Move Me On 97

This Issue's problem: Maggi Paton, PGCE student, is having difficulty evaluating her lessons

Problem:

It is the first term of Maggie's PGCE course and she is a few weeks into her first school placement. Initially, her mentor and other staff were impressed by her: she had a confident air in the classroom, she seemed comfortable giving instructions to classes and was keen to use the activities suggested by the department. But recently concerns have begun to emerge. These seem to coincide with Maggie taking more responsibility for designing and ‘delivering' her own lessons-rather than those provided by others. Although, as yet, there have been few serious management or discipline problems, Maggie's mentor is aware that the pupils are learning very little in Maggie's lessons. Maggie seems unaware of this and her lesson evaluations tend to be very superficial and concentrate only on surface features of the lesson.