-
Recent Posts
-
Recent Comments
Tags
Archives
Tag Archives: school observations
Making Choral Responses In Class Even Better
Scene from a classroom this morning as the teacher transitioned students from their writer’s workshop lesson to their class time focused on reading. The routine being for students to start with some independent reading, during which the teacher would conference with individual students.
The teacher giving some ‘white noise’ directions like we do—verbalizing the well-practiced [...]
Smooth Jazz Makes You Think That
Scene from a high school classroom this morning. The teacher having recently introduced playing some background music during certain parts of class—during the start up activity or tasks where students are directed to do work individually. Some kind of smooth jazz station streamed from the internet.
They seemed to like it and were productive [...]
Stealing the Thunder
Scene from an elementary math classroom today with the sounds of another group of students joyfully having recess just outside the window; a beautiful spring afternoon, the sound of bouncing balls punctuated by happy yelps.
A math lesson on the topic of making solids from their two dimensional patterns. And a share out session with [...]
Getting Right to the Point…
So what’s another way you might describe those beaches in this sentence, the teacher amiably inquired of her elementary school students in the room.
Projected on the overhead was the beginning of a modeled sentence: The awesome beaches in the D.R. are …
An excited voice of one student in response, his answer inflected with the rising [...]
What You Say About Stabbing Pains in the Classroom
Great moment between a teacher and student today. The teacher making steady moves to get this particular elementary school class focused and moving along. Using encouragement, patient re-direction and otherwise heroically urging the students along in their work.
A few moments into a smooth transition to the rug for a shared reading. Some [...]
So THAT’S Why It’s So Hard for Us to Achieve Our Goals
Scene from a middle school classroom this morning.
Halfway through the instructional period, the teacher making somewhat of a strategic move to bring up the behavioral goal sheets that students were instructed to complete at some prior point in the year. A bit of confusion about where this conversation was coming from, but enough students [...]
The Future is… Now?
Scene from an elementary classroom this morning.
The teacher having a difficult time getting the class organized and focused–their task to spend a morning session working on test-taking strategies by taking a sample grade-level assessment. A droll reading passage with accompanying multiple choice questions and an open response.
The teacher sitting at the rear of the room [...]
Ignoring the Highlighted Notices That Yes, You Are Breaking The Law
I really enjoyed getting the copy of the math warm up exercises bright and early this morning, as I sat in on a middle school math lesson. The students were chatting among themselves, and then quieted rather nicely as the sheets were passed to them as well. PEMDAS exercises, estimation of square roots [...]
Feeling the Vibes in the Teacher’s Lounge
The teacher’s lounge.
There are few other rooms in a school building that probably evoke the range of feelings as that particular location. The apportioned-off grazing zone for the teacher species. Some sitting in dazed solitude, others coming in for that quick faculty-bathroom run and yet others finding a place to sit in communal (and at [...]
God Makes it Hot Sometimes