Observations - what's the point?

Was on a course tonight, where we thought about observations. Very interesting, actually. Ofsted want to know what the learners are learning, and how we know that they are learning, and how we know what they are learning.

New teaching idea for me ... read out a piece of writing, from which pupils have to memorise then write down five key words. In pairs, therefore with up to ten words, pupils then try to write down what was read to them as accurately as possible. They can then compare their ideas to the original. Practice for note taking, summarising, prioritising, listening and recounting. I think. Must try this out, maybe next week ... Jumbled sentences are still the teaching tip of the week though!