hey all,

I found last weeks' lesson observation quite interesting. during the previous lesson, the teacher had explained a new topic. To further explaine it, during the lesson I was observing, the teacher used an online presentation and the students were very motivated. After seeing the presentation, the students were asked to do a presentation themselves in groups and present it infront of each other. I liked the fact that the teacher gave them a list of websites that they could find information from regarding the topic and then it was up to them to do the research rather than having ready made handouts. In this way, the students were very motivated and did their best to come up with a good presentation.

P.S. this is the link of a website that was used during the lesson which I found quite interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/

Daniela,
XoXo

Visit 5

In last week's observation session I kept an eye and reflected upon the teachers' skill to elicit and make use of pre-taught knowledge. As a case in point, I remember an episode which took place during a Form4 Computing class during which the topic was binary addition. She taught them the reasoning behind the result 1 carry 0 for 1+1 and hence, when she was about to work out 1+1+1, she expected them to come up with the answer. Fortunately, a considerable number of students managed to work out the sum correctly without having any hints from the teacher. All of this helped me understand the importance of eliciting and creating the experiences in which students are given the opportunity to manipulate what they already know. Undoubtedly, this helps the students because apart from triggering them to think, it helps them perceive learning as a tool for maturing thought rather than as an excercise in which to use memory and regurgitate.