Sarah Wade

Jen Weaver
Tch 212
April 21, 2015
Clinical Journal Final Paper
`Component 1: Methodology and Technology
I expected to be looking for the teachers lesson plan in this component. I expected
to be able to point out what the objectives of the lesson were going to be and then be able
to follow a general timeline throughout the lesson. This component is where I expect the
lesson plan to come into play. Looking for the teachers materials and presentation, as
well as a way at the end of the class, possibly throughout the class, to check in, some sort
of assessment, on the students understanding of the material being covered.
All of these concepts that I expected to see were covered in some of the videos I
saw. Any video that covered the breadth of an entire lesson, or at least most of one,
contained these components for me. Bob Fitzgeralds AP US history class utilized these
concepts very well. I was able to locate the objective of the lesson immediately and
follow along. I know that in the Kindergarten classroom I observed my senior year of
high school, these steps and organizational processes to the lesson plan were very
important. Every piece of the day was broken down and everything had its own target.
The assessment that I saw was a bit less formal in most of the videos I saw. A lot of these
classes were discussion based; I never saw anything with a test, which surprised me. The
assessment was done through classroom discussion, which the teacher led, and in most
cases, the teacher only helped to move the discussion along. Mr. Fitzgerald is, again, a
good example of this. Getting the students started on a discussion and having them

essentially debate and discuss what they thought propaganda posters were saying about
the United States foreign policy should be.
My perceptions of this component did not really change after my observations. I
understand the importance of having a solid lesson plan and method to keep the class
going in an efficient and non-stressful way. Fitzgeralds class ran incredibly smoothly and
I can only imagine that had to do with how clear the instructions and tasks were
throughout the lesson. The constant communication throughout the discussion between
the teacher and students made the most of the class period. I will attempt to be prepared
like this in my future classroom. I think it is important to have a methodology and plan
going into every class you teach because it makes the process of teacher, and subsequent
learning of the students, go more smoothly. What I mean by this is that there were no
hold ups when Fitzgerald was taking the students through the lesson.
Something that surprised me was the size of one of Fitgeralds classes. His regular
social studies class was composed of about 20 students while the other; the AP US
History class only had 8 students. I attribute this to the fact that one of those classes was
AP but even till, 8 is a very small class size. It did seem to help the discussion more to
have fewer students because that way every student did not miss the chance to
participate.
This component was treated roughly the same in all of the observations I made.
The target or objective was easy for me to locate. The process was different in a few of
the classes I saw. For example, in almost all of the history or English classes I saw, there
was a great deal of classroom discussion and not a lot of individual work. If I was
watching a science class or a Spanish class, there was very little discussion and had a

majority of independent work. These tactics seemed necessary depending on the class I
was watching. A humanities class involves more discussion of answers and concepts
because these subjects do not always have a correct answer but have something that can
be debated and discussed; while in a language or science class, the answer is pretty much
set in stone. Individual and group work was best here in the cases of labs and online
activities. I do not think that either approach is better or worse. It really comes down to
what the subject being taught is. Being a history teacher, I will utilize the group
discussion method because I think a discussion of a topic that possibly has no right
answer helps the student to better understand all aspects of that topic.
One thing I will be sure to take away from these observations is how important it
is to have your lesson ready. During my observations in high school I had the opportunity
to teach a few lessons and there were, unfortunately, times when I was not as prepared as
I could have been to teach a lesson. Something I found to be particularly important was
having and introduction and a conclusion to a lesson. When I lacked a solid conclusion to
my lesson on Mexico, the students and I were kind of left trailing off. I did not end the
lesson in a clear way with a clear summary and purpose to what we had done so it was
difficult to move onto the next part of the day. I think learning this will make me a better
educator because I know the feeling of having an incomplete lesson and it is awkward
and distracting from the lesson that just took place. By having all parts of a lesson plan
ready and learned, then I can more properly help my students to learn information in an
organized way.

Component 2: Professionalism

Before I made my observations I expected this component to consist of teachers

professional attire, attitude, organization, expertise, and interactions with the students. In
terms of attire, I expected to see teachers wearing nice shirts and dress pants, possibly
jeans depending on the day and the wash of those jeans. I also expected to see that the
teachers had their lesson organized and would demonstrate expertise in their subject so
that they would be able to help the students learning go smoothly and help them with any
questions the students needed answering. I expected a general student teacher relationship
that would include asking questions of each other and possibly a good humor and back
and forth.
All of these ideas were confirmed for me in the classrooms I observed for this
component. The teacher were all dressed professionally, although the choir teacher had
on jeans and a sort of sweater t-shirt. I personally did not see a problem with this though.
Jeans are technically casual but I do not think they are distracting or make the teacher
look less like they know what they are doing. All the teacher I observed had a solid
understanding of the material which helped them to answer their students questions and
most had a good humorous back and forth from time to time to keep the room light.
Something that was not necessarily different but that I did not think about before I started
to observe this component was the teachers autonomy and verbal/nonverbal language.
The teacher in the science class I observed used a lot of nonverbal language such as hand
gestures and the Ill wait stance (arms crossed and silent eye contact until the class
stops talking). She also had a microphone so that the entire class could hear her. She
walked around the room while the students were working on their lab and asking
questions. The Kindergarten teacher I observed also had a microphone she used and was

constantly walking form table to table. On the other hand, the choir teacher I observed
did not walk around very much; she did not really have any space to walk though due to
the oddly shaped amphitheater style classroom. She used a lot of jargon and slang to
communicate with her students, which they all seemed to understand.
The observations changed my perceptions of this component in the way of
stressing expertise and context knowledge. I always knew that this was important but
seeing how many questions the students in the science class had even after a thorough
explanation of the procedure of the experiment and the questions that they had about
DNA that spun off from that lab demonstrated to me that knowing your subject, not just
the lesson you are working on that day, is incredibly important. I know that my
Introduction to teaching teacher in high school told my class that it takes a good few
years of teacher the same thing to become really confident with it but that seems to be a
lot of time. This component helped me understand the idea of practicing your lessons and
continuing to learn while in your classroom so that you can foster your students learning,
which will help me in my future classroom.
There was not much that surprised me in these observations. Having been in
classrooms my entire life, I was familiar with a teachers general professionalism. I
suppose it always surprises me when a teacher has a casual relationship with a student. I
do not suppose it was causal but just humorous. In the science classroom there was one
particular student that would joke around with the teacher and kept asking her how to
bring strawberries to life. It was not so much surprising as nice to see a teacher and
student have a fun back and forth about the lesson they had just learned. I did surprise me
a bit that the science teacher did not get more frustrated with the students because almost

every table she went to asked her the same question that she had just answered in the
procedure. This reflected well on her and her professionalism. She was able to keep her
cool when interacting with students who had not been listening.
This component was roughly the same in all of the classes I observed. All teachers
were dressed professionally and all had a good understanding of the subject matter. The
science class I observed did have some sort of teachers aid or student teacher in it. I think
that she was less familiar with the lesson and that showed a little bit in some of her
interactions. She had apparently told a student to put in more of the detergent than the
instructions, which then messed up that tables experiment. I think the use of language is
the only thing that truly differed in the classrooms I observed. Each topic has its own
language and jargon that is used and that is appropriate for different classes. I think that
the approach of using casual language and also the use of jargon is important in a
teachers approach. Keeping the classroom relatively light helps the students to listen
because they find what is being talked about interesting. I also think it is important to use
and teach the students jargon for each subject because it helps them understand the topic
better to know the topics key terms.
One thing I will take away from these observations is to keep a good overall
attitude in the classroom. Maintaining professionalism, while still having a good
relationship with your students in important. It is important for the students to feel
comfortable and having a good and positive attitude throughout the lesson will engage
the students more. This will make me a better educator because having engaged students
who are learning is the whole purpose of teaching. You want your students to learn and
being positive is one of the best ways to do that.

Component 3: Understanding Learners

I honestly did not expect to see much of this component in my teaching
observations. Having to use video observations as opposed to the Milwaukee bus trip,
there is a good deal of guess work that I had to do in terms of seeing the students
ethnicities, language, SES, and other like topics. I expected to be able to observe at least
gender, language, ethnicity, responsiveness to different learning styles and engagement in
multiple intelligences. In referencing my Kindergarten classroom experience I was able
to see attention to language and a variety of teaching methods.
In the kindergarten classroom I was placed in I experienced several different
teaching methods that dealt with several different learning styles. Due to the young age of
those students it was not surprising to me that the teacher would put into use several
different methods in order to better understand which would work best with the students.
Being so young made it trickier for me to see which methods worked best for the students
because they still were not even sure yet which methods they preferred. What seemed to
have the greatest effect though was any sort of hands on work or projects. That was a big
difference between the high school videos I observed and the kindergarten classroom.
While the kindergarten classroom was very hand on with the students moving around, the
high school classrooms were mainly discussion. This was not surprising because younger
children tend to have a shorter attention span so movement was a necessity, but it was
interesting to observe the difference anyway.
It did surprise me a bit was just how difficult it was to observe the equal attention
given to all students based on the videos. Because I am observing from the comfort of my

own room and not in the classroom to ask these teachers questions, there was a lot of
guesswork about the diversity of the students. It also surprised me just how many
engagements in multiple intelligences there were. Through the methods of discussion,
readings, PowerPoint, and personal examples from students, I believe that most of the
methods given to us to observe were represented in the classroom. I did not think that I
would see all methods being used in one class period.
This component was treated about the same in all of my observations. I do not
mean that the content or methods were all the same but that almost all of the same
components were accounted for. In responsiveness to different learning styles is a good
example. Jean Gorski, in her psychology class, used a variety of different materials such
as colored paper to split the class into groups, while Brian Contont used the computer as
a different form of media to allow the students to more easily site their sources. The
kindergarten classroom was especially adept at this. From the use of stickers to split the
class into groups; to the use of computers and even, surprisingly, ipads there were a lot of
different materials and media being taken advantage of. And every classroom I observed
had some form or another of classroom discussion and activities. What was different
between the high school and the kindergarten was that the younger grade was a bit more
liberated in their tasks. Although everyone in the class got the same instructions, the
outcome and methods to accomplish a task or activity could vary greatly between
students. The high school classroom was a bit more restricted in their activities. The high
school students were much better at discussion though. This is not surprising because the
older students have had more practice at developing ideas and explaining themselves. No
classroom was inherently better than the other, just different levels of development.

What I will take away from this observation is that I should use as many teaching
methods as possible when working with my students. Everyone learns differently and by
utilizing different mediums of teaching and engaging in multiple intelligence activities,
my students will not only benefit from the knowledge they are gaining but they will also
stay more engaged due to different and exciting teaching techniques. This made an
impression on me because I believe that when the students were exposed to varied
techniques during the same class period, it made it easier for them to stay focused on
what was being discussed. I think this will make me a better educator because it will
challenge me to find different and exciting ways of relaying information to my students
and keep them involved in the lessons.

Component 4: Management of Physical Environment

I expected to see a variety of different environments between all of the different
classrooms I observed. Different set ups in terms of desks, decorations, and classroom
routines. I expected this because every classroom, despite being in the same school, is
different. Different teachers have different preferences when it comes to their classrooms
and different routines when it comes to how they think a classroom will function the most
efficiently.
All of my expectations for this component were confirmed, at least to a point.
While every classroom had different seating arrangements and decorations, they all had
roughly the same general material around the room such as fire extinguishers and
emergency procedure posters. My expectations were to see a variety of different
classrooms and that was confirmed. The classroom procedures were all very similar too.

The teacher would start out the period with going over the days news and then going on
to gather homework and talk about any work they had just done. For example, the science
teacher, Andrea Markert, went into a discussion about how mole day was coming up and
what the theme was. This was very similar to Brad Dearings technology class because he
went into a discussion about how media and technology are affecting the world. Both of
these things are relating the students to what they will be doing during that class.
These observations changed my perception of this component in the way that I
know there is no right or wrong way to set up and run a classroom. Actually, there
probably is a wrong way, but there are many different ways and it is up to the teacher to
discover which way makes for a more comfortable and productive learning environment.
Mr. Dearings technology class was set up with desks around the perimeter of the room
and random tables in the middle. This worked best for him because the students needed
access to the computers, which were plugged into the walls. Mrs. Markert had her
students in the standard isle pattern with all students facing the front. This was beneficial
to her so that all of the students could see her and she could see all of the students. I will
address this in my future classroom by creating a set up to my room that I find myself
comfortable teaching in, and one that I think my students feel comfortable learning in.
Something that surprised me was that there was a shocking lack of things on these
teachers walls. I do not know if I came from an overly enthusiastic school where almost
every room had posters and art on the walls or if it is due to all of the artwork and
material I observed on the walls in the kindergarten room I observed, but I was very
surprised that there was just about the bare minimum at U-High.

What was different in each classroom was the seating arrangement room layout
but what was the same was the general procedure of the day. I think that these things
were treated differently in the different classrooms because certain topics require
different procedures. While each class started with an introduction of what would be done
during the period, each class veered off into different directions after that. I do not think
that either direction is better or worse. I think it just depends on what the topic is and
what needs to be done. A computer class cannot function the same way a science class
does. There are different activities and requirements involved and deciding which way is
better or worse is not fair to the classroom or teacher.
Something I will take away from this observation is that I need to make my
classroom my own. If I make my classroom an environment I think I will thrive in and
will be comfortable in, I think my students will benefit from that confidence. I also think
that a classroom should have more decorations and things on the walls. Showing off
students work is important and it gives students a goal to possibly aspire to. Inspirational
quotes, pictures of presidents, and example of past work are all engaging and I think that
engaging my students will make me a better educator.

Component 5: Diversity and Demographics

I expected that I would not find much diversity in the classroom I was observing.
Knowing I knew going in that U-High was not a diverse setting. Actually, the
kindergarten classroom I observed had more diversity than U-High. I also did not expect

to see that much computer involvement. I feel like using a computer in an everyday
classroom is still not normal at this point.
It was confirmed after watching these videos that there was not that much
diversity at U-high. I was wrong when I saw how much technology was used in different
classrooms. At least three of my observations involved computers, two of which they
were used the entire class period. It was also confirmed for me that these classrooms
would most frequently be traditional classrooms.
My perceptions of this component changed a bit in the sense of group and individual
work. I generally think that group work is better than individual work because working as
a group allows students to feed off of each others knowledge and put what they know
into practice with other students ideas. I imagine that I will take group work into my
classroom more frequently because history is a topic that requires a lot of discussion but I
also think that my classroom will benefit from individual work when it comes to things
like papers and reading assignments.
It was surprising to me that the kindergarten classroom I observed had more
diversity than U-High. Although all the classrooms I observed were predominantly white,
I anticipated that a high school setting would have more diversity than a kindergarten
classroom in Naperville. I suppose I expected this because high schools generally have a
much larger population of students than an elementary school.
The number of minutes in instruction and on individual work was treated
differently in most all of the classrooms I saw. While the Spanish class I observed had
only 2 or so minutes of classroom discussion, the rest of the time was spent on individual
work, while the English class I watched was entirely group discussion. It think these

things were treated differently due to what each class was working on at the time. The
English class was going over a reading they had previously been assigned while the
Spanish class was in the middle of completing a reading assignment. I do not think either
method is better or worse but fit well with the proposes of the classroom that day.
Different assignments have different requirements and depending on what that
assignment is, group and individual work can be equally valuable.
I will take away from this that group and individual work are equally valuable in
the classroom. Although I am a history major, I imagine that the majority of my class will
involve group discussion time, I respect that some of the time individual work is
beneficial and necessary for certain assignments. I think this will make me a better
educator because I will be better able to gauge which method my students will benefit the
most from depending on what we are working on.