I held my first classroom observation with Candace Walters’ group 2A
Listening class. Candace welcomed
me, gestured to a seat, and then began. I noticed right away that the class was
very comfortable and attitudes were friendly. In order to ease the students
into learning mode, she asked a few of them to help her pass out graded quizzes
while she took attendance. Written on the board was the class agenda, starting
with a detail race, then comprehension questions, and followed by dictation.
After the housekeeping was taken care of, Candace split the class into
two groups. Then, as a refresher, she asked the students to explain to me what
exactly they were going over in class. They had recently listened to a segment
about the Namibian tribe, the Himba. Candace focused on questioning the class
on the main idea, and then described the activity the class was going to
partake in.
The teams were to choose one writer from their group while the others
used their listening notes to answer questions Candace had written on the
board. Each person had to help their team’s writer and whichever team answered
the most questions correctly after five minutes, won. After Candace explained
the game she asked, “Do you have any questions about what we’re doing?”
Everyone understood.
After the game, the class held an open discussion to discern the
answers. All of the students participated while Candace had a chance to move
around the class, correcting answers on the board. At times she even asked for
my advice.
Next, she has the students work
individually. They answered a few reading questions and then passed their
papers to the right to be peer corrected. Candace then wrote the answers on the
board as well as said them out loud.
For the post lesson, Candace went
over the upcoming midterm, and split the class into groups. She placed a few
critical thinking questions on the board and for the students to discuss.
Candace traveled around the room as she listened to the answers and gave advice
to finish up the class.
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