Having the opportunity to observe Tim was an enlightening experience for me; it gave me ideas on how to improve my teaching. The day I observed Tim, he was focusing on introducing Assignment Three and the differences between writing to explore and writing to inform. As I discuss what I observed, I will be sharing how I applied what I learned from the observation within each subcategory rather than in a separate Application subcategory. Principle These two objectives melded together perfectly because in Assignment Three, his students had the opportunity to either write to explore or write to inform. Observing this particular lesson was helpful to me because I planned on introducing Assignment Three in my class the following Tuesday. Method To introduce the lesson, he projected the assignment sheet onto a screen at the front of the classroom and also handed out copies to his students. I thought this was an effective way to reach out to learners in multiple ways because I noticed some students preferred to read off their own sheets while listening to him while others preferred to focus on the main screen. After asking his students to read through the sheet, he asked the students if they had questions. I noticed that the wait time he gave them was a little short, and it got me to thinking, am I giving my students enough wait time? I made a mental note to make sure to count to seven the next couple times I asked my class what questions they have. The following Tuesday, when I started counting silently in my own class, I realized I was hardly allowing any time for my students to formulate questions. Since this realization, I have strived to increase my wait time with my students. Later on in Tim’s class, he had the students divide into small groups that he had assigned to the previously. As groups, he had them brainstorm examples of exploratory papers and examples of informative papers. I thought the brainstorming activity was an excellent idea so I decided to do it in my next class when I introduced Assignment Three. When I did it in class, I was crunched for times so I skipped out on having the students formulate ideas in small groups. This affected the activity dramatically. In Tim’s class, each group had come up with a wide variety of examples, but in my class, because I had chosen to have my students present their ideas (or guesses) to the whole class without the safety net of the small group first, the students were timid to share their ideas. As a result, my brainstorming activity wasn’t nearly as effective as Tim’s. This experience taught me the mini lesson: Small group activities are worth the extra time because they allow students more time to formulate and test out their ideas in a less threatening setting. Materials Tim used the computer projection screen effectively not only to introduce Assignment Three but also to visually showcase the class objectives and outline for the day. I really liked how he projected the schedule on screen for all the students to see. As a result, I have begun starting each of my classes with the outline I post on Moodle on the projection screen. As far as other use of materials, there were not really a lot. One idea I had which I incorporated in my class the following Tuesday was bringing in some examples of informative and exploratory works so the students could see examples as we discussed the difference between the two. Curricular Coherence Tim did a fantastic job establishing curricular coherence by having his students read professional example essays that fell under the same genre as their assignment. In addition to that, he also planned to have the students evaluate the essays the following class period using the criteria he planned to grade their essays with. I usually do this with my classes as well but one extra thing I noticed he did with his was explicitly stress the logical link between his activities. This is something that I am currently working on. Classroom Dynamics This was something I saw Tim struggle with at some points. He struggled when it came to interacting with all of his students. His students were silent almost the whole class period except for when they were in small groups or if he was speaking to one of them individually. As an observer, I realized that one way I could apply this lesson I learned from the observation to my own teaching was by giving my students a little extra encouragement to speak up when they have something to say. I did this the following class period by regularly making eye contact with individual students and by inserting in their names when giving examples of hypothetical situations. Dealing with Issues Tim’s strongest point I saw as a teacher was his classroom management. He spotted a student with an open cell phone from across the room and addressed the issue by asking the student to put it away politely. When the student timidly responded that he was putting the homework in his calendar, Tim immediately apologized to the student and continued with his lecture. The way he handled the issue impressed me and made me realize that as a teacher, I need to be conscientious of the fact that my students use of personal technology is for more than just entertainment. Another management skill I was impressed by was Tim’s technique of calling on groups to report their findings. Instead of having the groups elect someone to be the speaker, Tim would “randomly” call on a student from each group to share. By doing this, he was able to verify whether or not the student he had been watching sit silently during group work from across the room was listening to the group’s discussion. I definitely plan on using this technique in the future when I divide my students into small groups and have them report back to the class. |