Fieldwork Experience- Observing!

Fieldwork Experience- Observing!



Being able to watch all of the groups, made up by my peers, teach the second grade class economics in many different ways is interesting. Each group is able to teach their own version of economics in a variety of ways. Each group has a slightly different topic based off of economics and it is fun to watch each peer have their own way of teaching. Observing is a very important, and I think essential, way to learn how to teach. Being able to watch experienced and even new teachers, can give you real life examples and situations of things that can actually happen in the classroom. Observing also gives you the chance to not worry about actually relaying information to students in an efficient way, but to just focus on how you can better your own teaching skills. Creating an appropriate and engaging lesson plan is hard enough, so to be able to watch students in a classroom before having to yet worry about actually implementing the lesson plan, is an amazing tool!

Observing is a tool that can be used for more than teaching. When you are the teacher, at the beginning of your lesson plan when you explain and demonstrate what your class will do, your students are observing. They are learning by watching and listening; that is what we as teachers are doing in most of our education college classes. Being able to observe others and ourselves (through video) we are opening up another sense and taking the pressure off of having to do things other than open your eyes and ears. Throughout all of my schooling since kindergarten, I learned best by watching first. If I could focus on just watching a math problem be done or a project be presented, then I better learned what I was supposed to be doing. Having the opportunity to just observe is rare, but important, especially when it comes to teaching!


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