Reflections on
class observations
After having had the chance to observe classes in every single stage – JS, MS & HS – during the first term, as the school ESL Coordinator, I can just be thankful and appreciate those opportunities this role offered to me.
​
In those many hours of class observations in every single group class, mostly, with every single teacher of English and a few bilingual ones, I could learn through all my senses, through my sight, my hearing, and my touch...
Apart from those hours of live class observation, in the last months I also had the opportunity to observe and analyse video recorded virtual classes, in particular, Ana Mª Vivas’ Science class (April 16th) and Mauricio Posada’s Social Studies class (April 17th) in MS, also as part of our ‘Creating Cultures of Thinking’ online course.
​
Finally, beyond just being an observer, since the quarantine started, I have had the opportunity to share class with Katherine Vélez giving my support in 3rd and 4th grade. That has been another enriching way of learning in our daily conversations after each of class sharing about the students' learning, analysing the development of the class and thinking about areas for improvement for the following class. For example: What if... we tried...? What if you included some movement? What if we did individual pull-out support with that student rather than offering him the small group to learn more about his learning process and cover his true needs?
​​
The reflections on those observations in connection with my own practice made me reach the following TOP 10 lessons.
Building the right atmosphere to learn creating opportunities for students to think, learn, interact, communicate, etc., where ‘we’ are all part of a community of learners. (Language of the community)
01
Interactions matter: What type of teacher are we? Are we aware that our words have a great impact on our students’ learning process? How does that help to create a particular learning environment that promotes thinking or just memorization? Who are students learning for?
02
Being reflective and persistent. What’s happening in my classes with this group??? Think, reflect and pinpoint action items that can be easily implemented straightway in the next lesson.
03
Clarity, routines, and organization are required. How about having prepared and at hand word cards with the classroom essentials, such as Goal(s), Task(s), To remember, To think about, Reflection time, Exit tickets…
04
Attention non-native English teachers, we are making mistakes and our students are learning from them! What can we do to reduce them? We can always keep on studying English in multiple ways, sure... And how about offering to the students models from native speakers and make them become more independent: ‘Why don’t you use www.wordreference.com and check the pronunciation of the word (in one or several varieties of English) or check its meaning depending of the context?
05
“How do you say…?” One of the most popular questions in many classes (English or bilingual) To what, teachers’ reaction was saying the translation immediately. To promote independence and other type of questions were deeper thinking is involved among our students, how about encouraging them to search those words in a dictionary (paper or online). The advantage of online dictionaries is that you have many possibilities embedded: translation, definition, the pronunciation of the word as well. Wouldn’t this simple act enhance students’ autonomy?
That could also be connected to the immediacy of translating a word they say in Spanish rather than offering them tips such as the ones this video remarks.
06
Encouraging students to speak and use English both in the English classes and in the bilinguals. Let’s make it happen! How about valuing the effort made in speaking in English rather than overcorrecting them? Let’s encourage them to do it naturally as soon as they see our smile. Both teachers of English and bilingual courses tend to reply to students even when they say it in Spanish. It’s all about multiplying their opportunities to practise their skills as effective communicators. Let’s invest time in reminding students to use English in a positive way, before replying to them straightaway. Let’s create that good habit in the benefit of the students’ growth.
07
Reinforcing the big idea of the space as the 3rd teacher (word walls, classroom distribution, students’ work, class agreements, anchor charts for reading/writing, classroom libraries, etc.), without overstimulation of students so that it can become a distractor.
08
Movement is key and necessary! Specially, young children need to move more, to sing and dance more, to enjoy storytelling with puppets, to immerse in exciting worlds, evenin the English class. But teenagers also do!
09
Educating on the responsible use of cell phones! What if we had a consistent policy to apply where pedagogical uses were at stake? It’s not about banning its usage; it’s about regulating its responsible use only for pedagogical and learning purposes in a coherent way as a community.