Julie H. Rucker
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Reflective Essay on Classroom Observations
My classroom observations were split between two schools where I have served on faculty. The observations I made in the spring were in a grades 9-12 school with right at 600 students. The observations I made in the fall were at a 10-12 high school with a student body of 1400. Different dynamics, of course, were evident in both schools.
One point of comparison I tried to make was with the inclusion classrooms I observed. In the smaller school, co-teaching had been in effect for two years, and teachers were settling into their roles where they shared authority within the classroom with either a special education teacher or a paraprofessional. The class I observed was a fourth block TCP English class where the co-teachers were admittedly struggling with their students. The block I observed, there were two specialists from RESA who were co-teaching, supposedly to use a different model than we were comfortable with at our school. Our teachers still often were in the model where one teacher would teach and the other would observe, or one would teach and the other would walk around working one-on-one with students or working with small groups. Seldom did co-teacher both teach during the same class period. The RESA specialists were going to show us how to run a class when both teachers were teaching, but it didn't turn out that way. Instead, they taught with a model with which our teachers were already familiar. One teacher took the lead and the other walked around and helped students.
In the larger school, the inclusion classroom had a certified history teacher and a paraprofessional. This was the first semester in which these faculty members had co-taught, and I thought it was interesting to see them already functioning in an inclusion model that teachers at the previous school used, after only 14 weeks. One of the main reasons this class was one in which students learned was the definite commitment I saw in the teacher and parapro in that class. In a class of 20, only two students were regular ed. Seven were special ed and the others were on SST. Several of the students were repeating the course for credit. this teacher told me their course was a lot of repetition to reinforced what students should have learned in class. He also supplemented with video and use study guides often. An interesting technique he used was called "Questions in a Can." He had one student who was being distracting with his questioning, so the teacher sat a large coffee can on the student's desk and told him to write down his questions and the teacher would address them later in class. The student wrote down two that I saw and quieted down during the block.
There was a major difference in the advanced anatomy class and math class and the inclusion/TCP classes I observed. Teachers in the latter used more graphic organizers and scaffolding strategies whereas the advanced students did have visual reminders (use of computer on overhead in math and use of PowerPoint in science). The classes with struggling students were busier, louder, and actually more fun. The classes with advanced students were quiet; students asked appropriate questions and stayed in their seats, often copying notes dutifully. Learning was happening in both types of classrooms, but to be honest, it was more fun to watch the at-risk group. Classroom discipline was not an issue in either types of classes (with the exception of the 9th grade inclusion class). Teachers who work with at-risk students have to make connections with their students, build trust early with their students, be fair to their students, and develop honest relationships if they are going to have any success with those students.