I observed two English classroom on November 25th. The first teacher we meet with was Ms. Garces. Her class was at lunch, but she invited us in and we meet with her student teacher. He gave us a run through of what he and Ms. Garces were planning for the day. The students were finishing up the last paragraph of Lord of the Flies and then they were watching a movie.
Students began trickling in from lunch. The student teacher started quite quickly. A few times students walked in the room late and interrupted him. That was just a few instances that I found distracting during this observation. At point a girl pulled out her phone chargers and walked around the perimeter of the room looking for an outlet to plug it into. She settled on an outlet in the front of the room just behind the student teacher, he looked at her and continued with what he was doing. Overall I found this short observation distracting and uncomfortable, but I will give the teacher the benefit of the doubt. I know that sometimes students check-out mental days before vacation.
On to the next English classroom, we were happily greeted by the teacher. I settled in the back of the room. Even though the two rooms I observed were right across the hall from each other they were vastly different. This room was much larger and brighter, I was already feeling good about this observation. The student were sitting in groups and reading from their Literature textbooks and answering questions. At one point the teacher begins reading passages and stops periodically to ask questions to make sure students are following along and understand. The students in this classroom seem engaged and attentive. While at first I noticed that physically the classrooms were different, I realized now that everything about the learning environment of the two rooms were quite different. I ended my observation day on a high note at Central Falls High School.
