Before I observed this particular class, I looked up information about the English Language Program (ELP) on-line. This program is designed for people who wish to expand their English for communication, study, business, pleasure, etc. This program offers four core courses. The core course that I observed was an Intermediate Reading and Discussion group which meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 1:00-3:15.
Before the class observation:
I met the instructor before class to discuss overall goals as well as goals for that day’s lesson. The overall goal of the course is to improve reading comprehension skills, increase vocabulary and reading speed, and develop discussion skills. The goal of that day’s lesson was to work on reading strategies: scanning, identifying main ideas, and understanding details. The instructor mentioned that there are only 10 people in the class and almost all of them are between the ages of 18-20 (with the exception of one man who is about 25 and one woman who is in her 30’s). They are all at pretty much the same level, although there is some slight variation.
During the observation:
The instructor starts the class by picking up one assignment that was due and they check three other assignments together. All of the students call out the answers in unison. (The chapter in the textbook that they check was about bullies.)
Then she hands out strips of paper with five discussion questions that pertain to the topic of bullies, for example “Why do you think children become bullies?” and “What would you do if someone bullies your child?” Students get into groups of two to discuss their opinions on these questions. The instructor walks around from group to group and listens. She elicits more responses from the students and scaffolds them as needed. It seems as though she employs an integrated focus on form approach to error correction because “the learner’s attention is drawn to language form during communicative or content-based instruction” (Lightbrown and Spada, 2008 p. 186), where the primary focus is on meaning. She appears to be genuinely interested in hearing their thoughts and she laughs with them when they make funny remarks. Students appear to be comfortable and engaged. She seems to be creating a positive environment in which to learn. After the students discussed these questions in groups, they share their ideas with the ...
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...ents to come up with their responses.
I believe this instructor to be highly effective and someone to whom I can use as a model. She incorporated many things that I liked into only a two-hour lesson, including proper planning, providing authentic and interesting materials, promoting learner autonomy through strategies training, allowing group work, employing a communicative approach to learning, creating a learner-centered environment, and using integrated focus on form.
Works Cited:
Dörnyei, Z. & Csizér, K. (1998). Ten commandments for motivating language learners: Results of an empirical study. Language Teaching Research, 2, 203-229.
Felder, R. M. (1995). Learning and teaching styles in foreign and second language education. Foreign Language Annals, 28, 21-31.
Hadley, A. O. (2001). Teaching language in context (3rd ed.). Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
Rivera-Mills, S. V. & Plonsky, L. (2007). Empowering students with language learning strategies: A critical review of current issues. Foreign Language Annals, 40, 535- 548.
Spada, N. & Lightbown, P. M. (2008). Form-focused instruction: Isolated or integrated? TESOL Quarterly, 42, 181-207.
Throughout the text she speaks with an informative tone that addresses the common problems that occur within a classroom and gives suggestions that will benefit both the teacher and the student. For example, “When students believe that their peers and teachers like and respect them, they are more likely to achieve academic success (Goodenow, 1993; Ladd, 1990; Ryan & Patrick, 2001)”(Bonura, 1). This is an example of using a problem to help the teacher understand what they need to change in order to make their students happy. The problem is not stated exactly, but the reader can come to the conclusion that Bonura is trying to state that there is an issue with the way that teachers treat their students. By using this effect, the reader (or teacher) considers the way they treat their students and comes up with a solution in order to fix the addressed
Identifying students needs dictates selecting learning intentions [LI’s] (Davis, 2007, MOE, 2005). These must relate to the curriculum achievement objectives, lesson purpose, WALT’s and planned activity. Effective selection of achievable intentions will allow the guided reading lesson to be well rounded, clear and successful. **
Carter asked the class to pull out their math workbooks. Catalina followed her teacher’s direction and wrote in her workbook. When a student was called upon to read a math word problem, Catalina followed along in her book while the student read. As Mrs. Carter solved a math word problem on the board and asked a question to the class, Catalina raised her hand to answer the question. She provided the correct answer and received praise from Ms. Carter. As Mrs. Carter continued to solve the math problem on the board, the students in the class took notes, while Catalina stared at the board. After a few seconds, a teacher’s aide walked up to Catalina and showed her where to write in her workbook. Catalina wrote in her notebook as the teacher’s aide assisted Catalina with the word problem. At one point, Catalina looked at the work of a student seated next to her. She then leaned over and corrected the student’s answer while she said, “no, it belongs over here.” Mrs. Carter then asked the students to work in pairs to solve a math problem on the whiteboards. Catalina solved the math problem with the help of her partner. After a couple of minutes, the teacher’s aide checked on her progress. When Mrs. Carter introduced a new math problem, Catalina played with her pencil and looked at her nails before her focus returned to the math problem. Throughout the lesson, Catalina correctly answered questions collaboratively with her
One element of learning sessions that Josie especially dislikes is that “it’s supposed to be more student guided than teacher guided, but the students want the learning assistant to guide them because that is how class is run.” This can be seen during the actual sessions. In the beginning, some students are hesitant to actively participate; however, when they do, the sessions flourish. The students are willing to hearing other’s ideas and the tips that Josie has to share with them.
The first group of students I observed was two boys. The boys came into class and picked a game for them to play. They decided on playing jenga. They took turns playing the game. After they took a turn, Ms. Robinson would have them do something having to do with the lesson. One boy had to read a story out loud to Ms. Robinson. While he was taking his turn, the other boy was supposed to hold a casual conversation. He struggled with it so Ms. Robinson tried to help him by asking him questions. He still struggled with using elaborate answers. He was not using his r’s so Ms. Robinson eventually just had to ask him to say some words with r’s in them. the boys continued playing the game while also taking turn working on their specific areas of improvement.
“Educational practice is necessarily based on the assumption that students are willing to engage in educational activities that they will lend their cooperation and support to the process in their education. Students who do not offer such cooperation, who are unmotivated, present significant challenges” (Williams and Ivey, 2001, 75). High school school-children show the most trouble with cooperation and motivation; they only have a few more years of schooling and for some pupils that is the end of their education. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to observe a high school classroom; the other main reason is because I have actually considered teaching high school grades. I observed Ms. Edith Stone and her Algebra II mathematics classroom.
The classroom observation took place in Chaira’s class at Early Education Center (EEC) in Highland, NY. Chaira class is a self contain (Full day center-based special) class that consist of 12 children, 2 assistant teachers and 2 one to one aides. The age range for this class is from 3 ½-5 years old. EEC starts at 8:45am and ends at 2:30pm. The staff is very friendly and caring to the children. I arrived EEC at 8:30am and talk briefly with the teacher. She discussed the agenda for the class. She invited me to interact with the children in the class. This allowed me to observe and get hands on experience working with preschool children.
As a student who is normally drawn to the areas of science and math, I didn't really know what to expect in regards to my English 101 class. I used to not value the power of the written and spoken word, but over the past couple years I have definitely gained more respect for the ability to communicate effectively. After having this change in perspective I really wanted to improve my own communication skills, specifically in the areas of writing and interpreting what I read. I have never considered myself a good writer or reader, so at the beginning of the semester I was looking forward to gaining new skills in these areas, but I was also hesitant because this was my first English class as a college student.
While observing my MT I noticed she favors the lecture style of teaching. The kids are not very engaged because they can only sit still and listen for a while even in a 6th grade classroom. I noticed a majority of the students in my field classroom like to move around and I think that helps them stay focused, however when they have to sit on the carpet and listen to my MT they become restless. On several occasions I have observed my MT engaging the students by calling on them to read out loud or every few paragraphs ask questions during their reading block. Which put the students into a position to be accountable for paying attention to the story. I believe that my MT utilizes this method of lecturing because she is getting them prepared for
Include text for which a reader does not have enough background information for a topic and cannot meet instructional requirements for levels of accuracy and rate. To think of frustration levels that require long or even medium-level help from a teacher. For instance: To get a feeling of frustration level of content, consider things you can do extremely well, for example, skiing, sewing, composing, playing an instrument. It is likely that you will develop the ability slowly, and with help. Envision being a new beginner reader once again, and confronting progressed, or even and mastery levels task consistently. Implications for effective instructional practice teachers can include all students in the entire class by making inquiries and after that requesting that students ask questions and then to examine their responses. Teachers can utilize casual checks to choose or make sense of whether students concur, dissent, or have an inquiry concerning a point being made. Teachers can solicit students to give outlines from the fundamental purposes of an introduction through a talk or after directions are
I thought this was odd, but also an easy class: no worksheets, no drawn out homework assignments, or lectures, just sit and chat. Boy was I wrong! The discussion the teacher and students were having was on great works of literary merit, specifically American classics. We bounced ideas off of each other, discussed the author’s tone and intent, and even joyfully wrote our end of the book essays. Compared to my old English class, where writing a one page review after each reading assignment and never sharing ideas was the norm, these discussions in class were more productive towards gaining new insights.
The evaluation form that was used to evaluate a classroom teacher’s performance is a rubric used by the school district (Hillsborough County Public Schools, 2012).
In electing to observe a kindergarten class, I was hoping to see ‘real world’ examples of the social development, personality types and cognitive variation found within the beginning stages of “Middle Childhood” as discussed within our text.
When I first got to the classroom the students were doing a listening exercise and had to answer same question the teacher wrote on the board. At a certain time they all were allowed to go to the bathroom. Each student was given a responsibility in the classroom.
The students that I observed in the classroom were of middle to high school. I went to see 8th, freshman, 10th , and seniors classes, they seemed excited and very curious to why I was there. The middle school was more alive and rambunctious while I observed them. The High school kids were more relaxed, more comical. Some were paying attention while others seemed tuned out to the lecture or involved in socialization with friends within the class. By the end of the class Mr. Hasgil had restored the attention of everyone by using tactics such as history jeopardy with candy as the prize with the high school kids. In both he middle school and high school the kids were mostly Caucasian with a mixture of black, Asian , and Hispanic in the classes.