Shaping School Culture by Living the Vision and Mission Presentation

Darius Washington

EAD: 513 Shaping School Culture

Professor Carlson

October 17, 2022

This observation I observed two teachers from the math department. We are currently on Block scheduling due to the many standardized assessments students have to complete. I purposely choose these teachers to compare the styles of how they teach the same the subject online and face to face.

Teacher #1- Writing Workshop

The first teacher I observed is a Geometry Honors teacher. I entered his room during transition between 3rd block and 4th block. The class was starting an activator that refreshes old concept to prepare for the new lesson. After the tardy bell, teacher took attendance and gave students 2 more minutes to complete the activator. The activator was using google earth to see which streets are corresponding angles and vertical angles. As students was finishing up the activator they were ready to start the actual lesson for today. As the lesson progressed, I could see that the students knew the expectations of the learning objective. The teacher gallery walked throughout the class block making sure students are staying on task. As students yelled out, “I do not understand,” the teacher referenced the warm up exampels. Told the students to apply the skills to the warm up to solve the problems given in the lesson. After about 30 minutes, teacher allowed students to work with their partners. The partners had to find the mistakes in the other partners work if they both did not get the same answer. I could tell students were structured by having a fixed routine and they knew the expectations of behavior.

Teacher #2- Whole Group Math

The second teacher I observed is a Geometry Honors virtual teacher. I entered her class as students were dismissed from lunch. The teacher had a Geometry Angles Song playing as they entered into the virtual classroom. She was engaged with them by asking them “how their day is going, or “What they had for lunch.” Once all the students were in the classroom, she went over todays learning objective, and agenda. While she was doing that she had to remind students to turn their cameras on so she could see them. She posted a warm up sheet, and made students go into breakout rooms to complete the warm up with their group. After about 5 minutes, each group had to share their problem with the class. While this was going on, it was difficult to understand some students due to connection issues. The teacher shared their screen and began showing students guided practice. Due to the noise still in the background, the teacher had to mute everyone herself. I understand the technology issues, even teaching virtual, the teacher still needs to emphasize the expectations.

Recommendations:

For teacher #2. I would suggest that the teacher should emphasize expectations and procedures at the beginning of class to make sure everyone is on the same page. The extra noise in the background is a distraction to the learning environment. I also would suggest that she has another laptop in her classroom logged into the class virtual meeting and she would be able to see who camera is not on. These two suggestions will help the teacher with the learning environment and classroom management. As a secondary education teacher, the more you keep students engaged, the less classroom problems a teacher will have. behavior is kept in control. In “Developing a Student-centered Classroom” (Loveless, 2020), it states that “engaging activities and engaging discussions will foster mutual respect and encourages a pursuit of learning that leaves little time for disruptions.” PSEL Standard 5 supports this.

PSEL (2015) Standard 5. Community of Care and Support for Students e) “Cultivate and reinforce student engagement.

In the lesson, instead of the teacher modeling problems on her Microsoft whiteboard and students watch; she could require students to have their own dry erase whiteboards. This will allow them to follow along and she can check for understanding as well. This would also give her the opportunity to complete assignments independently as well. Students could also use the dry erase whiteboards in break out rooms when working with groups so each student could see each other’s work. “Students taking an active role in the learning process rather than being passive recipients of information from the teacher” (Keiler, 2018). This allows students to be even more successful.

In conclusion, I shared my observations and suggestions with my principal mentor and he was impressed. He even considered my suggestions to also be beneficial to every subject virtual teach as well. I also informed my principal that teacher #1 showed strong characteristics of a student centered classroom. He would be a great mentor for any teachers that are struggling with classroom management. Teachers working together supports Standard 6 Professional Capacity of School Personal (PSEL, 2015), “develop teachers’ and staff members’ professional knowledge, skills, and practice through differentiated opportunities for learning and growth, guided by understanding of professional and adult learning and development.”

References

Keiler, L.S. Teachers’ roles and identities in student-centered classrooms. 5, 34 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0131-6

Loveless, B. (2020). Developing a Student-centered Classroom. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.educationcorner.com/developing-a-student-centered-classroom.html

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.