Blog Entry 3:  March 1, 2018

classroom observation: 3 minutes

I observed one of the children in my classroom for three minutes.  This was a practice session for a longer 30 minute observation that I will do later this week.  I was in a third grade classroom with 24 students and a single teacher.  This school uses an International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum to create a multicultural environment.  The young man that I watched has a desk and chair by himself toward the back of the classroom.  He has had challenges socializing and interacting with other children, and prefers to sit alone.

I have worked with him many times, but for three minutes I observed from a distance.  My first thought was that he looked content.  His assessment paper was out, but he wasn't working on it.  Instead, he was using the eraser on his pencil to poke at something, then poke a little more, and finally smudge something with the eraser.  He looked quite pleased, and tapped the pencil a few more times.  At that moment the teacher walked over and gave him a quiet verbal prompt.  He looked back at the worksheet on his desk, put the business end of his pencil on the paper, and started back to work.

My subject wrote with his pencil for about 20 seconds, then slowed down.  And stopped.  Then he stared at his worksheet, motionless.  And then the pencil leaned over until the eraser gently touched the paper, and slowly started to tap on the worksheet. And with that, the cycle repeated itself.  This time the teacher was busy with other students, and he stared at the worksheet while he tapped quietly with his eraser.  A prompt to the whole class almost brought him back, but he was still staring absently at the paper, tapping quietly when the three minutes expired.

I learned a few things from this limited observation period, and my first conclusion was that this is a difficult case for the teacher and student.  The young man I was observing needed repeated cues to stay on task.  I've seen kids and teachers who had a hand signal, and could give a reminder from across the room.  In this case the teacher was giving verbal and physical reminders whenever she could, but the student really needed reminders on about a 1 minute interval. 

This poses some interesting questions for a future teacher like myself, and I'm trying to learn more by observing teaching and student learning.  If I observe more students I will have a better sense of how students behave.  I observed a quiet student, and it would be helpful to have reference points for an active student, a talkative student, a defiant student or an ESL student.  A teacher needs to understand the background of each student, and I hope that I can learn to watch and observe as one of the tools of teaching. 

Send problems/comments/suggestions to: tcHorner@csuchico.edu

All blog entries are the property and personal opinions of Tim Horner, and may be shared with appropriate credit.