COLD DAY

During this observation, I was able to really get a sense of how students interact with one another and how they think about certain subjects they are doing. I went to observe again at the same school with Mrs. Teacher's seventh grade social studies classroom. Walking to the classroom, I wanted see if there would be any difference with how the students are for this next observation and how they would be taught. It was a really cold day, and for the students to be in a portable gives them a real distraction because each and everyone of us were cold and all of the kids were bundled up. They didn’t really get too distracted thought, even though most of them were bundled up, Mrs. Martos was able to keep her students on track and teach her lesson for the day. 

The first immediate observation that I had was the environment in the classroom being really cold. The students were sitting in groups and able to stay on task throughout the class time.  I sat next to a student named Maximus, and helped him out with what they were learning in the classroom. I expected to see the kids work together and help each other with the notes. They have a really good understanding of how to work with one another and they may talk and be off task for a while, but they are able to get their work done and respect Mrs. Teacher. 

An unexpected observation that I saw was that the students actually had blankets with them due to the cold. The portable didn’t have heat, and they didn’t provide the classroom with heaters just yet so Mrs. Teacher took the initiative and took them blankets. The students seemed cozy and warm, it was bearable but more cold than a usual classroom would be. 

The most important event I observed was how engaged the students were when they were asked to read aloud to the classroom. When Mrs. Teacher would ask her students who would like to read a certain paragraph out loud, hand arose like crazy and the students were eager to be called on. For me this isn’t typical to see for a social studies classroom. I am used to students being really shy, and even when I was in middle school it wasn’t common for a lot of students to be eager to read. I found it pretty awesome that each of the students liked to read out loud and were comfortable doing so. 

A key point about my observation that I would like to further discuss is how Mrs. Teacher was able to get her students attention really well and motivate them to learn about the topic of New Mexico History. When she would ask a question, her students would usually answer quickly and they seemed to really know the material very well. I will try and further discuss what kinds of things she does with her kids to help them be familiar with the material and how she engages her students really well. In the near future, I hope to be able to gather my students attention really well like her and if I further analyze her I think I could get some really good habits and teaching methods based off of her teaching ability.

For an additional observation, I want to further analyze how Mrs. Teacher interacts with her students. She is really laid back and on task. I feel that she tries to be somewhat apart of the students and not be so hard on them. She is really funny with them and always encourages them with positive feedback. She responds really well to both genders. They seem to really both engage equally with Mrs. Teacher. Certain girls and boys are more involved with the discussions but both interact with her really well. I feel that the students see Mrs. Teacher more of a bigger influence on them because of her ways of interacting with the students. 

After being able to see this observation with Mrs. Teacher, I really was able to get a lot of information from this. I feel that if I personally get to know my students really well and they get to know me, the classroom will really run smoothly. I feel that following a similar teaching method as Mrs. Teacher will be able to get the most out of your students and they will feel comfortable in the environment that they’re in. I really look forward to seeing how the year progresses with her students and how each of them grow as individuals. I feel that as time passes, Mrs. Teacher will be a teacher to remember for the students that she is teaching right now.