During term 2 I am due to be taking over some of the Literacy and Maths planning and delivery. After observing a term’s worth of delivery of these subjects I was interested to see the planning process and how my mentor progresses the learning. Firstly, Maths. These plans run on a weekly basis and instead of having lesson by lesson delivery the outcomes are met through a series of ‘sessions’ depending on the progress and ability of the children. Originally I was confused as to why this would be the case however my mentor explained that some children are able to move on within the objectives when others are struggling. To promote this a series of ‘sessions’ were planned and had the flexibility to last for different times depending on the child themselves. The specific learning objective, success criteria and lesson content were evident on this planning so we were able to see how the children would progress through each lesson (TS4- impact knowledge and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time). Completing planning this way will allow me to see how the children are progressing and what other ideas I may need to encourage the learning objective to be met. It will allow me to see what works on a small scale and reflect on how each lesson went (TS4- reflect systematically on the effectiveness of lessons and approaches to teaching). We then went onto Literacy which worked in a slightly different way. The unit of work was planned as a whole unit with a specific framework to follow. Firstly the children would enter phase one, which encourages exploration around the topic ‘Poems’. A series of lessons were planned by myself and my mentor to check prior knowledge, invite children’s curiosity and set homework to develop understanding of poems (TS4- set homework and plan other out of class activities to consolidate and extend the knowledge and understanding pupils have acquired). Secondly the children moved onto phase two. This phase allowed lessons to be planned around specific sentences structures, for us, figurative language. This is where I was able to research a variety of different ways to ‘pull apart’ poems and teach the different skills needed to write a successful poem. Each lesson is planned to allow progression, understanding and new learning (TS4- impact knowledge and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time). This was interesting for me as, before seeing the literacy plan, I was unable to understand how the teacher structured the different aspects of the previous unit. I was unaware of the variety of different learning objectives within the one unit. Thirdly and finally the children would enter phase three, the implementation phase. This is where the children would write their own poems using the ‘toolkit’ that we, as teachers, provide during phase two. Whilst discussing this phase I was able to understand how the different areas of literacy were met through planning. After the children write their poems towards the end of term, they are to perform them (TS4- impact knowledge and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time). This will then allow the children to meet a speaking and listening objective. From completing the planning with my mentor I was able to see how a unit of work is structured and what each plan entails. I was also able to be shown where the specific objectives were taken from to write the plan and a series of expecting, meeting and exceeding question starters to further challenge my students. The plan allows flexibility and reflection depending of the progression of the students on a day to day basis (TS4- reflect systematically on the effectiveness of lessons and approaches to teaching). I now feel confident, with the guidance from my mentor, to plan the next unit of work in term 4. Focused next steps: Research a variety of different plans. Develop understanding of planning by becoming involved in a variety of different subjects. Attend twilight session on Literacy planning to further understanding. All Stories