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to help STs plan their lessons by providing the lesson aims and inviting STs to be creative as to how they meet themto help STs notice their own teaching/their learners’ behaviour/their learners’ learningto model professionalism, care, reflective practice and a willingness to share and learn togetherto point STs to useful contacts or resourcesto help STs learn about the profession more widely and the local professional culture, i.e. aspects beyond the classroom, and perhaps most importantly:to provide a friendly, caring and safe presence to support the vulnerable process of becoming a teacher (not to assess or to provide other form of judgement which can block learning and development – this unfortunate task belongs to Elena!)
School-based teaching at FLF
Information for student teachers and school-based mentors
Project overview
As part of the modules Practical Preparation for Teaching 1 and 2, student teachers (STs) are required to do a minimum of 14 45-minute lessons in primary or secondary school contexts. The contexts will ideally alternate for the STs over the two semesters.
Student teachers (STs) are organised in small groups of 3-5 and assigned a school-based mentor. Mentors have been selected over the years for their enthusiasm for the job, commitment to professionalism, a willingness to support new colleagues and continuously learn with and from them, e.g. through their involvement in the . In other words, the current group of mentors is a very special bunch!
Initial meeting and set-up
A representative of each ST group reaches out to the group’s mentor using the allocations to arrange a time to briefly meet up (face-to-face or online) to get to know each other and decide on the practical teaching slots that work for all.
STs observe all together, as a little group, 2 classes a week over a period of 7 weeks starting in late October. STs observe the same 2 classes of learners each time so they can get gradually more familiar with the learners and prepare and teach lessons geared at their specific needs.
If there is interest in both the STs and the mentor, this collaboration can be extended, with STs acting as their mentor’s teaching assistants beyond the 14 classes funded by the University.
If STs for some reason miss a practical teaching session, they make their own personal arrangements to make it up, unless the school-based mentor is able to accommodate them - this is strictly on a voluntary basis as there is no university funding for make-up lessons.
If there are any timetabling issues, STs can technically arrange to attend only, say, in the second shift, e.g. 4 classes a week over 4 weeks, for a total of 16 classes.
Weekly visits
STs first observe their mentor teach in the first week or two (max.). This is because STs have already had years of ‘classroom observations’ as learners themselves, so they now need to spend some time observing how the class works with the mentor for context for their work with the learners going forward. Students can choose to take notes or simply observe - whichever strategy works better for them.
Then, the mentor involves the STs in lesson planning, materials development, (co-)teaching with the mentor and/or with a peer or peers, assessment, school admin work, etc.
Even when observing, if desirable/helpful, STs are encouraged to help the person teaching (e.g. facilitating group work) – always better to engage than to passively observe! Remember, learning is the outcome of doing, hence the importance of practice over observation! Helping each other is more useful than, say, having three STs standing in front of the class, with one ST teaching. It’s worth considering, therefore, how best to use the luxury of multiple teachers being present in one classroom!
So, this set-up results in 5 weeks of STs teaching individually or with their mentor/peers. When the mentor feels the STs are capable of being fully responsible for the class, we encourage the mentor to leave the room so as to create more scope for teacher agency for the STs.
Records of weekly visits
Mentors get STs to sign in a register (a blank piece of paper, with dated entries for each ST group visit, with student signatures on it) and shares the register with Elena at the end of the 7 weeks.
STs record their own teaching with a camera filming either from the front desk or positioned sideways so learners’ identities are protected. STs occasionally share, in their module logbooks, some of their recordings, and submit one of their recordings (a minimum of 20 minutes of recorded teaching), the one they are most proud of, at the end of the module as part of their assessed logbook. The recordings will only be viewed by Elena for assessment purposes.
Following each practical teaching session, STs use module logbooks to briefly record their observations, i.e. ‘noticings’ each week: anything that stood out to them and why, how they felt about the experience, and any other thoughts they wish to note down for future reference.
Reflecting on classroom experiences
School-based mentors are typically busy to discuss the lessons with STs after they take place. If STs are lucky, mentors will have a window in their schedule during which they can informally meet to chat about the lessons taught/observed. Mentors will try to avoid STs’ questions such as: “How was it?” because according to the latest research, mentors are not the most useful in that role. Instead, STs may notice mentors putting the question back to them: “How do you think it went? I’ll tell you what I think at the end, if it’s still useful for you”.
The purpose of this focus on the ST is to help STs notice how the learners respond to their teaching, become better at noticing more and, in time, notice better. The literature suggests what we notice typically suggests what we’re primed to learn, so that’s another reason to start with one’s own noticing before inviting others to join the discussion. We can’t have others notice for us, i.e. we can, but then we may not be learning much; noticing for others is also called judgementoring and is best avoided:
Judgementoring is “a one to one relationship between a relatively inexperienced teacher (the mentee) and a relatively experienced one (the mentor) in which the latter, in revealing too readily and/or too often her/his own judgements on or evaluations of the mentee’s planning and teaching (e.g., through ‘comments’, ‘feedback’, advice, praise, or criticism), compromises the mentoring relationship and its potential benefits” (Hobson and Malderez 2013: 90)
Note: Judgementoring goes hand in hand with ‘positive-negative-positive feedback sandwich’ aka s**t sandwich; mentors don’t necessarily know better – they know differently.
STs will choose one ‘noticing’ a week to reflect more deeply on, following a ST-led, evidence- and research-based 5-step reflective protocol. Since mentors are usually busy to engage in lengthy post-lesson discussions, STs will reflect once a week by alternating between a specifically assigned human mentor, i.e. an English language teacher working in a different school - see allocations in , and an AI-powered app called Noticing, specifically designed for mentoring purposes - see more in .
Elena will have an overview of all STs’ reflective work through the STs’ logs, and will work with the main themes emerging from their observations/experiences of teaching in the university-based sessions. This will also include rehearsing lessons the STs are about to teach (provided they’re given timely guidelines by their mentors) or re-imagining already taught lessons.
Everything STs produce on the module will be treated as part of their module logbook and taken into account for the purposes of formative assessment.
Mentor roles
So, the mentors on this project are not judgementors; instead, they will focus on the following important mentor roles:
See these roles in action as captured in an by a former student teacher - it’s music to any educator’s ears!
Desired project outcomes
The ultimate aims of the project are for STs to become more aware of the intricacies of primary and secondary teaching, improve their noticing skills, become better able to relate aspects of their practice to relevant educational theories and develop their identities as teachers: copying others less and exploring their authentic teacher selves more.
We know from research and from experience that mentors, too, benefit from working with prospective teachers, who always bring a fresh perspective to things, so happy development to all!
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