In the classes I observed 2 weeks ago I got to see a history of technology class as well as a science class. In the history of technology class, the students were looking up aviation information using laptops the teacher had handed out. The teacher allowed the students autonomy in where they research which I found to be an effective method. Giving the students freedom serves a few purposes; first they are allowed to look up websites that gear towards their learning styles. In class I saw some students using YouTube to find documentaries while others looked up online encyclopedia articles. I think this is critical when considering the different learning styles of each student. Furthermore, by allowing the students to be autonomous it allows them to develop research skills while gaining content knowledge through their exploration. Finally this method works because it utilizes technology that is key in today society. Dewey advocated a student driven type of instruction and although the teacher told the students what they should be looking up, they were able to shape the lesson in a way they could find interesting.
The second classroom was a science classroom that was recording results of a bubble blowing experiment focused on blowing a bubble and then recording how long it stay in the air with and without interference (i.e. blowing on the bubble to keep it in the air). In this class, the students were broken up into teams where one person was assigned a position of recorder, timer, and bubble blower. In this class, some students seemed engaged while other were not on task. Towards the end of our observation, one student was actually taken out of class because he was causing a distraction. When the teacher asked him to take a seat, he responded by literally picking up a seat and walking it around the class towards the hall. The teacher calmly told the student he was calling the disciplinary staff to have him removed and the student was removed from class with minimal incident. I was happy to see that most of the students were able to keep somewhat on task while this was happening. This could be the case due to the fact that it is a common occurrence however. What I pulled away from the event was that when a student acts out, the best thing a teacher can do is keep calm and not escalate the situation further. When I was a student, if a teacher lost their cool it was extremely distracting. Furthermore, as teachers we have to always be mindful of the fact that we are in charge of our classroom environment. If a teacher is fair, calm, and stern it sets the tone for the rest of the class. Rather than yelling at the student and taking time away from the lesson, this teacher was able to limit the time wasted by staying calm and calling for assistance after the student refused to stay on task.
