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JOURNAL
TASK 1
Observation on a teacher in a university class
Observe one of your teachers at the university, using one of the Classroom
Observation Tasks introduced in classes. Write about it.
The teacher we could observe is Mrs Theresa St John. She is a literature teacher
in Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin, who is in charge of
developing reading skills. In contrast to other teachers, she has a very
particular way to do her lessons, which is very interesting and will be specified
through this journal.
TASK 2
Classroom Observation

Options and decisions

The term classroom management refers to the moment-by-moment

decisions made and actions taken by the teacher in class, e.g. writing on the
board, giving instructions, organizing the class into pairs, etc. For every
decision made, there will have been other options that the teacher did not
choose.
For each of the following headings:
1. Note one example of a classroom situation in the lessons you observed.
What did the teacher do?
2. Note one or two options that the teacher had at that point in the lesson,
but did not choose.
Example: Dealing with unexpected problems
Situation:
A student arrived twelve minutes late for the lesson.
Action:
Teacher said hello politely. (The student then sat down quietly
and found out what was going on from his neighbor.)
Other options: Teacher could have asked why the student was late.
Teacher could have pointed out the time to the student.
Student participation in the lesson
Situation:
Action:

Other options:
Grouping of students; arrangement of seating
Situation:

All students sit in rows

Action:

Teacher asks students to change

their places and to sit in front of the
board.
If I work with a few group of students,
I would ask them to do the same,
because it is a good way to assess
what students are doing and to make
them participate.

Other options:

Setting up activities; instructions

Situation:
Action:
Other options:

Board; classroom equipment; visual aids

Situation:
Action:
Other options:
Dealing with unexpected problems
Situation:

Action:

Mrs. St John always has problems

with the timing, because she is
normally given just one hour a week
to teach her students and to reach
the expected goals in a certain level.
Sometimes she cannot apply the
close up and conclusions.
She noticed that her warm up
activities take longer than the
planned. She gives almost plenty of
time to work on that and to check the

Other options:

activity, but now she gives less time

on that.
The close up activities that were not
applied the teacher could check them
in the beginning of the coming
lesson. It cannot take longer than 5
minutes.

Teachers role and participation

Situation:
Action:
Other options:
Personal Reflection
The lack of time to implement a class is definitely a problem for the
teachers whose goals are demanded to be reached in a certain
period of time. Observing this teacher in particular made us realize
the importance of having other alternatives to prepare lessons in
order to sort out details. Thus, this case reading can be a skill that
students can develop working on their own.

Task 3: Interactions
After observing the different interactions in different lessons, complete the
table. Then answer the questions.

What is the predominant type of interaction?

The predominant type of interaction is Teacher-whole class (35%)
Does it seem appropriate to the aims of the lesson?
It is, because there is a tendency to share ideas according to the texts
given and also to check what students have understood.
In which interaction were the learners most productive?
Students were more productive working individually, because reading a
text should be interpreted working that way. Students could get focused
more during the activities.

Interaction pattern
Teacher whole class
Learners in pairs
Learners in groups
Learners working individually
Other

Amount of time spent

35%
10%
25%
25%
5%

Task 4
Implementation Class 1 at school

Personal Reflection

Strengths
Weaknesses
Personal Challenge

Task 5
Implementation Class 2 at school

Strengths
Weaknesses
Personal Challenge

Personal Reflection