Ridglea Hills
September 12th, 2018
The first thing I noticed about the classroom was its warm and inviting environment. I first noticed there were multiple sources of light, making the classroom exceedingly bright and spacious: the ceiling lights, two lamps, and a window extending from wall to wall. I found that there were also various items around the room that contributed to the safe and welcoming classroom environment: motivational sayings, relevant maps, encouraging posters, yoga ball chairs, and a class rug. In addition, I noticed the teacher had personal photos placed near her desk, adding to the comfort and uniqueness of the room.
The first rotation of classes, I observed a social studies lesson on maps. A significant aspect of the lesson which stood out to me was the high level of student engagement. While the lesson itself was initially teacher-centered, the teacher highly encouraged student involvement. She asked several students to read certain passages from the activity and constantly asked questions throughout the lesson. She clearly indicated between when she wanted students to raise their hands and when she wanted the class to answer universally by stating either “hands” or “class” after each question was asked.
I also noticed the teacher's reliability on technology, more specifically, her use of the document camera. During both lessons, the teacher used the documents camera to display the workbook and worksheet while the students followed along on their individual copies. As the teacher wrote notes in her book, students were able to read and copy the notes into theirs. The document camera made the lesson clear and simple to follow, allowing the students to easily engage in the lesson and answer questions. From this experience, as well as personal experience as a student, I find this piece of technology to be beneficial to both the students and the teacher, and therefore is a device I would utilize in my teaching one day.
During the observation, I found multiple connections between the concepts discussed in class and the techniques used by the teacher. First, I observed she had an established beginning and end of class routine; she greeted the students as they grabbed their social studies workbooks and headed towards their tables. In order to quiet the class, she used a counting down method. She then directed the student’s attention to the projector and began the lesson. At the end of class, she designated one student from each table to collect papers and another student to return workbooks. Finally, she asked the students to pack their bags and sit down at their tables prior to dismissal.
Secondly, I noticed the teacher often asked the class many questions related to the real lives of the students. For example, when the class was discussing a sample diagram of a city map, she asked them to relate the items on the map to real life. She would ask questions such as, “What stores and buildings are found in our community?” and relate the student’s responses to the worksheet. During the second rotation of classes, I observed an English lesson on pronouns. The teacher planned an activity on a worksheet in which the students were instructed to list pronouns from everyday life, such as the names of friends, oceans, and cities. Relatable questions and information are critical to student learning, as discussed in class, -- one of the six cognitive principles of learning -- students learn when they are able to relate new information to something personal or to something they already know. In this case, students were able to learn about pronouns through relating the concept to objects, people, and places found in their everyday life.
While the observation was an overall extremely enlightening experience, a question I now have is: with the method of rotating classes in place, how can a teacher develop deep connections with each student?