Observation Number One

Miss Brittany Mazzola

Observation One (with Mr. “Grove”)

3-9-10

I observed a world history class with mostly freshmen and sophomores. I will give the teacher and students I mention pseudonyms. I will also mention the INTASC standards that he modeled so I can look back on this for my benefit as a new teacher.

Mr. Grove structured his class pretty typically. He asked if anyone brought in their homework/ extra credit from previous days. He then followed with a quiz for review. (INTASC 8.1) He gave the students less than 10 minutes to get it done, but most were finished. Next he started a movie. This is something that interests me greatly. I would love to utilize videos in my class. (INTASC 3 and 4) While lecturing he continually asked questions and gave small reviews so all the students were on the same page. I also liked that when he did notes on the projector he pointed out things that were going to be on the test “for sure.” (INTASC 8.3)

I could tell that he was extremely prepared and good at what he did. (INTASC 1) Everything seemed effortless. At the end of the class he came up and told me that he had been teaching for 22 years. That is amazing to me!

Grove also told me that he is surprised every year about how lazy his students are and how little work they actually do.

So far in my experience I have also seen that. There were several examples of deviant student behavior. One student was tilting his desk backward, which Grove later stopped. Another girl, whom I will call Suzy, was messing with her phone, which is not allowed and even passed it to another girl. Suzy was also quite mouthy to the other students. When students started to talk when he was talking he said things like “Hey, I’m talking here—shut up!” and “okay” to settle them down but it doesn’t exactly work. He also shushed them while pointing at the talking students. I can tell that he still respects their dignity though and doesn’t try to embarrass them greatly. For example, one girl was doing puzzles the whole time and he just teased her in front of me but still praised her grades. Another girl was reading during the movie and he took the book away and turned it upside down but didn’t lose the page.

I could tell that he has a strong repertoire with his students. (INTASC 5) He calls students out and proceeds to joke back and forth with them. He also gave some of them nicknames, which they really seem to like at Delta. I think he also probably builds that repertoire by displaying their work. I think that shows that he is proud of them and what they turn in. He had the work displayed on every wall on almost every available space. He also had two American flags and multiple clocks and lamps.

Overall, Grove’s atmosphere is very, very comfortable. He typically has the lights turned off with several lamps instead. He also has Christmas lights near the ceiling of his room. The room temperature was decent, if not a little cold. His desks where set up in a semi-circle fashion. This promoted everyone to pay attention to Grove.

I can tell that he really knows how to keep students interested, has a solid grading system and strong classroom management skills. He is definitely someone I can learn a lot from.