My Observation at Arts High School

My observation at Arts High School went really good, and I am glad I had the opportunity to do it there. I observed Mrs. Perez’ s class the day before Thanksgiving. She teachers Spanish I to freshman and sophomore students. I sat down in the back of her classroom, and observed two different groups of students. I did a sketch of the classroom, and I noticed that it was big, had beige walls, shiny wood floor, five big glass windows,and the lightning was good. It was funny to see that there was a texbook holding the window open, so I guess it was broken. When I got there, the classroom was hot, and several students were complaining; but soon, air started to come in though the broken window.
Let’s start with the classroom setup: the students were sitting in pairs, and they were facing the white-erase board in the front of the classroom. There was also a chalkboard on each side of the classroom, and the one on the right had the homework assignment written on it. The board on the left had student’s posters hanging from it. There were boards in amost every wall with students’ creative projects. Also, there was a wooden shelf in the corner of the room,and it looked unorganized because it had projects, textbooks, and some stacks of papers. Next, there was a filing cabinet, and on top of it there was a decorative table cloth, and there were pieces of craft work, a piñata, and other objects that looked Hispanic, especially Mexican. In the other corner, there was the teacher’s desk, her chair, and another desk with her computer and printer. Her desk was organized, but a few papers she was working with looked unorganized. In the back of the classroom, there was an old fan (on the floor), and an old TV set. There were four flags from different Hispanic countries hanging from the windows, and the U. S. flag hanging in front of the classroom. There was a phone on the wall, a table, and the bathroom log sheet by the entrance. There was a big yellow poster taped to that wall that said with the class expectations. There was a poster on the door that said “Welcome to our class” in Spanish.
About the resources, they had a Spanish textbook from 2000 (En Español, Mc Dougal Littel), and the matching workbooks. The teacher told me the textbook is outdated, and that that they are working on getting a new one, but the Newark Board of Education is who makes that decision. Students keep their textbooks at home because most them would never bring them to school, and they leave their workbooks at school, so they can practice in class. During my observation, the teacher used the workbook once, but most of the time she handed out worksheets to students.
The teacher is Peruvian, and she looks Hispanic. She is petite, and she has dark skin and brown hair. There were 18 students in her first class (7 were absent), and 15 students in the second one. The students were from different races; there were a few white students, but most of them looked like they were Hispanic, or African American. There were two special education students. One of them had a learning disability, so she needed more time to test. The other one was in a wheel-chair, and she had an aid who sat next to her during class. The aid helps this student around the school, stays with her most of the time, and sometimes takes notes for her. All the students were well-behaved, except for a few that would walk around at times. During class, many students went to the bathroom, but they had to take turns; they filled out a log, and took the pass.
For the two groups of students I observed, they had to do an oral test, but the teacher did a review first. For the test, the teacher sat in the back of the room, in between two students. Each student had to stand in front of the classroom, and he or she had to pick 10 flashcards from the 20 the teacher had on a table. They had to look at the picture, and say the name of that object in Spanish. At the beginning the teacher asked who wanted to go first, and four students were arguing about who was going to be first. The students seemed calm, and attentive, except for a female black student that was sleeping the whole time. When a student made a mistake, the teacher told him/her to pick another flashcard to make up those for those points. The teacher was flexible when grading pronunciation; if they knew the answer but said it wrong, she still counted it as right, and she corrected the students’ pronunciation. Some students laughed when a classmate made mistakes on the oral test, but the teacher did not tell them to stop. When a student had all the answers correct, his/her classmates clapped. After all the students who wanted to take the test went, the teacher started calling the other ones. Then the teacher called the student who had been sleeping. She did not want to go; she stood up, and said she didn’t know what whe was doing. She said the names of 5 flashcards, and then she refused to continue and went back to her seat. Some students who had taken the test were sleeping on their desks. The teacher helped another student by giving him clues. Another student did not want to go, and she told the teacher that she needed more time to review, but she did not get any more time. During the oral test, the teacher talked to them in both English and Spanish.
After the test, the teacher handed out a worksheet to her students, so they had to match the picture to a word from a word bank. The teacher walked around the classroom, and she helped students who had questions. Since they sit in pairs, most students work with their partners; they compare their answer, and answer each other’s questions. Some students said their questions out loud, and the teacher asked the whole class for the answer. The teacher would say the different ways you can say something in Spanish, depending on the country. Then they announced it was time for students to go to homeroom, and they immediately grabbed their things and left.
The second group of students I observed did the same thing: the review, the oral test, and the worksheet. This group was not too attentive, a number of students were talking among themselves. Just like in the first class, students were arguing to go first. A male black student said “Shut the fuck up” to another boy. The teacher got upset, and told him to behave. Then the teacher told a girl who had her feet on her desk to put her feet down (in Spanish). Students were distracted, and many of them were playing. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and they had an early dismissal, so students wanted to go home. Most students were loud, and they were talking in groups,while they were doing the worksheet. They did not finish because it was time to go.