Initial Observation Notes

Lackawanna Trail High School

Before my student teaching placement, I had never been to
Lackawanna Trail High School, so my first day was my first impression of the
school and the people inside. In email correspondence with my contact,
Steve Beckish, I had been instructed in where to park and where to find the
office. Upon entering the building, I located the office and Steve met me
there. I was given an identification badge to wear that simply said Student
Teacher, and we walked to a classroom, which has been where I spend most
of my time. I was introduced to my first of three cooperating teachers, Joel
Nietz. I spend most of my day with Joel, including two preparatory periods
and three classes. Steve was sure to walk with me to each class during the
first day and introduce me to each teacher I would be with during the day.
The other two teachers are Claire Signorello and Keith Youtz.
My first week was spent observing the numerous classes I would
eventually take over. Claire is a self-proclaimed nontraditional teacher, so it
was interesting to see how she handled her classroom as opposed to the
other two teachers. I am only with Claire for two periods of Personal Finance,
so it was difficult to compare the classes to the other math classes I have
been in because they are very different in subject material. There were not
very many differences in teaching style as far as I could tell, but I do believe

that is due to the subject material limiting what she could do with the class.
Claire does not do anything amazingly different as far as teaching style or
classroom management; the only major difference is that she does not give
tests or quizzes, but again, only in this class she does give tests and
quizzes in her regular math classes. The personal finance classes I will
teach are electives and only worth partial credit, so the work load is to be
lighter. The subject material is also more conducive to projects than
regular math classes.
The students in the personal finance classes cover a wide range. There
are a few students with IEPs, a few honors students who have small-group
SAT prep every so often during class, and students who are failing almost
every class. The makeup of the group makes it a bit more difficult to assign
projects or do anything, honestly. It is such a wide range that Claire often
assigns projects, gives ample class time for students to work on the projects,
and has some students waiting a few days while the lower end of the
spectrum students finish. However, most of the students are fairly
personable, although the majority complain about being in class almost
every day. There are very few students who seem to want to be in the class,
so I suspect that even though it is an elective, it was chosen for them.
I only have one class with Keith Youtz, a geometry class that is
remedial geometry. The students in this class are mostly seniors
attempting to pass so they can graduate; these students have not passed

the Keystone Exams and do not have to try again, and most are taking this
class for the second time. Keith normally teaches honors geometry classes,
but due to budget cuts had to take on this class as well. While it is difficult to
walk into a situation and understand what is going on, I get the feeling that
he is simply pushing many of them through the year. One of the first things
he told me on my first day was that I cant give homework because its a
waste of [my] time; they just wont do it. That idea seems to govern the
class he does not set very high expectations, and the students do not do
much. A typical day in this class consists of 15 to 20 minutes of actual
teaching or class work; the rest is spent doing nothing or allowing the
students to goof off. Keith told me that he cannot do more work with them
because they simply will not work for an entire period, and while I am not in
any position to judge how he runs his class, it seems that he does not give
much effort to helping them actually learn geometry. He gives them a
formula to memorize, shows them which numbers go in the place of which
letters, and then gives them a worksheet to practice. They do a worksheet
every day for the first four days of the week. These worksheets are set up
identically to each other, so that problem number one is the same type of
problem on each worksheet. This allows the students to memorize which
formulas and numbers to use based on which problem they are doing. Then,
the fifth day of the week they take a quiz, which is simply one of the
worksheets they did earlier in the week. If they are unhappy with their quiz
grade, they are allowed to retake it up until the next quiz is given. In this

way, many students memorize answers and pass these quizzes with flying
colors without actually knowing anything. However, I know that I will not be
able to deviate much from the norm, because it would almost be unfair to
the students who have been operating under this system for almost three
marking periods now.
One thing that I noticed about this remedial geometry class is that the
group of students is one of the most personable groups I will be teaching.
They enjoy talking to me and Keith and joking around with us. I imagine that
one reason for this is that they want to get out of doing class work, which
makes sense. However, other classes also dislike doing class work and are
not nearly as enjoyable as this group, so I know that is not entirely the cause.
While this group may complain about being made to do work, they have
never taken it out on the teacher, continuing to be nice even when they
refuse to do math.
The other three classes that I will teach are with Joel Nietz. He informed
me that he has recently transitioned to a classroom in which he gives little to
no homework, especially for his younger lower-spectrum classes. Instead, he
spends slightly more time on units and does more class work. Two of my
classes with Joel are lower level algebra, and the third is honors algebra, so I
will get to experience a spectrum of levels. Joel manages his classroom in a
very blunt, dont mess with me way. The students respect him enough to
obey him, but they do not dislike him. He finds a good balance between

commanding respect and being their friend, which allows students to learn
well in his classroom environment but also come to him after class and joke
around with him.
The students in third period algebra (mostly 10th graders) are generally
loud and like to be social in class, which Joel allows as long as they are also
getting their work done. This works for this class because there are only
eleven of them, which is a manageable number on its own, but coupled with
the fact that it is a rare day when everyone is present, such an environment
is easy to maintain. Joel has, however, given me total freedom to maintain
whatever level of noise I am comfortable with.
The fifth/sixth period algebra class is probably the most difficult group
as far as classroom management goes. There are nineteen ninth graders in
the room at once, none of whom particularly want to be there. The noise
level escalates quickly, and once students get off track it is nearly impossible
to bring them all back again. Somehow, in a cruel twist of fate, this is the
class that has the least amount of absences, at least as far as I have seen,
making it all the harder to manage. On the bright side, these students enjoy
activities and love to talk, so it is not too hard to get answers out of them.
There are a few students in this class who get a bit sassy with the teacher,
which is something I will need to keep an eye on.
The last class I have with Joel is Honors Algebra. This class will most
likely be one of my easiest classes to teach. There are nine students, and all

of them enjoy math and engage easily in the class. The format of this class is
Joel teaching for a few minutes at the beginning of class and then assigning
a lot of class work. The students quietly work on the problems, and at some
point Joel will write the answers on the board. Students check their own
work, and at the end of class Joel has a question and answer period where
students can ask about any of the problems and the class will talk through
them. This class is also extremely personable, making it a very enjoyable
period.

Wayne Highlands Middle School

This placement was a bit different as far as observations went,
because I began my placement by assisting with PSSAs. Thus, my entire first
week was not a normal schedule but instead was all shifted around. Helping
with PSSAs basically meant I handed out books, read some instructions, read
questions aloud to students when they asked, and sat in the room for three
hours without talking or doing anything but watching the students fill in
bubbles.
My second week at WHMS was technically my observation week, but I
couldnt handle sitting in the corner all week without doing anything. I
caught on to the classroom procedures fairly quickly, so I began helping
students one-on-one during classwork after about three days. Courtney runs
all of her classes in the same manner, so it was easy to get a feel for how the
day would go. She is fairly strict with her students, and since my placement
occurred at the end of the year, there were rarely any interruptions for
discipline issues relating to the classroom rules. Of course, middle schoolers
will do what middle schoolers do and be disruptive and loud from time to
time, but nothing compared to my last placement.
I observed how Courtney utilized the technology in her classroom,
which was wonderful. She had a smart board that she did not use because it
was old, but she projected things onto it and used it in that way. She was
able to project anything she wanted thanks to a tiny little camera that

hooked onto her desk and acted like a modern version of the overhead
projectors that use transparencies; any paper could be placed under the
camera and instantly projected onto the white board, where the teacher can
write answers or do problems. That was a very handy thing that I plan to
utilize often in my lessons.
This period of observation was also easier than my last placement
because I am in the same classroom all day and have only two different
classes during the day (2 of one and 3 of the other). This made it easy to
catch on to classroom procedures and the feel of each class, and my entire
day felt easier because I wasnt rushing to my next classroom the moment
the bell rang. It was also a lot easier to ask questions of my co-op because I
did not have to leave so soon after class, so I had lots of time between
classes to discuss things with her.