Observing is Learning

 

                Observations are one of the best forms of learning.

I was able to enter a classroom and view it as a student and assess it as a future teacher. 
 

My first observation:

               Room 111 was dark when I entered, I could not read anything that was posted on the walls or blackboard.  I took a seat towards the back of the room, so I did not disturb anyone.  I could feel the excitement in the room, as the teacher was setting up the movie we were going to watch, (he was having technical difficulties) the students all around me were talking about the upcoming vacation and holiday.  As the movie played some students continue to talk and some even fell asleep.

                We watched a 60 minute segment video that showed many different engineering processes happening in the world today.  It started with Chernobyl and continued on to the bent prop project.    The video was very interesting, it actually showed the film crew walking all around Chernobyl and how a town just walked away and left everything were it was, it was a ghost town.

                The assessment for this video segment was to be a written review of the film with specific questions that needed to be answered within the paragraphs.  Getting the questions at the end of the film could be difficult for students, especially with students falling asleep during the film. Having the questions at the beginning of the film might be a good way to focus students on what exactly you want them to remember and touch on.  I do not know if the students were giving these prompt questions at the start of the class, I was a few minutes late getting into this classroom from my SED classroom.

                I do not know if the teacher had given the prompt questions in advance or if this was a standard set of questions because each student went to work as soon as the lights were turned on and the questions were written on the board.  I did not hear or see any protest with this form of assessment of these particular video segments.  There were a lot of different discussions going on at the same time so the classroom became a little noisy.  The teacher did a very good job at redirecting the conversations back to the tasks at hand and quieting the classroom so other students were not disturbed.

                I will use this type of assessment in my future classrooms to direct the learning objectives that may pertain to the movie or video clips being used.

My second observation:
                I decided to go back to the same classroom again, this particular teacher is a first year teacher and I am very curious to know how it is to be in his shoes.

                Class today is actually a bubble lab experiment.  Students were broken up into groups and each given a particular task to do in the experiment.  The initial tasks such as record keeper, timer, and bubble blower were assigned and the teacher gave a demonstration of how to run the experiment.  Students were then given the chance to conduct the experiment on their own with the group.  All results were recorded on a graph and the roles were switched for each person in the group so there would be multiple different results to compare and graph.

                The lab itself went well but, there was a student who decided to become disruptive and not listen to the teacher.  He continue to get out of his seat, stand on his chair and desk, and walk around the room.  The teacher was very quiet and direct with his expectations to this student.  He did not yell at him or make a spectacle of him, he just walked up to him and explained the rules again.  The teacher gave the student multiple chances to behave and then said he was going to call the discipline team if he did not comply.  All of this happened without any yelling or confrontation between the teacher and the student.  I do believe if we had not been there to observe and watch but were actually doing the lab experiment, we may not have even known something was happening.

                The teacher handled this situation perfectly, he did not bring attention to the behavior, which can cause the behavior to continue or escalate.  The teacher did handle it with a very prompt and direct approach, he tried to redirect the student and explained the rules, and when this did not work, he warned the student one last time that he was going to call the discipline team.  When these measures did not work the teacher called the discipline team and very quietly to not disturb the rest of the classroom or surrounding classrooms, the student was escorted out to be dealt with.

                I have learned that a very direct and quiet approach will help to not escalate a situation and redirect the students.  I did witness this working on other students within the room.

                I do plan on using this form of action within my classrooms in the future.

 

 

               

micro teaching 2....

Here is my section for micro teaching 2....

RITELL Conference

On November 15^th, I attended the RITELL conference at Rhode Island College. 

                I was excited to attend this conference, education has been a passion of mine my entire life and I am still trying to figure out exactly which direction I want to go in my quest to become the best educator I can be.

                I had heard of RITELL in the past but had never been to any of their conferences or read any of their materials.  Before the conference I did look at their website and read a few things about this program and the conference.  After reading that this conference was being sponsored by Lee and Low Books and that it would showcase books for multicultural learning, I could not wait to go.  One of my strongest beliefs in education is that all children should be taught to read and have access to books that pertain to who they are as individuals, this includes different cultures, religions, ethnicity, home life, and even sexuality.

                Unfortunately for me, the conference was not exactly what I thought it would be about.  My first impressions of RITELL were not exactly great.  After waiting in line to obtain my registration materials, I was shuffled between two different people, I was finally given a name badge and sent on my way.  I walked into the conference room and instantly felt lost.  There was no one to great new members or to show you were to go.  Once we figured out were to sit and the conference began, it did not get much better.

                Being a new member of a “professional group”, I expected the president or secretary to introduce RITELL to the new members, or at least explain in some detail what it was and what they do.  It seemed like they expected you to be familiar with who and what they were all about, and I was a little surprised they did not at any point mention new members.  Any conferences I have been to in the past would make a general statement to welcome the new members and offer to answer any questions they may have at the end of the conference, this was never done at the RITELL conference.

                The disorganization continued with computer glitches, missing material, and presenters that just read the power point slides that were being projected onto the screen.  I know public speaking and presenting can be intimidating and overwhelming, but if you are going to present you should at least know your materials.

                The positive things I did take from this conference are new professional contacts and I was able to obtain a few lists of books that will work for a multicultural classroom.  Now that my membership is fully activated online, I have been able to access their entire website and have found some very valuable information and resources to help me teach children that are ELL students.  Even though I will be teaching science, I will have students that are ELL and this information will important.  With being a member of RITELL, I can email any member of the board to ask questions and if they can they will help with pointing me in the correct direction or putting me in contact with someone who would be able to help me.

                This conference might not have been that great, but I know I will attend another RITELL conference in the future.

Microteaching 1 Reviews...

Thank you all for being a part of my first microteaching!!  Hope it wasn't too ummm... :0)

My original expectations were....

    A person's expectations of something very rarely becomes their truth.
    I went to CFHS in the ninth grade, and I really did not know what to expect when I first walked into the halls of this very large school.  I remember feeling as if the school was going to swallow me whole.  The hallways seemed to go on forever and the stairwells seemed to go nowhere.  Being a "newbie", as the older classmen called the freshmen, I not only was new to the school but to the area as well.  It was an overwhelming feeling to be in a new place and school.  I did not know what to expect.
     I was lucky enough to meet some great teachers and friends that  helped me to navigate the unending hallways and stairwells.  It did not take me long to learn all the tricks to get from one class to another without being swallowed by the crowd.  Even though I could navigate my way around well, I did still feel small in a very large sea of people and lockers. 
     Having had the opportunity to go back to CFHS as an adult in the role of a potential educator was definitely a different feeling. 
     When I first pulled up to the school, I did have some of the same feelings I had in the ninth grade.  I was nervous and afraid of how big the building seemed from the sidewalk.  After taking a few deep breaths and walking up the stairs, I realized that I am a "newbie" again, but hopefully I will be able to be that beacon of light for at least one new student walking the hallways and stairwells.  I can relate to what it feels like to be overwhelmed in a new place.
     I expected the hallways and stairwells to look the same, and to some degree they did, but with a new and fresh paint scheme, it seemed like a completely different school at first.  After walking the main corridor, I however remembered the smell of the building.  It brought back many memories of being a freshman in high school. 
     I look forward to being able to spend more time exploring and getting to know the old school again. I can't wait to see what futures unfold in the hallways and classrooms of CFHS.