Classroom Observation Reflection Essay

Courtney Dickinson

Ed W. Clark High School

Abstract
While observing classes for the day at Cashman middle school, I learned a lot about what it is like to teach

at a middle school. What most impacted me was the way that the teachers interacted with the students,

both positive and negatively. It also helped to solidify what I was always sure of, that I definitely dont want

to teach at a middle school and I dont think I would be able to. Classroom Observation Reflection Essay

On October 27, 2015, our T.E.A.C.H. class took a field trip to Cashman Middle School. While at

Cashman, we observed four different classes. I observed an eighth grade science class, a sixth grade

English class, a multi-media class, and a sixth grade science class. It was a very interesting experience to

see how different teachers run their classrooms and how differently the students react to these different

methods.

The first class I went to was an eighth grade science class with the teacher Mr. Chicvara. It was a

class full of all girls, and since it was a block schedule, I didnt get to see the entire lesson, just the last half

of his class. As a teacher he was very laid back about his management strategies. The students were

working on a group project, so there was a lot of talking amongst the students, and although not all of them

were on task, he didnt yell at them or anything because of it. I think that because none of them were too

loud or were disrupting the class, he figured that it was okay, as long as some work got done. He also did a

good job of using proximity control. If one group got a little too loud he would go and stand by them and ask

what they were working on. He was also walking around to be available for the questions the students had

about the project. He transitioned between the group work to tell them about the next part of the project

they were supposed to do by getting their attention and asking how many of them were done. The

classroom was designed to where he could get around the room easily and reach each of the students to

talk to them, and he managed the technology well with the projector in the front and how each student had

a laptop they were using and all of the laptops actually worked and he knew how to maintain them. I really
liked how it was obvious that despite a few misbehaving students, he had the students respect and they

listened to him when he addressed them.

The next classroom I went to was a sixth grade English teacher named Ms. Martinez. I couldnt really

tell what management strategies she used, because they didnt seem to work very well. She threatened to

have students move tables when they were talking at inappropriate times but never really followed through

with that. She seemed to get very impatient with the students, yelling when they werent listening and

disciplining one student in front of the entire class, when it really wasnt necessary. I dont think that she

really had any transition strategies, there seemed to be an abrupt stop between the warm-up activity and

the assignment about writing a story. Her room was very small, and the students were in groups at round

tables. This tight arrangement made it difficult for the teacher to move around, she just went back and forth

between the front and the back of the room. There were also a set of materials on each table that became

more of a distraction for the students than helped them. I least liked how much the teacher yelled at her

students. I dont think it was all on purpose but after one misbehavior she became very impatient and had a

bit of an angry tone for the rest of the class period.

The next class I went to was a multi-media class, taught by Mr. Vivo. This class was interesting

because it was where they filmed and created the videos for the morning announcements at the school. It

was very obvious that Mr. Vivo taught his students a routine and what was expected of them early on so

that when we observed he just gave a brief introduction and let the students loose to work on their various

projects. Some students were in the filming room with him, while others were on a computer, and some sat

at their desks on their phones or talking to each other. It looked like chaos at the time, but I think that there

was some organization in the middle of it all. The teacher managed the props that the students needed by

providing some, and telling them to bring in some of them. And he had a set of computers, while not for
every student, they had a schedule of who was supposed to go on and work and when they were. I liked

how laid back he was and how well the students knew of his expectations were of them.

The last class I observed was a sixth grade science class, and the teacher was Ms. Chambers. I

went in during the middle of one class, but I also got to see the beginning of the next class. She had a very

interesting management philosophy. While she had to pay more attention to them because they were sixth

graders and needed help controlling their actions, she wasnt too strict. For most of the time, she stayed at

the front of the classroom, but she went around when necessary. She had the classes split into groups and

it was obvious that each group and its members had responsibilities like getting materials and things like

that. She gave them time to transition between activities, and they seemed to need the time. She used

technology like the projector and played a video for the students and provided them with a place to keep

their notebooks, so that they wouldnt leave them at home. I really liked that the teacher used interactive

notebooks for the students. Ive had teachers that did that in the past and I think its very helpful, and

especially for the sixth graders it was helpful for them to have things to read, her speaking to listen to and

to have the physical action of gluing and taping and cutting.

Conclusion

Overall, it was an interesting experience and I learned a lot about what it was like to be in a middle

school classroom and what it is like to be in a middle school like Cashman that was different in the way the

school is managed with no bells and things like minimum F. It was very interesting to get to observe classes

at Cashman Middle School for the day.