Each member of your small group should provide a list of the factors she/he noted as important in creating a good lesson conference. Discuss any that you feel need further elaboration or that you disagree with.

Turn to the list provided at the end of this Unit, which comes from the Field Experience Handbook for pre-service courses at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In the light of your discussions, do you agree with this list? Are there any important items missing? Explain your reasons for the answers you give. For example, what about the numbers of people involved in the post-lesson conference?

(You may also like to consider the statement on The Learning Community Model provided at the start of the manual)

Then:

Would the extract of the post-lesson conference you observed meet your criteria of a good lesson conference?

Would it meet the criteria given in that Handbook? In other words, was the conference:

Give evidence of the presence or absence of each.

Using the same video as that used for the previous activity, focus on the role of the school mentor (the male participant in the discussion)

• What comments do you have about the mentor’s participation in this tripartite post-lesson conference – in terms of the points he makes and his style of participation?

• It is important to be both critical and supportive. Do you feel that the mentor was sufficiently critical and sufficiently supportive in his comments? Give reasons for your answers.