Max Freedman

EDTE 255

Dave Teja

11 November 2023

Classroom Observation #2

The student population in the classroom that I observed was entirely female. This class is

primarily Caucasian, with only a few people of color. Judging based on their clothing and

classroom environment; the students seem to be somewhere around the middle to upper middle

class. These students all seem very capable in this class and actively listen and do their best to

contribute to the conversation. Overall, I don’t visibly see any extreme variety in socioeconomic

differences or languages spoken. These students all seem like they have different personalities. I

see several more timid and shy students and several on the other side of the spectrum who are

louder and more outspoken and dominate the conversation. And there are several students

between those marks, but their personalities seem diverse.

The teacher engages all of the students in this lesson by making sure everyone who wants

to have an uninterrupted platform to voice their thoughts as well and this teacher makes sure to

not force anyone to speak if they wish not to. I feel like in this lesson, not all the students seem to

be fully invested but for the most part there is engagement and passion towards this lesson. This

lesson doesn’t really give an outlet for a diverse group of learning styles. This lesson primarily

catered to social and audio learners because this was a collaborative lesson where these students

were talking to each other. However, despite this lack of diversity in learning styles based upon

the topics they were discussing I feel as though it would be inappropriate to try to incorporate
many other kinds of learning. Since the topic these students were discussing called for a more

serious learning style, I think that the learning styles used were the most effective and even if I

didn’t mesh well with these learning styles, I think the lesson is compelling enough to balance

out the lack of diversified learning styles.

These students seemed to be not terribly involved in the learning discussion, but this is

most likely due to the topic that the students were discussing. These students were talking about

racism in media. This topic can be very scary for students to discuss because students worry that

they may misspeak and say something that was unintentionally problematic. So, I can see how

this social pressure may have caused students to be hesitant to participate but as the discussion

continues it seems as if there is tension that is relieved, and more people feel comfortable

participating.

The teacher did try to get some of the more hesitant students to participate not by

volunteering them but by trying to encourage them with eye contact and allowing them to speak

by asking leading questions to encourage them to participate. But overall, it seemed as if the

teacher didn’t have to worry about working with too many kinds of students since her class

seemed to be around a similar level of learning.

From this observation it seemed as if the teacher didn’t have a rigid lesson plan. This

teacher seemed like she had some key points that she wanted to make but for the most part the

lesson was adapted based on how the students conversed with each other. The students’

conversations piloted the lesson more than the teacher, which allowed the students to talk about

things that they found interesting.

 The teacher did a great job at keeping everyone engaged as well as she could and meeting

the needs of her students. This teacher seems like she has set good boundaries with her students,

and this created a safe environment for her students to have these meaningful conversations

about the world.

 Reflection

What personal challenges do you think you’ll face when teaching a diverse group of students?

- I think the challenges I will struggle with the most when teaching a diverse group of

students is doing my best to figure out the best way to meet all of their needs without

neglecting any student and their needs. This balancing act seems very difficult for an

inexperienced teacher and so this seems like something that I will face for a while until I

have more experience under my belt to prepare me for the hardest parts of teaching.

What did you learn about diversity in the classroom?

- Diversity in the classroom comes in many different forms and is something that is in

every classroom. Being able to teach to a wide variety of students is difficult but it is a

necessary part of the job and so learning to embrace and adapt to the diversity of your

students is very important in order to become a successful teacher.

Consider strategies used to engage diverse learners. Based on your prior field experiences and

your current placement, compare and contrast the strategies observed in these settings.

- The strategies that I have observed from readings, lectures, and other observations have

varying degrees of similarity because these strategies change based on the group of

students you are teaching. But being able to come up with your own creative ideas to best

support your students is a prevalent theme. But many ways to engage diverse learners

stem from being passionate about both the students and the subjects they are learning.

Because if a teacher is passionate about their students and lessons then the students
 understand that, and they become significantly more willing to learn and engage in the

lessons.

What ideas will you take with you?

- I think ideas I will take with me will be to use these less structured lesson plans in the

classroom more. This is to allow the students to be able to have a say in what they want

to learn and discuss. This allows for a refreshing way to learn and gives them the freedom

they are craving. From the ages of 6 in kindergarten to 18 a senior in high school students

are craving freedom and this is a great way to give these students freedom where they

least expect it.

What would you do differently in your own classroom?

- In my classroom I think I would try to get more students to talk more frequently to keep

the conversation fresh and ongoing. This would provide more engagement and overall

allow more students to have a deeper learning experience. Besides that I think the ways I

would change the lesson would depend on what my class was like.