Technology-Based Classroom Observation Teacher: A. A.
Subject: English
Observer: Zahra Al-Qahtani
Date: Monday, November 17, 2014
Length of Class: 45 minutes
Number of Students: 20
Introduction In this report, I choose to observe a high school class of 1st grade. The purpose of this report is to observe the use of technology inside the classroom in relation to classroom environment and to examine instructional performance and technology integration. Throughout this report, I will discuss the ways in which technology was utilized from both the teacher and the learners. Before the Observation After I arrange a day and time to go and meet the teacher, I asked the teacher to give me an overview about the class. We discussed class size and level; there were 20 students all female and their level in English is low- intermediate. We discussed also the syllabus of the 1st grade. There was only the student book (Mega Goal) with no CD available for the students. She added that she doesn’t have a teacher book and she struggles a lot to bring some materials into the class. Also, she told me that last semester there was another syllabus (Traveler). The students find it interesting and she like it as a teacher because its content was suitable for students’ level and needs. She said it was equipped with a teacher book which was supplied with four CDs, two for listening and the other two include interactive activities. It enabled her from using technology, like the Smart board and students were eager for learning. Anyway, I have arranged with the teacher that I will come about three times to observe the class and she was a cooperative and open-minded person. She welcomed me as a friend and I like her openness. During the Observation Classroom Environment To start with the physical layout, the class size is perfectly suiting the number of the students (20). The arrangement of students’ desks allows a space for the teacher to move and monitor the students. The class is equipped with a smart board, white board, projector, and a computer. The smart board and the projector are in the middle of the class in front of the students, the white board is to the left and the computer is besides the white board in the corner. The classroom atmosphere is relaxing. There is
a mutual respect between the teacher and her students. Generally, It is warm, neat and well-organized classroom. Day 1 The first lesson focuses on listening and speaking. The teacher goal is to make students practice the listening skill using a CD record. The lesson is a conversation about “Intelligent house". The lesson starts with a small discussion to introduce the topic of the lesson. When the teacher makes sure that students get the topic of the conversation, she asks them to listen twice to the CD. Then, she asks them to read the conversation silently and underline the difficult words. After that, the teacher picks students in pairs to read the conversation until the whole class participates in reading the conversation. Then, she writes on the white board the words that students find them difficult (like, the word intelligent, function, and automatically). She explains them for the students using her body language and providing some examples. Once difficult words are clarified, the teacher asks the students about the advantages of the intelligent house. At first, students did not get first what the word "advantage" means, but the teacher clarify the word meaning pointing to the computer and saying the good things about the intelligent house. So, students answer the question. Last, the teacher ends the lesson for the day and assigns homework from their workbook and tells students to be prepared for the next class meeting. Day 2 The second lesson was in the resources room in which there are two computers, a smart board, a projector and a small library containing dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other books. The lesson focuses on reading. The reading passage is about "Job Pool". The teacher starts the lesson by introducing the topic. Then, she uses a video about job pool to make it easier for the learners to understand the meaning of the lesson. She uses the smart board to show students the video. After that, she switches on the CD twice for the students to listen to the passage while they are reading silently. The teacher reads one last time to encourage students to read the passage. After she finished reading, she picks some students to read the text. Later, she asks them if there is any difficult words and provide them with dictionaries to find the meaning of the difficult words. The students, then, divided into groups to answer the questions which associated with the passage to ensure that they understand the text. Once they finish their answers, one student presents the group and says the answers. The teacher corrects their answers and gives them a homework. Day 3 The third lesson focuses on writing. The teacher's objective of this lesson is to make students write a short story by answering some questions. The topic of the lesson is "Keeper of Hidden Treasure". In this lesson there was a story about a sail man who found a treasure by an octopus. The teacher uses the CD to allow the students to hear the story. Then, she explains the story and translates some of the meanings in Arabic
so the students can get a full understanding of the story. At the end of the story, there are seven questions for the students to answer. These questions were the following: 1234567-
Why did he hide it? Who did it? Where was it hidden? What was the treasure? Who found it? How did he found it? What did he do with it?
The teacher divided the class into two groups; each group will answer the questions to create a small story. After they finish answering the questions, the teacher corrects their answers and gives them marks on their work. Last, she writes the ideal answer of the story on the board and this is what students will study for their final exam. Reflection after the observation To reflect on the use of technology inside the classroom, I will use some questions that were used in a study undertaken by Bozkurt that is about the teacher’s role and expectations of the integration of technology into education. Depending on my observation, I will answer these questions: 1- Was there any problem while using technology tools? 2- Was there any kind of opportunities provided by the technology used in the lesson in relation to the content of the lesson? 3- Was the teacher successful in using these opportunities? 4- Were there any kinds of limitations in the use of technology used in relation to the subjects discussed in the lessons? 5- Did the teacher consider these limitations when teaching the lessons? 6- Was the technology appropriate for the level of curriculum? Above/ below? 7- Does the technology used correspond to the objectives of the lessons? 8- Was the technology used appropriate for age of the students and level of the class? 9- Was the level of the technology used suitable for the lesson objectives? 10- Did the teacher clearly explain what the students were to be? 11- Did students understand what they should do? 12- Did students have any difficulties in using technology? 13- Was the teacher successful in attention management? 14- Did the teacher behave flexibly in using technology? 15- Did the technology used support the acquisition of the objectives of the lessons? 16- Can the teacher use this technology for another acquisition?
HIGHEST
TECNOLOGY
Technical knowledge of technology Awareness of the opportunities provided by technology Knowing the limitation of technology
SATESFACTORY
LOWEST
NOT APPLICABLE
QUISTIONS ANSWER
Q1\ Yes Q2\ Yes
Q3\ No Q4\ Yes
Q5\ Yes
Knowing the pedagogy of technology
Q6\ Below Q7\ Yes Q8\ Yes
PLANING
APPLICATION
The level of use of technology
Including students in the process
Giving the right instructions
Q9\ No Q10\ Yes Q11\ Yes Q12\ No
Q13\ Yes Q14\ Yes
EVALUTION
Taking notes related to technology
Q15\ Yes Q16\ Yes
Conclusion To sum, the use of technology inside the classroom is still not exploited as it supposed to be (for example, the smart board wasn't used properly and it was much as a decoration for the class). The most technology tools that were used are CDs, slideshows, videos and sometimes films. Although, the teacher tries as much as possible to use technology in the class, there were some limitations. One of the limitations is that sometimes the devises don't work and need maintenance and this may take time. Another limitation is the time of lesson (45 min) is not enough to implement technological tools in the lesson. Thus, the problem is not in that we don't have technology, but in exploiting these technologies to help in language learning.