Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

Observation Notes
Observation One: My Classroom 1. The Class: 5th period English IV on-level 7 females/10 males 17-18 years old Names: Ricardo Ascedvedo, Quayshaun Bell, Elise Brown, Anthony Compo, Alyssa Echols, Kyle Fredrickson, Gabriella Guerrero, Kelcy Horne, Alexander Marler, Fareed Masoumi, Maurice Maxwell, Sara Palacio, Johnathon Prum, Joe Sanchez-Ramirez, Madison Rigdon, Christopher Wilson, Stone Yates 2. The Room Layout:
door

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b o o k s
podium

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Teachers desk

The blackboards and whiteboards are very well used, and they definitely reflect the advanced curriculum of the 12th grade classes that my CT teaches. Sections of the boards are allotted for different types of information: one section always contains lesson agendas (for both the day and the week), another contains the current vocabulary words for the AP classes, and another the current vocabulary words for the on-level class. The bookshelf contains a wide range of literature, most of it clearly geared toward sophisticated readers. On the walls are pictures of famous authors and posters of pop culture figures that would appeal to upper high school students, such as Flight of the Concords.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

3. The Learning Environment The feel of the classroom is very informal and comfortable. Students come in smiling and laughing, joking around with each other and with my CT. When the bell rings, they are in their seats, still talking, but once my CT makes it clear that class is about to begin, they seem attentive and ready to participate. The relationship between students and CT seem very casual and friendly, but mutually respectful. Many of the students call him just by his surname, omitting the usual title. He chats with students as they come in, asking them about their jobs, assignments for other classes, etc. During class, he often makes jokes that verge on sarcastic (I see you brought nothing with you to class today. Awesome! Thanks for being prepared.) The relationship between students is more ambiguous; some of them are clearly friends (laughing, nudging each other, exchanging looks throughout class), whereas some appear withdrawn and isolated from their peers. I have not seen any outright hostility or disrespectful behavior. 4. Behavior Management The only real technique I have observed is verbal redirection when students are offtask (the primary problem being cell phone use.) He often cajoles students to get them to participate, making sarcastic jokes about inappropriate or off-topic behavior. Serious disciplinary action has not been necessary. My CT is pretty sparing with positive reinforcement, but I have heard him make several comments that encourage the kind of behavior he likes to see: Good for you if you feel strongly about it! and I like the way youre thinking right now. Some side conversations are tolerated, although if students remain off-task for a prolonged period of time, my CT will redirect them. For the most part, students are respectful and attentive when the teacher is speaking. Talking within context is strongly encouraged, and the teacher does a great job of incorporating off-topic comments into the discussion and tying them back in to relevant conversation. Movement is limited, but some opportunities are given, such as breaking them into small groups for activities, which allows them to move around the room as they sort themselves.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

! Observation Two: My CT in Action !

Time 9:13-9:25 Teacher Communication/ Action CT announces the journal topic for the day: Express your feelings on the city that you live in. He gives lots of examples and additional questions to get students thinking, and then tells them they have ten minutes to explore this topic in their writing journals. Observed Student Behavior Students are focused and attentive when CT is talking. Several students asked questions to clarify the topic. Once the writing time began, all students seemed actively engaged in their journal entries. As the ten minutes continued, attention of several of them began to flag (three heads down on desks, pencils not moving), while others wrote avidly for the entire time. Students are mostly engaged throughout this discussion; although several students do not participate at any point, they are not blatantly offtask. They often speak without raising their hands, suggesting this is clearly an informal, discussion-based class. Most of them maintain good eye contact with the CT and seem interested in responding to his questions about how they regard Pflugerville. My Comments/ Questions CT has a very informal and colloquial style with his students. He often uses journal writing for the engagement set with his on-level students, which seems to be a good way to get them thinking.

9:25-9:31

CT regroups students to whole class discussion about their journal entries. He directs questions both to the class in general and to individual students. His constant refrain in this discussion is, why?, as he always wants students to, take it one step further. As the discussion progresses, he moves around the room, standing in front of different students as he calls on them to respond. He seems genuinely interested in students responses to his questions.

There is a good balance of letting students that are eager to participate speak and calling on students that clearly would not volunteer answers themselves. When students give a terse or superficial answer, he prods them to examine their thinking more deeply. There is a clear rapport between students and teacher; I wish Id had the opportunity to see this class in the fall semester while this rapport was being established.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD 9:31-9:38 Class moves into reading an article from The New York Times about a bombed-out city in Syria that people are refusing to leave despite government insistence that they evacuate. CT moves around the room as students read, pausing to ask questions, pushing them to think about how these peoples feelings about their home town compare to their own. He challenges students to respond fully to his questions, saying things like, That was a terrible answer; Im not letting you off with that! Why do you feel that way? I want to pry, as a human being, into why you feel that way. After the student gave a more complete response, he replied, I like that answer better. The students remained mostly attentive throughout the reading and discussion, although several put their heads down at different points during the lesson. A handful of students were extremely engaged, making other real-world connections (bringing up, for example, the hurricane in Los Angeles that caused people to evacuate their homes and their reluctance to leave) and sharing personal anecdotes about the topic. One student in particular was resistant to engaging in discussion, but when prodded by CT, gave a thoughtful response to this question. I was impressed with the level of thought some of the students demonstrated, making relevant connections and examining their own beliefs critically. The proximity control seems mainly effective: as CT moves around the room, students are aware that they might be put on the spot, and are not given the opportunity to completely disengage. Even students reluctant to participate are not willing to refuse outright; I am interested to see how my CT would handle that situation. Again, this is a situation that would probably occur in the fall semester, when behavior management was still being established Things to look forward to next semester!

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Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

! Observation Three: School Policies and Procedures !

1. In the event that a student reports abuse, teachers are responsible for making a report to the proper authorities (the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services or any local or state law enforcement agency) within 48 hours. 2. Any student with a known seizure disorder should have a Seizure Action Plan form on file that their teacher should be familiar with. In the event that there is no previously identified plan for that student, teacher should stay with the student, protecting their head and not attempting to restrain them or put anything in their mouth, while another student or teaching assistant notifies the school nurse. 3. Teachers are not permitted to administer medication of any kind to students. If a student complains of a severe headache, teacher should send them to the nurses office, and the nurse can administer any medication provided the student has a consent form on file. 4. There is an established procedure for evacuating the building in the event of a fire: students follow their teachers in an orderly fashion to a predetermine location to wait for the all-clear signal. For a threat inside the building, there is a reverse lock-down procedure, in which teacher directs students to move away from windows, locks the classroom, and immediately phones the office to alert administration to the threat. 5. Teachers are not supposed to interfere in the event that students are fighting in the hallway. Each classroom is equipped with a buzzer that sends a code red notification to the office, and the appropriate administrative official should respond immediately.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

! Observation Four: My CTs Methods !

The lesson opens with a topic for students to explore in their journals: what are the limitations of what you care about? How far does your concern extend? To yourself, your family, your friends, your city, your state, your country, your world? After writing and sharing some of their ideas, the class reads an article about United States diplomats being expelled from Venezuela. Then they return to their journals: do you care about this topic? If a war started, would you care then? After another brief discussion, the class moves to preparing for writing the persuasive essay they will begin next class. Concepts/skills being developed: using journaling to practice expression through writing, examining individual beliefs, connecting personal life to real-world issues, cultivating awareness of political and social issues Questioning techniques: CT poses questions both to the whole class and to individual students. When a student responds, he asks follow-up questions, striving to get students to more clearly articulate their opinions and beliefs, and to examine the underpinning reasons for these beliefs. Yes, but why? is a phrase I hear a lot in this classroom. Use of technology is pretty limited in this lesson. The article about Venezuela is displayed on the projector, as are the instructions for the persuasive essay. Motivational techniques: CT often tries to demonstrate reasons why what they are working on is important. In giving instructions for the persuasive essay, for example, he points out that persuasion is a valuable skill: This is how you win people over to your point of view, how you win arguments! He frames questions as an attempt to understand his students, not to judge or assess them: Im not here to change your mind, I just want to understand why you, as a human being, care, or why you dont. Explain it to me! Student learning styles are addressed in several ways. Directions are often given both verbally and visually. CT alternates between whole class, small group, and individual activities. He gives multiple examples to explain expectations, and restates instructions more than once, using different language each time. He also pauses throughout the lesson to ask for questions and clarifications. Assessment: journals are collected biweekly and given complete grades (as long as there is a response for each day, credit is given.) There is also a lot of informal assessment/ checking for understanding through questioning throughout the lesson. The persuasive essay will be more formally assessed, but scaffolding is provided to help students succeed (writing a persuasive essay first in pairs, with teacher feedback, then writing the individual essays.) Most assessment in this class is informal; the main goal seems to be to get students talking and thinking.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD

! Observation Five: My CT Back in Action ! Areas to focus on: Engagement and Pacing !
Time 9:00-9:05 Teacher Communication/ Action CT opens class with vocabulary review. He moves up and down the rows, calling on each student at least once to define a word and giving positive reinforcement when they answer correctly. This review moves quickly, and is clearly an activity that occurs regularly. Observed Student Behavior Students are engaged throughout this review, often looking frantically through their vocabulary notes as their turn to answer a question approaches. Several times they ask for the correct response to be repeated and add information to their notes. My Comments/ Questions This is a very fastpaced activity; I know that if I had been teaching, it would have moved much more slowly. The rapidity seemed to increase engagement in addition to conserving class time for other activities. This was definitely a valuable activity for me to observe. Just as I learned about pacing from the vocabulary review, I definitely got some insight into engagement with this introduction. I like the idea of using a very contemporary show to open up discussion about a relevant theme in an academic text. I also appreciate that my CT doesnt rush them through their stories to get back to the point he wants to make, but he still clearly paces the lesson with an end goal in mind.

9:05-9:15

CT introduces the new unit on contemporary drama. He passes out the text for the first play they will be studying (Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf.) As an engagement, he plays a clip from the television show The Office that depicts a very awkward dinner party, then encourages students to draw on previous experiences they have had with this type of social interaction. He allows students to share their stories at their own pace, and then moves the lesson along, despite the fact that there are still hands raised with more humorous stories to tell (Okay, lets hear one more, and then were moving on.)

Students laugh and smile as they watch the scene from The Office. During the discussion that follows, they are engaged and attentive, sharing anecdotes about awkward social situations and building on previous comments (That remind me of this time when) Their body language is relaxed and comfortable, and they seem to enjoy the chance to share personal stories during class time.

Molly Whiting UTL640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD 9:15-9:25 CT moves the discussion to the text they are about to begin reading. He warns students that there is alcohol and sex in the play (which Im sure all of you will be terribly offended by.) He introduces the main characters and invites students to explore the symbolism of their names (George and Martha), and then asks them to consider their definition of the American dream, which will be examined thematically in the play. He calls students at random to answer questions, sometimes having to rephrase it several times to get a response. While not quite as engaged as they were when they were sharing personal experiences, students remain attentive. Less eye contact, but no heads down on desks or other blatantly off-topic behavior. The comment about sex and alcohol gets some laughter and seems to pique some students interest, and for the most part they continue to participate well, answering questions and posing a few of their own (Isnt the American dream an idea from the 50s? Do people still talk about it today?) Randomly calling on students seems to increase engagement; although several times CT had to repeat a question, students always answered appropriately. The comment about sex and alcohol spurred engagement, as well; with upper-level students, controversial subject matter is probably a good way to prompt student buy-in. The rest of the lesson after this point was well-paced, with the class reading through the end of Act One, pausing for occasional discussion.