Learning through Observing: Assessment

            Observing classrooms is one of the primary reasons why I enrolled in SED 406 at Central Falls. Learning about the ideology behind teaching is an essential component to becoming a future educator, but actually seeing what we are learning in practice is most important. I personally find difficulty with the assessment portion of teaching, so it is assuring and encouraging to learn from experienced teachers. For these reasons, I felt very excited to observe Ms. Garces’s 10^th grade English classroom.

            On Tuesday, the class finished reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. After the student teacher read the final chapter aloud, the students then turned their attention to finishing the latter half of the film. It seemed that most of the students really enjoyed watching the film in class, and many of the students connected with the film due to their understanding of the book. This was the last meeting day for this class before the Thanksgiving break, so it was important for the students to “learn” in an easy-going manner. The following week, presumably on Monday, the students would be taking their formal exam for the unit.  

            As I walked into the classroom, it was very clear that the students were working on their Lord of the Flies unit. An easel read:

           

11/24   Do now:

-   Focus lesson- plot structure review

-   Chapter questions

Objective: Explain the actions that change the course of the novel.

This assignment proves that the students were asked to reflect on the novel, based on their prior reading, in some way. I’m a big fan of interactive reading and sharing thoughts, so it was definitely ideal to see this happening in the classroom. Some wallboards showed that the students also worked on day sheets, vocabulary, and summary sheets for the novel. This constant, thought-provoking work allows students to connect and learn from the novel on a variety of levels. Students are able to understand and appreciate the text in a way that is unique for them. For teachers, these small (but essential) assignments are vital in assessing the students’ comprehension along the way. If students underperform on one of the assignments, perhaps they didn’t understand the text in a way that the teacher(s) assumed they would—this requires some modification on the teacher’s end. I’m a strong believer in small assessments along the way to avoid significant comprehension obstacles at the end of the entire unit.

            This English class has two primary teachers and a student teacher, so the students can reach out to any one of these educators. And, there are only about twelve students in the class, so it’s about four students per teacher ratio. This low ratio provides students with a rich, educational learning environment. With a smaller class, the students are encouraged to participate on a regular basis. I noticed that the teacher asked most of the students their opinions of the book once they finished reading it, so the students were expected to form a relationship with the text. Most of the class was lumped into the upper left of the classroom, and then the remaining five students were disbursed into the back right side of the room. I noticed that the teacher seemed to favor the front of the classroom, so this was a little bit disappointing. It might be best if the students organized themselves, with teacher approval, into a circle for discussions, because this would provide a setting in which all of the students were required to engage and participate. With this organized circle, I feel as though informal assessments would be more meaningful and effective for the entire class.

            Finally, the informal assessments to evaluate if the students’ understood the story itself took the form of several worksheets and questions after the reading. For the time that I was present in the classroom, I observed the teacher and the student teacher asking the students questions about the basic storyline. The teacher informed the students that they would be tested on the symbolism of the novel after the break. I appreciated how the teacher first had the students examine the text on a basic level and then progressed towards a more sophisticated, deeper level of understanding. This method of “building blocks,” so to say, was very effective in this classroom. I felt as though the students knew what was expected of them from the very beginning, and this made their learning experience more valuable and achievable—each student could achieve success if they applied themselves. Observing this English classroom was a valuable learning experience for me, a future educator.