CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

Observation Field Notes

Stefon Bowman
Mrs. Saxon 2/12/2013

EDUC 421

Observational Field Notes Reaction

This semester I was able to observe my collaborating field experience teacher, Mr. Burgess, teach two lessons on creating opinion pieces. His lesson did not require many materials. He used an opinion piece on President Obama, paper, pencils, the SmartBoard, and construction paper. When introducing the lesson, Mr. Burgess read aloud a piece that talked about President Barack Obamas first term. The author of the piece spoke on how he felt that the President did a good job on leading the country. The piece also spoke on the accomplishments the President achieved during his first term and how he felt about them. After reading this piece to the class, Mr. Burgess asked the students what the author was trying to portray, what was his main point, and why did they think he wrote this. Mr. Burgess thus called on a few students and he then started breaking down what an opinion piece was. Mr. Burgess included what made up an opinion piece and went back to the introductory piece he had and pointed out what he was describing. After going over what made up an opinion piece, Mr. Burgess then had the students practice writing their own opinion pieces on two topics. The topics were whether there should be different menu choices for lunch, or if recess should be extended or shortened. To my surprise, the students were actually interested in writing on these subjects. Mr. Burgess gave the students twenty minutes to work on their pieces. After the time elapsed, Mr. Burgess announced to the class that they would be able to finish their pieces on the following day and that they would analyze the pieces as a whole to see whether they produced true opinion pieces. On the following day, Mr. Burgess gave the class thirty minutes to finish their pieces, and edit them. After the given time, Mr. Burgess placed the essays in random order (without showing

the students names) and displayed the works on the Smartboard so that they could read the pieces together as a class and discuss them. A majority of the students were right on with their pieces but only a few students works had to be edited to form an opinion piece. Instead of stating their opinion, they just described the items that they were receiving for lunch or what they did during recess. While editing the students works Mr. Burgess did not allow any students to become embarrassed or picked on. The works were anonymous to the class and he also made corrections in a suggestive manner so that students would look at their works being improved instead of being wrong. Afterwards, Mr. Burgess took a toll of how many students thought there should be different choices on the menu for lunch, and whether recess should be extended or shortened. With this information, Mr. Burgess led his class into Math. Overall, I liked the way the lesson was introduced, demonstrated, and handled. Mr. Burgess involved the students, caught and maintained their attention, and also had the students analyze and tell why an opinion piece was actually an opinion piece or not. Over the entire two days, the students liked the lesson and were very much into it. I believe that the lesson was effective and the lesson involved introducing math. With this lesson alone, the students were able to visually see an opinion piece, and read aloud and edit opinion pieces. I believe that with the way Mr. Burgess taught this lesson, I will have a good idea on how to teach this to my future students.