Journal

2 Pages 528 Words

Observation Journal

Entry #1

• Teaching Style
o In my opinion the teacher is pretty much laid back. The entire environment is very different then what I am use to. I went to a suburban catholic high school. The teacher, however, always has control over the class and the students do not seem to take advantage of his laid-back attitude. This I believe can be the basis for better teaching, were the kids do not feel so much pressure.
o The teacher uses visual and analytical methods. Since he teaches math he uses drawings for problems so that students can see the picture and the numbers to better help them understand the lesson. He also uses overheads and pictures of the calculator to help students understand and use the calculators better.
o The greatest thing that he makes his students do is give him reasons why. For each problem the students are required to write a conclusion. This helps them not only express what they learned but helps their writing skills.
• Students’ Response to Teaching Style
o Most students seem to stay on task, yet you still have a few students that are sleepy or not paying attention, which I think, is normal in most high school classrooms. The biggest problem would probably be the talking.
o The students like when the teacher gives different views. He will explain one problem from many different views or angles. Just by looking around the classroom you could tell which way helped which student. They all seemed to be excited to find out that they finally got it.
• Assignments
o I think that all of the assignments are fair, in that they are directly related to the lessons taught in class.
o Each night the students are assigned problems to work on, sometimes they are to be handed in or to be done in the copybooks. They seemed to be always allowed to start them in class.
o Each assignment includes writing. Even though it is a math class each student writes a conclusio...