Critical Observation of Varied Learning Environments

1
Critical Observation of Varied Learning
Environments

• Prepared by
• The Members of Group Five
• Amanda, Shannon, Dana, Tanya, and Mike

2
Questions for Observation

• 1. What is the scheduling like for students? Is
  there a block schedule or are classes consistent
  every day?
• 2. During questioning, did the teacher choose
  students who actively volunteered to answer or
  did s/he chose students at random?
• 3. Do the teachers activities involve work on an
  individual or group basis?

3
Questions for Observation (cont.)

• 4. Was the goal of the lesson plan attainable or
  was it overwhelming and beyond the understanding
  of the students?
• 5. Does the school provide any programs or after
  school activities to help level the playing field
  when dealing with students whose SES may not
  support an enriched learning environment? Is the
  teacher personally involved in any?

4
Responses to Question 1Was there block
scheduling?

• Yes, there was block scheduling for everyday
  except for Tuesdays. They had two-hour block
  periods which allow them to get a lot done in one
  session.
• No, each class was the same every day. This
  allows students to maintain a consistent schedule
  throughout the year.

5
Response to Question 2Were children called on at
random or by volunteering?

• Most of the teachers only called on students
  whose hands were raised and who wanted to
  participate

• Another teacher called on the students at random,
  not based on active participation

6
Response to Question 3Are the activities group
based on individually based?

• Half of the classes were group based focusing on
  group participation

• The other classes were primarily based on the
  individual but had a long term group project.

7
Response to Question 4Was the goal of the lesson
plan attainable or not?

• For the most part, we found the lesson plans to
  be attainable.
• The students understood the main ideas of the
  lesson and showed it through assessment and group
  projects

8
Response to Question 5Were there any after
school programs or activities to help enrich the
learning environment for students of lower
Socio-economic Status (SES)?

• There were many opportunities for
• Students to get involved including
• Free Tutoring
• Arts and Crafts
• English as a Second Language
• Music

9
Classroom environment

• Our observers found a variety of settings which
  included
• Sparsely decorated walls
• Random desk/table settings
• Enriched, colorful wall designs
• Word walls and learning centers
• Large amount of computers and technology present
  in each classroom
• More computers than students

10
Evidence of State Frameworks

• US history 11th grade Trace American history
  from colonial times through the post world war 2
  era
• Music 9th-12th grade Understand basics of Music
  Theory and performance strategy
• Literature 1st grade formed sentences and learned
  word order in sentence structure
• American literature 11th grade vocabulary based
  on contextual recognition