Roster # 10

Lucas Gruber

Classroom Observations

1. From your perspective, what would you do to improve the classroom’s physical layout?

Would you add anything? Would you eliminate anything?

a. I actually feel that this layout is well suited for the class. Ms. Taylor has about 34

students so any other arrangement of the desks would make it difficult to move

around because of the limited size of the room and how the desks are shaped.

Personally I would prefer tables that are pushed together so that it can have 4

students sitting at it. This creates small groups that the class can easily break

down to for group activities. That would be the changes I would make to a

classroom but that layout is more conducive to a biology or chemistry class.

2. Now analyze your drawing. To what extent does this classroom reflect the following five

keys to good room arrangement?

a. I think the room is fitting for an English class. Often enough the assignments

require a student to critically think about a question or read a passage. This is

usually an independent endeavor so I do not feel it needs to be arranged for

groups. As it is they can see the teacher present.

b. She has left plenty of room for students to walk around the back and sides of the

classroom. These avenues seem to stay free of congestion since it requires

students to first exit their rows.

c. Since her desk is in the back she can keep a watchful eye over the majority of the

students. However, it does require her to walk to the right side of the room in

order to see what the students against the wall are doing on their work.
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d. Most of her supplies are on the bookshelves in the back and right side of the

room. This makes it easy for her and her students to reach them during class.

e. The rows of desks may make it difficult for some students to see the whiteboard.

Other students would be in the line of sight. So this would likely be the biggest

problem with the classroom layout.

3. What are any strengths and/or weaknesses of this arrangement? Would rearrangements

make this classroom a more effective learning environment?

a. I feel the strengths are that it best deals with a large class size. The desks are quite

big so it would be difficult to make a more complicated arrangement. This keeps

it simple while still allowing a decent ease of movement with that many students

in the class. It also positions the teacher in a place that allows her to see all of the

students’ faces. It also allows her to easily walk form one side of the classroom to

the other. Her bookshelves and supplies are also easy to reach.

b. The weaknesses are the line of sight issues. Students in a row can make it difficult

for students in the back to see the board. Also since the teacher is in the back left

corner of the room, she cannot see what students are doing at their desk if they are

in the center or far right side of the room. She would have to walk over to a

student to see their work on their desk if a student needs something.

4. Observing Students in the Class:

a. How many and what age and gender are the students in the class?

i. She has about 34 students in her class. 20 are female and 14 are male. The

majority of them are about 15 years old.

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b. Are there students who appear to be isolates? What behavior (s) let you to believe

this?

i. There are definitely isolated students however not nearly as many as I

expected. In the class I only saw one student who did not interact with

another student during my entire 10 hours. She tended to stay reserved.

Whenever there were instances where students could get up and talk to

each other she would stay in her seat and look at her work. There were

these headphones that she would constantly wear so she seemed to not be

interested with socializing with others. No other students made any

attempts to talk to her. When she did talk it was only because of the

teacher and it was often short and to the point.

ii. Which students appear to raise their hand often?

1. There are just students who seem to have bright personalities. The

way they talk and carry themselves displays confidence. It is sort

of a natural charisma. Often enough students displaying these traits

raise their hands the most. They are not afraid to speak up and even

like to have their opinions voiced. They have no trouble starting

conversations with other students and seem to have a recognized

presence among the class.

iii. How is the behavior of those students who sit in back of the room?

1. From what I observed the students in the back of the room behave

the worst. They consistently talk amongst each other and have to

be reprimanded. They constantly play on their phones and in some

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cases do not do the classwork. This bad behavior increases

exponentially if a group of friends is sitting in the back. In every

instance of friends sitting together they have talked loud enough to

interrupt the class.

iv. Which students appear to receive the most praise?

1. The students that participate the most receive the most praise. So

this naturally gravitates towards the students that like to speak up

and interact with the teacher or their peers. Otherwise there is no

bias or selective process. If the students are doing a Socratic

seminar it gives some of the students that are shy or quiet or get

more praise. This would imply that the teacher is simply praising

students that are willing to participate because it may be a difficult

task for some students.

v. Which students seem to be ignored?

1. I am not sure it would be appropriate to say the teacher is actively

ignoring the students. She is simply devoting her time and effort to

maintaining the order in the class. Students that participate are

obviously going to gain more recognition form the teacher, but

students that are causing a disturbance also gain a lot of attention.

The students who are isolated and do their work are overlooked

because of this. So it would be apt to say that the teacher devotes

her attention to where it is needed, which his often enough

troublesome students or class activities.

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vi. Summarize what you have found about the students in this class. Who

are they and what is it like to “live” in this school?

1. It would be wrong to generalize them into one description. There

were students who actively spoke about living in poverty and

having to rely on food stamps in order to eat, but there were also

students who talked about how expensive it was for them to

maintain a vegan diet. One day students would be wearing normal

teenage clothes but on another some students would be in a

uniform for ROTC. The personalities were also so different with

kids listening to their ear buds and ignoring the rest of the class

while others were actively competing to get the attention of their

peers. My discussions with the teacher showed me that she had

geniuses in her class that have amazing potential but her fifth

period students had reading levels that should have placed them in

a remedial class. However, I did notice strong class cohesion in

both of the classes I observed from Ms. Taylor. In the full 10 hours

I only noticed one student who did not seem to talk with their

classmates. Almost everybody else had somebody they could talk

to when there was a break. This most likely has to do with the

programs at the school such as ROTC or sports activities.

Furthermore the focal point for this class bond was the teacher. All

of the students felt comfortable with her and this gave her the

chance to carry out fleshed out and personable discussions. In the

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Socratic seminar students were willing to discuss something as

private as their financial situations with their family. So it may not

be accurate to describe the way the students live with some blanket

generalization, but it can be accurate to say that they come to a

classroom that is safe for them to learn and socialize with their

peers regardless of their background.