I don't know about you guys but I'm getting pretty excited for the Observation, mostly because all this talk about high school classrooms is making me want to get in the midst of one!
In order to make the most of the Observation weeks, I was thinking we should share some ideas about what we are all going to try and watch for in particular, what we are going to purposefully "observe," field-study-style. I'm sure there are lots of random classroom events and happenings that we will learn from but can't at all plan for, but I know personally there are some specific things I plan to pay attention to:
- how my sponsor teacher handles classroom management
- what techniques my sponsor teacher uses to hold students' attention for a whole block
How about you guys?? Any other ideas of what to watch and learn from??
P.S. Who loves corny motivational posters? I do. This one is a gem.
A timely topic to bring up, Justine! In addition to your 'watch list' I think I'm going to try to observe the following:
ReplyDelete• what excites the students in a class and what bores them.
(What aspects of a particular lesson I would keep and in what
ways I would I change others.
• where the students go between classes, at lunch/breaks and
after classes. (What goes on in their lives outside of the class
that will impact what goes on in the class?)
• how the teachers manage prep time.
I'd like to add methods of evaluation to this list. I want to see how the teacher awards the students when they do well and how he or she corrects them when they don't quite get it. Hopefully, during his or her prep time I'll get the chance to see homework being corrected/evaluated.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can't wait to be in the staff room! Not just for the satisfaction of getting through that sacred door but also to see some team teaching in action.
I agree with you ladies on what would be helpful to watch for. Personally I think I'll be watching for classroom management skills, hopefully in a couple of different classrooms, how prep time is used, and I was looking at the calendar online for the school I'll be at and it looks like they have a big assembly while I'm there so I think topics brought up/the purpose of the assembly will be interesting to see as well.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in the classroom management. Our psychology of classroom learning has been touching on the subject of positive versus negative reinforcemnt and claims that most of the literature out there is for positive reinforcement and against negative reinforcement. It will be interesting to see what methods our teacher mentors use for their classroom management.
ReplyDeleteHeavy emphasis on classroom management, always seems to be a hot topic. Try talking to students themselves, find out what makes them tick, what turns them on, and perhaps as important, what turns them off.
ReplyDeleteOne year I asked all students to interview a group of at least 3 students and ask them those same questions. The results were both enlightening and surprising.
If any of you wish to take this assignment on, it would make a great eportfolio entry if you capture it in some form for the artifact.
See you tomorrow,
Chris
Thanks for all of your ideas everyone!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sara that finding out where students hang out between classes is important, one of my other profs has echoed what Chris said about having open conversations with students about their school, classes, life, whatever they want to share!
A third teacher suggested finding a student who might let you shadow them to get a real "day in the life" view. I know at least for me it's been way too long to remember, in detail, what a whole day looked like.
Thanks again and happy observing!
Justine