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:
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Focus lesson- plot structure review
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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.
