Step One: Observation

Though I hope to become a contributor to the classroom learning experience, my first visit to Mrs. Behrens’ classroom was one of strict observation. Because I had expressed an interest in mathematics Mrs. Behrens invited me to observe during a fourth grade math lesson. There were eight students were present, five boys and three girls. Mrs. Behrens began the lesson by announcing that everyone should take out their red folder, the red folder is used exclusively for math. Using a scaffolding technique she began a problem involving the order of operations on the board. After reviewing the mnemonic Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) she encouraged the entire class to verbalize the steps necessary to proceed through the problem. As she performed this operation I noticed she maintained the student’s engagement in a variety of ways, maintaining a position where she did not turn her back on the classroom and smiling at them seemed the most effective. She talked continuously throughout the lesson, verbalizing the steps obviously aided the students by controlling any impulsive behavior to skip steps as well as reinforcing the mathematical concept. The lesson continued in this manner until the class period ended. The lesson I learned during this observation is that student engagement is a necessary ingredient to productive learning, especially in the area of mathematics. Mrs. Behrens stood at the front of the room, she constantly kept her eyes toward the students and smiled throughout the exercise. Ms. Norma, the aide, unobtrusively walked around the students. She was checking the students work and occasionally gave positive reinforcement – smiles and nods - to the students, or pointed at areas that the student had lost track of the process. The students were actively listening and participating in the vocalized recitation. This was obviously not the first time these students had participated in such an activity and their acquired expertise was very remarkable and even inspiring.