Danna Mae T.

Yuzon 2009-11177 EDSSE 161 August 9, 2013

School: Krus na Ligas High School Level: 3rd year - Velasquez Schedule of observation: July 23, 24 and 26, 2013 Name of Teacher: Benedick M. Lapuz Topic: Ang Kabihasnang Indus

Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach: A Classroom Observation Report on a Social Studies Class at Krus na Ligas High School The Teacher and His Philosophy It is when humor becomes a useful part of a lesson. It is when the discussion does not need to be so rigid but rather spontaneous and interactive. This is Social studies and its lessons are not and should not ever be boring by nature. It may be hard to admit, but sometimes it is the teacher who is boring because he/she does not know how to bring life to his/her lesson. Thus, it is important to consider that while there are many strategies that can be used in teaching, another good way to engage the students with the discussion is for the teacher to become as lively as possible which I think would come out naturally if he/she is passionate with what he/she is doing. Whenever lecturing, adding a bit of humor to the lesson will really make the students listen to the discussion. I have seen this aspect in the personality of Sir Benedick Lapuz, a 3rd year high school Social studies teacher at Krus na Ligas High School. During the class discussion, most of the questions he asks do not totally measure the higher order skills of students because they are more inclined only on testing the students observational skills. For instance, he begins his lesson by asking the students what they think first when they see an Indian. He also asked them to locate India on the map. On the first day, he starts his period by asking the students if they watched the SONA (State of the Nation Address) and when no one answered, he just talked about it briefly. While these questions may not be so wrong, they are still not enough for the students to apply their critical thinking. Other than these questions, he no longer asks the students another one. I personally think that his questions are so minimal and that he should add more.

The teachers response to students answers is just fair. In that he accepts all of them and does not label the right ones and wrong ones. He just lets the students answer freely without intimidating them or making them aware that their answer is wrong or is not so good. Healthy tolerance is practiced by the teacher as he does not have a gender bias. His treatment for both genders is equal. He randomly calls students regardless of their gender to recite and express their answers/opinions in class. The rules he implements reflect a democratic classroom as he is not so strict. But when he asks the students to do a certain task, he gives them time limit. For instance, when he allowed some of the students to get their book, he tells them to be back already after two minutes. He announced that there will be an activity and clarifies that the students need to do it right away. Whenever discussing, the teacher serves as a role model by showing respect since alternative viewpoints of the students are accepted and he encourages them to contribute to the discussion by answering his questions or giving insights about it. When it comes to managing student behaviour/discipline, I observed that he is quite too lenient because he does not reprimand right away those who do not work on the activity and those who obviously do not listen to him. But still, it is good that when he enforces discipline, such as when he asks his students to clean the classroom, they would follow him. His roaming around the classroom while discussing can be considered as one of his classroom management techniques because the students would pay attention as he walks around them. Even when he portrays himself as funny at times, his students respect him. He is able to manage the whole class by reminding them to just behave and listen to what he is discussing since it is important. However, I observed that while some are indeed listening, some students do not care to listen and act as if they are so much bored. But the teacher did not call them. For me, the attention of these students must be called for and they must be directly reminded to focus on the lesson.

The Teachers Pedagogy On my first day of observation, the teacher just instructed the class to make a timeline about the history of the Indian civilization, pointing out that the timeline is for them to have an overview of what happened in India many years ago. He told them how to draw the timeline on a bond paper but he did not give specific instructions as to how they will do it. Still, after saying a few words, he finally asked them if they already understood what to do. The students answered yes but minutes later, a student suddenly asked again discreetly how to do the timeline. While the teacher was explaining it in detail to that one student, another blurted out and said, Lakasan mo naman Sir . Thus, he turned his attention to the whole class and before explaining to them, he said, Sabi nyo naiintindihan nyo na, kanina yes kayo ng yes tapos yun pala hindi pa . And so he elaborated to them what they will include in the timeline and illustrated how they are going to organize it. In this situation, I think that whenever we ask our students to do a certain activity, especially when it is unfamiliar to them, we should explain well how to do it and not assume that the students would already understand right away or catch what is in our minds. We cannot expect them to think the way we think unless we say it explicitly to them. Also, if we ask them if they already understood what to do, most likely, they would answer yes even when they do not, so we have to make sure that we have already provided the necessary instructions before we let them do anything on their own. After explaining about the timeline, the teacher just remained in front and watched the students so I assumed that it was like the motivation part or introductory activity. But when he mentioned that the said timeline will be used next meeting for their discussion, I suddenly realized that they will just spend the whole period doing the timeline. I was surprised even more when the teacher said that it will serve as their assignment for them to be able finish it at home. I think it was too light already for the students, to the point that they will not be motivated or obliged enough to work on it while they are in class because they have the option to just do it at home. I was not wrong. As I observed the class, many students are not actually working on the timeline. It is obvious that they just while away the time and wait for the subject to end. Although the said activity may be good in some aspects, it did not work out well since there might

be something lacking. Even when students are expected to read the book, a brief overview on the topic or another activity (individual or group) could have been added to supplement the timeline making activity. On the next day, it turned out that some students were not able to do their timeline despite the big amount of time they had but the teacher did not reprimand them for not being able to do it. I just thought that he may be too kind for them already. As the teacher started to discuss his lesson on the Indian civilization, it is good that while me makes some jokes which were not that far from the topic, he also tries to integrate some values and other issues/concerns with the lesson. For instance, he says that everything happens because of mans thinking and actions and another one is about being responsible through waste management stressing out in a funny way that wastes cannot move themselves because it is us who takes them to places where they should not be. Notably, students get even more interested as he links DOTA with the lesson, specifically on his description of the Kshatriya (mga mandirigma ), emphasizing that just like in DOTA wherein your defense has to be strong in order to win, it is also the same in the caste system wherein the Kshatriya has to be strong for the society to succeed. However, there are times when he tends to digress a lot from the topic as he talks about irrelevant things. For example, when a student incidentally mentions of a video game character, he also began to talk about Super Mario, Teken, and other computer games. Despite this, he actually started out with a significant concept as he underscored the fact that Indians look, act, and smell the way they do (based on the students answers) because all of these reflect their own culture. Truly, we cannot judge them just because they are different because they also have their own unique culture. But another slightly problematic thing is that as he begins the discussion, he narrowed down the topic on the smell of Indians and spent quite a lot of time elaborating how Indians got their stinky smell. Then, he also delivered an informative talk about the Koreans and Americans who do not take a bath everyday while underscoring the fact that only Filipinos take a bath every day. While discussing, the only instructional resources he used are cartolina papers wherein an outline of concepts about the Indian civilization was written. Another material he has is of course his lapel to make his voice audible for all the students. Managing these materials becomes easy for him and even beneficial for the students. For

instance, because of the lapel in which a portable speaker was put on a chair and the microphone was worn by the teacher, even when he was outside the room to talk with a co-teacher because of an urgent matter, he was still able to instruct the class what to do (preparing a paper for their quiz). Aside from these, I could not comment about the grouping of students and use of technology because there was no grouping activity at the time I observed and there was no available equipment like computer or LCD projector. Reflections on other factors The physical environment of the classroom is not totally favorable for the students because of the lack of ventilation. I also saw that the walls were somehow over decorated because for every corner, many things are posted such as the class officers both of the two sections that use the room, quotes from different authors, tourist spots in the Philippines, and so on. Their walls are definitely heavy with a lot of information but I think that it is not necessary to post all of these in their room. Being asked if the students learned, I think they did, although honestly, not that much. I knew this because they had a quiz after the lesson and they were able to answer the questions. However, since the questions were more on identification of concepts and less in analyzing or explaining them, some of the students could not remember the answer and had blank look on their faces. What I liked most about the class I observed is that the students were eager to learn something. When the teacher began to give his introduction about the Indians, almost all of them were really staring at the teacher, listening. Also, they know their limits as they show respect and courtesy for the teacher, particularly in moments when Sir Lapuz becomes serious and asks them to do something. As for the teacher, I liked his way of putting concepts together by using quotable quotes like great things start from small beginnings which he used to refer to the Indian civilization which started out as small but eventually became a great civilization. From this experience of observing a class at Krus na Ligas High School, I have learned that a teacher, despite the things that he/she may lack, will still be able to work out things for the learning of his/her students for and more importantly, improve himself/herself in the process. Humor comes out naturally when the teacher enjoys what he/she does in an effort to engage his/her students for them to smile, to laughwhile they learn.