Description: This week I was able to observe an extremely effective teacher during my observation. When I walked into the class the teacher was up talking to the students about something they had done in the previous class. He was reviewing over a movie that the students were watching and during his shot lecture he asked the students questions about what they remembered. His class was extremely relaxed and the students were very obviously at ease in his classroom. His walls were decorated with projects the students had done and a set of rules for each class that the students had created and signed.
Analysis: This teacher seemed to have have almost perfectly fit the definition of an effective teacher. Later, in thinking about why this was true, I figured to myself that his strength was his relationship with his students. He had obviously established an incredible relationship with his students based on mutual respect. The students seemed to feel respected and in return respect the teacher. I think one of the gretest examples of this is the classroo rules that each class period came up with and signed for themsleves. This teachers treats his students as capable students and I think they respond extremely well to that.
Reflection: This experience has helped me a lot because this semeter, my professional goal is classroom management. In my time at Akins, the classes that have the fewest discipline problems, it seems, are the ones in which the teacher has established a good relationship with his/her students. I think I am seeing in practice what one of our earlier guest speakers said at the beginning of the year about relationship based teaching.
