Observe a Sixth Grade English Class at Bain Middle School

Observe a Sixth Grade English Class at Bain Middle School

I observe at Roosevelt Middle School, which is in River Forest, in

Mrs. Braun’s sixth grade English class on Tuesdays in the morning. As

I have observed, I have noticed that the classroom is

student-centered. During computer time, Mrs. Braun focused more on

helping the students get into the computer program to start the

assignment than on having enough time to get the assignment done.

Several times, Mrs. Braun gave helpful comments on how to do things on

the computer or in the program, such as how to install automatic spell

check. Mrs. Braun was also very patient as she was being asked

questions while she was trying to explain the assignment. From what I

saw, some students were getting bored, though, while the assignment

was being explained and started whispering to each other. However, the

whispering did stop when the students had to get started on the

assignment.

I have also observed that there seems to be a strong set of rules in

place in Mrs. Braun’s classroom. This is evident through some of Mrs.

Braun’s subtle, and not-so-subtle, reminders. For example, she gently

made an example of a student by pointing out that his decorated pen

(with a silly topper on it) was not allowed in class if it was going

to be played and not used. She made a general statement that all pens

similar to it are not welcomed is they are going to be played with.

Overall, the students follow the rules very well, and there have not

been any severe disruptions. There has only been whispering

occasionally, but it stopped when Mrs. Braun asked. Disciplinary

strategies seem to be in place as well, although I have not seen any

discipline used while I have been observing the...

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...yout.

I have observed many things in my first two observations in Mrs.

Braun’s class. The students do a lot of in-seat assignments, such as

handouts. There seems to be a few good projects being done but they

are done mostly outside of class. I feel that some time should be

spent in class working on the projects, even if it is 10-15 minutes.

The layout seems like both a good idea and a bad idea. It seems like a

good idea because if one student gets stuck on something, there are

others around to help. It seems to be a bad idea, though, because of

what I stated before, there is still the temptation for the students

to talk when they are not suppose to and distract each other. The only

implication I have is that it seems that some old methods are hard to

leave behind, such as busy work (hand outs), for more interactive

methods (interaction with each other).