My First Day of Observation

Today was my first day observing a seventh grade social studies class. Before I arrived at the school, I was a little nervous about my experience. Although I had some experience with working and observing a classroom, I was worried about working with junior high students for the first time. (And to be quite honest, I was a little worried that I would be mistaken as a student there.) Junior high-aged kids have a reputation of being hard to work with, so I wasn't sure what I was going to expect. My only interaction with junior high students since I finished eighth grade is in my church youth group, and they can be difficult at times. I started my observation during study hall, so the teacher had time to explain how the school worked and what the class was working on. He was very helpful and informative, which eased my nerves a lot. The school I am observing at has block class scheduling, which means that I will meet with the same students on Monday and Wednesday of one week, and then with another class the next week. I have never gone to a school with block scheduling, so this will be a good way for me to better understand that system. Every student in each grade is divided into three different teams in which there are different teachers for each class. This allows each team of teachers to decide the students' schedule of classes. Since each team has a different schedule, no bells are used during the day to dismiss students from each class. After I was introduced to the class, I took some time to look through the texbook that the class was using and read through some of the unit in which they were studying. I spent the majority of my time observing how the teacher interacted with the students. I was very impressed with the amount of participation that the students had during discussions. The teacher tried to involve the students by asking questions rather than telling them facts, and many students also asked questions to better help them understand the lesson. While the students began working on their maps, I walked around and observed how each student worked independently and tried to answer questions if a student had one. I had a lot of fun seeing the classroom from a different perspective and working with the students. I'm very excited about returning on Monday.