Observation Reflection

I did my 10 hours of observation in a sophomore U.S. history classroom at Benito Juarez Community Academy.  The teacher that I observed employed multiple different methods of instruction. In the short time that I was there, I saw him lecture, facilitate small group work, lead class discussion and work with students individually. Furthermore, this teacher challenged the norm of himself as the sole expert in the classroom. He was open to student interpretation and critique of any part of his lecture or content given to students (even if their interpretations did not align with his own.) Not only was this teacher disseminating information, but the discussions that he facilitated and the student-lead activities (such as a tea party where students walked around the classroom roleplaying as different historical figures who had a stake in the Mexican-American War) showed that he believed students brought a lot of prior knowledge and expertise of their own to the classroom. Furthermore, he welcomed students to bring their personalities into the classroom and seldom silenced anyone. There is a norm in schools that student are not a teacher’s friend, and while I see the validity in that statement, the teacher that I observed lead me to question that norm. While students may not be our friends, I believe that it can be ok to develop relationships with students, so that they feel their teacher cares about them, and what they say is not artificial. Furthermore, I think that getting to know students makes us better instructors. This does not make the student and the teacher “friends,” but one of the primary things that I learned from observation is that students are more receptive to you when they feel as if they know you a little bit and you see them as a human being.  

 - Erin Szczepaniak