Well, we have just completed our first week of our observation periods at our placements-I hope everyone is enjoying their first experiences.
I have observed a few different Social Studies classes, and I have been quite impressed by the teachers I have watched. One teacher in particular, has really inspired me, and has made me even more excited to begin teaching than I was before. I am fortunate to be placed at at school where every classroom has its own television, DVD player, projector, and computer, which can obviously make the teaching experience much more varied for the instructor, as well as making the learning experience much richer for the students.
The Socials Studies 11 (enriched) class that I observed last week, took full advantage of all of these resources in only 80 minutes. The unit was Canada's involvement in WWI, and focused particularly on key battles such as that of Passchendaele. The teacher utilized a video, in conjunction with his own concise notes to express the information in a clear and interesting manner. What I liked about his use of the video, was that he did not just play it from start to finish all the way through. Instead, he paused it at certain pivotal moments, to make comments, ask questions, and evoke critical thought and reflection. While the video was playing, he was busy making notes on the board, highlighting the most important issues-he never stopped. I found this strategy very effective; the students didn't have the opportunity to 'zone-out,' while watching the film, because of the continuous pausing, reflecting, and accompanied note-taking.
When the film was over, and the key issues were addressed, the teacher then utilized his own personal laptop and the projector to show the trailer for the Passchendaele film which is coming to theatres next week. The students were even more interested in this tragic event by watching the preview. They even wanted to go watch the film as a class (during school hours of course!)
The entire trailer did not get to be played, however, as the computer started skipping and cutting-out. The teacher was understandably frustrated, as it was annoying, and somewhat took away from the intended experience. Nevertheless, he remained composed, and later told me that you cannot predict such technological malfunctions, but you simply have to roll with them. Because he saved the trailer for the very end of class, the technological hiccups did not spoil his lesson at all; I made a mental note of this: save resources that could potentially fail to the end of class.
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I have also observed several social studies classes this week, mainly grade 8 classes because that is what I have been assigned to teach. At the school that I am at the timetable is a bit different than most, there are only two classes/blocks per day, therefore each class/block is about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Having grade 8's for that long of a period is a challenge and one thing that i have been observing is how much they switch up the activities for the attention span of a grade 8 does not last very long. This is more evident in the afternoon period for they are able to focus better in the morning. Every 20-30min the lesson and/or activity shifted to a new one. Most teachers split the class into two units, the first half would be geography then the second unit would be history. Teachers are constantly running two units at a time in order to keep their students engaged and on task. Also I found it important when giving an activity or worksheet to make sure the students know how to do it and feel confident enough in their abilities because if not they wont do the work and instead find ways to get attention and become disruptive.
As opposed to the younger grade levels, the grade 11 and 12 socials classes that I observed were much more relaxed and productive. One teacher began her class every morning with watching 20-30min of the news and then proceeded to have an open discussion with her students, she promoted critical thinking this way and prompted them to think about what was happening around them. This way she had the students attention from the beginning and then proceeded to give a lecture and a class activity. Although the older grades seemed to be more relaxed the teachers were also switching it up with different activities because of the long time frame.
It has been great to observe the social studies teachers and seeing the different dynamics within their classes. I am certainly learning a lot!
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