Ryan CO 2

My second Classroom Observation was an elementary to high-elementary reading class with Maria Samuel. Class Started as usual with attendance being taken, and me being asked to introduce myself to the class. This day she had a Teaching Assistant named Stephanie with her. Stephanie was working on getting her TESL degree? and today was going to be her first day teaching a class, which was helpful for me because it was a great example for me of what it can be like the first time teaching in front of a class. Her lesson focused on how to use context clues to determine the possible meaning of word. First she went over what context clues were and second she made sure the students were paying attention. Next she went through showing examples of how to deduce the meaning of a word using context clues and what skills are helpful when doing so. She had them pay attention as they read to key phrases that would help them learn uncommon words such as 'in other words,' 'that is,' 'is' and 'including'. She kept these key phrases up on the board as she had the students read through the section of their work book. She went over words like naughty, and features, and also had to go over the distinction between Resist and Assist. She then chose on students to have them read and go over the practice questions. They were sentences, each with a bold word and four possible definitions for that word. She also went over which key word helped them to figure out the meaning. This was her reinforcing the use of context clues and understanding of how they work. As the students worked on the sentences she walked around making sure the students stayed on task without too much distraction. When going over each sentence she would then have a student give another example of the new word for practice. Lastly she also went over some other tools that can be used to determine the meaning of a word such as affixes. (prefixes - re- in- pre- un- and suffixes -ful -less -able) She also had the students naming off different examples of these. I thought the class was quite interesting not only because I got to see the learning process, but I also got to see someone experience their first day teaching. Stephanie was saying afterward about how unprepared she felt and nervous. The class also showed me that I didn't need to be intimidated by the lower level students, and that if anything, conveying broad concepts to them could be easier than explaining vague grammar and usage rules.