#classroomobservation

I used to see the classroom as merely a place to learn, a place to listen, a place to interact with the classmates, and suddenly I see it as a stage - a place where everything has been well rehearsed and thought of, a place where things do not just happen, a place where clear and sound objectives must be met. Suddenly, I started to see the classroom from the point of view of the teacher.

My first observation for this semester is for a reading class in UPIS of K-Jasmin under Teacher Sab. I have observed classes before for my other classes, and the things I always used to take note of are how the children are - their disposition, their faces, their reactions to the teacher, their cute anecdotes, among many others. What amazed me for this observation was how I suddenly started observing more of what the teacher is doing - her lesson plan, her objectives, her materials, her overall classroom management, her motives, her time of preparation! The whole experience made me daydream about how I would be handling my own classroom in the future, and came along with it were ideas that I got a little too excited to implement - at least in my brain and imagination.

Classroom Management

I surprised myself by noticing the classroom management skills and classroom routines set up by the teacher. The afternoon started with a flag ceremony with a leader who already knew she was the leader from the start of the session. She led the memorized prayer, the Panatang Makabayan and the Panunumpa sa Watawat (which was new to me) and conducted the Philippine National Anthem, led , and the UP Naming Mahal (which the kids knew better than most of us).

After this, the Kiddie Report took place, wherein the students were to ask set questions to their classmates and write the answer on the bulletin board after. The questions asked were “What day it was today?” and “What was the weather today?” to which the students would reply through a song and dance. Another question asked how many boys and girls respectively were there, wherein the boys or girls would stand and everyone would count the ones standing up. It was really cute how the kids knew who wasn’t around. I really like this activity because I, as a kid, would have really enjoyed this! Playing teacher or any grown up roles for that matter are always a novelty for kids. Moreover, I think it helps in boosting a child’s confidence, oral language, counting skills, psychomotor skills, among many others! It was a great warm up activity.

After this, the teacher gave a chance to a student to invent a clap for the day, and the creativity of the students was amazing. For a time I thought all claps were set and there weren’t any more claps to invent, but the students always find a way to make their’s original! The student Sabien made a power ranger clap, somehow like a cheerleader from my perspective, but it was a good clap to which all his classmates did with so much energy.

Even in Kindergarten, setting the schedule was important. Although time constraints are not presented to them anymore, the kids were made aware of the activities that they were to do for that afternoon.

As for classroom management, I observed how the teacher dealed with student’s comments. They were not to be dismissed and always a good addition to the discussion. However, the teacher was aware of when and how to correct and call out those who may be misbehaving, true to the protocols of the school, without embarrassing the child.

It’s funny though, how the students also call the teacher out when she disobeys rules, like this student who noticed that teacher was not wearing her ID.

Lesson Proper

The text for this lesson was Frog in the Middle by Susana Gretz, where the three friends duck, bunny and frog planned a surprise for frog, and tried to find a game which frog could join that they called Frog in the Middle.

The teacher started out by telling a story about her friend Jose, who joined a race and ran so fast. There were two of them near the finish line, but the other one ran faster, so he won. Jose was almost the winner. Teacher Sab unlocked the word almost for the kids, wherein she asked them to repeat the word, and after she explained what it means. After, she unlocked the word jealous by saying that he got jealous because he wanted so badly to be the winner. She successfully incorporated these two words into their languages, by constantly repeating them and then later on asked them to answer something on the board about what jealous and almost meant. Throughout the course of the lesson, specifically in the activities, she goes back to the use of these two words, inserting moral lessons especially for the word jealous.

The teacher continues her story by saying that Jose got a present for winning the race. She brought out a big box, and the students all got excited. There was a ball inside, and the teacher said that after winning the race they even played a game, which got the students even more excited to know about what the game was. The teacher called the game “Jose in the Middle,” and she made volunteer students play it in front.

After this, the teacher tried to unlike motivations and motives by asking about friends. She asked questions like who can be your friends, what you can say about them, and what they do together. She then introduces the story about friends, and proceeds by reviewing the rules when reading a story out loud.

After reading the story, the children had to do activities by their columns. It aimed to refine their response to the story. There were five activities all in all, with the output written on big cartolinas.

The first activity was called Animal Friends. The cartolina had pop up cards with a puzzle of the picture of the animal in front. When you open the card, you fill up the animal’s name, address and characteristics. The student asked teacher what a characteristic was, and for all the animals they answered with their respective color and cute. For the address, they made up an address with numbers, but the teacher expected to have an answer along the lines of land or pond.

The second activity was an activity for sequencing of events that led to the birthday surprise. Another activity dealt with how frog felt about things like not being able to join the games, and about feeling jealous. The fourth activity made the students make a thank you message from frog for duck and rabbit. For the last group, they were asked to define what a super friend was, and how they could all be super friends. All these engagement and enrichment activities contributed to the student’s understanding of the story, promoted interaction and sharing, and included all levels of thinking. I love how carefully thought of and planned the activities were, and how the children were made to work in groups as early on.

The teacher then transitioned into introducing describing words through sentences taken out of the story’s context. She differentiated between describing words and naming words, by saying that describing words tell us about naming words. She further expounds on describing words by mentioning the kinds of descpritions describing words use. Later on, they were seperated into groups based on their ability to decode with different guided and independent activities.

My Thoughts

I really love how synthesized the whole program was, and how one activity led to another. I really loved the activities, the material, the lesson proper, and everything! Getting to observe before learning about the Four Pronged Approach made me appreciate this approach even more, validating my conclusion that one activity was carefully thought of to lead to the next!

I particularly appreciated the materials prepared by the teacher, and the effort she must have put in in preparing everything for every step of the way. I also love how she was able to maintain discipline in the classroom, and know how to discipline her students without extinguishing their love for learning.

Frog In The Middle was a great choice of book to learn about friends and describing words. I love how the book was introduced through a mini story and even a live enactment of the game. I love how the students were engaged in the story-telling, and how it was used all throughout the lesson proper.

More importantly, I am grateful to have been able to look at a classroom through the teacher’s point of view, and with the newfound knowledge of the four pronged approach. I found a new way to appreciate reading and the teaching of it. In my grade school, the teaching of reading and English had to be in different periods. I was able to see how it was possible to integrate both.

It was really refreshing to be exposed to a group of children again, to see the world through their eyes. Student or teacher, I will always look and observe them with wonder, hoping that in seeing the sense of wonder in their eyes, I get to look at the world the way they do again. And with this thought, I end with a collection of cute anecdotes I was able to gather through my first observation of the semester.

Cute Anecdotes

Student: How many boys are there? Students: in song Where are the boys? Here we are? How are you today? Very well thank you Student: Gabriel! Gabriel is not here!

Teacher Sab: Okay, so our schedule for today is… Student: Teacher, WHERE IS YOUR ID?! Student: Are we learning about BALLS?!

Teacher Sab: So Jose was ALMOST the winner, so he was the… Student: Second place! Student: Who was the THIRD?!

Teacher: Who can be your friends? Student: Jollibee!

Teacher: What do friends do together? Student: Play! Student: Hug!

Teacher: Today, we’re going to read Frog In The Middle by Susana Gretz. It was made in 1993. How old is the book? Student: Gasps It’s older than us!!!!

Animal Friends Activity

Student: Rabbit’s address is 10 20 30 40 50.. Student: That’s a telephone number!!