2.1 Jr.high Observation

 In my Education Technology class, I had the opportunity to observe Coach Rains at Southside Junior High School. I was supposed to observe two Junior high teachers but the other teacher I was supposed to observe was out that day, so I observed Coach Rains twice. I had a lot of fun observing her class, and I learned new things about teaching. 

The first day I observed Coach Rains, she had her students take a test over the unit that they had previously gone over. She gave the test different than I have seen before, the week before she gave out a study guide for students to study, which wasn't any different from other teachers. The day of the test she let students study beforehand, and then she gave out the paper test, which wasn't different. But what was different was that she gave a test that had many different types of questions like multiple choice, short answers, matching, and even questions where students had to write a paragraph. This was different because I had never seen a history teacher give a test with that many questions. But I learned that it is important to have different types of questions so you can properly test students on a given topic. 

My greatest takeaway was the whole second observation. My second time observing Coach Rains class, she played a movie for the students called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was a movie that was about the the history of World War II and Nazi concentration camps. This movie was very appropriate to show students, because it gives them a grasp on the topic. But Coach Rains, also gave them a worksheet about the movie, which makes students actually focus on the movie.

In conclusion, I had a wonderful time observing Coach Rains's class, it was really cool to see her different ways to teach and how to test her students. I learned that when testing students it doesn't have to be the same format every time, you can change it up and that is okay. 

1.1 High School Observation

 In my Education Technology class, I had the opportunity to observe a high school teacher at Southside Charter High School. This was such a cool experience because I got to observe Mr. Barber, and he is a teacher that I had in the past. I have never considered teaching High School, mainly because teaching older kids has never been something I have wanted to do. But during this observation I realized that no matter what grade you teach it is important to have a relationship with your students. 

Mr. Barber gave his students multiple sources to learn from, he gave a lecture at the beginning that went along with a slideshow, and then he gave out a worksheet for his students to work on. He also uses online sources to help the students with the worksheet. I thought by using multiple sources, you are giving every student an equal chance to comprehend the material. In my Education Technology class, I have learned that it is important to give students multiple sources to learn from, this makes it easier for students to make connections that could've not made with only one source. 

My greatest takeaway, was that Mr. Barber did an amazing job at being connected with his students. He always made sure that his students were heard, cared for, and to know that they had a place in his classroom. One thing that he told me during this observation was that "...some students do not have a good home life, so if I can provide a home for them to come to everyday, then I have done my job." I thought that this was a really great piece of advice for me, because my goal is to have a safe place for students to come to everyday. Teaching is not all about books, grading, and testing, but is it about giving a second home to my students. 

In conclusion, I had an amazing time observing this class. While, I don't want to teach High School, I have learned many valuable lessons while observing that I can take them into my own classroom someday.  Mr. Barber showed me that teaching isn't about grades, but about how the students feel leaving your classroom. 

4.2 Middle School Observation 3

This past month I had the wonderful opportunity to observe Mrs.Hartzell fourth grade science class for one last time. Sadly, this was my last observation in Southside Middle School. As I reflect back on my time in Middle School, I have realized that I learned so many new things that I didn't know before. Observing has always brought new insights to what my future is going to look like, so I have always enjoyed the opportunities that this class has offered me.

Mrs. Hartzell, as always, did an amazing job involving different resources within her curriculum. During this observation she involved writing journals about what the students learned during this lesson. I thought that this was a great way to evaluate whether or not the students understand what was taught. This writing assignment was on a closed Google Form, which I always love when teachers involve technology in their classroom. This also helps the students practice their typing skills, and writing skills, which goes hand-in-hand with English and typing classes. Mrs.Hartzell involved reading passages about the weather that had questions, she read the article, answered two of the questions as a class, worked one with their table tops, and answered the rest on their own. This was a great example of teacher example, group work, and then independent work. In my Education Technology class we learn that it is very important to involve these aspects in every lesson that you teach.

My greatest takeaway from this observation, was having multiple things for the students to work on and not focusing on one thing the whole time. The kids in that class are young so it is important to involve multiple things in a lesson so the class stays focused. I have been taught that you only hold a kid's attention for the number of minutes to their age. So if a student is 10 you will only hold that kids attention for about 10 minutes. Mrs.Hartzel made sure that she was switching things up to keep her students attention. 

In conclusion, I had a wonderful time observing this class. While my time of observations has come to an end, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time that I have gotten. I have had the chance to observe wonderful teachers, and amazing classes. These observations definitely help with my future. I loved getting to observe Mrs.Hartzell, and I will forever be thankful for getting to change to observe her class. 

4.1 Middle School Observation 1-2

 This past month I have had the opportunity to observe Mrs. Hartzell's fourth grade science class at Southside Middle School. It has been a wonderful time to observe this class. I really enjoyed getting to see Mrs. Hartzell's teaching methods that I haven't before in the classroom. I have never considered teaching Middle School before mainly because I have always wanted to be elementary, but after this observation I had to re-think what I wanted to do. 

Mrs. Hartzell did an amazing job showing her teaching skills in the classroom. The first two times that I observed she involved fun things within her lesson, so the kids didn't get bored. I thought that this was a great way to get her students back involved in the lesson. She made it a point to have her students engaged. She involved digital read-aloud, which I have never seen a teacher do. I thought this was a good use of technology, considering I am writing this as an Education Technology student. I also thought this was a change of pace for the students. Most of the time students around this age either read to themselves or the teacher reading some of it and having the students read the rest. This read-aloud showed the picture of the book as if it were a movie, the students seemed to like this as well. 

My greatest takeaway from these two observations was Mrs.Hartzell was having a good classroom layout. While this isn't directly from her teaching skills, it has something to do with her classroom management. Having a good classroom layout is a direct reflection of how you manage the classroom. Mrs. Hartzell had what I would call a group seating layout with six different tables with 4 chairs. This is a great example of group seating, because it works really well for this age group, for group work and group discussions. When the students had a test they had privacy folders so none of the students could cheat. 

In conclusion, I had a great time observing Mrs. Hartzell's fourth grade science class. She had amazing resources in her classroom, that worked really well for her students. The classroom environment was decorated as the beach, which the students seemed to love. I may not want to teach middle school, but this observation definitely widened my views on teaching.