Observational Learning Report

I observed my math teacher, Ms. Johnson. She lets the students control the direction the class period goes in. The students are all at tables of five or six students. The students are encouraged to discuss all material with others at their table. She starts the class off by having students discuss the previous nights homework with each other. Homework is graded on completion, rather than right or wrong. She just wants to see that we are trying our best. We may go over the homework in class, in which case she will have the students work the problems out on the board. She would rather have us try and figure things out on our own with the help of others than for her to just give us the answers. She then gives us a builder, which has concepts we may or may not know how to do. By trying to complete the builder we teach ourselves and each other how to do the concept. If everybody is struggling with something she will guide us, but will never just tell us the answer. She then gives us the homework that we work on individually or as a table. The whole class revolves around us, the students, working with each other and sharing our knowledge with others. It is a very social atmosphere. I think that by trying to figure things out on my own the material sticks better in my head. However, I sometimes get frustrated when I don’t understand a concept and those around me can’t explain it well. I enjoy the social interaction because it keeps me engaged and allows freedom. I also like being graded on completion and effort rather than right or wrong. When it comes to difficult problems I at least try to complete the problem, whereas if I was graded on just right or wrong I may have not even wasted my time trying. We also use a lot of manipulatives, which helps having visuals. Hands on activities always keep me more engaged.

I enjoy learning in this kind of an environment. The social interaction is very beneficial. Math can sometimes be very boring, so by having the students think for themselves and interact with each other it keeps the class entertained. If I were to teach this math class my suggestion would be to change things up a little, so things are not so repetitive. It gets frustrating just doing one builder and homework after the other. It seems like it is never going to end. If I were the teacher I would lecture sometimes, have students teach each other sometimes, and have students work on their own occasionally. A little variety would be beneficial for a math class. However, I think it is necessary to have social interaction in any classroom.