During the observation of the partner teachers classroom, I was able to quickly pick up that

students have followed the flow of the classroom rules and norms. There are no rules and
procedures posted which makes students having to be aware and on top of following rules with
minimal supervision of the teacher.
When it comes to the segments of a lesson, students seem to follow the directions of the teacher.
For instance, usually the introduction of the lesson is independent work on finding key terms of
the chapter they will have a lesson on. Students are to themselves reading and filling out their
key term flashcards for later study. The directions are clear enough that students hardly ask the
teacher for further clarification. When it comes to the actual lesson, students are engaging in the
discussion questions the teacher poses to the class. The way that the learning objectives are
communicated to students and assessed is through the worksheet that is given to students in the
beginning of the unit. Students are aware that the key terms, lessons, and further work from the
unit is connecting back to what is required by the learning objectives. When there is confusion
on the students part, they are comfortable to ask their teacher privately more than asking
publicly in class.
What the teacher does to motivate and engage the students in learning is making jokes during the
world history lessons. History lessons are like story-telling but with what the teacher does is
keeping the story humorous especially for classes that are early in the morning like the one I am
observing. I believe that his tone and projection of his voice are more serious and loud, it makes
students be on top of their work and mannerism. The teacher uses some strategies to meet the
needs of ELL students such as enunciating words throughout the lessons. Students are not
necessarily rewarded or praised for their engagement and attention. Students interact with each
other with the think-pair-share activities they have before discussing a topic class-wide. The way
that students interact with the teacher has been mainly respectful and more face-to-face
communication.
I see democratic principles and concepts being applied in the delivery of instruction and
assessment of learning by giving students the opportunity to independently learn and study to
themselves as well as having students as a class to contribute to further understanding of the
lesson. The teacher brings up discussion questions that help students critically think about the
lesson but also gives the students the opportunity to think beyond what others are wanting them
to think.
What I think motivates students to be good citizens is the opportunity to think for themselves,
being independent, and help others seek those opportunities as well. This applies to real life and
how they may carry out their lives.
The assessment methods that the teacher uses to determine success and check for student
understanding and/or progress is the SPQR assignment that students fill out throughout the
chapters and units. It gives the students the way to process in-class readings, class discussion
questions, and a way for students to take effective notes of the most important concepts from the
lessons.
The way that this topic compares to what I observed is that I felt that I was going to observe a
classroom that has more engaging activities and more thorough and teacher-student engagement.
Students were mainly doing independent study and reading.
What I learned about effective classroom environments and effective instructional strategies and
assessment through this observation are having the teacher be engaging in their teaching for
students to be motivated to learning and have the teaching environment cater to supportive
learning.
The ideas pertaining to these topics I will take with me is getting students to take the learning
from school and carrying it onto their adulthoods.
Something I will do differently in my classroom is having more engaging activities that promotes
learning. As someone who has ADHD, I can relate to many students who experience
inattentiveness and hyperactivity need a way to experience lessons that can be more motivating,
engaging that can lead to students focusing more.