What role does observation of students play in your capacity to understand students’ developmental pathways/trajectory? Consider both the broad developmental progressions and specific progressions within your area of specialty.
Observation plays a role in many aspects of the classroom. Such as:
- Knowing which students get along and which do not to prevent more behavioral issues between students
- Knowing which students will need more help in a certain topic and need more explanation
- Knowing what learning styles the students have
- Knowing the aptitudes of each student (i.e., quiet, class clown, king or queen bee)
All of these examples will help me understand how to structure my lesson plans based on my students. Not every student will be able to be taught by one method. This means I will have to adapt my material in order to help meet my students’ needs.
More specifically, in my field, it will be crucial to not get ahead of my students’ knowledge of the topic I’m teaching. Computer science is very much a field where prior knowledge is built and then constructed upon after the base knowledge is there. This means observing where my students are currently at when they enter my room the first day will be so important. Some students might have years of self-taught experience and have a high interest in the topic. While others might not have taken any courses nor have any prior knowledge but are still interested. And still some others who will be there just because they couldn’t get into the class they wanted, so they don’t have any interest or want for the class. This is why observing which students have prior knowledge and which do not will be super critical. I will then be able to tell which students may need more help than others starting out. Also, for both types of students, the interested and non-interested, I plan to make my lessons engaging and interactive so that they get hooked on wanted to learn more and look forward to coming to my class even if it doesn’t pertain to their current career choices. I will have to this by observing their interests and incorporating them into my lessons.
