I did my first set of observation hours in a few different classrooms. I was going to only do my observations in the English classroom at first but after talking with the English teacher she advised that I spent some time in other classrooms as well. But, for this blog I’m only going to write about the observations I did while in the English classroom.
1)Effective Management Strategies
Opening a Lesson: For opening a lesson the English teacher waited for everyone to be in their assigned seats and went to the front of the classroom. She addressed the class and she told everyone what the day’s plan was. She had them split into groups and do group work.
Applied During a Lesson: The teacher constantly made sure that everyone was staying on track. Since it was a group discussion assignment she also reminded a few students that they had to talk to each other to find the answers. She also had students individually come to her table for no more than a minute or two and discuss how their out-of-class homework was and how their in-class group was doing.
Lesson Closure: The teacher had the groups take turns answering the questions that they were assigned. She also reminded them on their way out the door about class meetings, homework, readings, and other important reminders.
2)Three Transitions: The first transition was having the students quietly come up to the classroom to have their short discussion with her. The students handled this transition very well. They went to the front of the classroom to talk to her then went directly back to work and all of the groups finished the questions in a timely manner. There were only two real “transitions” that happened so for the second one I’m going to talk about how she handled an interruption. A student forgot their journal that they needed for the class and asked if he could go to his locker to get it. He asked in a rude tone the first time so she had him ask her again in a more appropriate way and then she allowed him to go to his locker to get his journal. When he came back to the classroom she reminded him that he needed to be more prepared the next time there was class. The third transition was the end of class when the bell rang. She did assignment reminders and before everyone left, she made sure they put everything away where it was supposed to be.
3) A strategy that you observed and may apply to your classroom: I really liked her having the students come individually to the front of the classroom for a minute or two to discuss how they felt their out-of-class assignments were going and how their in-class group work was going. The students were really open with her and she communicated very well with them. She reassured them that if they needed any help that it was perfectly okay for them to stay after school and get help.
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