In a high school bookkeeping class the assignment for this period is writing checks for bills that have become due in a small business. This is the first lesson on check-writing, which is part of a unit on simple accounting for small businesses. The instructor sits at her desk and the students sit at tables in groups of five or six.
At the beginning of the class period the teacher stands up and announces the check-writing assignment for the day and sits down. Students freely talk with each other to figure out how to do the task as the teacher has given no specific instruction. Individual students go to the teacher's desk and ask her for help, which she easily gives in the one-on-one setting. These students go back to their tables and instruct the others at their table. The classroom noise level is high.
This instructor is ineffective in group presentation and ineffective in maintaining an orderly classroom.
A recommendation is that at the beginning of each new task the teacher give the students instruction on how to do the assignment, perhaps briefly go over an example in the book or demonstrate the check-writing procedure with an overhead projector. It would be helpful to question the students about their experiences with checks before beginning this work.
The administrator's only difficulty with this class is the complaining of nearby classroom teachers that the bookkeeping class is too rowdy. The administrator can give this teacher information about group instruction and suggest that she close the classroom door during bookkeeping.
Observation: Arguing Over an Overdue Book
The situation is a study hall free period at the high school level. About thirty students are present in the room, but the focus of this observation is on the interaction between the librarian and one male student, Jackie.
Jackie has an overdue book notice in his hand and proceeds to the librarian's desk to protest the notice and...