Methodologies in the classroom
This past week I had a chance to observe some of the various methodologies that are currently being used in today’s classrooms. The classroom that I observed was a English language arts class at Hamilton middle school at USD 259. The classes were made up of seventh and eight graders and one class was a combo class that was half seventh graders and the other half eighth graders which was the largest class of the day.
The first methodology I got to observe was large group discussion/ activity. During this period the seventh grade class was reading the novel “The Cay.” The teacher first talked about the previous chapter to re-active prior knowledge and asked the students if they had any questions as they begin the second chapter. She read the first page and once she finished she let the student next to her take over and after a paragraph she had the student stop selected the next student to read. This went on for the next 35 minutes at that point she stop the reading and played a section from the movie based on the book and ended the class with a short questioning session.
The questioning session lasted about twelve minutes. First the teacher asked the students have the characters compared to the ones in the novel. It started out with about three good questions then the session shifted to a discussion of the production value of the film and the Jamaica accent of one of the main characters. I think that the session started well but then it shifted to a personal opinion discussion of why did the film look so cheap. Overall it reminded me of my class during high school when the teacher lead for the entire period asked a few questions then back to her view on the subject.
The next class was eighth grade students and they were currently ready the young adult novel “The Fault in Our Stars.” During this period the students broke into small groups discussion/activity. The groups were made up of three students and they took turns reading the first thirty minutes of the class. The teacher and I moved about the classroom checking on each group and monitoring for understanding. It appeared that she had grouped the students with at least one strong reader the groups. Another group seem to be made up of ESOL students as they were slightly behind the other groups in the reading. I like the idea of breaking students into small group I wonder if certain groups could keep up the required pace so the entire class finishes in an idea time frame.
After the reading stopped the teacher asked the student to take a large poster board and create a spider diagram over what they learned in the story so far. She gave a demonstration on how to fill the form out. The form had topics already listed on it so all the students had to do was put the correct information into the right spots. It included topics like places, mood, people, feelings and thoughts. If this was the students first time using a spider diagram then it would be very easy to follow.
The methodologies I observed seems like some of them I would do similar and others I would put my own spin on them. Starting with the large group discussion/ activity I agree that you should refresh the students’ knowledge where I would change is when the students is during reading I would just select random names from a jar or something and keep those names I pulled out so when we continued everyone would have a chance to read. Which my struggling readers I would guide them along through trouble areas. I would make sure everything gets to read and if we get behind I’ll read at a pace to make sure we stay on track. During the questioning session I would focus on compare and contrast between the film and the novel. I would also ask open-ended questions to promote deeper thinking, the types of question you couldn’t answer with a yes/no or a few words. The small group discussion/activity I think I would teach pretty much the same pairing strong readers with weaker ones. I would make sure that they are doing a peer-to-peer review so everyone has the same understanding of the content. Last when I conduct a demonstration I want my students to brainstorm on what topics should we include on our diagrams. Depending on the average level of my students I would demonstrate the first few items and then ask for input. Overall I think that my methods will vary from class to class and I’ll adjust accordingly. Some classes will require a limited touch other with need more guidance. With these method they give me a good place to start.
This past week I had a chance to observe some of the various methodologies that are currently being used in today’s classrooms. The classroom that I observed was a English language arts class at Hamilton middle school at USD 259. The classes were made up of seventh and eight graders and one class was a combo class that was half seventh graders and the other half eighth graders which was the largest class of the day.
The first methodology I got to observe was large group discussion/ activity. During this period the seventh grade class was reading the novel “The Cay.” The teacher first talked about the previous chapter to re-active prior knowledge and asked the students if they had any questions as they begin the second chapter. She read the first page and once she finished she let the student next to her take over and after a paragraph she had the student stop selected the next student to read. This went on for the next 35 minutes at that point she stop the reading and played a section from the movie based on the book and ended the class with a short questioning session.
The questioning session lasted about twelve minutes. First the teacher asked the students have the characters compared to the ones in the novel. It started out with about three good questions then the session shifted to a discussion of the production value of the film and the Jamaica accent of one of the main characters. I think that the session started well but then it shifted to a personal opinion discussion of why did the film look so cheap. Overall it reminded me of my class during high school when the teacher lead for the entire period asked a few questions then back to her view on the subject.
The next class was eighth grade students and they were currently ready the young adult novel “The Fault in Our Stars.” During this period the students broke into small groups discussion/activity. The groups were made up of three students and they took turns reading the first thirty minutes of the class. The teacher and I moved about the classroom checking on each group and monitoring for understanding. It appeared that she had grouped the students with at least one strong reader the groups. Another group seem to be made up of ESOL students as they were slightly behind the other groups in the reading. I like the idea of breaking students into small group I wonder if certain groups could keep up the required pace so the entire class finishes in an idea time frame.
After the reading stopped the teacher asked the student to take a large poster board and create a spider diagram over what they learned in the story so far. She gave a demonstration on how to fill the form out. The form had topics already listed on it so all the students had to do was put the correct information into the right spots. It included topics like places, mood, people, feelings and thoughts. If this was the students first time using a spider diagram then it would be very easy to follow.
The methodologies I observed seems like some of them I would do similar and others I would put my own spin on them. Starting with the large group discussion/ activity I agree that you should refresh the students’ knowledge where I would change is when the students is during reading I would just select random names from a jar or something and keep those names I pulled out so when we continued everyone would have a chance to read. Which my struggling readers I would guide them along through trouble areas. I would make sure everything gets to read and if we get behind I’ll read at a pace to make sure we stay on track. During the questioning session I would focus on compare and contrast between the film and the novel. I would also ask open-ended questions to promote deeper thinking, the types of question you couldn’t answer with a yes/no or a few words. The small group discussion/activity I think I would teach pretty much the same pairing strong readers with weaker ones. I would make sure that they are doing a peer-to-peer review so everyone has the same understanding of the content. Last when I conduct a demonstration I want my students to brainstorm on what topics should we include on our diagrams. Depending on the average level of my students I would demonstrate the first few items and then ask for input. Overall I think that my methods will vary from class to class and I’ll adjust accordingly. Some classes will require a limited touch other with need more guidance. With these method they give me a good place to start.