IP&T 301-Observational Learning Report

For my Observational Learning Report I chose to watch how my math teacher taught. It amazed me as I watched her teach. The lesson went by so quickly; she taught for only 15 minutes and then gave us the rest of class to work on the homework and to ask questions if we had them. She also does not make homework the only thing that contributes to our grades. She knows that not all of her students are good a math so she also includes art and writing opportunities so that we as students can have multiple opportunities for success.

As a future teacher there are many teaching traits from Prof. Johnson that I would like to take with me the first being that you are never to busy to help a student. She is willing to stay after class, talk to her students on the phone, or meet with her students anytime during the week, even if that means they have to come over to her house. Her ultimate goal is that her students succeed, thus why we have multiple ways to get a grade in her class. The second thing I hope that I posses when I am a teacher is a true and genuine interest for my students. She is always willing to talk to us not just about school problems but also about personal things and if she can help she will. The third thing is that there are no stupid students' just students who do not understand the way she taught (in fact she gets annoyed when a student says that they are stupid.) When someone comes to her and says that they do not understand then she will explain it over and over, in many different ways until she knows that they understand. The fourth and final trait I would like to take from her is that she gives us plenty of time to work on our homework. In her class most of the time is spent doing homework. I think that this is effective because it gives the students plenty of time to realize if they need help and time to ask for the help. This also makes it possible for the students to finish their homework in class so that they do not have to take it home with them.

I do not think that I would teach this topic different. I think that she is the best example of a math teacher that I have ever had. You cannot tell that she has anything planned but you know she probably does because the class runs so smoothly. She never has any papers in front of her, she does not write an objective on the board, and the only thing that we can see that she might have to teach off of are our worksheets. After class the other day I went and asked her how she knew what she was going to teach if she did not have an outline to refer to. She told me that she did have a very detailed outline and she pulled out the most detailed lesson plan. As I read through the lesson plan I realized that she had followed the outline almost word for word. She has all of her examples in her outline and she even has multiple ways to explain the problem so that all of her students will understand it. She is a teacher that I definitely will try and model my teaching after.