Middle School Classroom Observation

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For my Middle School level observation hours, I was placed in Mrs. Andra Gowing’s 5th grade classroom. Mrs. Gowing has been teaching at the Neosho Middle School for the past few years, which she has spent team teaching with Mrs. Howard. The students spend roughly half of the day with Mrs. Gowing, where they focus on English Language Arts and Social Studies, and then they trade places with Mrs. Howards class and spend the latter half of the day focusing on Science and Math. During my first observation in Mrs. Gowing’s class, the students were reviewing making inferences and predictions in stories, and then transitioned into a lesson on economics. As I observed in Mrs. Gowing’s classroom, the teaching strategies that stood out to me were teacher …show more content…
It could be nothing more than a personal preference, but I felt that there could have been more structure in the lesson in general, as well as the physical aspects of the room. The students did stay involved in the lesson, but I felt like the class would have benefited greatly from just a bit more overall structure. That being said, Mrs. Gowing has been teaching for quite some time now, and I respect her methods as a seasoned veteran in the classroom. Since the students appeared to be actively participating in the lesson and grasping the information being taught, I don’t know that I would change any one thing in particular. As far as I’m concerned, the cognitive development is the main goal in the classroom, and I wouldn’t alter the strategy as long as the end result was the growth of the students. Overall, my time with Mrs. Gowing is off to a wonderful start. I have enjoyed getting to participate with and observe an age group that I haven’t spent much time with yet. Based on what I have seen thus far, I think this will be an experience that I will glean plenty of quality advice and experience