Larry CO-1

Horror of horrors! I arrived 5 minutes late! I sheepishly knocked on the classroom door, while peering through the thin door window. The teacher looked up...interrupted and irritiated. I opened the door and stuck in my head. She asked who I was. I said I was to observe her class. She looked at her watch. I mumbled something about driving from Niceville and the traffic. She pointed to a seat in the back of the room. It was obvious to see she was a teacher who had control of that classroom.

I quickly deduced her lesson plan involved role playing and the creation of scripts amongst 3 groups of 2 to 3 students. The teacher had prepared the lesson, explained it, and demonstrated an element of speech called "stress and reduction" in which a person gives a louder emphasis or not to a word to give it more or less meaning/emotion. She also explained a number of parts of speech to include questions and articles. She demonstrated some vocabulary for the different locations she had written on the board. Those locations were a grocery store, a post office, and an airport. I noted she constantly was giving polite feedback to include pronunciation, which helped the students greatly. Suprisingly she used a handout book for situations at various locations I had used while in Japan. It was loaded with pertinent vocabulary. I thought it was an excellent way to present the exercise. The students were engaged in English conversation giving assistance and suggestions to each other, while they created their own scripts. There was also an assistant working with the teacher. She helped the students while the teacher called different students from the room. I assumed the teacher gave them individual feedback on, what I believed to be, a previous quizz. While in the room, the teacher circulated from one group to another offering encouragement, suggestions, asking questions, and correcting when needed. The teacher demonstrated excellent time management by letting students know exactly how much time was left for the exercise and pushing them to complete on time. I clearly saw the students were excited and elated, when it came time to present their scripts in front of the class. I felt it was a great motivator. I noted she managed the time, so she could end the class with announcements on quizz and script feedback. She spoke slowly enough for all to understand. She again showed examples and encouraged them to practice at home. She ended the class with the statement, "Any questions?" and then dismissed the class with a friendly "Enjoy the weekend." statement.

I was greatly impressed with the treacher's lesson preparation and style. I thought she was an excellent teacher!