Observation

Daniella and George were working through some reading comprehension during their session today. Daniella did a great job at making sure that George wasn't just regurgitating the text, but was fully comprehending it, extending and applying it as he answered the questions. Daniella focused on building specificity in these answers, asking George questions as he wrote that were designed to extend his thinking. This work sets up later years of English work really nicely, focusing on areas of English that students tend to struggle with later on in high school. Daniella showed a really good connection with George which was definitely beneficial in the lesson, allowing George to be open when they came across an area that he understood less. It was also great to see George mentioning concepts that are very advanced for his year group, such as modality. These are evidently concepts that Daniella has introduced in previous weeks, and she did a great job at solidifying these ideas when George mentioned them.

Then Daniella and George moved on to paragraph writing, focusing on forming the PETAL paragraph structure. Daniella did really well at making George reflect on his own work, and how he could look for the different elements of the PETAL structure from the text. They were focusing on the same text for the paragraph writing as well as the comprehension questions, which meant that George was able to see the connections between comprehending a text and being able to write well-structured paragraphs about it. Daniella did a great job at providing a well-balanced mix of encouragement and constructive feedback as George worked. This meant he was able to develop his skills well throughout the session. She was also able to refocus George throughout the session very effectively, meaning that he was focused for the whole hour.