Stephanie Underhill
ENG 3029*02
Dr. Chandler
May 9, 2013
How
observing a class reinforces student teacher learning
Let’s
Begin:
Many researchers have conducted a
study about what makes an effective teacher.
I will conduct a study, using the material from the text called Qualities of Effective Teachers by James
H. Stronge, to prove that an education major student learns best by observing a teacher. I will show that the teacher I observed helped
me realize what makes an effective teacher by mentioning some facts using the
headings: Classroom atmosphere, the teacher as a person, and hands on learning.
In the literature review, I will talk about Stronge’s notes on effective
teachers relating to what I saw in my observations. After observing the teacher two times, I want
to summarize those points to come to a conclusion of what I learned through
watching him teach. This topic is important to writing studies because it shows
that while reading an article, book or paper about teaching is just okay, but
it is more beneficial to take the information you read and apply it to a
classroom. I will have three major points to this research showing benefits of
observing a teacher: Read, Watch, and What I Learned. A good teacher relates what he / she reads
and brings it into the classroom.
Read:
Classroom management and
organization skills
Strong
states that “components of the organizational plan of a classroom include room
arrangement, discipline, the creation of routines, and plan to teach the
students how their learning environment is organized”. (26) The better the
classroom is set up for the students / teacher’s needs, the better the
classroom will run during instructional time.
“Most effective teachers admit that
rules, procedures, and routines take precedence over academic lessons during
the first week of school… When materials are organized, it allows for smooth
transitions between activities and increases the amount of time on academic
tasks. Consequently, as students focus on academic engagement, the potential
for behavior problems to occur is greatly reduced". (Stronge, 28)
Effective
teachers usually have “color coded bins and they place commonly used materials
such as scissors, staples, tape, hole punchers, and crayons in easily
accessible places” so the students do not have to interrupt the lesson.
(Stronge 28-29) This shows that classroom organization is key.
The teacher as a person
Good
teachers have positive qualities like: caring, listening, knowing their
students, interacting with their students, etc. “Teachers who create a
supportive and warm classroom climate tend to be more effective with students.”
(Stronge, 15) Students who feel that their teacher is caring will be more than
likely to open up and be open to learning new things. Effective teachers give all of the students
in his / her classroom every opportunity to participate and succeed. Teachers who are considered effective listen
to what the students have to say rather than cutting them off if what they are
talking about is off topic. “Effective
teachers also have a good sense of humor and are willing to share jokes”
(Stronge, 17) This makes the classroom
atmosphere more relaxed and have the students be willing to let loose in your
classroom. Effective teachers realize that some students may not feel
comfortable talking in group discussions, but feel more comfortable talking in
smaller groups.
Implementing instruction
According
to the text Qualities of Effective
Teachers, “An effective teacher plans and prepares for the organization of
the classroom with the same care and precision used to design a high quality
lesson.” (Stronge, 23) Effective teachers
also have the students participate in hands-on activities. This helps the students remember the
information better because they can visualize it. Good teachers “encourage students
to respond to questions and activities that require them to discover and
assimilate their own understanding, rather than to simply memorize material.”
(Stronge, 47)
Watch:
After
reading the text and pulling out key points, I wanted to test my theory through
observation. I want to see if the
effective teacher described in Stronge’s book has similar characteristics to
the teacher that I observed.
Classroom atmosphere
When
I walked into the classroom, I saw the students sitting in the back of the room
with the teacher. When looking around
the room, I saw a lot of posters (all different subjects), games, and plenty of
books for instruction. The students in
the room must feel comfortable in the room due to the fact that their desks are
a little messy, and have papers on their desks.
Another thing I noticed when looking around the room is that it looks
like the perfect place for learning. In Stronge’s text, he says that an
effective teacher has multiple posters and fun things around the room. This teacher has all of those things. It makes the room look inviting and an ample
learning environment. The classroom
looks to be very spread out, despite all of the materials in the room (see
figure 1.1).
I
observed that the teacher must have set up the classroom atmosphere at the
beginning of the year. The teacher, like
I said in my literature review, spends a lot of time on “first day” procedures,
more than one day. An effective teacher
will spend time on the procedures until all of the students understand. In the
classroom, it looked to me that the “first day” procedures took some time to
learn and understand, not just one day. The
students are avid listeners during instruction as well as not fooling
around. The teacher looks like he has
full control of the classroom and the students inside. When the teacher gives instructions, the
class is listening and waiting for their “okay” to go back to their seats so
they can start working.
The
students, during the observations, looked to be comfortable talking in the
classroom as well as being able to move around the classroom; within reason. The
students seem comfortable expressing their opinion during class
instruction. The teacher made his
classroom atmosphere very relaxed so the students can feel that they can speak
freely without judgment from the others in the room. The teacher will ask the students questions
and the students are not afraid to be wrong in regards to answering the
questions. In the observations, if the
students got the wrong answer, the teacher said “No, can another person help
(insert student name)”. I feel that this is very beneficial for student
learning. A lot of the students told stories because
they knew it was okay to.
The
students in the classroom, during the first observation, felt comfortable in
the classroom to talk to other students while they were doing their work. The students at T4 were talking about
borrowing markers. I felt that an
effective teacher, like the one I observed, would not interrupt this
interaction. The students seemed comfortable
in the classroom taking to other students in the room. The students did not seem afraid to move
about the classroom during instructional and independent work time.
The
students were able to more freely around the room while doing the assignment.
The students learned while going over the classroom procedures that it was okay
to move around the classroom when doing independent work or else that would not
have did what they did. While observing,
each student got up and walk around to another table at least one, if not
more. All of the students look like they
were comfortable in the classroom, enough to walk around and see what everybody
else was doing. The teacher makes the
classroom atmosphere a very good learning environment for the students to learn
in. Here is a diagram of his classroom:
|
The teacher as a person
I
felt that observing the teacher as a person is beneficial to student teacher
learning. The teacher, as a person, from observing, is caring, a good listener,
thoughtful, reliable, and has a sense of humor.
I saw the teacher interact with every student in some way or another and
he makes sure that all are participating in the lesson. The teacher, from what
I observed, understands that some of the students prefer to “sit on the
sidelines” but the teacher still involves them in the activities. The teacher also listens to all of the
stories that the students tell him.
I
observed that he likes to make comments to his students during instructional time,
while they are doing their independent work, and when the students are packing
up or having free time. I feel it keeps them engaged while they are doing their
work and keeps them interacting with the teacher and other students in the
classroom. In the first observation, the teacher sees many students over by T3
stud 3[1]
and says “I don’t know why there is a mob over by T (students first initial),
(all of the students by T laugh, even T)” This shows that he can make a funny
comment about one of the students and he gets his point across.
The
teacher cares for his students in way that will help them succeed. The teacher wants the students to succeed and
he gives them every opportunity to. While observing, I saw that a lot of the
student reacted positively to his personality and they got work done while
talking. In the first observation, the
students were working on a project at their desks. The students did interact with each other as
well as with the teacher(s) in the room. The teacher I feel lets this happen
because if he is too strict, he will lose the students interests. But if he is
too funny, none of the students will get anything done. I feel that his
personality has just the right amount of funny and seriousness. The students
seem comfortable expressing their opinion during class instruction. The teacher also interacts with the students
from what I saw during the two observations. One in particular was this conversation. The
teacher was going over the minute math answers.
Teacher:
let’s see if I am good today, last week I was pretty good
T1 stud 3 and 4: (gives
the teacher thumbs up when teacher got the row of addition problems correct.)
T1
stud 3: (teacher’s name) you got one wrong.
Teacher:
Oh man, I was doing so well (then laugh).
T1
stud 3: (comes up and shows the teacher the right answer on his paper).
Teacher:
Oh I guess I did get one wrong, there goes my streak.
The student who
came up and told the teacher that they got one wrong was not afraid to tell the
teacher that he got the answer wrong.
This also goes along with the topic of classroom atmosphere. If the student did not feel safe calling out
and telling the teacher that they got one wrong, he would not have said
something. The student felt safe in the
room and was able to have the conversation with the teacher. The teacher has a good relationship with each
of his students and that’s why they feel comfortable sharing information with
him.
I also saw the teacher treat every
student fairly and give all of them the same amount of respect. The teacher, from what I saw, does not play
favorites. He connects with the students and he makes them feel comfortable in
the classroom. From what I observed, He
knows each student’s ability in the classroom and attends to their needs. T4
Stud 4 was having trouble with some of the vocabulary words in the second
observation, so the teacher gave the student a word bank to go off of. The teacher knew that some of the students
may not need that sheet, but some may. The
teacher also gives every student a chance to speak and share their opinion in
discussions. He called on almost every
student to talk, which goes along with the “no favoritism” topic.
Hands on learning
While
observing the teacher interacting with the students, I saw that hands on
learning were a big part of the lesson that the teacher instructed. The second lesson I observed was about
capacity and the teacher had two different size paper cylinders taped to a
paper plate vertically. The teacher had
the students guess which one would hold more, 1 cup of noodles in the short and
wide (green) or the tall and skinny (pink). The teacher walked around with the
classroom with the one that held more to show the students. He went to each
table and shows the students which one held more. The students understood the visual because
they could explain why the one could hold more because they could see a visual
picture. The teacher had the students explain why they thought the one that
held more, held more.
The
students seemed to enjoy the activity.
The students kept getting out of their seats to see the visual. The students waited impatiently at their
desks while the teacher came around to each table to show the visual. The students, from observing, got the concept
of capacity because they were shown the visual.
The teacher also shows the students
a power point to go along with the capacity lesson. He had different activities on each slide so
the student can stay engaged in the topic. The students really enjoyed the
hands on activities because they got to handle materials.
The
teacher also had the students, in the fraction lesson, use Hershey’s Chocolate
Bars. The students each got a chocolate
bar and could use that to symbolize fractions.
This also helped the students visualize what they were learning. The
teacher told the students to break up the bar into different parts. The students really enjoyed this lesson, not
just because they could eat the chocolate afterwards, but they could visualize
the fractions using manipulatives. Observing the students do this activity showed
me that doing hands on learning is a positive thing. He had the students visually see the
fractions and hold them in their hand, melted and everything.
What
I learned:
What I learned
through observing can never be learned by reading a textbook. The best learning experience is done through
observing. While observing, I learned that the most important parts to being an
effective teacher are providing the students with a positive classroom
atmosphere, having the students participate with hands on learning, and having
the following qualities: caring, a good listener, thoughtful, reliable,
responsible, have a sense of humor, and interacting with their students The benefits of observing, as stated
in the book, are beneficial to student teacher learning. While reading the text, I saw what to look
for, but the information really stuck in my mind when I saw it.
Works
Cited
Stronge, J. H. Qualities
of Effective Teachers. 2. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum
Develop, 2007. Print.
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