Agnon Elementary School
4th Grade Classroom General Studies
The one thing that really stuck with me about the field visit at the Agnon Elementary school was that in the fourth grade class I was observing, the teacher acknowledged those of us observing in her classroom. Most of the time if there's someone different in the class the teacher will quickly acknowledge them at the beginning of class to let the students know who they are or just altogether ignore them and continue with the plan already set. This teacher brought us into the lesson as an example of how to explain the concept of the literary technique "the elephant in the room". She first asked the class if they knew what this was and what it meant. A few students suggested answers and she never shut them down but told them they were close but didn't quite have the full meaning. After a few tries she told them that it was an idiom and explained that an idiom has a figurative meaning. The term "the elephant in the room" suggests that there is something obvious that everyone is ignoring. She then used us as another example saying that in this case the college students in the back of the class (us) were "the elephant in the room" because they all noticed we were there but hadn't said anything about it.
I think it's so important that she acknowledged us because we all remember the difficulty of paying attention during school especially when there was something or someone who was different or new to our little classroom bubble. Often when something new is brought into a classroom, be it a new poster on the wall, an administrative personnel, or something out of place that becomes a distraction from the learning environment. This makes it easy for the students' focus to become centered on something other than learning and on the new distraction.
Her teaching methods were similar to other teachers I've observed and her students seem very comfortable in their classroom environment. Overall I really liked the experience at Agnon Grade School and was surprisingly shocked and impressed by the way the teacher used us to further the learning in the classroom without distracting from the learning already taking place.
I think it's so important that she acknowledged us because we all remember the difficulty of paying attention during school especially when there was something or someone who was different or new to our little classroom bubble. Often when something new is brought into a classroom, be it a new poster on the wall, an administrative personnel, or something out of place that becomes a distraction from the learning environment. This makes it easy for the students' focus to become centered on something other than learning and on the new distraction.
Her teaching methods were similar to other teachers I've observed and her students seem very comfortable in their classroom environment. Overall I really liked the experience at Agnon Grade School and was surprisingly shocked and impressed by the way the teacher used us to further the learning in the classroom without distracting from the learning already taking place.
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