Observation Reflection
February 12, 2008
This morning I had the opportunity to observe Mr. Dave Perrel’s second-period Physics class. It was very interesting to observe a non-music classroom. As I have been working through this music education degree, I have completed many, many observations of several various types of classrooms; however, none of them have been any classes outside the realm of music education. Thus, it was interesting to try to apply some of the methods and ideas that I have learned to a non-music classroom.
Mr. Perrel’s class was very well-behaved, albeit somewhat small. There were only about 15 students in the classroom (a very nice, newly-built science classroom, complete with lab tables, sinks, water and gas spigots, and computer workstations). His overall teaching style was very laid-back and very conversational. I think that this seems very appropriate for such an experiential and experimental class. He began the class very informally, by just asking the students to take a look at the projector screen, on which he had displayed what he was doing at the lab table in the front of the room. He was working with a “drinking bird,” which was demonstrating various properties of water, such as surface tension, pressure changes, and such.
Today, the day before a quiz, Mr. Perrel referenced a study guide handout that he had previously given the class; they were expected to complete the study guide during class today (though I don’t believe it was to be turned in for a grade; they’d simply not have as many useful answers when they go to study for the quiz). I also found it interesting that Mr. Perrel used the projector (hooked up to one of his computers) to display a PDF of a textbook; it wasn’t clear whether or not the students also use a regular, paper-based textbook, but the projected PDF seemed very convenient for class today, at least.
As to other classroom management methods, Mr. Perrel had today’s agenda written on the board at the front of the classroom, indicating what chapter was being studied, specifically what section was to be covered today, and what lab they would be completing in class. Then, the evening’s assignment was written below the agenda, including a reminder about the quiz tomorrow.
I noticed that, once he started the kids on their lab, he walked around the room a lot, observing the students’ progress and asking what they think will happen with the lab. The biggest negative about the class today that I noticed was that there was some definite down time in class for some of the students. Those who completed their lab (and study guide handout) first had nothing left to do for class. This didn’t seem to be a big problem, though, in part because there were simply so few students in class – those who finished first either just sat quietly and waited or talked quietly with one another; nobody disrupted the whole class or anything of that sort.
Overall I was impressed with Mr. Perrel’s class; he had good control over his students, but they seemed to respect him and enjoy his class. The content seemed solid and in fact interesting to the students as well as to me. The biggest differences that I can see between this class and a music class are the lack of instruments or other noise makers and a significantly smaller number of students; this makes the class much more straightforward to run.
[ home ] [ philosophy ] [ mused courses ] [ pgp ] [ intasc standards ] [ links ]