This week I have had
the opportunity to observe two classrooms outside of Mrs. Hoover. I observed a
middle school math class as well as a high school chemistry class. It was very
interesting to see the way the classes were run in comparison to the agricultural
classrooms that I have observed.
Students in the
chemistry class came into a well-organized class took their seats, ready to
start the day. Students got out their ticket-outs from the previous day and
went over them with the teacher. The teacher thoroughly went over sample
problems. He also let the students volunteer to go over problems and complete
them on the marker boards at the back of the classroom. He also used analogies
to explain confusing and abstract theories.
The math teacher
probably had some of the best classroom management I have ever seen. All of the
students came into class and immediately put their bags in a taped off area in
the back of the room. All the students got out their homework and the teacher began
checking it, while the students copied down their homework for the next night.
Then the teacher used a randomize to select which students needed to go up and
complete the homework for the rest of the class to see. The teacher then gave
the students other practice problems on the Smart Board. First, the students
needed to complete the problem on individual marker boards. Students were given
directions clearly and followed them with ease. She also used a reward system
to help motivate the students.
That's so neat that you got to observe classes at both the middle and high school levels and saw different effective and successful classroom management techniques in both! The ability to work with different ages of learners is important. What was one thing from each classroom that you would like to incorporate into your student teaching experience and how would you make this happen?
ReplyDeleteKarlie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you saw a great example of students that know their teacher's expectations. Did you have an opportunity to talk with the teacher to see how he/she developed this system? Also, was there any interaction beyond the homework? It seems that there should have been more in terms of overall interaction, during the class session. Just an observation.
-Dr. Ewing
Dr. Ewing,
DeleteThe math class was a little different than normal because it was a 2-hour delay day and the chemistry class was spending their last day learning about covalent bonds before moving on to ion so it was mostly review. I did have the opportunity to talk to the math teacher and she mentioned that other teachers give her a hard time for being so strict, but she said after the first couple weeks of "laying down the law" the students get it and she really does not have any issues.