What I Observed

I finally feel like everything is starting to come together after having completed my observations. You can only learn so much in a lecture class like SED 407, but it an actual experience like an observation we can perceive all the knowledge we have been given actually put into practice. I recently read an article in Educational Leadership by Grant Wiggins on “Getting Students to Mastery,” which discusses a true definition of mastery in a content or of a skill; one that places performance based assessment in authentic  various authentic situations as the ultimate decider of whether something has been mastered. Although written for use in assessing students, this article got me connecting this concept with my teaching journey as well. It was not be until I actually had that authentic experience with observing several full-length classes that I was able to get inside the mind of the teacher, and really see how everything we have talked about in SED 407 is performed. However, there were some things I saw that we have yet to really touch upon in class. From what I have seen so far, there are some factors outside of our control that we simply must account for when we are planning and teaching, as environmental, and more importantly, disciplinary factors will influence our lessons daily, causing, at times, some serious consequences.

                When I arrived for my first visit, the classroom seemed like a suitable environment for learning. Good size, an abundance of pictures and student work hanging on the walls, and desks neatly aligned in rows facing the teacher, with ample space in the front for the teacher to move around freely and keep attention directed on him or her. However, this was prior to the student’s arrival, and as they piled in, a wave of claustrophobia began to linger in the atmosphere. The room began looking smaller and smaller, and the rows suddenly extended into that teaching space I think so important to a teacher, especially one like me who likes to move around. The student’s DO NOW was a Silent Sustained Reading exercise, so after settling in, the room became rather quiet. Quiet, that is, until screams and shouts meandered into our classroom from next door. As I looked towards the back, I realized that this classroom was connected to another classroom, separated by a paper-thin wall that resembled a curtain from a theater. So while these students were silently endeavoring to read a book of their choice for the first ten minutes of class, they had to also attempt to drown out the obtrusive classroom behind them that sounded as if a herd of chimpanzee’s were jovially bouncing off walls and throwing bananas at one another. Yes, it was that bad.

                This got me thinking what a bad use of ten minutes of student’s time this is. The idea of Silent Sustained Reading is fine, but with the stipulation of the noise from next door, SSR became ineffectual. Professor Horwitz said something many weeks ago that has stuck with me ever since, that we must always do what is fair for the students. Don’t waste their time. As I looked about the room, no student seemed to be actually reading. Some were on cell phones, others stared at the same page for the entire duration of the exercise, and still others had their heads down, probably listening to the needless ramblings from the class next door. The teacher would make comments on staying focused and putting cell phones away, but it became clear that he is beginning to get tired of the saying the same things to the same students over and over, and thus is happy with just silence and a book on their desk. I felt bad for both the student and the teacher, as I think if there was actual silence, more students could at least put more attention on the book and not the class behind them. And what could the teacher do? At one point, the assistant teacher got up, pulled open the “wall,” and asked for the class to please be quiet. I wonder how the teacher of that classroom must have felt?

                Environment plays a major factor in the classroom, and I honestly don’t think it gets addressed enough in SED. How spacious is the room? Will it provide for adequate group or partner work? How will the desks be set up? Is there space to set them up in any other way than rows? I mean, we just talked about book clubs in the last class, and while it is a great idea, not every classroom will be set up for easy implementation. I love conducting discussions, so I am partial to the circle set-up due to the vibe it elicits on a class, but there is simply no way the teacher of the class I am observing currently would be able to make that happen in this classroom. There are simply too many students and not enough room. That would mean the teacher would have to get a little creative and develop other ways to implement a discussion based lesson.  There is a positive with small classrooms however, as implementing group work in a smaller space means you can facilitate and assess the groups easily and efficiently. The major insight that comes out of all this is that each classroom I teach in will allow me to do certain things and prevent me from doing others, and I will need to be aware of the environment when planning my lesson and/or teaching that lesson.

                The other issue I want to elaborate on is the disciplinary aspect of teaching, especially when it comes to us rookies. It was my second observation when I noticed that one of the students, and this was a very small class of only eight students, was in an extremely bad mood. He came in and sat down immediately; all the while a mean scowl was advertised on his face. He did not want to contribute to anything that was going on in the class. My first thought was, what do I do if I have a student, or even worse two students, who arrive in my classroom like this? I did a pro’s and con’s list in my head, considering that if I leave him alone, I will avoid a possible confrontation that would potentially stall the entire class. However, that will also leave him behind in whatever activity we are working on and will also give off the notion that is ok to disobey the expectations I set in class, leading to other students attempting to get away with things as well. I continued observing as the teacher sat down next to him and got him involved by warmly asking him questions and constantly working to get him to contribute, but in a congenial way. I inferred that because this was a small class, it was easier for her to deal with the student on a more personal level, and a bigger class would have posed a more difficult problem. I have learned through multiple resources over the course of my studies that sometimes the best thing you can do is avoid confrontation with a student who you know is going to give you push back, as it will lead to an awkward environment in the class and your lesson will lose its fluency.

                 I think that in those cases that while it is important to know the student, as a newbie in the teaching game, I am at the disadvantage of not really knowing how much to push the student before it becomes a giant issue. I think that the best you can do for a student like that is give him that day, but don’t let him fall super far behind. If that moody behavior persists, further action will be required, a call home or a one on one intervention to see what the issue is with the student and see if a solution can be obtained. I am worried about situations like this arising when I teach my two lessons, as the class I am in does have a reputation for disruptions and inattention. The reading levels of the junior English class I have been observing range from grades 3-12, and reading is nowhere near the top of any of these students’ priority lists. Each time I observed the class, the teacher inundated the students with a heavy load of scaffolding, as he believes it is the only way to get students to follow along in the book and stay on task with him. During the third observation, he conducted a round robin read aloud, something he said he has not tried with that particular class before. The students were told what paragraph they would be reading the day before, so they had time to go home and practice. It was clear these students were nervous, as they were all hesitant to begin their assigned paragraph. The teacher told me after that she differentiated according to paragraph length and difficulty. I had not known how difficult reading was for the students until a conversation with the teacher afterwards explained to me that for them to have read a paragraph aloud is a major step in the right direction in helping these kids harness their reading abilities.

                I have come to the realization that disciplinary problems happen in higher numbers and degree when you don’t get creative enough and provide an uninteresting lesson, as well as how prepared and knowledgeable of the content and lesson you are. If there is any dead time or any lapses in which you slip up and show your unpreparedness, students will react negatively. What I liked about the teacher I observed is that he was passionate, enthusiastic, and knew what he was teaching on that particular day, (besides the fact the he has a good rapport with the students, and although they dislike reading, do respect him enough to at least let him teach). In essence, I learned that the best way to keep students on task is to create a community in the classroom where staying attentive is the only real choice. I recall on the administration panel, the assistant principal has said that even if the content of the lesson is dry, just acting like it is the best thing ever will get students involved. Maybe portraying extra enthusiasm and excitement will even get that one student out of that bad mood and at least get him to listen. I am not saying that this will solve all disciplinary problems, but the teacher I observed didn't do more than the average, “cell phones away!” and “Pay attention!” routine, and it was because he kept students invested and on track.

                There really is absolutely no excuse for dead time. So many negative aspects will come with it. If anything, plan extra to be on the safe side. Things fall apart during time lapses and shaky transitions, so always keep students focus maintained. During a read aloud (which I observed a lot of), constantly break and either ask a question or elicit an activity. This particular teacher used a graphic organizer called “Dialectical Journals,” which is a form of note taking by pulling quotes out from the text and responding with your reactions. Time ran smoothly, and at the end, an exit slip was given to the students to see whether they had met the two main objectives of describing the character in the story and applying the list of vocabulary words in meaningful scenarios. Although I am still a little nervous on getting in front of an intimidating crowd of 25 students, these observations have related to me that the best thing I can do is just stay passionate and enthusiastic, plan for extra time, and make sure that I give off the feeling that everything that comes out of my mouth is the most important thing in the world for the students to focus on.