Hour 1 and 2
I had my first classroom observation was for Course ESAL 0220/0320 (Pre-intermediate/intermediate grammar). The classroom setting was casual with students seated in manner that they could all see the teacher clearly and the teacher could roam around in the classroom assessing students’ progress with ease. Although, because of the seating arrangement I felt students’ interaction was limited and restricted as they were not facing one-another. I could also sense some groups being formed based on students’ common ethnicities.
The class started at the regular time and the teacher was casually dressed. He introduced the new visitors in the room to his students and later went ahead with a warm-up activity to refresh students’ memory about previously covered material. There was no discussion on any objectives or agenda for the class. The activity did not involve all the students, some of them were only listening and were passive participants. The teacher noticed that later on introduced a group activity where he made efforts to make sure that everyone has a partner and participate actively. He also tried to incorporate humor into his teaching methods whenever he felt the students were getting a little tired as the lecture went on almost 2 hours. The break was at the right timings and for a decent duration as well.
My learning from the class: When the teacher saw that his first activity was not able to garner as much response as he thought, he was quick enough to mold his strategy and introduce an activity that would motivate students to be proactive. While wrapping up his lecture for the day, he asked how his students felt about today’s class and their thoughts on homework, he then carved the homework according to the response he had gathered and was considerate towards his students’ interests.
Hour 3 and 4
My second classroom was observation was in Course ESAL 0270/0370 (Pre-intermediate/intermediate Reading skills). As the lecture started the teacher greeted everyone in the room and provided students with their name tags to be kept on their table for the duration of the class. Students were seating in the same arrangement as last class and there no changes made thorough out as well. As it was a reading skill enhancement class, the teacher started to read a paragraph out of a book. There was no discussion on any objectives or agenda for the class.
While he was readding out of the book, the teacher was extremely aware of whose paying attention and not. He asked students to start reading where he had left to keep them on the track with him. He also explained a lot of words using simple and basic language. When the teacher allotted some activity to the class, he was prudent about the students’ progress, constantly interacted with them, asked lots of questions on how they reached their answers. He also provided them sufficient time to read and answer the questions, there was no rush and the students seemed to be at ease and enjoying the lecture. Teacher finished with an efficient round-up to the class.
My learning from the class: While sharing the news of test in the next class with students, he provided students with lots of tips on how to cover the material and study for the specific test. He shared information on what to expect in the test and how to prepare for it for maximum success. He ended up by checking on students and advised them not feel overwhelmed.
Hour 5 and 6
My 3rd class observation was in ESAL 0580 which was a writing class. The intstructor started the class on a very calm mood, there was light music playing in the background while the stduents were still settling in. The instructor also mentioned the short attendance due to an aggignment that was due the same in class. When everyone arrived she asked them about the homework, if it was too much or manageable. the intsructor also had ‘the plan’ mentioned on the white biard for stduents to see what were they going to do in the class. She pointed out the two visitors in class and explained our purpose of being there in her class. Students were excited to see us there.
The first half of the class started with a review activity, students were asked to sit in a semi-circle, all of them talked for baout 15 minutes regarding the topic shared in the last class. Everyone was encouraged to talk by the instructor. stduents were at ease. Everyone was motivated to listen to one-another whole-heartedly, the instructor practiced that herself in front of the stduents. The instructor was quite mindful of the timeline and kept on reminding the stduents about the time they have to talk. Teacher was animated and lively.
After the break, students came back to the class, teacher greeted them again and welcomed the students who were not present in the first half with a smile. she started to introduce the second activity to stduents, She gave them the choice to choose their own writing topic. This was a group activity but the instructor was extremely active with what the stduents are doing, it was a well controlled activity. As soon as she would see any stduent withering away from the activity or topic, she would help them get back on the track.
My learning: The instructir was extremely mindful of her students’ needs and kept the consideration towards her stduents rather than just on the lesson plan. she was lively and stduents seemed to enjoy that positive energy in the classroom.
Hour 7 and 8
I attended another wonderful session with ESAL 0220/0320 Grammar course. The teacher seemed to be in a cheerful mood with his students and greeted all of them whole-heartedly. He started the class with explaining the course outline to the students in detail. Some of those details were about classroom attendance, prerequisite for the course, required textbooks and he paid detailed attention in explaining students about course activities, assessment and final evaluation. Students were paying attention to him and were taking some notes as well.
Light humor seems to be a constant part of teacher’s demeanor. Before asking them about the homework completion, the teacher tried to alleviate the mood of the class with some light jokes and anecdotes. Students seem to enjoy this. While explaining the answers to the students, the teacher was quite animated and lively and that generated active student participation. Later, he did a group activity with the students, in which he made efforts to make sure that everyone was part of the group and nobody is left behind. Even when the students were doing the activity in the groups, he was around them all the time, helping them with some hints or explanations to reach the goal. When some students gave the wrong answers, he politely corrected them and showed generosity by not belittling them in any way.
After the ten minutes break, students came back to class looking refreshed. The teacher greeted them again and started with another exercise, this time students only had to listen to him and write down the answers. For this activity his voice modulation and clarity were immaculate. He motivated student participation by constantly asking them direct and indirect questions. Some time later, he started to wrap up the class with the mention of test.
Learning from the class: There was some time left (almost 10 minutes) when the current chapter finished. Rather than jumping onto the next chapter, the teacher had a considerate approach, he gave his students few minutes to look back and check for any doubts or questions. Also, informed them about the test specifications, material to read and prepare. I think that was my highlight of the class, where the teacher is flexible and caring towards his students and gives more value to quality learning rather than just finishing off the curriculum.
Hour 9 and 10
I had the chance to observe a Reading class for course ESAL 0470. The Teacher welcomed everyone to the classroom and asked them to sit in a semi-circle preparing them for the quiz. She checked whether everyone was present or not. Then she introduced the visitors (student-observers) to the class and we talked for a minute about ourselves and why were there.
The teacher instructed the students about the quiz guidelines and they were presented in a very clear and simple language for the students to grasp it quickly. Students were provided with a good reading time of 15 minutes prior to the test. The teacher gave the checked answer sheets back to the students just after the 10 minutes break, the students were quite impressed with their teacher’s efficiency and appreciated it. She also explained the common mistakes that she found in the paper and gave students some useful tips on how to remove such mistakes next time.
After the break, all the students came back to the class and the instructor explained them the objective and plan for the next activity. Students seemed to be engaged and excited about this activity, it was visible from their active body language and gestures towards one-another when they were asked to change seats according to the groups they were assigned to. The instructor made sure again and again that all the students are participating and contributing to their respective groups. By the end of the exercise, she went to each table and tried to assess their progress in learning. She asked students on how they are feeling about the activity and if they are confident about their answers. Lastly, she concluded her lesson with providing students instructions about the test for the next class. The instructions were quite simple and clearly delivered.
Learning from the lesson: I really like the ease with which the teacher proceeded with the lesson, she knew what would be the next step and seemed to be quite organized in her lesson planning. I really liked the way she handed out the answer sheets just after the break, as they were just some MCQs, I could see that the students were pleasantly surprised by this and that also acted as a nice ice-breaker for the next activity as it had them excited for the next half of the lesson.