Daily Observation
09/08-09/12/2014
1. Teacher
1. Two things I learned:
For four days I was able to observe my co-teacher. For one day I had to observe a substituting teacher (a teacher from the 2-year old room) since my co-teacher was absent. Because of this I learned how important and very helpful to know the groundrules for a substitute teacher in the classroom. E. g. I realized she did not know when a child supposed to put his name tag on his work, which is for my co-teacher so obvious.
I learned how well my co-teacher can pretend she is not hearing the child saying her name across the room asking for help so the child in the end should go to her, touch her arm to get her attention.
2. Two questions I now have:
I learned from my training that we are not supposed to say positive things about one child (using her name) in front of the whole group: e. g. "I noticed, that Sara did the right thing by touching my arm to get my attention." This is a kind of practice in our school, that my co-teacher (and myself) learned here, so this does not come personally from her. How can I communicate that we are not supposed to do this?
To observe for 15 minutes straight and not to be available for this period of time and to let only one teacher do the whole classroom management is not a practice at my school. My director actually asked me if I could do this observations in 5 minutes sessions or manage small things while I observe the same time. How can I communicate effectively every teacher should develop this habit (daily observations) suggested by my training?
3. Next Steps:
Probably I should take baby steps in the communication process. I should try out the ideas suggested by my training program by myself, and if they work out well and I am comfortable enough, I can suggest them to others as well.