UNIVERSIDAD CATLICA DE LA SANTISIMA CONCEPCIN

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIN

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION TASK 1: Options and decisions

The term classroom management refers to the moment-by-moment decisions made and actions taken by the
teacher in class, e.g. writing on the board, giving instructions, organizing the class into pairs, etc. For every
decision made, there will have been other options that the teacher did not choose.
For each of the following headings:
1. Note one example of a classroom situation in the lesson you are observing. What does the teacher do?
2. Note one or two options that the teacher had at that point in the lesson, but did not choose.
Example: Dealing with unexpected problems
Situation:
A student arrived twelve minutes late for the lesson.
Action:
Teacher said hello politely. (The student then sat down quietly and found out what was going
on from his neighbor.)
Other options: Teacher could have asked why the student was late.
Teacher could have pointed out the time to the student
Student participation in the lesson
Situation:
A female student gave her opinion about the topic
Action:

Teacher added some information to students answer, and gave her own opinion about the topic.

Other options: Teacher could have supported students opinion with some images that she already had about the topic.
Grouping of students; arrangement of seating
Situation:

Students were sitting in semi-circle which allows them to interact and discuss each other.

Action:

Students could watch properly pictures and videos that the teacher provided to introduce the new topic.

Other options: Students might be encouraged to pay attention carefully to the videos and pictures in order to give an
opinion later.
Setting up activities; instructions

Situation:

Teacher asked students to prepare a report for next class about what they watched during this lesson.

Action:

Teacher encouraged students to fuel fill with their ideas about the topic throughout reading and watching news related
to the topic.

Other options: Teacher could have pointed out that she had uploaded some links and vocabulary exercises on ev@
Board; classroom equipment; visual aids
Situation:

Teacher presented the lesson using the data show and websites that were are related to the topic .

Action:
Teacher recalled students previous knowledge with images and videos.

Other options:

Teacher could have gone further into the topic providing important aspects about it, and comparing this situation
to our national situation.

Dealing with unexpected problems

Situation:
Teacher turned the data show on. However, it did not work.
Action:
Teacher was in silent.
Other options:

Teacher started making some simple jokes about it until the device switched on.

Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited, 2005

Teachers role and participation

Situation:
Teacher provided an opinion from her own experience.
Action:

Teacher made a debate between students about the topic presented in class encouraging them to share their own ideas. Other

options: Teacher could have provided new vocabulary related to the topic.
Other notes about the lesson

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION TASK 2: The teachers position and body language

Note the teacher`s position and movement. Draw a ground plan showing the teachers movement
during the lesson.

When and where does the teacher sit?

Teacher rarely sits down. She does the action just in order to show available material related to
the topic. On the other hand, she monitors all the activities given to the students in order to help
them.

When and where does the teacher stand?

She stands when she wants to explain the topic or teach new vocabulary or expressions. And also,
she usually stands in front of the class but also moving around.

How near does the teacher approach the learners at different parts of the lesson?

When she is explaining something she is always near some the students especially those who are
closer to her.

When does the teacher move around?

She always moves around the class when she wants to explain, emphasize or monitor the activities,
new vocabulary, etc.

Does the teacher project to all the learners?

Yes, she does. Communicative advanced competence is not a large class, so that, teachers voice is
well projected. Moreover, in Toms Moro building all classrooms have a good quality of acoustic
conditions which help teachers to project properly their voice.

Can the teacher be heard and seen clearly by all the learners?

Yes, she can. She can be seen by all the learners. This is also possible because in Tomas Moro
building there is different style of seating arrangement.

Does the teacher use gesture effectively?

Yes, she does. This teacher particularly uses a lot of gesture and body language during her
classes. This fact is reflect in two aspects, first it helps students understanding about knowledge,
and the second one it is helps students to be focus on the class. Moreover, she complements this
body language and gesture with her intonation.
Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited, 2005

Does the teacher make eye contact with individual learners?

Yes, she does. As I said before, this teacher is able to manage this features that permit
teachers to get students attention, to help students understanding. She usually makes eyes
contact with individual students, and it is complements with the proximity of the teacher
because generally when she is coming to you she makes eyes contact.

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION TASK 3: Interaction

Observe the different interactions in each lesson and complete the table. Then answer the questions.

What is the predominant type of interaction?

Mainly T T T (teacher talking time). This class focuses on the listening skill. Consequently, the
teacher always has to give advice who to manage some part of the international exam. Moreover,
she teaches us new expressions and vocabulary according to our level. In these moments,
students are listening to the teacher and taking notes. Then, a recording is listened by the students
and it is checked by the whole class. Finally, students make a discussion about the topic.

Does it seem appropriate to the aims of the lesson?

In my opinion, it is appropriate because she teaches the listening skill, new vocabulary, and new
expressions. However, taking into account that students only has opportunity to talk in English in
the classroom, the discussion about topics should be at the beginning of each class because
students always know something and they can share their opinion before listening (pre-listening
activity) or this discussion should be last more time.

In which interaction were the learners most productive?

As a said before, the discussion activity is the part of the class where students have to produce
the language. They have to talk to their classmates about what is they thing about topics such :
emigration, , social conflict, education and technology which are the topics of this semester.

Interaction pattern
Teacher whole class
Learners in pairs
Learners in groups
Learners working individually
Other

Amount of time spent

40%
0%
15%
20%
25%

Task 4
Implementation Class 1 at school

Personal Reflection

Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited, 2005

Strengths:
In my opinion, one of my strengths was that I had a good classroom management, although
this course does not have behavioral problems as 5th grade has. However, there are two
students that bother their classmates, and they usually make jokes about everything. During my
class those students got involved in the activities, so that, I gave to them opportunities to
participate in the class activities. Furthermore, my voice was well projected to the whole class.
Moreover, I was able to catch students attention throughout activities that were fun for them.
Consequently, they were able to participate in my activities giving opinion, asking and
answering questions.

Weaknesses
From my point of view, the most difficult part is giving instructions, and manages the time for
each activity. Although students were able to follow my instruction, I lost my self-confidence,
and I did not remember what I had to do. Regarding to the time management, it was so difficult
for me to stop the first activity because students who do not usually participate this time were
involved.
Personal Challenge

Personal challenge for my next section is to keep working in how give clear instructions, and
how to manage the time. Moreover, I would like to try changing the seating arrangement in order to
improve teacher proximity and monitoring. Besides this, this will help me at the moment of
planning my class to think not only in pairs works, but also to think in group work.

Task 5
Implementation Class 2 at school

Personal Reflection

Strengths

My lesson was given to the fifth grade which has been pointed out as a problematic course by the
English teacher. Personally speaking, I would say that I showed self-confidence in front of my students
all the time. It allowed me to give my lesson despite of the noise. Another a positive aspect were my
activities, they engaged students because I used pictures what called students attention.

Weaknesses

I was not able to manage the discipline during my lesson. It was very difficult to deal with, and I had to
shut them up many times. Another aspect to take into account was the class participation. Some
students did not participate in the activities because I did not have time to make them participate.

Personal Challenge

My personal challenge will be to look for a good method to manage discipline in classes because this
is really important if I want teach in a proper way. Besides, I will have to create a method that let all the
students participate in class activities, in other words, to give the same opportunities to everyone.
Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited, 2005

Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited, 2005