3.2 Middle School Observations

 Introduction

    This past week I had the wonderful chance to observe two Middle School classes. The first class I observed was Mrs. Prince's 4th grade math class. The second class I observed was Mrs. Young's 5th grade science class. Observing these two classes gave me the chance to see different teaching methods I could potentially be using in my future teaching career. 

Middle School Observation 1

    The first class I had the chance to observe was Mrs. Prince's 4th grade math class. While I was observing this class the students were learning about fractions in word problems and how to convert them into mixed numbers. Mrs.Prince would have a student read the problem aloud to the whole class, if the problem was a harder one she would work it out with the class on the whiteboard. On the easier ones she would have the student work it out, then have one come to the whiteboard to work it out. I thought this was a great way to have the whole class involved in the lesson the whole time. I noticed that mostly every student was on task the entire class. I had a wonderful time observing Mrs. Prince's class, I will be using some of her teaching methods in my near future.

Middle School Observation 2

    The second class I had the chance to observe was Mrs. Young's 5th grade science class. While I was observing this class the students were learning about River Erosion, using a science website called Gizmos. I really enjoyed how Mrs.Young would walk around her classroom, while teaching. She also worked the Gizmos with the students, so they knew exactly how to work out the problem. Mrs. Young later explained to me that the students ATLAS test looks a lot like the Gizmos do, so that is why the students use that website. I really enjoyed observing Mrs.Young's class, I hope I will be using some of her methods when I begin teaching. 

Greatest Takeaway

    My greatest takeaway from observing these classes were definitely the different teaching methods I learned. My greatest takeaway I got from observing Mrs. Prince's class was the different callbacks she used in her class in order to get their attention. My greatest takeaway from observing Mrs.Young's class was the layout of her tables, I had never seen group pairing the way she did it, there was not a single student who had their backs turned to the front. I really enjoyed observing these two classes.  

Conclusion

    In conclusion, I had a great observing Mrs. Prince's and Mrs. Young's class. I cannot wait to use some of their methods that I learned this past week while observing. Overall, I learned a lot over this past week, and I enjoyed my time while observing these two classes.