Observations on Classroom setting

Observations on Classroom setting
in the Video Clips titled as
‘Teacher Education Series’

Second Draft by Darvesh Karim, M.Ed. 2009

The video clips shown were actually the video series of Teacher Education and these clips, in my opinion, were focused on two different teaching behaviors. I watched the video carefully, although I faced some problem understanding the conversation made by the teacher and the students due to their European accent and electronically recorded voice. However, the main discrepancy I noticed in this video was using the same teacher for both teaching behaviors as we perceive an understanding about a teacher by his behavior and teaching methodology and the perception about this teacher was not so healthy in my mind after watching the first clip. It could be more realistic, authentic and understandable, if there were two different teachers and atmosphere. While the same teacher and same class were giving an impression of actors, hired to perform a specific task, in which there was no reality. I believe that artificial behavior of a teacher, which does not come from the depth of heart, but have to perform the duty to rid-off from the unresponsive burden, miss-leads the students, as I consider that teacher use to be the role model in terms of his general behavior within the class and outside of class. Students use to observe, adapt and replicate the social life behavior and some times even the posture and walking style of their favorite teacher.
In the first part of the video students were not motivated as teacher could not even try to inspire the students neither in the beginning nor in the middle of the lesson towards learning. On the contrary, the teacher discouraged them by counting their weaknesses and blaming them for being weak students, rather than building on their strengths and encouraging and motivating them towards learning. There was no linkage to the previous knowledge of the students in the lecture as it is much essential for a teacher to come across the previous knowledge of the students so that he could be able to announce the topic effectively. The teacher was using the lecture method of teaching, which is assumed as the traditional teaching method, while the level of students in my opinion was not much capable to understand it and the teacher was not asking or encouraging the students to share their ideas and understanding with him. The teacher’s behavior was autocratic, assuming himself as the only source of knowledge. Ultimately, the students lost their interest and started making fun of one another. The teacher could not create a relationship between his teaching style and the behavior of students throughout the lesson. The classroom arrangement was made in the most traditional style where students were isolated from each other as well as from their teacher. They had less opportunity of sharing their ideas and activities in groups and this weakness remained in the both teaching sessions.
While in the second clip of the same classroom, same students and same environment, the teacher seemed to perform well behaved, but as it has already been mentioned that because of his first appearance, I had perceived him as a rude teacher and I couldn’t convenience myself to create a soft corner for him and I strongly felt that the person was forced to perform well a specific task. Hence; somehow students also performed well to give a sense of motivation towards learning and teacher also performed well by asking questions and even using some sense of humor, sprinkled with some praise here and there. The teacher encouraged questioning and discussion that led to a rich learning environment. He also created a relationship between his teaching and students’ behavior by clearly instructing and showing a path to go through even in the absence of teacher, for instance when some students tried to make fun (disturb the class) in the absence of their teacher, other students discouraged them and preferred their class work. This; in my opinion, was the motivation and the clear guidance which aroused the curiosity of students to explore further.