Observations

Doing my observations, I was reminded by how much I love learning. Sometimes I forget because I'm not necessarily someone who loves school, but watching the 11th graders in the classroom I've been invited into has been a great reminder. I chose the classroom I'm in because not only is it well-organized, the kids seem engaged, even when they're just quietly writing. One thing I've noticed is that there's lots of calling kids at random in this classroom and aside from keeping kids on their toes, in case they might drift off, I think it does something to support the kids in their value. The students are valued in so many quiet ways in this classroom- in that they always start learning their vocab words by giving a guess and they aren't ever told that they're wrong but instead their logic is identified in a "I see why you thought that because a, b, c right?" Giving kids the chance to hazard guesses not only creates a safe, curious environment, but teaches kids how to give educated guesses. These kids are definitely learning in this class and even though they are not my students (at least not until next week for a couple days!) I wanted to applaud when one student used the vocabulary word from earlier in the week, when one girl decoded the meaning of "privy" by saying it sounded like "private", and when two boys discussed their reading in excitement. Knowing things you didn't know before can be so exciting and seeing the zest in these kids is so reassuring.