observations and only when I started reading my observations that I realised that they were tainted by my perceptions and opinions. I realised that seeing the world at face value is an arduous task. This process is still work in progress for me. However now I’m aware how amazingly one’s perspective changes when one can observe without any pre-conceived bias or notions.

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I am learning to become an observer every day. It has been a difficult path thus far as we are born with an innate tendency to be opinionated. When I started I thought “how tough can observing a class be – all I need to do is record whatever is happening in the class.” But when I started observing  my collaborating teacher and the Grade 9 class, it was an overwhelming experience as I did not know what should my focal point be. Discussions about observing the class with the mentor teachers helped me streamline my focus. I now had clarity and started observing individual aspects of the class and wrote down diligently about the classroom settings, display boards, transitions, conversations, behaviour, kind of questions being asked, etc. We were asked to share our observations and only when I started reading my observations that I realised that they were tainted by my perceptions and opinions. I realised that seeing the world at face value is an arduous task. This process is still work in progress for me. However now I’m aware how amazingly one’s perspective changes when one can observe without any pre-conceived bias or notions.

 

This growing skill is helping me imbibe a lot of essential aspects of teaching and learning. It is helping me find meaningful insights about everything around me. Reading about Piaget and Vygotsky’s behavioural theories and being able to correlate and experience them in school has persuaded me to look at children with a fresh set of eyes. As a student teacher, it has helped me immensely to understand student behaviour – their actions and reactions in class, with friends  and with teachers. These learnings also help me improve my lesson plans, classroom management strategies & student engagement plans. Students’ work in their notebooks is a treasure to explore – there is so much one can learn about the child from their work and art in their personal notebooks. You can gauze their level of understanding of a particular content which in turn aids in designing assessments better and hence enhance their learning experience.