In my observations, I have seen a lot of the projectors used for note-taking via power point type presentations. I have seen students sitting at their desks texting, talking, sleeping, and overall being passive and unentusiatic about anything. I have seen no cooperative group work or any group work for that matter. I have not seen any proactive problem solving skills, only students being reactive to what has been taught. I have only seen one teacher that has been enthusiastic about her content. All this being said, I have seen good behavior control of the students in the classes overall--not many bad attiudes. I have seen the learning objectives posted in most classes. I have not seen very many of Marzano's strategies. Most classes have stayed within the lower strategies of Bloom (remembering, understanding and applying). None have focused on the importance of developing strong character values in their students and only one small class had student-directed learning and strong use of computers for their work.
I think that even throughout the year (I've had two terms at WBU so far), the unfortunate pattern I've seen during observation is direct teaching that is incredibly passive. Teachers just have a PowerPoint, overhead projector, or even just talk and write on the board, and students just take notes all class period. I feel like not only is this bad for the students - it's boring, it seems like busy work and they're not at all engaged or excited for class - it's also boring for the teacher! I look forward to (hopefully) having a class that kids look forward to coming to, not one they dread having to take notes in every day.
I have seen group work, teachers doing all the work, and a blend of both. I have seen identifying similarities and differences and I have suggested this strategy to my co-workers to use during professional development. I have also seen teachers use power point and lecture-- I tend to like this type of teaching so I don't mind it. I have also seen teachers working really hard to keep people engaged in learning. The like a positive learning environment and I have seen some not so positive learning environments when I have observed in ISD's in the past.
I've seen the teachers who stand and lecture for an entire class, but there are also teachers who involved students by using cooperative learning and specifically calling into light the methods of Bloom's Taxonomy that they are using.
In my observations, I have seen a lot of the projectors used for note-taking via power point type presentations. I have seen students sitting at their desks texting, talking, sleeping, and overall being passive and unentusiatic about anything. I have seen no cooperative group work or any group work for that matter. I have not seen any proactive problem solving skills, only students being reactive to what has been taught. I have only seen one teacher that has been enthusiastic about her content. All this being said, I have seen good behavior control of the students in the classes overall--not many bad attiudes. I have seen the learning objectives posted in most classes. I have not seen very many of Marzano's strategies. Most classes have stayed within the lower strategies of Bloom (remembering, understanding and applying). None have focused on the importance of developing strong character values in their students and only one small class had student-directed learning and strong use of computers for their work.
ReplyDeleteI think that even throughout the year (I've had two terms at WBU so far), the unfortunate pattern I've seen during observation is direct teaching that is incredibly passive. Teachers just have a PowerPoint, overhead projector, or even just talk and write on the board, and students just take notes all class period. I feel like not only is this bad for the students - it's boring, it seems like busy work and they're not at all engaged or excited for class - it's also boring for the teacher! I look forward to (hopefully) having a class that kids look forward to coming to, not one they dread having to take notes in every day.
ReplyDeleteI have seen group work, teachers doing all the work, and a blend of both. I have seen identifying similarities and differences and I have suggested this strategy to my co-workers to use during professional development. I have also seen teachers use power point and lecture-- I tend to like this type of teaching so I don't mind it. I have also seen teachers working really hard to keep people engaged in learning. The like a positive learning environment and I have seen some not so positive learning environments when I have observed in ISD's in the past.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the teachers who stand and lecture for an entire class, but there are also teachers who involved students by using cooperative learning and specifically calling into light the methods of Bloom's Taxonomy that they are using.
ReplyDelete