I had the opportunity to observe twice on Monday, in the first class I was able to see a teacher administer a test which was interesting as we had just talked about tests in class. The teacher followed most of the advice that we were given in class but one of the things that stood out the most was that she practically told them the test beforehand. This was something that happened often during my high school career and as a student I did not study for the tests and simply recalled the information given to me on the “review sheet.” There is a lot of pressure placed on teachers for their students to do well, however, this is not the way to do it as it is doing an injustice to your students. Students do not learn this way, they simply regurgitate.
The other class, was the opposite. The teacher asked questions regarding what they had been learning and engaged students at all times. It is important to keep students engaged so they do not get bored and misbehave. However, the second teacher that I observed had very poor classroom management skills. She allowed students to misbehave and have side conversations which she spent the whole time talking over. Therefore, even though you are asking questions and engaging some students, you have to make sure that all students are engaged. If you let the side conversations continue it can be distracting to all students. It is important to stand by the rules that you have set for your students and give consequences for misbehavior.
