ABSTRACT
Wragg characterises two basic approaches to classroom observation: 'part-learning' at one extreme and 'holistic' at the other. The extreme part-learning stance is taken by some supporters of competency-based teacher education who believe that the teaching can be atomised into hundreds of discrete mini-acts which can be systematically learned and appraised, and the extreme holistic stance is adopted by those who contend that teaching is an art, and to seek to segment it, is to destroy it. The lesson opens with the teacher settling the class with a 'starter' activity. The aim of the starter activity is to help the pupils to begin to engage with the tropes associated with the horror genre. There is a clear difference between the language a teacher might use when issuing a reprimand and the language they might use when encouraging a pupil lacking in confidence to make a contribution in class.
