9:00
Observe
They say a prayer at the beginning of class
teacher is short, stout & energetic
teacher is very into TI calculators
at least two students have TI-85's
a light murmur seems to be allowed.
called Monday "Spud Day"
Has a student teacher named John (Mr. Snow)
Criticizes students lightly when they don't talk
enough - "I already talked to these two people once"
Analyze
I don't think the students care about the features of TI-8x calculators - very few seem to be paying attention
I like the slightly loose manner in which she conducts the class.
Has neat visualization technique - "Tiles" to help out - given a 1, an x and an x2
then students have to figure out (x+1)2
page 2
Observe
Laughs/smiles a lot
Students wear either blue or maroon sweaters, Girls wear skirts w/tights, boys wear pants, shirts, ties
Generalizes (x+a)2 after a while
uses an overhead projector - doesn't look like she ever uses the blackboard. (posters stuck up on it)
looks like students all write in pencil
Encourages Robert to give a suggestion for an answer, he responds quietly
Analyze
This looks like Anton's upper middle class school - students are encouraged to think on their own; more so than SKHS (my high school)
Teacher seems to even do some research on her own
Girls seem just about as anxious to answer questions as the boys...But looks fine as far the #'s go
page 3
Observe
Students have a variety or notebooks
Stud. have books (brand new!) and matching workbooks
oh! she got tiles idea from the study guide
emphasizes
this is apparently John's day off from teaching
"You already said 'um' now 5 times" - she is very high strung - children seem low strung
She is yelling at the "um" kid now - poked fun at his umming 3 or 4 times
threatens kids with detention - has been screaming towards the end of class
Analyze
fascinating! while she is doing problems, she really emphasizes the "rules"! and that is what the students are following! my class did a better job I think
she seem sto encourage males and females equally - only unruliness is exchanged smiles and that is also both sexes
practice is good for algebra, methinks
I'm suprised she hasn't given the absolute general formula yet - she's given them formulas for (a+b)2 (a-b)2 and a2 +b2 but hasn't given them the tools to generalize yet.
page 4
Observe
Places import on having everyone say something
"Do we have any seconds left? 15? that's ample time...to pack"
Analyze
Students seem alsmost beat down by her high strungness
page 5
PERIOD 3
PRECALCULUS
Observe
She said "damn" 3 times in 5 seconds' time
Boy puts arm around Dugan before class - these students make a little more noise than previous ones
students quiet down considerably when they hear Dugan saying something.
Louder murmur, but the do shut up murmur seems to be subject-related.
Gets everyone to applaud for kid who went to west point & solved problem that class couldn't
Analyze
Gives these kids same blurb about TI-86
kids catch innuendo - "It feels good in your hand"
She is talking about how she doesn't use the board - I have never seen that before
page 6
Observe
She's hip w/ EMail
Boys are a little more unruly - much moreso than girls
constant murmur, even when she's talking
"God Bless You" for sneezes
6 BIG posters on one plackboard - starring....TI's!!
Everyone seems to have a TI-85; she's plugged one into the overhead projector
Talks about Academy Awards while calculator graphs out - she had asked if anyone knew how to fix "Resolution" but no one did.
No prayer this time ?!
10:18 she hasn't gotten pissed yet
The Book & Teacher are both heavily in favor of graphing calculators/visualization.
who buys the calculators? (Students do)
Analyze
She never seems to lose her energy
Cool - trying problems both longhand and with the calculator
INT(x3+1) dx --> x4/4 +xfrom 3 to -1
(81/4+3)
page 7
Observe
"I promise I won't do any talking tomorrow, besides math"
Analyze
I probably missed any basic stuff with which she laid the groundwork.
OBSERVATION TWO
page 1
24 Feb, 1997
Second Period
Observe
Once again, prayer, "In the name of the father..."
slope-intercept form used
They all have graphing calculators
Going over a worksheet this morning
Plugging a formula into calculator for entire class: .75b + .5s = 48, she had to explain some of the details of g-calculator which I think are superfluous to figgering ut algebra
There is more teacher-student interaction than there was in my A1 class, I think
Analyze
I am amazed at how much they use g-calculators.
wow! I didn't do some of this stuff until Algebra II!
they even use the g-calculators to graph things once they have them in y-mx+b form!
She seems to be continiually throwing all the "rules" at these kids, sort of a modified skinnerian approach?
this reliance on calculators is really pissing me off! (i>(can you tell?
page 2
OK - mishmaah - I am combining observe & analyze now....
once again, she gets pissed, in last two student interactions before class ends.
page 3
Third Period
Same prayer at start of period
talks again about movies - she is much more a "pal" of the older kids than the younger
2 extra boys this week
she seems to be using same teaching method here that she was using in first period - she poses questions to the class and awaits an answer, when it is not 100% correct, she says "wrong", since she is acting in a crisp & not a fuzzy manner
when will fuzzy logic pervade public education?
she waits until someone says the absolutely correct answer (and if they don't, then she goes back and gets fuzzy - lets whomever had offered an answer know what was missing from their answer
"That's why God invented pencils with erasers" created??
students all seem to be rather busy; taking notes, paying attention, asking questions.
only talking not-teacher-directed was asking topic-related questions of the other students
page 4
She actually took a little time before she busted out with the calculators!
"Don't even get me started...what's tonight, Grammy's?"
"Oh my God, it's doing integration"
"Does anyone else want to talk?"
There is a Macintosh LC 575 tight near her desk. It sounds like it's on, but I haven't seen her use it.
She just said "Joh, Michael" to get them to shut up - she never said this in last class today
You know, waiting for students to answer a question, the deafening silence acts as a murmuring - destroyer
more tlaking - again, calculus-related
OBSERVATION THREE
page 1
Monday, March 17, 1997
Early Class - John teaching Algebra I
John is not very animated and/or engaging; the students are matching his mood, there is a slight murmur as the students work on the following problem:
x >= 0, y > = 0, 2.5x + 5y <= 65
then he works through it, soliciting help from the students from time to time
Mrs. Dugan is sitting at her computer, off to the side, typing away.
starts "Systems of Inequalities" with a graphical approach. emphasizes difference between y=a and x=a (horiz/vert), but he doesn't have a really good rule of thumb for remembering.
item: Jeff's initial guess of the orientation of y=0 was vertical
Once more, we're right up to the bell, working. Students manage to pack up within 20 seconds before the end of class.
no precalculus today, the ballet is in town