SMART steps to Outstanding!

I am going to concentrate the next few posts on a few areas I am going to develop to hopefully go towards achieving my goal of 'Outstanding' and an improved teaching practice.

I am going to focus on the following:

1) Assessment for Learning
2) Planning
3) Differentiation

So, What is Outstanding?

Up until recently I was pretty unsure of what and 'Outstanding' lesson was made up of, how much planning was required?
How many differentiating activities did you have to include? How snazzy did the presentations have to be? And so on...

It was only when I recently observed my mentors session did I realise that although an 'Outstanding' lesson may include some of these things but in my opinion it is all about feeling.

Whilst observing the session I really felt a sense of a 'buzz' within the room, I felt that I was learning and was having a great time doing it.