Class Observation

Teacher: Julio Rueda
Program: polyester
Time observed 2 hours
Date 2015-05-14

The class was in the third floor of the Complejo Sur, in an open classroom (with no walls) and the apprentices are a group of High school students with ages between 14 and 16 years old. At the beginning I interviewed the teacher Julio in an informal talk, and he tells me that these students have been working with him for about 6 months; the topic of the class is the transference in measurements between centimeters and inches, and the understanding of the measurements in tools used for the polyester manipulation.  

The class

The session was very theoretical; it started with the teacher (T) explaining on the board the way of transferring from cm to inches. He eventually asked his students (Ss) about some mathematical operation answers. He seemed to focus on 2 or 3 students apparently the lowest level students.

T presented most of the information on the board, and asked some open questions trying to elicit information, although the answer of the Ss was poor or they remained silent for a while and T answered by himself most of the questions.

After almost 1 hour of explaining the way it is transformed and the Ss taking notes; the T starts telling them the importance of doing the measurements correctly and how if they make it incorrectly this could cause them severe legal difficulties. It seems that many of the Ss are distracted but the T maintains the discipline.

Then we had a break of 20 min. I could not continue observing any more.

The do’s

The teacher has a clear knowledge of who his students are; he calls them by the name, T has a complete control of the discipline and Ss believe on what he says (although as a personal note I wouldn’t be so strict). T provides good examples for the class. The objectives were clear and most of the class turned around them. T cares about personal life issued of his Ss

The don’ts

The teacher talking time was too much, and the students’ participation was almost nothing. The class was completely teacher centered. I am not totally sure if the Ss got it. The Ss did not have time to think. There were many opportunities for team work and they were wasted. I have the sensation that the class was boring for the Ss.