A lesson
that comes to mind that I was impressed by was a year ten set four lesson from
the summer term. There were two activities which have stuck in my mind from the
lesson and they centred on the auditory teaching style but also included the
visual. The class comprised of three girls and eleven boys and they were
preparing for their war poetry C/A. In this lesson the group were being
introduced to Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. I believe that the two activities
were examples of ‘outstanding’ teaching practice so in my reflection I will
refer to the grading of the Teachers’ Standards.
Instead
of reading the poem aloud herself, Miss R used an audio recording of Ben
Wilshaw who speaks
with a received-pronunciation accent. Beethoven’s Symphony number seven plays
in the background making the reading particularly sombre. It had an emphatic
effect on the group’s understanding of the difficult subject matter and seemed
to contextualise the horror of the soldiers’ situation in a way that Miss R’s
reading would not have done. The reading was a good example of how the auditory
teaching style can be used effectively. The recording was played twice. Firstly, the
class were asked to close their eyes and simply listen after which they had a
short pupil led discussion about the poem. For the second reading Miss R handed
out copies of the poem so that they had visual aids and could read along to the
recording. As a part of the lesson as a whole I would argue that this
introduction to ‘Dulce’ could have been awarded a grade one for the third
category in the Teachers’ Standards ‘demonstrate good subject and curriculum
knowledge’: “plan confidently for progression and to stimulate and capture
pupils’ interest.” Miss R knew that the Ben Wilshaw reading would help the
pupils to engage with the topic emotionally to a greater degree than if she or
a member of the class had read the poem aloud.
Later on
in the lesson the class were given ten minutes to write a one paragraph
monologue from the perspective of the speaker of the poem. They were then given
highlighting pens and swapped books. The group were asked to highlight a line
from their peer’s monologue which they felt effectively portrayed the horror of
the soldier’s situation like in Owen’s poem. When this was done one by one the
pupils read their one line aloud until everyone had done so in turn; the outcome
was astonishing. Collectively they had written and read aloud an incredibly
poetic and stirring monologue. Like the earlier activity this task centred on
the auditory and visual teaching styles and is another example of how the two
can be used effectively. This task was not a simple one but it ran very smoothly.
Again I would argue that the task could have been awarded a grade one for
number four in the Teachers’ Standards ‘plan and teach well-structured
lessons’: “takes risks when trying to make teaching interesting, able to deal
with the unexpected and ‘grab the moment’; often imaginative and creative.” I
felt that Miss R had taken a risk with this task. It involved the class writing
creatively about a new and difficult topic, having them peer assess and then,
riskiest of all, having them go around the room without teacher intervention
reading their collective piece aloud. This was, in my eyes, a brave task to
attempt and yet it ran successfully. There was a collective satisfaction from
the class and I was impressed by the imaginative and successful implementation
of the auditory teaching style in particular.
