This week we have changed the groups of Employability because of the behaviour both classes were bringing into the lessons. When I was getting observed within one of these lessons it seemed that the bad behaviour had increased which has resulted in my observation grade being a 3. Myself, programme leaders and the area manager have agreed to separate both classes and see how it goes from there.
For todays session I had the production arts to catch up with their portfolio work. I had given the task I gave the performing arts group a couple of weeks ago. They had to put together graphs and charts of their employment, production and professional skills, then rank them 1-5 how they think each skills was at the beginning of the year. They would then give themselves a target of where they would like to be at the end of the year.
The session did work better as the students had something to focus on for the entire session. There was some chatting but I did allow this as long as the volume did not increase and they completed all three skills graphs by the end of the lesson.
My area manager has also asked for all employability students to will in a study tracker. This is to prove what topics have been taught within their lessons as it will then be shown to OFSTED. It did seem a waste of time as it should of been filled in at the beginning of the year. This meant that some students couldn't remember what had been discussed within their Maths English, or in their tutorials.
This is an example of one of the Production Arts skills charts.
I have asked the students to be realistic about their targets. It seems that this student has high expectations about himself, that he could turn each skill into a high 5.
http://21500510.wix.com/mysite -- This is another students online portfolio. You can click this link to see what their portfolios look like.