- What grade levels and courses did you observe?
- What did you notice about how the students were engaged?
- Did anything surprise you?
- What is your overall impression?
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Classroom Observation
Share a very brief summary of your experience. You are writing a full reflection on this experience so there's no need to go into detail. Please do not identify the teacher or school.
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Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI have not gotten into the school yet to shadow but I am scheduled for next Monday. The process of getting approval and then a date to shadow in the school was a bit crazy. I called the high school the day after orientation and I found out quickly from the principal's secretary whom to speak to about shadowing at the school. After two phone calls to the associate principal of the school, I went to the associate principal's secretary and she told me the key to success: leave a message with a deadline. Amazingly enough, I put a message on the principal's voice mail and within 2 hours, I received the ok as well as a contact at the school to set up the exact date.
Well, I was thinking that I will be done with this assignment quickly but I was too overconfident. After two phone messages on the voice mail of the teacher and 5 days had passed, I decided to email the teacher even though I was told not to by the administration of ARC. The next day I received my reply: he had not received my voice mails because his phone number had changed and no one had taken his old message off the phone system but he would set it up for me. Thinking that I finally found the key to communicating with the math instructional leader, I quickly shot a reply and 2 days later I found out that email is not always the way. With his updated phone number in hand, I called again - this time trying right before school started, at lunch time and right after school ended, to see if I could get him on the phone to speak to him. Nothing. The next day, I was rewarded with an email saying the date (10/15) and the meeting place but no time. With a little research, I found out the start to the school day so I thought I was set - until I read the email again and I saw that at the bottom of the note there was a p.s. which referenced seeing me on Thursday. Was it Thursday or Friday? 10/14 or 10/15. With only 2 days to spare, I took what I learned from my other attempted communications with this teacher and I placed a message on his voice mail and I sent him an email asking for clarification on the date. With no further clarification, I went with the first date of 10/15. Yesterday (10/14), at 11:30 am, I received an email asking where I was and saying that 10/15 wasn't a good day so he would have to arrange for another day. Thinking I was not going to meet my 10/22 deadline, I decided that if email does not work and voice mail does not work, I will have to see him in person. So into my car I went, racing to school to pick up my son at 3:30 pm and then racing over to the high school. With my two children in hand, no idea of where the math rooms are in the high school, no idea of what the math IL looked like, I went into the school, found someone to tell me where the math classrooms were and then searched.
Luckily enough, I found the math IL on the first try and was able to coordinate another date - Monday, October 18th.
Now I am just hoping that nothing else happens to change this date. I am also hoping that the teachers who were looking for me on Thursday understand.
The teachings that I learned from this eventL
1. secretaries know more than anyone about how to get things done
2. teachers and administrators are very busy people. Unless you are a student, a parent, another teacher, an administrator or a member of the board of education, your requests are delegated to the bottom of the list.
3. sometimes the normal means of communication do not work in the school environment. You need to think outside the box and adjust your strategy accordingly.
The math IL at the high school is a full time math teacher who is the instructional leader on the side. He is very busy and puts his students first.
Wish me luck - I hope I get in on Monday.
Anne
P.S. With everything that has gone on over the last few weeks, I have created a backup plan - I am making arrangements to get into the middle school to see if I can shadow there next week too. I want to see what the differences are between the grades.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI observed 9-11 grade algebra, honors algebra and geometry courses at an inner city high school.
I observed that it took all of the teachers most of their effort to keep the students who were not doing other things to stay engaged. The students were very misbehaved. There were a tremendous amount of distractions in the classroom that preovented quality teaching time. There was a lot of movement in the classrooms by the students. I liked that the teachers called on students to participate and ask them to come and show their work. They also encouraged the students to work in small groups to do problems. I thought that I was in the dark ages when I saw that many of the teachers were using overhead acetates to do lessons. No computers, smartboards, kids with no pencils or paper. The teachers worked very hard and knew their content. It appeared that the fundamentals were sometimes missing and coupled with discipline issues made for challenging work environment.
Most of the classes had less than 20 kids in them(one had 12) The honors algebra class had the most kids with about 21. Maybe many kids just don't show up?
The one thing that comforted me was that I was worried about remembering the math content but as I sat in the classes, it quickly came back to me. I even helped a few kids with some of their homework assignments. All the teachers did say the Praxis test is challenging though.
By the way, they are down a math teacher in this HS. If anyone is interested; please let me know and I can give you a contact name.
Great start, thank you Nadeen and Anne.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteI've just returned from my observation day, at my old middle school (it was junior high back then) and one of the teachers I was with today was my Algebra teacher from 9th grade! I spent today with 6th grade general math and 8th grade pre-algebra and algebra classes. I did not do any other team meetings or planning time as the schedule between classes didn't allow, but I did talk to the teachers about their planning times.
The 8th graders were all engaged in class, especially since they were in test prep mode (Monday is test day). The teacher made it easy for them to be engaged. The 6th graders were full of life and energy and were a lot of fun to watch & interact with (I knew a few of the students from church and around town).
Surprises...in the middle of the day, the ENTIRE school "shuts down" for 20ish minutes of SSR (Silent sustained reading, books, not newspapers/magazines), and this INCLUDES teachers & administrators. I knew about this going in, so I brought some reading. Classes were smaller than I thought they'd be, 15-20 kids each, maybe 22 in one of the 6th grade classes.
I loved it, every second I was there. The kids in middle school are a lot of fun but try hard and know that the teacher's care for them & their progress. It was a great day and I hope everyone has a great experience as well!
Jen
We had SSR at a high school where I taught. It was very cool and I read Catcher in the Rye for the first time - cool book.
ReplyDeleteHi:
ReplyDeleteMy observation day was last wednesday at a middle school in Bristol. I shadowed one teacher all day from homeroom all the way through faculty meetings at the end of the day. I was able to observe two advanced 8th grade math (essentially algebra 1) classes, two regular 7th grade math and a regular 8th grade math class (in that order). Early classes with advanced students were definitely more on task and focused than later in the day classes with the regular curriculum. Student motivation and proximity to lunch or end of day dismissal were certainly factors. But all classes had a general tone of enthusiastic participation. They were eager to please the teacher (when they were on task).
While not too much surprised me about the day, I was a little surprised the teacher used the students to select others to go to the board for homework review or problem solution board work from the main lesson. It evidently works surprisingly well to spread around the "get in front of the class" board work. Students seemed to like the empowerment.
Overall it was an excellent experience and I came away with a renewed respect for middle school teachers. They have a very interesting age of students to deal with. I also enjoyed observing the camaraderie among the teachers.
Chris
Chris, was the focus of the students a function of the time of day or the level of student?
ReplyDeleteJen, how did the teacher engage the students? Was the fact that a test was looming get their attention or was it the activity?
Nadeen, what was going on when the students misbehaved? What type of activity were they asked to complete? What did the students do as soon as they entered the classroom?
Kudos to Anne for two observations that are unwritten rules in education: secretaries are the power sources and there's a need to think outside the box (often as a function of poor school structure). Anne learned a difficult but important lesson in education. Welcome to the club, lol.
On Tuesday October 5 I observed a series of 8th grade Math classes given by a 14 year veteran Math teacher. The class sizes ranged from 18 to 28 students and covered basic, normal, and advanced levels of instruction.
ReplyDeleteHOMEWORK REVIEW:
This teacher typically started each class by walking from desk to desk confirming that each student did the assigned homework and in some cases actually review the work. Class started with the teacher doing each problem on the white board by asking specific students whom he called by name to give their answers.
In cases where a student had a wrong or incomplete answer the teacher would halt his writing on the board and ask the student if he/she was certain of the answer. Each student was assisted by the teacher or other students to eventually state the correct answer.
TODAY'S LESSON:
The teacher used an overhead projector rather than a computer screen or white board for each lesson. The students were specifically directed to take notes, essentially to duplicate the work done on the overhead. The total content of the day's lesson was stated and written on the overhead.
The teacher used one method rather successfully in each class. He would put a problem on the board and ask the students to solve it with a specific direction that they raise their hands when they had the answer. This was helpful in two ways: it blocked the normal unsolicited shouting-out of the answer, and it gave the teacher feedback indicating who was having troubles. The teacher gravitated towards the students with their hands down and could give brief, targeted help one-on-one.
SPECIAL NEEDS:
During this class a second teacher did observe the class about half the time. I later learned that this teacher was responsible for students with special needs and would have become involved in the class had the need arisen.
MY OBSERVATIONS:
In terms of how successful the teacher was in giving his lesson, I would say above average. I would estimate that most students understood the concept, though the lesson may not have been a good one to use as a benchmark in that it was not likely the most challenging of the semester. If I were to offer constructive criticism, I would suggest that more effort be put into bringing life to the lesson examples. The better an example relates to a student in real life the easier it might be to remember.
The teacher used a number of non threatening methods to maintain classroom order. He would quietly say 'hello' when in fact he was asking for quiet and the student's attention. I believe the students understood he expected good behavior and they complied.
The teacher had prepared the week's lessons over the weekend. He had specific example problems prepared for the day and used the same in each class. The numbers he selected we were well suited to the material he was covering. For example, part of the lesson involved estimation so he chose numbers that when rounded turned what appeared at first to be difficult problems into one the students were comfortable solving.
During lunch there was an interesting opportunity to observe the teacher interact with a parent. In an unusual move, a school administrator asked this teacher to contact a parent regarding a situation that seemed to have the potential to be contentious. The teacher immediately had a proposal for the parent that addressed the parent's concern, involved the student in the process and shared responsibility for a successful outcome among all the participants. In addition, prior to speaking with the parent, the teacher contacted most of the students other teachers and got a brief student assessment which the teacher used during the call with the parent.
Flounder from Animal House??
ReplyDeleteIn each class, it was expectation for the students to either pick up a "do now problem" or read it from the board. That was the time where the teacher took the time to get the class settled down, as there was a lot of talking going on. Some students came in late and did not have a pencil or paper or past work to review so the teacher had to give them paper and pencils to do the work. In one class, the students were wearing headsets and one was so loud that the teacher made a comment about the song that he could hear. The students were very fidgety, they would get up and throw out a paper, open a window, throw a paper ball at another classmate. I observed 5 classes and I would say that 3/5 were okay in behavior, but constant chatter unrelated to the lesson.
Hey Dave, as the teacher walked around checking homework what were the students doing? As he worked out problems on the board, what were students who understood the problem doing?
ReplyDeleteDid any of the examples include a real life context? If so, they were not relevant to the students? As the teacher gave notes, what types of questions, if any, did he ask the students?
Nadeen: DING DING DING! You are correct.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the do now problem? Was it something that would get their attention or was it a common pedestrian type of math problem?
When the students walked in with headphones did the teacher address this or did the teacher address the headphones when it was too loud?
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ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI dragged my feet in contacting the principal at my son's middle school. The reason? I had already complained to her about my son's placement in a class and also had issues with the transpiration department.
Once the e-mail was sent to the principal, she replied the same day providing me with an 8th grade math teacher to shadow. I stopped in the school (after a soccer game) to meet the teacher just to put a name to a face. On conference day, we decided on the 14th.
The teacher had 5 math classes: 2 Algebra 1, 2 Pre-Algebra and one basic class. She had no homeroom duty as she is the team leader. The last period of the day is called 'Flex' and is meant for silent reading or extra help, students are not allowed to do their homework in the class. I stayed with her all day except for one period when I went to observe the other 8th grade teacher’s basic class. This class had four paras in it. There were 20 kids in the classroom. This was the average class size, although the other basic math class only had 9 students.
I was surprised that of all 5 math classes I observed, the quietest was the basic class with special needs students.
The teachers were very forthcoming and answered any questions I had. The teacher I stayed with for most of the day is an ARC graduate. I also had two other teachers approach me during to the day who were ARC graduates as well.
My overall impression was good since it confirmed that I am making the right choice in my career change.
Randy:
ReplyDeleteThe answer to your question is that the students ability/desire to focus seemed to be a function of two variables: period of the day and level of ability of the students. The period just after lunch was regular 7th grade math and the period just before dismissal was regular 8th grade math. Of course each class did also have their own "characters" as well. My observation teacher told me she would much rather have her two advanced 8th grade math classes in those particular periods of the day instead of first thing in the morning.
Chris
Student engagement was a function of both the questioning of the teacher as well as the upcoming test. The teacher would ask questions like "how would you start this problem?" and "anyone else start it differently?". A question that surprised me was "what answer did you get?" before working out the problem. This was a really helpful question as it allowed the teacher to forsee the mistake that the student made (ie, negative 36 plus negative 6 is negative 42 but the student's answer was negative 30). The teacher was able to provide insight and a few different methods to solving the problem. The students who hadn't got any questions wrong were probably a bit bored, although no one was disruptive and everyone paid attention throughout, which I think was a function of the upcoming test.
ReplyDeleteJen
Hey Jen.
ReplyDeleteOne point that we'll cover is what are the other students doing when a teachers answers individual questions. If the teacher spends 10 minutes reviewing homework and if multiple students did all the work correctly, that is 10 minutes they could have been productive in other ways.
My bet is this was a higher level class or a higher level school so there is less of a chance for a problem. Down time is the classroom setting for "an idle mind is the devil's playground." In other words, if students are not engaged, there is a higher probability of mischievous occuring.
This is also true if a student didn't do his homework or is not engaged by checking his work by watching. We actually won't get into classroom management until the spring - closer to student teaching.
My day of observation was very interesting and the experience also expanded my knowledge in the area of special needs students. Rather than spend the day shadowing one teacher I chose to observe a few different teachers and compare teaching styles and how each teacher addressed classroom management. I spent the day at a local high school and observed five different mathematics classes. When arranging for the visit I mentioned that I wanted to include some classes that had special needs students. I did have two classes with one special needs student each and saw that their presences had little impact on the other students and did not require the teacher to modify her lesson plan significantly. The teachers I observed were all very capable and each had their own style. A few things that caught my attention were; they all were very well prepared, had a firm understanding of the material and cared about their students.
ReplyDeleteThe classes were all very interesting and I learned from each one. However, I realized I was not getting a great deal of exposure to special needs students or the programs designed for them. I sought out a special education teacher and spent time with him. We had a very nice and interesting conversation. He reviewed the various laws that apply and how these are dealt with in the real world. He explained how students are evaluated and then how individual programs are developed. While in his office/classroom a few students came to him with some questions and I got to see how he interacted with them. We talked in general about the typical types of challenges faced by some students and how each student’s situation is unique, this was my “ah-ha” moment. It was then that I realized that it is not a one solution fits all. The programs that are offered and the effort to help these students are excellent. Obviously I knew about special education but I never took the time to learn any details. You cannot simply lump all special needs students into one classroom and expect the good results.
I was then invited to stay and observe a special needs math class. There were four students and two teachers. I was not given any information about the students but it became obvious that a couple had learning difficulties while one student had a personality disorder. The latter student became very agitated easily and it was interesting to see how the teachers reacted and motivated him.
Overall my day was very interesting. I was able to see how teachers keep their students involved and interested in the subject matter and I learned firsthand about some special needs programs.
Jim (6)
On Monday, I was finally allowed into the High School to shadow the math teachers. I observed 6 classes all of different difficulty.
ReplyDeleteEach teacher was assigned a classroom and this is the classroom that they taught all of the classes. The teachers were able to decorate the classroom in any way that they wanted though most of the rooms were not decorated at all. Most of the classrooms were quite dreary even though it was a beautiful Fall day with the sun shining. In the one classroom that was brightly decorated, the students seemed to react well to the bright colors and were more animated. All of the teachers also had the homework list along with the quiz and test schedule written on board for all of the classes that they taught that day.
Statistics:
This class is a low level statistics class with 29 students, about 10 more students than a normal class. The class consists of students with varying ability. The teacher had tried to differentiate the class but the students were not cooperative. Some of the students in this class are honors math students who just wanted to take an easy course to get an A so they can concentrate their time on other classes. Some of the students in this class were actually low level math students who needed more time and support to absorb the information. The teacher had requested an aide for the classroom but was not given one due to budget constraints.
The classroom was packed to capacity and very noisy. I was amazed that the teacher could keep her train of thought with all of the noise going on in the classroom. The teacher had a problem keeping control of the classroom. Anything she tried did not work. She spoke to a few people during the class, asking them to keep quiet. She did not have the time to walk around the classroom to stand by the troublemakers because she was trying to review their homework for the quiz in the following session.
This classroom did not have a SMARTBoard. The teacher was telling me that she could really use a SMARTBoard here since the SMARTBoard technology had a calculator function where she could have shown the students how to use their calculators to get the needed statistics. I was told that the students had a hard time figuring out how to use their calculators in class. When I was in class, the students were struggling with the calculators but since the class was so noisy, the students were not able to follow along.
The disinterest in this class was amazing. More students in this class asked to go to the bathroom. One girl went to the bathroom and then came back to put on her makeup. The behavior of the students in this classroom was the worst that I had seen all day long. Were the kids that misbehaved in class, made loud noises, had side conversations the same ones that were just taking this class in order to get an easy A?
Conclusions:
• The students definitely seemed to react better to a personable teacher and to a bright and cheerful atmosphere
• Interesting problems and activities including solving problems on the SMARTBoard seemed to keep the students’ attention.
• It is very hard to differentiate the work in a classroom when the ability level within one class is so extreme and the class size is so large. If the teacher had a smaller class size OR a group of students with more similar abilities, the class would have run better.
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ReplyDeleteTomorrow, I will be shadowing a 5th grade math teacher who uses technology extensively. I will be in school all day long and I was told that I may be called upon to help out during the day. I am interested in seeing how a 5th grade class differs from the high school math classes that I observed on Monday.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to find the time to write my observations on this blog.
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ReplyDeleteJim, sounds like a great experience seeing sped. We'll get into this in great detail and you'll have tons of time in core as well.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice the sped teachers presenting the math in a different way or did they teach it in a traditional fashion but slower?
Hey Anne (Flounder), what type of work were the students asked to complete in the disruptive and disinterested class? Was it skill drill/rote memorization? Did it involve relevant, real life applications? What was the objective/topic?
ReplyDeleteAs I posted on this thread, if students are not engaged, the probability of behavior problems increases. Reviewing for a test is not automatically motivating for students.
There are other means of showing a calculator. Calculators can be attached to as screen that goes on top of an overhead and projects onto the screen (see link http://tiger.towson.edu/~gstiff1/fieldexperience1.htm )
You asked: Did you notice the sped teachers presenting the math in a different way or did they teach it in a traditional fashion but slower?
ReplyDeleteI was more focused on the interaction between the students and teachers than the material. But thinking back, it seems they were teaching the same material at a slower pace.
Jim (6)
Randy,
ReplyDeleteThe most disruptive students were the ones who were not supposed to be in that class. They were the ones who were looking for an easy A - and they were very verbal about it too. During the class, the teacher brought to their attention that the quiz was not very good. Everyone scored low. The kids started to complain about the quiz and how much work that they did and then they wanted to have the one part of the question deleted from the quiz and let all of the rest count.
As for the work that they were supposed to complete, the teacher was trying to review the type of problem that would be on the test. The actual class was stats and it included some work on the calculator and problem set-up.
I will check out your site on the calculator.
Anne
Randy - In response to your questions:
ReplyDeleteThe teacher started class asking students to show their homework. Prior to reviewing the problems on the board he walked through the room quickly.
I'm not certain what the students who understood the problem were doing while he worked on the board.
Did any of the examples include a real life context? yes .. calculate a tip using percent.
As the teacher gave notes, what types of questions, if any, did he ask the students? step by step as he developed the answers. more open ended, fewer leading questions.
Good posts and follow ups to my questions!
ReplyDeleteI am pressing you guys to dig deep into what you are seeing in the classrooms. You'll be bombarded with information from ARC, observations and student teaching. In education a lot of crappy decisions are made and a lot of crappy approaches are used. There are also a lot of amazing educators doing amazing things. The trick is to be discriminating.
We'll follow up on this often in methods.
I was very fortunate to observe four different teachers and four subjects, all at different academic and grade level at the high school. I was reading some of your comments about behavior issues and I have to say that I was very pleased that none of that was happening at my school. Classes were anywhere from 13 (the lowest level class) to 22 students, all classrooms were newly equipped with smartboards , somewhat small and crowded due to a renovation process that the school is going through. I was very happy to see that every class had a very specific assignment guide for the length of the chapter, given to students at the beginning of each chapter. I noticed that this strategy saves a lot of time, each class knew exactly what to do for homework, when the next quiz will be or test and of course if someone is absent they can easily make up the work. All of the teachers had either a warm-up problem or a review problems posted on the smartboard while they were checking homework
ReplyDeleteso there was no idle time for the kids. The geometry class was getting ready for a test so as a review they played Geometry Competition and the class was divided into small groups. I thought it was a good idea, I heard some good discussions going on between the kids, they were teaching each other. My Pre-calculus class did some individual white board practice after the lecture, which I liked too. This class also had an exit ticket problem that everyone had to finish in order to leave the classroom. I noticed some peer tutoring going on with that activity,too. Overall, very positive experience...
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI had a busy day yesterday sitting in on a 5th grade class. The teacher for this class taught 2 math classes as well as all of the other required classes. It was definitely a different experience from the high school.
The students in this grade level needed more hand holding with organizational items like writing down their homework, putting away their class work so they can find it again, and just telling them where they needed to go for their next class.
This teacher made extensive use of the SMARTBoard for his lessons in math and in science. He was a little more cautious in how much he allowed the students to use the SMARTBoard. When I asked him about it, he told me that he had just started using the SMARTBoard last year and his goal this year was to incorporate more interaction between the students and the SMARTBoard. He did point out - and I would have to agree - that some activities are still faster when only one person is doing it. (In the high school, one of the classes wrote their stats on the SMARTBoard. If the teacher would have just gone around the room collecting the stats as she wrote them on the board, the class would have had more time to graph their results.)
As far as behavior, I did not see any behavior issues in the 5th grade class. I also did not see any disinterest in this class in any of the lessons. I did see some students daydreaming but nothing like the high school.
From what I saw, it may be harder to capture the attention of the high school student over the attention of the 5th grade student.
Hello everyone!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy observation day was last Friday, Oct. 15, at a middle school in Stamford. I shadowed one teacher all day from homeroom which started at 7:15am all the way until faculty meeting which I couldn't join in. I was observing 4 periods of one hour classes, 2 with special needs kids and one honor class.
The teacher I observed had the same teaching style as I picture myself having. I liked the way he interacted with the different levels of students that he had in his classes, and how he found the way to connect to those different levels. The kids had a lot of respect for him, so he didn’t need to use many disciplinary actions. Here and there he had to make sure that the kids are listening and paying attention to him so he drew their attention. The lesson flowed smoothly in all periods. The teacher had to adjust to the level of his students so some periods were a slower flow but still it was in a perfect connection between the topics and sections of the lesson. During all the classes the teacher made sure to interact with his students and get them to be involved in the session, either by calling them to the board to show their way of solving the problem, or by asking them direct questions on the material and examples that he went through. He made sure that all students were involved in the session no matter what level they were in Math.
It was clear to me that there is a big challenge for teachers in Stamford Public Schools (I’m not sure how is it in other cities and towns in Connecticut). There is a huge GAP in levels of student’s abilities. The challenge is to try and narrow this gap in your classroom, but the bigger challenge is to try and narrow it down before they get to your classroom. From what I understood, in Stamford, the kids are having a test and getting a score from 1-5, were 5 is the highest score. The Honor classes are students who got 5 on their test; the rest are being randomly mixed. So they have kids with no ability to do simple mathematics functions mixed with kids who probably missed the honor class by one point, which leads us to the BIG CHALLENGE.
Thank you and see you tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!
I was able to observe teachers at two high schools. I was getting no where scheduling an observation with one school so I turned to another when out of the blue the first school told me it was all set up - so I did both. I saw algebra I, algebra II, geometry, statistics, precalculus,remedial math, and pre-algebra. Class size was from 9 - 28 students, freshmen to seniors, remedial to honors.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see any technology being used beyond graphing calculators. I would be interested to see how the smartboards work and how to incorporate computers too.
I too, like Ofer, am wondering about the mixed levels in the math classes. While I didn't observe this in my classes, the school I visited will be rolling this out for the entire school next year. It is only in 9th grade this year and the teachers are really challenged. Do the benefits outweigh the challenges and how do we as teachers set up our classes to minimize the challenges?
For the most part, the students were respectful and attentive. Even in the more challenging classes, the students respected the teacher. It was clear that these teachers had set clear expectations from the beginning of the year in terms of behavior. The teachers also showed respect for the students.
I saw very little group work or projects. All the classes, except one, were in rows facing forward. I would like to hear your thoughts on how we can make math more interactive - less "bank-deposit" and more "problem posing".
Overall, 2 great days of observations and I am still excited to be a math teacher.
Hey Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI also had a very difficult time getting my observation scheduled. I reached out to a number of different schools and was only recently able to get in and observe at a school.
I observed grades 10-12, courses consisted of Algebra 2, Advanced Topics in Math (matrices, rt. triangles, trig, complex #'s and probability) and Triumph Math which is considered a second math course.
What stuck me most about my observation was the varying level of engagement across classes. I observed 2 different math teachers during the day, with very different teaching styles. One was extremely hands-on, and used interesting and thought-provoking handouts and materials, while the other presented in a more traditional "lecturing" way (that I recall from my school days). Both teachers effectively worked the crowd during the lesson to help students and to check on the work, but the former made the process easy and more conversational, which seemed to keep the students engaged.
I was surprised that high school students could handle a class close to 90 minutes long.
Overall, I see classroom management as a big challenge to the new teacher. Definitely an eye opening and worthwhile experience.
see everyone soon.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteThe main time that the students were misbehaved was when they had to copy 20 problems from the board. As the students took their seats, the teacher instructed them to start to copy the 20 problems for homework. All the other teachers had hand outs and that stuck in my mind. In a challenging teaching environment handouts are critical.
The activity was a basic equation that was follow up from the previous class where they learned the properties of exponents nothing tough or exciting.
Regarding the students with the headsets, the teacher did not address this as they walked in which I was surprised. He only made the comment when it was too loud. None of the students removed the headsets. I was not sure why. Perhaps he had tried in the past and just gave up?
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI observed grades 9-12 learning Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry in the burbs. Students in the morning classes were not very engaged. They looked so tired! After lunch, the classes were much more involved in the learning process. I was surprised by how short the class periods were and the little that could be taught in such a limited period of time. The day just flew by! I was thrilled to see that there were not significant discipline problems. By the end of the day, I kept saying to myself, "I can do this!" It was such a helpful experience in learing the "do's and don'ts " as a teacher that I hope to schedule some more observations during the next few weeks!
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteWent to a high school on 10-14-2010 observed Grades 9, -Algebra II -Topic Number Patterns, as well as Grade 10 –Geometry. The first Grade 9 Algebra class-female taught of about 15 were excessively distracted and disruptive but I’d chalk that off to the fact that they were excited about an on the spur change in schedule Pep Rally. But I must say the teacher had a word wall of the concepts that they had just learnt which I liked..Not sure if they knew the terms though! After the Pep rally the school surprising settled down quickly. The atmosphere was one of learning. I went to the Geometry class which was co-taught by 2 gentlemen. This I was excited about because I know men usually approach Math from a different view. A worksheet was returned to the students by the primary teacher It was apparently started in the previous class & so while the co-teacher walked around doing the administrative duties he stopped to provide specialized attention to students whose work had been returned and whose worksheet showed a particular weakness. Surprisingly this didn’t take more than a few minutes and students were all seated and all prepared to continue as the primary teacher directed the workings of worded measurement problem-a continuation of the worksheet returned earlier, I felt that the students had an interest level that ranged from disengaged to politely obligingly engaged. I didn’t get the idea that asked what they did at the end of the class that they would remember. but I learnt something interesting -that class had students with special needs. In addition to the ADH students who I didn’t identify There were students who spoke NO ENGLISH. Neither the teacher nor co-teacher spoke Spanish so I was curious to know how that worked and was told that in a later session a bilingual math student would come in and sit with those students and in short teach or translate The co-teacher was kept busy showing students how to use the calculator and identifying students whose interests were waning but his hands were tied when 2 or so Spanish speaking students fell asleep at their desks..
One thing I’d comment is that I liked the worksheet that teacher created as it contained a problem that could be addressed for every level. If there had been a child who had an advanced understanding of measurement there was a problem for him and if there was a child who just couldn’t get it there was a “plugin numbers” question.
My later Algebra II class with a group of grade 9 –about Number Pattern was more fun and there was evidence that students Got it! That class was a “co-talk” class –A Special Ed teacher along with the primary teacher. The preparation was not put on for my benefit I could tell because the students knew the rules of engagement. They played game to reinforce learning and I could hardly find anything that could make the class better. The use of the overhead projector, SMARTBoard, games, seating arrangement for game teacher’s limited Spanish made for an interesting class after lunch.
My observation is that when there's proper planning and use of technology makes the lesson come alive. I'm pretty sure that a totally teacher driven presentation is not the way to go.
You did say make it brief..I've become a "bloggerbox" I think.. Sorry
ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI went to a high school on 10/7, and observed classes ranging from Algebra II to Geometry to PreCalculus. The students ranged from 9-12 grades. For the most part, what I noticed was how willing the students were to learn the material. My host teacher is actually an ARC graduate, and some of the techniques he used was what I noticed on the orientation day! He had a "DO NOW" problem on the computer as the students were walking in, a handout and handback corner for students to pick out materials, and used a very interactive method of teaching that engendered lively and focused conversation.
All of the teachers had substantially different styles. One teacher's approach was much more gentle, and her interaction with the students were almost as one friend talking with another. This approach seemed to be quite successful for the quieter students, who felt encouraged and safe to voice out answers. These students seemed to want to answer, as opposed to being forced to answer. However, for some of the more energetic students, her softer approach was almost viewed as an admission of weakness, and she had to remind students to pay attention or quiet down more often than in another teacher's classes. Whereas in one teacher's classroom new material was introduced as soon as the bell rang, in this teacher's class the students were talking amongst themselves for a good 8 minutes before new material was talk. I really appreciated the teacher's encouraging language: “Fantastic question, Charlotte!” “Great thinking.” However, I was equally struck by the consistent comments such as “Do I have your attention, Kyle?” and “Are you okay over there?” and “Do I need to pull out a pop quiz?” that served to retain attention and order, but only momentarily.
I have to admit I was surprised about the long hours the math teachers put in on a consistant basis. One teacher has said, and I completely believe, that the math teachers routinely stay until 4:30-5:00 PM every day. This dedication to not only the students but to the pedagogy was something that I had not expected, and it reinforced the feeling I had when I first received my host's response to my request for observation. This particular math department relishes the work that it does, and welcomes feedback and change and constant improvement. It was a positive thing to see!
The fact that SB is also an ARC graduate also reinforced the idea that this program was the right choice to make in the route to certification.
One of things that I noticed first about her classroom was she wrote the lesson objectives for each class on the board. I liked this idea because it lets the students know her objectives for the day. I think that would’ve helped me when I was in school because I would have a goal. It’s hard for me to learn new things if I don’t know what the objectives of the teacher are.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher has a routine for the students when they walk in the room. They work on their warm up problems while she allows a couple of students at a time to get corrected papers. While the students do that, she went around the room to assist the students if needed. The specific warm up problems she chose were based are their corrected assignments. She chose the areas she saw the students were struggling at so they would have more practice. After all the students completed the problems, she then went over the answers. What I was impressed with the most was that she not only answered the question of what but also answered the question why. I admire this style of teaching because it encourages a creative thinking process in the students. Instead of memorizing answers, she is teaching them how to get to the answers. If a student gave an incorrect answer, she wouldn’t just say, “That’s wrong” and go on to the next student. She would go over how that student got the wrong answer so they can correct themselves in future problems.
In addition to going over the problems, the teacher would tie in previous lessons. For example, when solving for ‘x’ she would go over the problem and explain to the students what properties they were using to simplify the problem. This really would’ve helped me when I was in school because I was just taught this is what you do and never taught why.
One of the lesson plans that she was doing with her classes was lines of symmetry where she would use miras for the students to check the answers. She would give the students a work sheet with shapes and have then guess where the lines of symmetry are. The first class she gave the miras to the students right away. However, after observing the class she noticed that the students weren’t making educated guesses first and then using the mira to check; but they were using the mira to draw their answers in first. For the next class she waited to give the miras until the students drew in all their lines. I thought this was a great adjustment made by the teacher because she was able to observe and analyze how her students were learning.