphasising in the ebb and flow of teaching and explanation? There's always the point where some things get a bit of a mention and other things are really emphasized because they're fundamental to the understanding of mathematics. From the actions that the teacher is taking, can you determine where the emphasis lies versus where it's just some kind of information to know? Then we need to look at the level of interaction there is between the teacher and the student. They should be engaging with the student to find out how much do they know, how well are they doing? Always measuring and assessing how well a student is doing in class so that they're able to change their delivery in order to suit those students. Are you observing that happening in the lesson itself? And finally, the tool management in a maths lesson, you'll see Dieen's, you'll see Numicon, you'll see cards, you'll see videos. There's recordings. There are so many tools anyone can use in any given lesson, but there's no point putting on an entire circus if no one's paying attention. What we're looking for in maths learning is sound foundation of language and sound understanding of ideas. And unless those are coming through by the tools being used, then we really need to assess the effectiveness in that delivery. So now we've looked at the teacher and their actions. Let's now examine what are the effects that we're expecting on our students. And it comes up in really four different ways. I would expect that we're able, those students are able to hold a discussion, so they're able to discuss the ideas that are happening in the classroom, the things that they just learned about. And in that discussion, they should be able to give you an explanation. A question I always like to ask is say, oh, I didn't really understand everything that sir just explained. Can you give me another explanation? Just start from the top so I can see if I get it. And you can get any student in the classroom in order to give you that explanation. And you can judge the clarity of explanation that they're able to give. The same comes from any task that they're set to do. You can observe, look in their books. What are they writing? What have they recorded? How are they able to tackle those questions independently? Or are they still dependent on each other? What is the balance of power within those pairs that are working along on the same question? Is there equity of contribution? How much are they able to recall from what their teacher was talking about before? Is there a lot that they're able to put into the situation? And if they have been given a brand new situation based on the learning that's gone before, are they able to tackle those questions really well? So when you're looking at your students, look at their discussion, the explanation, the record that they have, whether within their books, and then their level of recall, all of the ideas. And then we get to the learning culture. Really important in any school. If you think of the learning culture, you have some key questions you need to ask yourself. So in your head you should be thinking right? When the teacher is explaining, what exactly are the students doing? Are they sitting up and listening? Are they passively sitting back and listening? Are they trying to follow onto the different steps of the questions? Are they checking on their understanding and asking each other questions? Are they interacting with the teacher and saying when they don't understand? What about if the student gets stuck on questions, do they use an approach where they Call the teacher and then just stop and say, miss, I don't know what to do. And that's it. They sit back and wait for the teacher to come to them, or are they the ones that will find the alternative? Will they pair up and ask someone else at their table? Will they look at a textbook and see if they can follow an example? Are they using all of the learning tools that they have and they've accumulated across their time in school, or are they the ones that will go, well, maths is hard. Sorry, I can't do it. That's it. And what does the teacher do in response to that aspect of the culture? Because, let's face it, we need to have that positivity and resilience in order for our students to progress. They have to be solution finders. It's really important in maths. Is that a part of the culture that you're observing within that classroom? What about if they finish ahead of time? Well, is that student going to use the time to tell the teacher, sir, I finished, and then sit back with a sense of pride that they have finished? Or are they the ones who will look for that alternative, look for that extension activity, look for what they could be doing next, look to see if they can assist someone in the classroom, and are they moving on to more of the same question, or has the teacher provided them with something a bit more intellectually challenging? So, for example, if we think of a multiplication lesson, is the class moving from doing simple multiplication to just doing slightly more difficult multiplication, or is it going to be applied in a reasoning manner within a worded problem? Same mathematical requirement, different level of challenge, and that's what we need inside of our classrooms we're looking for. How do we get those more able to move on to a faster rate of learning and introduce them to more complex concepts, that whole concept and idea of mastery. So when we do, after we've done our lesson observation, we've been in the classroom now, we've done all the bits that we needed to. We're now preparing for what we're going to say. And that is probably one of the most difficult parts of the lesson observation. Observing a lesson and observing one of your colleagues in their practice is pretty much easy compared to delivering them feedback on their practice. Because whereas to you that feedback might be developmental, to them it is personal. So we need to acknowledge that in the things that we do and in the same way that we're prepared to go into the lesson observation, you need to prepare really well to deliver the feedback from an observation. So when we look at the feedback and follow up, we now need to know, well, what is it that we're going to look at before we give that feedback? Well, you left 30 minutes into the lesson, so have a look at the books, find out what they did after you left. Ask a student, say, hey, I left your lesson. I didn't get to see how it ended. What did you guys do after I left? Or ask the teacher themselves, so how did that lesson progress and continue and get them to evidence those aspects. When you get to the formality of feedback, you need to set yourself a definitive time and venue and don't allow anyone to change it. It's a good idea to go back into the classroom because that's the teacher's comfort zone. And then they'll feel far more comfortable receiving feedback there. They can find evidence that they need to show you from books, etc. In that room. If that's not possible, make sure you have a venue where you can avoid any interruptions. Because when you are delivering that feedback, you are talking to that person about something that's fundamental to the work that they do on a daily basis. It's really important. They deserve to have your full attention and your full time. Make sure you're using a conversational tone so that they know that they can interject with ideas and be reflective in that entire time that we're having that conversation about the feedback. Also, think about the evidence that you're going to present. Well, when I saw this action, this was the effect from the students. How do you think we can make that a little better or a little stronger? Or when this action took place, the students responded really positively in this way. Extremely well done. Will you share that with the rest of our department? Do not avoid hard messages, because at the end of the day, you're in there to look at practice and see how it can be made better. You're there to help that colleague excel. You're not there to sugarcoat everything, because fundamentally, if you can help that colleague to do exceptionally well in their practice, then you're helping those students to do exceptionally well with their attainment, their progress, and with their future understanding of mathematics, the real fundamentals of it. Sometimes you will have to deliver a difficult message. At those times, make sure that you've got the evidence that will support that message and also come in with some solutions so that that colleague knows that you're there in a supportive tone to help make everything a lot better. And then there's a final follow up, because after you've given the feedback, you will need to check how that feedback was received. If there is an emotional fallout, you will have to deal with that. Speak to your senior leaders, fellow senior leaders, about what you could do in those contexts if the feedback was really positively received, then see how you can share that learning and that practice with everyone else within your school. Because when you have a school that shares really good practice, you build each other up and you become a lot stronger, a lot faster. You also need to follow up to see if any ideas to improve on practice have been embedded and implemented in the classroom. That way you're sure that the observation process itself has been a developmental one that allows your colleague to flourish. Now, all of these ideas aren't rocket science. They're all things that we do fundamentally in any subject. If we keep the learning that we observe, that action and effect in the understanding of mathematics at the core of any observation that you do, then whether you're a non specialist or a specialist, you will most definitely be avoiding that eye roll. You will have that collegiate sense that goes within a school and you will have that developmental attitude that will come from you and your colleague as you work together to make the math teaching in your school even stronger. I really hope that was helpful and I hope all these ideas allow you to feel more confident as you go into that classroom, as you do that observation, remembering all those main steps that we need to go through in order to make it a collegiate process. Thank you very much for listening. If you want any further ideas on this, you can contact me on Twitter on Alana G. 13 Thanks.