Train The Trainer Time 1330: Classroom Environment/Organizational Skills

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Name of Tutor Christine Hunter

Venue Hovis Birmingham Date 03/11/08

Subject area Professional Train the Trainer Time 1330-1430

Number of students 6

Lesson plan available Y Scheme of Work available N

1. Classroom environment / organisational skills

It was a basic classroom set-up with white board, table and chairs, mounted projector and screen. Air conditioning was also available.

Christine had organised the seating and layout in accordance with her learning plan,

Learning Support was organised in respect
of translators to help with the aid of the learners if required.

There was an array of playful bendy toys spread across the tables for students to play with.
Pencils, pens, paper were provided as well as a work book containing the slides for key point to be noted on. Handouts and quizzes were also included

Each of the students completed a pre-course application form and interview that helped identify their oral & written English competency. This course was not available in other languages at this time.

2. Classroom Management

Christine had a confident but relaxed classroom manor and greeted each student as they entered the training room. Also, at times when certain learners got a little loud or chatty, Christine remained calm and showed patience but applied control, verbally and through body language. The atmosphere in the room was nice, the temperature was just right, so this will have maintained a comfortable environment for the learners.

There was a definite sense of anticipation from the students and only silence could be heard from around the table. Christine started by introducing herself and laying out some of the ground rules before commencing with an icebreaker, student introduction of themselves.

3. Subject Knowledge &
confidence

Christine showed excellent subject knowledge, and showed a great deal of confidence in her teaching, through using the whiteboard she was able to answer a learners question therefore ensures trust within her learners. Christine continually assessed her learner’s progress by 1:1 support, individual and group exercises and role play activities. Because Christine has a calm and patient mannerism when teaching she was able to help and settle the more challenging students.

4. Variety of teaching methods used (resources used/ quality of resources)

Christine had used a number of different resources for the learners to refer to; there was a power point presentation in which Christine displayed the objectives and outcomes of the course and showed the learners what they were going to be doing over the three days.
Handouts and work sheets were given to the students, and Christine supported the learners on a 1:1 basis. I was a little disappointed with one of the handouts as it contained very little information for the learners to refer to, it was also in relation to a key objective. It was good to see that the PowerPoint presentation was not used excessively and only as reference to each module, Christine used discussion, questioning and observation techniques to put across the learning points and extract views and ideas from the
students.

5. How did the tutor ensure the learners are learning? (Assessment methods used)

Christine could monitor the learners’ progress and learning by checking the work sheets on a 1:1 basis and also by using Q/A she could make sure the learners were checking all the options available. As part of the assessment, the students were required on day 2 to present a 5 minute presentation to their peers and a 15 minute presentation on day 3.

6. Back up work / differentiation

The learners are all given the same work, but for one struggling learner, Christine relaxed the work load slightly and provided more 1:1 support where needed. I thought this was a good tactic as it still ensured the learner was learning but stops them from becoming overwhelmed with the workload. Not to do this can result in confusion for the learner and cause un due stress, which then leads to a lack of confidence within their learning ability finally leading to an un-motivated learner.

7. How has the tutor promoted confidence & self-esteem of the learner

One learner got much further on with the work load than a lot of her peers, Lynn had noticed this so asked the learner to peer help another learner who was having a few difficulties. This is a very good technique to use as it builds confidence in the learner who is further ahead and also helps the learner who is struggling. Lynn gave lots of praise and encouragement to her learners and reassured the learners which lack confidence. This will have allowed the learner to feel confident in what they were doing therefore promoting self-esteem and motivation.

Any further comments…….

It is very interesting watching tutor in a learning environment so different to my own. Dealing with learners who have learning disabilities is something I don’t have to deal with as much, so it’s useful for me to see how tutors deal with different situations. I found this session very interesting, Lynn managed to calm and settle the distractive learners by just remaining calm and patient herself, and was in control at all times, and I liked the idea of calming the work load for less able learners,( explained earlier). The only downfall was the worksheet, I thought this could have been better prepared, it should have mentioned the the task and learning aims at the top, (like a brief) and if the worksheet had been in table format, the learners may have found it a lot easier to work on.

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