Classroom Observation Paper

I observed a classroom at a high school and observed a French class taught by Mrs. Mrs. taught freshman through seniors French I, during my observation. I observed through periods 1, 2, 6, and 7. I really got to see the difference of the classroom from the morning to the evening. The way I saw the beginning of the day to the end of the day being different is, the morning was calmer and the evening was more chaotic. Central High School is located in the heart of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The room I observed was on the 3rd floor of the school. Central High School has a strict set of rules the students are supposed to go by. An example of those rules are: Phones must be shut off and put away in lockers during class time, appropriate clothing

The lessons I observed were mostly learning the weather, day of the week, day of the year, and how to introduce themselves. At the beginning of the class, she started off with a video of French music playing. Some days she would use music she personally liked and other days, she would use music the student’s would relate to. Students really liked listening to music they knew but in the French language. For example, Mrs. played a song from the movie Frozen. Students loved that they could learn songs they knew in French. The way the lesson relates to State Standards is that the students are learning fluent French. The teacher knows what the students are learning because she has the students repeat after her. The students know to do this because she says, “Repeat,” in French. She also has the students work with someone beside them to construct a conversation in French. While the students are doing this, she goes around to each group to make sure they know how to say each word correctly. The grading system the school uses is one I am not very familiar with. A 90-100 is an A (Exceeds), 80-89 is a B, (Meets marginally), 75-79 is a C, (Marginally), 70-74 is a D (Meets below), and below 70 is a U

There are three white boards throughout the room walls and one smartboard. On one of the boards, at the back of the classroom, to the right, the date is written in French for the students. The room I observed is very large but there are 25+ students in each class. There were nine columns of desks with at most six desks in each row. This makes the room crowded with many desks. I would recommend for the desks to be switched out with tables to have more group interaction and space. The desks were all faced away from the windows and towards the white/smart board. Mrs.’s desk is placed in the back of the classroom so she can see each student at all times. Mrs. has several different posters with French days, month, years, landmarks, etc. throughout the classroom. If the students do not know how to answer a question, they can look at the posters for examples. Also, if the students have questions on how to construct sentences, the posters can help them. What is new to the students in the environment is the new language. It is not easy for students to learn a different language. To some people, it is like math, impossible! They have to learn a new studying technique to help them learn the new