TPE

“Promote students' critical and creative thinking and analysis through activities that provide
opportunities for inquiry, problem solving, responding to and framing meaningful questions, and
reflection”.

Write down what you observed.

The student I observed was a guy with a turquoise shirt. As I was watching him I noticed that
he was fiddling with something in his hand. He also seemed to be looking down at his paper
and looking back up. Although he seemed to be fiddling he also seemed to be engaged. He
was looking back and forth to people talking and when the teacher was asking a question he
almost didn't let her finish before starting to answer the question. While answering he came
up with an example and was able to say “i don't think … but i do think” which shows he is
openly listening to everyones conversation and opinion. While another student was
responding to him he was able to say “right” instead of getting defensive over his opinion. In
another instance students were having a conversation where the conversation seemed to
get messy with interruptions and he as well kind of cut someone off mid sentence. His
responses used facts and previous knowledge to relate it to shat the conversation was about
and to justify his opinion. I learned that the teacher giving them time to get to know the
material makes students more comfortable engaging in conversations regarding the topic.
The students were given the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations using an
opinion they have built through readings where they got to read about both sides in order
for them to come up with their own opinion. Students were also given other resources such
as sentence starters or terms to respond to their classmates which encouraged a respectful
conversation. I learned that paying attention to one student helps me look into the smaller
things that otherwise would be overlooked. I also learned that maybe teachers can better
focus on individual progress since while the student is talking they get to focus on that
student and how they are able to use material they have learned to justify their opinion.This
video impacted me as a future teacher because this teacher was able to use a socratic
seminar that allows students to form opinions and respond to other students as well as
come up with questions while being able to accommodate different learning abilities in her
classroom. She knew that an activity like this would benefit all her students based on what
she knows about each student. tHis oral conversation would benefit all her students allowing
them to critically think in a way that they would all benefit from.