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Caitlyn Yohn
Dr. Monsour
ED327
4 November 2014
Observations at Greensburg Salem High School
Throughout the fifteen hours of observations, different techniques were used to
help with understanding the novels. I observed a twelfth grade English class at Greensburg
Salem High School for the entirety of the hours. This class is on the larger side with twentyeight students when they are all in class. Also, the class has eight learning support students
in it. At Greensburg Salem High School, the schedule is divided into block periods that are
an hour and a half long. The students meet five days a week for one semester. It came off as
odd to me that the class did not have a set anthology to use, rather they use school
provided novels as their textbooks. Over the fifteen hours, the class switched units from A
Lesson Before Dying and Animal Farm.
For both of the units, each chapter had a study guide which consisted of a list of a
varying amount of questions. Students were to complete the questions while reading or
after they completed the chapter. There was also vocab lists provided, at least through the
beginning half of the novels. For some of the chapters, the students needed to find a way to
visual portray the theme or main idea of the specific chapter normally on larger provided
paper. The sheets allowed for students to write down key information and terms.
When I first began the observations, the class was reading A Lesson Before Dying by
Ernest J. Gaines. The students were over halfway through the novel, so it was difficult to
fully understand the significance of the class activities at some points because they were so

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far into the novel already. During this unit, one of the strategies most beneficial to the class
was the amount of independent reading time allotted during the block. All the students
read at different speeds, and to ensure that they all had adequate time to read the novel
and experience the emotions and shift that occur in the novel, students were all at different
places in the novel. There were some students who finished a few days before others, but
the class seemed to respect the differences in reading speeds as no one spoke about the
ending in the class setting until everyone was finished.
The final project employed for this novel really gave the students a chance to show
their understanding of the novel in a way that was conducive to their own learning. There
was a list of final project ideas distributed to the class, but students also had the
opportunity to make up their own project with the approval of the teacher. According to
each project, with the exception of the paper, the students and the teacher made a rubric
for the project. Students could make anything from an object box to a written essay.
The students also had the opportunity to watch the movie adaptation of the novel
after the completion of reading the novel. In a class discussion, students discussed, with the
teacher, how the movie was different from the class and if it benefited the students. Many
of the students benefitted from visually seeing the emotion.
The next unit covered in the class was Animal Farm by George Orwell. During this
unit, the students learned about propaganda and satire. Rather than sitting through a
presentation about the history of Russia/the Soviet Union, the teacher had the students
complete a web quest using credible online sources through Google. Also during this unit,
students needed to visually represent themes from chapters. In groups, the students would
find the theme of the chapter and visually represent it through drawing. Some of the

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representations were presented to the class, while other drawings were just collected and
graded. A technique that was beneficial to the class was for the students to form discussion
questions based on the chapter that they would discuss in small groups.
One of the more creative strategies employs to help students understand the
different propaganda and how they are used was to create an infomercial to present to the
class. Students used a range of ideas incorporating at least three types of propaganda.
With the different strategies employed throughout the units, the students normally
seemed engaged. There was a couple of times where I heard students say they did not
complete the reading despite have class time to read. Although students tired of the same
study guide sheets constantly, they completed them knowing they would be beneficial
when the summative test occurred at the end of the unit.
The teacher mentioned in conversation that there were not many issues with
comprehension in the classroom but rather speed. Because the class is so diverse in
reading levels, many of the students needed to read a lot slower than others in the class. I
liked that the teacher never pushed the entire class to finish the novel at the same time;
there was a one to two day window.
I think the constant repetitiveness of the study guides is overwhelming, especially
for two units in row. I would have the students find the important information of the
chapters differently, altering between the study guides and a variety of other activities. I
actually enjoyed a majority of the strategies employed in the classroom because I could see
the students engaged and wanting to learn the information. While I like the idea of allowing
a lot of time for reading the text in class, outside of a block schedule, this is not ideal or
possible. Students spend upwards of thirty minutes a class just reading the novel. Most of

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the time, students had no homework. While I know how busy some students are, a little
homework may be beneficial to help continue the learning.
I completed the Cloze procedure on Animal Farm by George Orwell. Completing
Frys Readability Graph, there was a range of levels that emerged from the passages chosen.
The levels from this test ranged from a high eighth grade level to a middle tenth grade level.
Next, I completed the Microsoft Word Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level procedure on the text.
Upon completing this test, the estimated level of the text was at twelfth grade. Lastly, I
completed the Gunning Fog Index on the same passage as the Microsoft Word FleschKincaid. The passage, according to the Gunning Fog Index is at a college level, which is the
highest result out of all the tests.