Records Of The Students Progress example essay topic

Secondary School observation: St. Enda's is a voluntary secondary school and is situated on Threadneedle road and has extensive grounds consisting of two gaelic / hurling pitches and one soccer pitch. The school looks out on Galway bay making for a very positive and healthy learning environment. Upon entering the building it was immediately noticed that the school was designed to be student centred. The study hall, drama hall and the corridors are all brightly coloured with the walls covered in notice boards displaying student achievements and important information. The secretary's office is located close to the front entrance and thus accessible to students, teachers and parents alike with the principal's office next door. At the start of every school year the members of staff are given a handbook in which is detailed the aim, history and mission statement of the school, lists of all members of staff, their posts and extension numbers since the school has an internal phone system where each classroom is accessible by the office or another teacher and vice versa.

Also included in this handbook are the school's accident policy, emergency plan, code of behaviour and disciplinary procedures. Finally you will find the school calendar and timetable, the school's academic programme and the roles of the chaplain, tutors, and year heads with added guidelines for teachers. This handbook provides for a detailed description of how the school runs and the rules to follow to maintain an effective teaching environment. Each year is divided into one class containing the most academic students and then 3-4 classes of mixed ability. Each student is responsible for his / her own equipment (books, copies, stationary) and is expected to have the necessary items for each class.

Each student is assigned a locker. Each individual teacher keeps records of the students' progress and there are monthly assessments that are recorded on computer and in hardback report books. Each parent receives a semester report containing all the results. There is a learning support co-ordinator Paul Masterson who monitors individuals' progress and is always available if you need to discuss any student in particular. He assigns learning support hours to a student who requires it.

There is also a policy in place where each teacher will be given a short profile on every new student. The profile will include family status, health issues and primary school report. This encourages sensitivity towards certain disadvantaged children. There is no established home / school liaison in the school as the drop out rate is quite low after junior cert with only three students not continuing into senior cycle last year. The school however keeps in contact with the parents through phone calls and due to the schools open policy a parent can make an appointment at any time to discuss their child's progress with either a specific teacher or the principal.

Each teacher is assigned their own classroom with their name printed on or above the door. All classrooms are equipped with a whiteboard / chalkboard, OHP, Tape recorder (for the language teachers) and plenty of wall space for the display of students' work. When observing the teacher during her lessons one could tell she was well prepared. She varied her use of the above resources and it was evident that the students responded well to the variety. She didn't rely solely on the textbook and preferred the more interactive method of teaching. Though difficult to conduct on occasion she encouraged and made use of group work and oral activities.

It was also evident from the walls that the teacher believed in visual print friendly aids in the classroom. Through observation, pitching a lesson to a mixed ability class can be quite difficult. To combat this she has used charts of the basic grammar points and vocabulary and displayed them around the room as a constant if unconscious revision tool for the student since they see them everyday and what we see we almost always remember. I found that she was very patient with her students and didn't rush through her lessons. She made sure understanding was attained before moving onto a new concept.

Her teaching style was very child centred and she encouraged the asking of questions. She saw this as a means of assessing progress and the students did seem at ease with their teacher. Her understanding manner in the answering of these questions instilled a confidence in the students, which diluted the fear of saying, "I don't understand" or " could you go over that again?" When the teacher set out an in class exercise she made use of that time to walk around the class assessing progress and thus was able to spend those necessary extra minutes clarifying aspects or grammar points to the less academic students. A new concept was introduced using both written and oral resources. She referred to the OHP / Whiteboard as a visual aid while orally explaining the concept relating it a real life situation. The students found it easier to learn something that was placed in a context they could both recognise and understand.

Each student was made aware of the rules of the classroom and they were also made aware of the punishment they would get if these rules were disobeyed. She was very consistent in her punishments and tried to maintain equality among all students so that similar disobedience's were dealt with in the same way regardless of the students' previous record. Usually a look or just calling out the students name sufficed but for continuous offences the student was kept back at the end of the class and was spoken to face to face by the teacher. Further breaches were documented and given to the Year Head and in worst-case scenario the parents were called in to discuss their child's behaviour.

The school provides the LCV P programme, however both the Transition year and LCA programmes had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers. The school opens its doors to foreign students who go to classes and integrate with the Irish students. The school provides them with TEFL hours to help improve their English. The school has set up exchange programmes with both French and German schools and any post junior cert student is permitted to take part. There is also a huge emphasis on the extra curricular activities especially sport where there are well-established boys' and girls's occur, gaelic, hurling and basketball teams who regularly participate in competitions. St. Enda's believes in developing both the physical and cognitive aspect of each child by creating a balance between exercising the mind and exercising the body.