Sara Solano

Professor Deborah Sullivan

EDU-211

Behavior Observation in Education

November 9, 2020

Best Practices

The best educational practices that I have seen, were through an observation I had to do

for my Teaching in America class during my time at County College of Morris. Ms. Ghate, a

fourth-grade teacher, conducted an engaging and very meaningful lesson. Her teaching style

was student centered, which applied methods such as class discussion and guided discovery.

With her carefully planned lesson, she created numerous learning opportunities for students,

which maximized and reinforced comprehension. She was vocal with her students about the

quality of work that was expected of them. Her high expectations, combined with the proper

amount of guidance, led her students to successfully accomplish the task at hand. As a result,

Ms. Ghate’s students projected the highest level of motivation I have been able to witness in a

classroom.

The lesson’s goal was to learn how to identify character traits. Ms. Ghate began the

class with a discussion that gave the students an opportunity to reflect on their background

knowledge of the topic. Starting the lesson in this manner was a “best practice”, because it is

easier to learn something new when connections are made to previous knowledge. During this

time, students were also given the chance to clarify any doubts or misinterpretations from the
past. She adequately timed this warm up, making it brief, to ensure that kids didn’t lose

interest.

When Ms. Ghate gave directions to the main activity of the lesson, which was to

research facts about George Washington that would help them determine whether he was a

worthy leader, she was very thorough with her explanations. The “best practice” that I

identified was how much she involved students in the instruction process. She gave them the

instructions by asking questions; such as, what sources should they use and how would they

know whether they are reliable, among others. This method, gave students full understanding

of what they needed to do and began to work promptly.

Another method that I loved was that she asked students to role play during their

research. They were conducting important research and they were expected to behave like real

historians. This was an excellent method that connected what they were learning to a real life,

and very important career. The kids executed their roles and behaved extremely professional.

They brainstormed to utilize proper and sophisticated vocabulary and engaged in meaningful

conversation with their team. This method and activity employed by Ms. Ghate was a “best

practice” because it maximized learning in number of academic fields and life skills. The kids

were motivated to take their work seriously. Participating in a research gave them autonomy to

take charge of their learning and decision making. Subsequently, students also learned how to

work respectfully with their colleagues and the importance of collaboration.

Linking her reading lesson to a topic that they were currently learning in social studies

was another “best practice”. This was another method that maximized learning. Like I said

before, learning increases when connections are made to background knowledge. Ms. Ghate
showed her effectiveness time and time again. There was not a moment of time wasted or

misused. Every minute was a minute of learning. The students expanded their vocabulary,

learned about professionalism, cooperation, how to conduct research and much more. Ms.

Ghate also let them decide if they had acquired enough knowledge to be assessed. Allowing

kids to have control over this decision, I feel was another winner move. As it is known, students

work at different paces and learn best if they are allowed to take the necessary time until they

feel confident with their content knowledge.

Ms. Ghate’s lesson was a great success. The best part about it, in my opinion, was the

motivation her students had throughout the class. Motivation is the number one factor in

student success. Thinking back to my personal experiences as a student, the teachers who had

the most impact on me where the ones who believed in me and expected the best from me.

Ms. Ghate without a doubt, did just that and then some.