Observation Exercise

Over the course of this week, in preparation to meet our classrooms, we've been watching videos of educator professionals observing students. Of course this means that we had to observe the students as well; not just the students, but the teachers too. Instead of uploading a picture of my notes, I'll be typing it out so you can't see my disorganization or doodles.

TAKING NOTES ON WHAT WE HEAR

What do you hear the students saying?

- "It gave me an idea!"
- "I just guessed."
- "I think it was really amazing."
- "It was a miracle!"
- "All I know is that..."

What do you hear the teacher saying?

- "Is there any evidence?"
- "Working hard, right?"
- "I don't know. How can we find that?:
- "Based on what you just found..."
- "How do we know that...?"
- "Did that surprise you?"
- "You don't need me."
- "...a way to learn, not just right and wrong answers."
- "What did you think was interesting?"


 NOTES ON WHAT WE SEE

What do you see the students doing?

- searching through the textbook
- staring into the camera
- fidgeting/nail-biting
- arms crossed
- answers questions independently on hands
- follow-the-leader hand motions to silence the room (raising your hand)
- sitting in a circle

How does this give insight to how the students learn?

- hands-on learning is encouraged
- physical involvement seems more engaging to the students
- you can tell how comfortable a student is through their body language
- sitting in a circle made it a level playing ground

How has the teacher created opportunities for learning?

- hand signals can be used to learn how a student wants to speak
- "the people doing the talking are the people doing the learning"
- turn-and-talk teaching
- more socratic in nature, talking to each other instead of talking (answering to) the teacher

It was interesting to hear what the professionals had to say about it. What interested me most is how transparent children are. You can see their personalities developing and so much of what has already developed. I don't know how this makes me feel exactly. It's amazing that there is already so much personality behind each face, but that just about worries me. If a child is already on a wrong path, intervention is needed soon, but I feel it's often just deemed a "behavior issue" and filed away instead of something that could severely alter this child's adult life.

Pensively,
Hanna E. Reynolds