Shadowing a Different Teacher

This week I had the opportunity to shadow a different teacher who works at my applied studies site. It was a very interesting experience when comparing the processes the teacher undergoes in preparation for his class and his teaching method to that of the humanities teacher I work under.

First of all, his preparation for class is minimal. He has his plans for each class outlined for the entire year. This sounds like he would be very well prepared for each class, but his teaching method gets in the way of his ability to successfully complete each lesson. The classroom is noisy and can hardly get work done. He seems to have very little control over what is happening. Furthermore, the lack of flexibility in his lesson planning sets him back quite a bit, not because he must push the schedule back, but because he skips the ends of his lessons in order to continue on his schedule. This causes the entire class to be incomplete in its own line of thought.

The humanities teacher, however, plans only a week in advance, and attempts to keep on schedule, but is okay with flexibility if class discussions (not classroom annoyances) prevent them from moving forward. She can remove sections of her lessons if needed, but they are always the least important areas that should be covered, and the class is always informed of what she must skip on order to move on to newer ideas. Her class is also quite well behaved, interested in the material at hand, and works with the teacher to gain understanding rather than a letter grade.

This opportunity allowed me to see that teaching is not as easy as the humanities teacher makes it seem, though this is because of her skill at the job. She knows what she is doing, what is most important, and how to achieve what she desires for her class. This is not inherent to the job, and surely does not seem to be required to maintain this job, but she does it because it creates a more fulfilling classroom environment that targets knowledge, not grades.