RE Moderation

Today presented a great opportunity, I joined the teaching staff of St Cuthbert's at an RE Moderation meeting with the rest of their cluster.

Firstly, what I didn't realise when walking into the meeting was that I was going to recognise and know so many fellow teachers. The entire staff of the primary school I personally attended were also there. It was really nice to see them again and to show them how successful my academic career has been so far. But back to business.

I found the RE moderation really useful to attend as I have taken over the RE teaching in Year 2. My mentor and I sat with the other teachers working at the same expected level and it was very interesting to review the books. Firstly I noticed the difference in ideas, there was not a single similarity in the delivery or recording of the content of the lesson. Each class had a different pedagogy that worked for them and their children. One problem that was reported was that there were frequent cases where children struggled to write what they understood but could verbalise their understanding successfully. Here at St Cuthbert's we record and date any verbal responses on a sticky note and place it on the back cover of their book. This is a quick and easy method of ensuring responses are noted- a method I will magpie in future.

Differently, it highlighted that the varying support and direction from senior leaders or RE co-coordinator had a direct correlation with the confidence level of the teacher. Some found they were plucking ideas out of thin air to try and meet the AT objectives whereas others had be given clear guidance, suggestions and had seen good examples. Something to think about if I ever become a subject leader.

Overall I found this experience very informative, exciting and reassuring to know that you are going in the right direction.

#TS6 #TS8 #TS2 #TS3