On the 10th of May 2023, I had the opportunity to observe Michael class, ESAL 0320.The class started on time at 12:30 and majority of the students were in class before the lesson started. When I stepped in the class, I introduced myself to the teacher and he welcomed me and later introduced me to the students before the lesson began. The students were 10 in the class with a U-shaped, well spaced-out classroom arrangement to enhance free movement.
Before the class began, the teacher gave out name tags to each student which was a way of identifying students with their names each time and also know the students absent with the number of tags left. This is something I will do in my class because I think it is very cool and identifying students with their names makes student feel a sense of belonging and gets to trust the teacher. And with name tags, any new student or teacher that should come to your class will know your student’s names and address the students as such.
I realized a group of students from the same country were seated together away from the other students and it made me wonder if it’s a culture thing or its because the students feel comfortable around each other and would want to help each other. Grouping of students for group work was impressive, the teacher gave students the chance to pair with students they were comfortable with and also the teacher paired up so that students would be comfortable with the other students as well.
I thought that really made sense because if students were always made to be paired with only people from their culture or country, they wouldn’t be comfortable interacting with other cultures which they would need at the end of the program and this also show the teachers control on the students.
At the beginning of the class, I realized some students were not confident about their responses and answers and some students did not feel comfortable talking at all. The students were self conscious of their responses and suggestions. The teacher then used humors, jokes and shared an experience he had when he travelled to China which was an interesting experience. These jokes and humors called back distracted student’s attention and the students became more comfortable and interactive. I was so impressed because I didn’t realize funny jokes and interesting cultural experiences shared by a teacher could make students so comfortable and make them want to contribute in class. I decided in future I was going to be more humorous in my class to create that comfortable environment for students so that my students can put away their inhibitions, fears and be comfortable in my class.
The teachers voice control and clarity was great, so students could clearly hear and understand what the teacher said. Instructions given were repetitive with actions and they were straightforward in order to make student’s understanding clearer.
The teacher was encouraging and motivating so the students felt more comfortable in interacting, asking questions and also student’s suggestions were welcomed and there was no right or wrong answer. Teacher waited patiently on students to respond to questions and make their suggestions so the students didn’t feel pressured in class.
There was 5 to 10 minutes break and even though the teacher was patient with the students he was able to cover the lessons he intended to and the class ended exactly on time, that is 2:20 in the afternoon.
I didn’t have any lesson plan so I didn’t realize what the teacher’s objectives were but I liked the classroom environment and I would want my classroom to have that warm, humorous and encouraging atmosphere.