my experience of an incidental inspection

Hello lovely humans,

I promised this blog sooooooooo long ago but life has been so hectic with moving, mom life, etc.

I'm gonna jump straight to it! We found out on the Wednesday that we would have an incidental inspection on Friday in school - frantically everybody starting planning and panicking. I (for the first time in my life) remained calm - I knew I was prepared because I decided this year I was getting on top of paperwork so that I wouldn't panic and stress in situations like this - plus I wouldn't have time to get my sh*t together in 2 nights having a baby!

All of my plans were in digital format and if they were needed I could show them that way - I didn't print them. Our subject dept info I had digitally & it is also in the staffroom. I did have to try and get the German one up to date as we just had a general MFL one and I thought it would be best to German specific info if it were needed. 

I had my weekly personal plan in my planner which I have printed in a folder and I use this to keep me on track weekly anyways! I knew I was over prepared and also felt confident that they weren't going to be looking at plans and they wanted to see teaching - that is what these inspections are for. I DID NOT change my lessons or plan anything extra or fancy just because an inspector was coming.

I found out 5 mins before class started that the inspector was coming to me, I was actually buzzing because I wanted to have someone watch my teaching - I wanted to know how I was getting on! The bell rang and my 5th years arrived into class - I told them the inspector would be joining us, they actually started panicking lol! The inspector arrived over and introduced himself - he was so lovely and explained to the class he was there just to have a look at what we were doing and to ignore him.

My class content:

• Teaching modulation
• Practice modulation on paper
• Add modulations to flat.io and listen (Music Technology)
• Performance - Sight reading clap back and 1 piece per student

My feedback:

• I clearly set out the learning intentions and ticked them off like a to do list as I went along which provided great structure for the students.
• I had a great knowledge of my subject and teaching pedagogy. I used various teaching methods.
• I taught an idea/ new content then practiced with students and then checked for learning. Even after moving onto something else I rechecked for learning "Remind me of how that works again...".
• I encouraged students to perform and corrected mistakes and helped them to fix them too.
• I used impressive technology and really have a good grasp on it - my system on OneNote was really good and it is a fantastic resource for my students.
• I could have allowed more room for students to work together but with the type of exercise it would be done in a later lesson (only criticism) - I could have had the students critique each others modulations on reflection.
• The students understood the clearly explained tasks and were supported throughout the learning.

The inspector took note of some programmes I used:
OneNote
Classroom Screen
Flat.io

At the end I was given feedback and asked about Child Protection.

1. Who is a mandated person?
2. Who is the go to in my school?

Overall I was so so happy with how the inspection went - the feedback was amazing! I asked if there was anything that I could improve on and I was told if they had to really nitpick at me then they would say the group work between students but said that it was minor because of the type of lesson. Honestly it was not half as bad as inspections that I did through college and I would do it again tomorrow if given the chance.

More info on inspections here: https://assets.gov.ie/25258/e2f3707cfb3448db8cb0752613d031bd.pdf 

How can you have an inspection like this?

1. Get your planning in order - keep plans simple.
2. Have confidence in yourself - you are great.
3. Hype yourself up and know that you will be fine.
4. Use things like classroomscreen.com to help with your timing.
5. Make sure to set out learning intentions/ outcomes! (Very important)
6. Have your weekly plan in front of you so you know what you're doing if you blank.
7. Don't try something new and crazy on the day - your students will be wondering what you are up to!
8. Always check for learning and that students understand what is happening in the lesson.
9. Know your info on child protection.
10. Believe in your self and be calm.

Toodles,
Nicole x

​PS Happy 2022!