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LEWIS AND CLARK MIDDLE SCHOOL I went to Lewis and Clark middle school for my classroom observations on October 17, 2005. I observed forth-six students in three different classes. Forth four students are in eight grades in traditional classroom. The five students in the ESL classroom are in seven and eight grade. ESL Classroom Grade: 7 & 8 Topic: Verb Number of students: 5 Preparation: The content concept was appropriate for the educational background of the students. The students are learning a second language (English) Adaptation: For students’ proficiency, the teacher gave some picture clues and had the students say what it met. For example, · Pointing at · Singing · Waiting for · Leaving Instruction: The teacher repeated the key words several times. The reading seems easy for some of the students because they have been working on action words. Comprehensible Input: The teacher spoke slowly and clearly. She did lot of modeling. She used visual aid (flash cards). The teacher was able to carry the class along because of her demonstrations, gestures, and body language. Interaction: There active participation of both the students and the teacher. For example, during round reading, each student read when it was time to do so. The teacher gave little input and students added their input. Content Area (Social Studies) Grade: 8 Topic: Government Number of students: 22 The 8th grade lesson on Social Studies began at about 10:05a.m. The teacher began by addressing acts of indiscipline, late coming to class. The lesson was a review on the ordinance of 1785. Northwest Ordinance Ø Congress choose governor and judges to rule territory Ø Territory is divided into 3-5 states. Transition There was poor transition in the class. The teacher moved from one thing to the other. She talked about students going to class late. She moved to the review of the lesson; at the middle of the lesson she remembered that some students need to return some books to her. She stopped the lesson and asked the students to go get the books. It seems there was no prepare planning of the lesson. I can’t really say if the teacher met the goals and objectives of the lesson because more than half of the students were not responding to the lecture. Interaction The class seems to be teacher centered because the teacher was active while the students were passive. I observed that some students were not writing in the class. There was little teacher/student relationship. There was no evaluation of the lesson. Assessment The teacher gave the students worksheets with reading and explaining the task to the students. Some students may have little or no clue about how to do the assignment. Content area: (Science) Grade: 8 Topic: Elements Number of students: 19 The third class I observed was an eight grade science class. The lesson was on mixtures of elements. The teacher knows the subject matter. She introduced the lesson and explained what an element is to the students. The lesson was teacher centered. The students’ participation was low. The teacher did must of the talking while the students listened passively. For example, when the teacher asked questions she did not give the students enough time to process the information, she answered the questions and continued. Transition The transition in this class was very effective. The teacher gave the students enough time to complete their task before moving to something else. For example, she said, “I give you five seconds to finish what you doing” That gives the students the idea of their time frame to work. Interaction The interaction in the science classroom is good. I observed the teacher walked around the students to monitor their progress. There was student to student interaction. For example, during round reading, the students went into groups of two, three, and four. The students took turns to read and passage from their science book. I observed the following when the students were reading: Ø Choppy reading Ø Slow reading Ø Pointing at individual words Ø Could not decode Ø Guessing the beginning sound Ø Word recognition Ø Reading speed I learned that teachers demonstrate, explain, coach, and assist students depending on each student’s learning needs. I learned that teachers provide challenging activities that include opportunities for small-group and independent work. For example, in the science class the students filled out their worksheet independently and they worked in group during round reading. |
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E-mail me Christiana Udebor at christieudebor@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2007 Last updated 12/06/2007
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