Trinity Valley School
November 28th, 2018
At this school, I observed an honors geometry class that consisted of freshman and sophomore students. As we entered the classroom, the teacher greeted us with a kind smile. The students were already seated and were at work. The classroom felt welcoming despite the fact that, unlike the past elementary schools I observed, this classroom was less engaging as it lacked motivation posters and quotes on the wall; however, the classroom was still extremely organized, clean, and bright.
At the beginning of class, the teacher had told us that she does not assign homework problems, but rather she assigns “OIS” problems which stands for, “Opportunity for Internal Satisfaction” problems. This teacher viewed homework as an opportunity for extra practice that the students were not required to do, yet, should do in order to benefit themselves. This is a term I have never heard of prior and therefore found it extremely interesting. It is a term I would like to use for my future teaching endeavors as I also believe that homework should not be forced onto students but rather should be a choice the student makes.
In addition, another interesting technique the teacher introduced was the technique of assigning due dates to specific parts of a project overtime rather than only assigning a final due date. In order to prevent her students from procrastinating the assignment, she had given due dates for parts of the project overtime. I found this technique extremely beneficial to the students as it teaches them the importance of time management; it is a technique I would like to implement in the future.
Another thing I found interesting during this observation was the fact that, in regard to the project, students had a choice as to the format the project. In this instance, the teacher had given the students the choice of creating either a poster or a catalog. While each format offered the same level of difficulty, through the method of choice, the students were able to have more autonomy in the way they could present their learning.
At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher had clearly established a learning objective. The first statement displayed on the lesson began with “Today we are going to…” This is a concept we discussed during lecture; learning objectives are crucial in order to maintain focus during a lesson. They provide an end goal and allow the teacher to indicate whether or not students were able to understand the material they were supposed to learn from the lesson.
In addition to learning objectives, I also noticed a deal of cooperative learning, a topic also discussed in lecture. The students were seated in groups of four and were often asked to discuss amongst each other. While the lesson was mostly teacher-centered, the teacher often instructed her students to discuss a problem within their pods.
The question that remains after this observation relates to student engagement in the classroom. The entirety of the lesson was performed on laptops; each student had an individual laptop where they completed problems virtually. Often, the teacher would address a question to the whole class yet receive no reply. During a lesson where students are actively taking notes – either on paper or online – how can a teacher get the class to respond to open-ended questions? How can a teacher encourage student engagement during a lesson while the students are focused on taking individual notes?