Focused Observation 8

6.3 Teaching and Learning Roles

ELI Substitute Teaching Experience

10/31/03 9:00 Level 3 Writing

I substitute taught at the ELI Friday, Oct 31, 2003 for a level 3 Writing course.  I chose to do this particular Observation with this class because of the nature of the class and the activity.  There are eight students who are all Spanish speakers in this class.  I've worked with most of them before and we work very well together.  I think that my teaching style suits most of the students personalities, and vice versa.

We did an activity on brainstorming and clustering. Since my undergraduate degree was in Creative Writing, and clustering and brainstorming was a daily practice, this was a subject that I really enjoyed teaching.

I would do some examples on the board and then students would come up and do examples. Everything worked really well and the students stayed interested and involved. I chose to do this observation because the class is as active as I am if not more. There were definitely several instances where our roles changed.

After the Lesson

1. In the "Before the Lesson" section it asks the observer to obtain a copy of the lesson plan and predict which stages the teacher will be in for each activity. I had planned to do clusters of ideas on the board and activities to prompt their participation. Their teacher had left me a page in their textbook to cover and a worksheet to pass out and help them with. We did these with supplementary board exercises.

We began by reviewing the homework from the night before. During this time I was "conductor/controller/checker." However, it blended with "presenter/explainer/stimulator" because they way that I checked the homework was by asking one student to put his homework on the board. Then I went over his and used it as an example to present the practice of brainstorming and outlining. Then I answered questions as they arose.

I told the students to open their books to the page on clustering (conductor/controller). I asked them if they knew what a cluster is. They all shook their heads so I asked them to give me a topic. I was definitely in the "presenter" mode at this point. One of the men said, "Sports." So I wrote sports on the board. I then asked them to tell me what sports makes them think of. They threw out several things like "good looking guys," "soccer," and several others. The soccer cluster led to several details that could be used to support a main idea. The class was getting the idea and very engaged. I would say at this point that I moved into the "manager/consultant" role.

Then I called a volunteer to the board to do a cluster. The class became much more active in guiding the lesson at this point. I would say again that I was a "manager/consultant." I tried to give only a little feedback so that the class would get more involved and ask more questions if they had them.

Next I gave them a worksheet on which they had to brainstorm on the topic of Halloween. They worked independently but most of them asked me what some words were so I wrote a list of Halloween-related words on the board as they worked. I was still "manager/consultant" in this part of the class.

2. While I am in the "informer/presenter/explainer/stimulator" role, I think the role of the learners is to understand and maybe manipulate. In this class I think they were striving to understand while I presented and explained the material. However they also were communicating. I encouraged them to participate in my presentation and communicate while I explained the concept to them and they did. Fortunately, this group of learners learns best, I think, while they are communicating. Although I don't think that this works best for all groups of students. Asian students, for example, tend to be more reluctant to yell out answers and volunteer information.

Then when I am in the "manager/consultant" role I think that the role of the students is to manipulate and/or communicate. When they were doing their assignments they were actively creating and producing. I was there to help them produce as they needed help.

I think that it is ideal for the students to be communicating and creating while the teacher stands by to assist and clarify.

3. There was one student who did not participate at all in the lesson. Ive seen her participate more in other classes. She is a very advanced student so I know that she has the capability. My hunch is that the lesson was boring to her and that she already knows how to brainstorm and cluster. I should have included her more and specifically asked for her thoughts or advice in at least one point in the lesson.

4. Different lesson types to make different demands on the teacher and learners in regard to roles. For example, in another class for the entire lesson, the students are to watch a video three times and answer questions on it. My only real role is to rewind the tape and ask the questions. The learners are active in that they are listening and processing the information in order to answer the questions but they are doing very little communicating.

However in the clustering and brainstorming lesson the students are getting up and writing on the board and actively creating as a group. This requires them to communicate, participate, and manipulate.

5. I think that, in order to gain greater facility in switching roles during a lesson, a teacher can plan activities that require students to play certain roles. They can volunteer for these roles (making it learner centered) or they can be made aware of their roles and responsibilities in advance so that they have time to prepare. I think that it is important to hold students accountable throughout the class.

Reflection

This lesson and observation helped me realize that my concept of the "ideal" classroom situation is when the students are communicating, creating, and asking questions and when I am in the role of "manager." However, my experiences substituting in different classrooms have made me aware that not all students are as communicative and eager to participate as some. Asian students, for example, do not appear to be as vocal as Hispanics. Regardless, however, I will strive to make the classroom an atmosphere that encourages all students to actively create and manipulate new ideas and material.