Observation #3

     The class observed was the Health Careers Budget Class.  This meant that all the students in Health Careers and the Certified Nursing Assistant program were put into this class.  It was comprised of 8 senior girls who have all been together since 9th and 10th grade.  The moment they walked in they were very chatty.  I had two students sandwich me in at my desk toward the back of the room.
They were very curious as to why I was there and what was I doing.  Some of the girls sat on top of desks.  It seemed to be a free for all.  I spoke to the teacher during lunch break before this class was due to arrive.  She explained to me that this was her least favorite class and she didn’t understand why the administration put all the Health Career students in one class.  The teacher explained that this class was just not interested in learning and more interested in doing their hair and makeup.
     Once the class started, students were busy handing in work that was late.  The teacher did not care that the work was late.  All she cared about was that the students hand in the work when they could.  The students could hand in the work through their Google classroom or a hard copy.
     The late arriving students were brought up to speed from the teacher.  The students came to the teacher at her desk.  They had a conversation about what was missing and what they needed from the teacher.  The students were very receptive to any advice the teacher gave.  They also realized that the onus was on the student to be responsible enough to get the work turned in.  They knew the teacher would not chase them for work.
     The teacher wanted to show Sharktank episodes on Youtube.  The class had to be directed maybe twice.  The teacher accomplished this by yelling “Yo!”  The teacher was also able to redirect by turning and talking toward the student who was being chatty.  During the videos, there were a few that didn’t really pay attention.  For the most part, the class did watch.  It seemed interesting and relevant to the class.
     The teacher would pause the videos to focus the group on a particular section.  I didn’t really see the teacher correct any misbehavior.  I felt that the teacher wasn’t as invested in this group because this group wasn’t invested in the class.
     The way the class is managed allowed for a lot of autonomy.  The class was full of seniors that were able to decide to invest time into the class or not.  The teacher was very flexible and available for help.  I’m not sure I would allow this much autonomy.  Give a kid an inch and they take a mile…  However, discussion took place and the work somewhat got finished.