Reflective Essay on Classroom Observations

By

Dr. Victoria Pettis

Summer Cohort 2006

EOCS 7450

All four classroom observations were conducted with teachers at my middle school. On October 5, 2006, I observed Laura Baldwin, a 7^th grade math teacher on my team, and 8^th grade math teacher Sara Hill. I observed two 8^th grade collaborators -- 8^th grade math teacher Susanna Waters and special education teacher Judy Woodman – and 6^th grade science teacher Gladys Haddox on October 24, 2007.

During all four observations, I chose to sit in the back of the classroom because I wanted to experience what the learning experience might actually be like for a student. Ultimately, I wanted to see how easy each teacher’s lesson was to follow. Would I know the purpose of each lesson? Would I be able to follow the steps of each lesson? Would each lesson be engaging or would I be bored out of my mind?

Laura Baldwin, 7^th Grade Math

The first teacher I observed was 7^th grade math teacher Laura Baldwin. From the beginning of Baldwin’s 70-minute lesson, I knew right away the purpose of her math lesson: She was teaching her students how to use a graphing calculator using the SmartBoard. Although Baldwin taught the lesson in easy-to-follow, logical steps, I found my mind constantly plagued by the air conditioning, which was extremely loud. Wow.

Every one of our classrooms has this booming machine which dictates our comfort or misery. As a teacher, I had learned to adapt to the noise. I would just crank my voice up a notch whenever it switched on.

Sitting in the back of the room, I found the noise deafening. Baldwin’s voice sounded like a low, monotonous hum. She never adjusted her voice above the air conditioner. I started thinking about how extraneous distractions, such as air conditioning, student getting up to sharpen a pencil, student humming, throwing trash in the trashcan, etc., affect students who are easily distracted or born with disabilities that affect processing and attention.

Apparently, some of Baldwin’s students found other things more engaging than the math lesson. One female student used the entire class period to write letters. Several students carried on conversations with each other. Once during the lesson, Baldwin checked for understanding by asking if they understood. One student clearly answered no, but she did not address the concern. She kept right on teaching.

Sara Hill, 8^th Grade English/Language Arts

My second observation was of 8^th grade English Sara Hill. Hill started off class by taking up a comb and brush of a student, who was using them in her hair. Next, she began reprimanding students about their behavior on a previous day with a substitute and then she gave instructions about typing essays – to work quickly and quietly -- on the computer. She used the SmartBoard to demonstrate how to open a Word document and how to include a standard school heading, which included the title of the essay and double spacing the contents of the essay. She warned them that their failure to follow directions would mean she would ask them to leave the lab. One observation I made about this teacher’s style was that she habitually “shushed” her students and threatened to give them a demerit. Before she took the students to the computer lab, she related a funny story about a pig. Although I found the story amusing, I did not understand what the story had to do with their assignment.

I was very impressed with the students’ behavior once Hill took them to the computer lab. Each student went straight to the computer and went straight to work. There was minimal off task behavior because every student was focused and on the task of typing their essays. Hill went around assisting students. Finally, she began conducting individual conferences with students about their essays. Students were focused the entire time.

8^th Grade Collaborators: Susanna Waters, Math & Judy Wood, Special Education

My third observation involved two 8^th grade collaborators, math teacher Susanna Waters and special education teacher Judy Woods on Oct. 24, 2006. Waters spent the first few minutes of class publicly reprimanding a student about a lie he had told about an agenda being taken off his desk. After the reprimand, she reminded students about starting on the warm-up on the SmartBoard. (The warm-up consisted of six problems dealing with simplifying fractions.) About 7-10 minutes into class, Woods arrived with calculators, which she distributed to students.

What struck me about this observation was the amount of distractions in the room. As both teachers worked together to go through the problems with students, I noticed so much conversation going on with the students.

Half of the students seemed to be working on the problems and actively participating. The other half of the class did participate at all. One-fourth of them worked the problems quietly at their desks; the others were totally off task. Some students had loud, ongoing conversations throughout the entire lesson. Several students got out of their seats without permission but were not reprimanded. One female student was conspicuously writing notes unbeknownst to her teachers. Both teachers seemed to ignore “Tony,” a special education Hispanic student, who managed to snore through the entire class at a table in the back of the classroom with a shirt pulled over his head. He was never awakened or asked to participate. Several times paper was thrown across classroom and students laughed.

Towards the end of the hour observation, unchecked talking resulted in a verbal altercation between a male and female student (“Ben” and “Nakisha”. Nakisha was sent out of room due to her outbursts of profanity. Waters completed a discipline referral on her and called the school resource officer to come to her room in an effort to maintain control. Woodman reprimanded Ben for insult Nakisha. Toward the last few minutes of the teachers reviewing the warm-up, Trey, a male student, was allowed to stand on top of the sink while stapling names on bulletin board.

Gladys Haddox, 6^th Grade Science

When I arrived to observe Gladys Haddox’s 6^th grade science classroom, I found her doing hall duty. As each student would pass Haddox to go into her class, she would say, “Go in quietly.”

Haddox began her class by giving instruction about doing a science warm-up in their notebooks. She reminded students about how they were to head their papers by having them recite the information. As she informed the class about the objectives for the class period, Haddox quietly redirected an off-task student by asking, “Jim, are you ready?”

Using the SmartBoard, Haddox used a BrainPop presentation called “Milky Way” as a way review students on the topic. Students were engaged and quiet. This presentation was followed by short quiz, which was also shown on the SmartBoard. After the quiz, Haddox called on different students to answer the questions. I only noticed one student, who was off-task. She was inconspicuously reading a book for about one minute. When Haddox discovered this, she respectfully admonished the student for reading and redirected her to participating in the lesson.

The next part of the lesson was an actual lab, which went like clockwork. Haddox gave step-by-step instructions for each table to get their materials (such as water, syrup, etc.) from the countertops. As each table of students rose to get their materials and sat down, Haddox gave them praise for following directions. Once every table had their materials, Haddox informed them that they were to take notes, because what they would be asked to do would be part of their performance test. For every few minutes of her lecture, she asked for questions and checked to make sure they had written down correct information in their notes. For important terms, she would write them on the board and ask students to define them. She drew an oxygen molecule on the board and asked students to draw it in their notes. Several students were not as engaged as the rest of the class, but they were quiet.

Once the lecture was finished, students were given directions on observing sugar in water (once it had bee stirred). Only one student had to be admonished about attempting to eat the sugar during the observation. The question Haddox repeatedly asked was: What happened to the sugar? If all of the water molecules evaporate, what happens to the sugar? As students seemed to be stumped with the question, Haddox continued to praise them for attempts in answering the question until a right answer was given.

After the observation, students were instructed to dump out their sugar water and class was called to order for the second part of the lab. As students quietly followed instructions, she praised several students for listening while boiling a kettle of water. She redirected all students to stay focused before launching into a lesson on boiling and evaporation. She drew a container on the Smart Board and what happens when water evaporates. The most exciting part of lab was when Haddox grabbed some ping pong balls and threw them down table to demonstrate what happens to water as it is heated (evaporation). She then asked students to clarify what is happening. Some students answered incorrectly but then she praised and corrected them.

As she talks, Haddox refers to the boiling kettle. She redirects the class to stay focused as she asks students to recall information from yesterday’s lesson. She provides reminders as she reaches for a glass of ice water. As she reviews, she calls on different students to tell the difference between evaporation and boiling. Towards the end of her review, she tells students they are ready for the test. She gives directions, starts to perform (as part of the test), and reminds students about misusing materials. Haddox puts up a word bank on SmartBoard and begins asking questions. She repeats each question as needed before going to the next one, carefully demonstrating each question. At the end of the test, she encourages students to go back and proofread their answers before turning in their papers.

What I Learned

From observing my colleagues, I learned valuable lessons about teaching and learning in a middle school context:

· Don’t ever be so into “teaching” that you leave students out of the learning process.

· Include ALL of the students in your questioning sessions. Don’t just call on the ones who have their hands raised.

· Don’t allow students to sleep. That’s like allowing Brer Rabbit into the briar patch.

· Where possible, create situations where learning is student-centered, not teacher-driven.

· Don’t underestimate how classroom appearance impacts learning -- from what you have on your walls and bulletin boards to the organization (or lack of) of your room.

· Whenever possible make your lessons hands-on. Provide times for students to get out of their seats.

· Use technology – i.e., technology, computers, etc – to engage students in your lessons!

· Cut down on background noise and other distractions in the classroom as much as you can.

· Provide students with opportunities to “teach the class” – even in small ways like summarizing.

· Redirect off-task students back to the lesson.

· Praise students for good behavior and participation.

· Give “wait time” when questioning students.

· Don’t threaten students with discipline referrals.

· Provide breaks – to stretch, get water, or go to the bathroom -- during class time.