Appendix 1

This assignment will look two consecutive PE lessons (appendix 1) in a year 6 class. Focusing on the strategies implemented, the assessment methods used and the impact of teaching on children’s progression in terms of group work using observation and talk through questioning. The National Curriculum for key stage 2 in PE explains how children should compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.

Students benefit by using knowledge about their particular learning style to better manage their learning. Children may be visual, auditory or kinesthetic (VAK). Teachers should present information using all three styles. This allows all learners to become involved, no matter what their preferred

One teaching strategy that is evident in appendix 1, is group work. Group work allows children to collaboratively work together. Students have a better opportunity to speak during group work as compared to whole-class situations where one student speaks at a time (Cohen et al., 2014). The type of group evident in the lesson plans is mixed ability grouping; this provides pupils with equal opportunities, in terms of curriculum, instruction, resources, and additionally, reduces negative consequences, such as children feeling secluded (Sukhnandan and Lee, 1999). Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development shows the difference between the most difficult task a child can do alone and the most difficult task a child can do with help (Mooney, 2002). Hence why, it is evident in the lesson plans that the activities set are at an average level, with a main focus on group work, to ensure where children cannot do a task alone, they can receive help from their peers. However, when working with mixed ability groups, there is not only a range of abilities to take into account but also a variety of learning preferences and

Talk in physical education plays is important in developing both subject awareness and the ability of the child to engage with others (Smith and Dawes, 2014). In appendix 1, it is clear that talk is used quite regularly, especially where group work is involved, which initially involves a lot of talk. A well-known theory to back up the use of talk, is Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism; which supports a dialogic classroom as it explains how social interactions with peers is essential for learning and development to take place (Aubrey and Riley, 2016). For this reason, learning should involve a strong social element. Managing lessons to incorporate discussions, plenaries, questions and evaluative activities encourages purposeful talk (Smith and Dawes, 2014). Hence why, in the appendix 1 there are quite a lot of opportunities for talk e.g. whole class discussions, group discussions, teacher-student led discussions and questioning which encourages discussion. Talk helps to advance children's productive, rational and reflective thinking (Mercer, 2012). Alexander, (2010) supports this as they say spoken language on cognitive development is one of the keys to thinking, understanding and learning. Hence why, being able to engage in small group dialogue needs to be practiced and supported (Pollard, 2014). On the other hand, often talk can become unproductive and highly competitive, causing