GUEVARA,

Louisa Marie V. Date Submitted: September 20, 2017

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Classroom Observation Report on Classroom Management
Last September 13, 2017, I had an opportunity to observe a class in the University of the
Philippines Integrated School (UPIS) under Professor Agcaoili’s 5th grade class. In this class, she
housed 32 students. During the observation, Ms. Kristine—a student-teacher from the College
of Education—was lecturing a lesson on the evolution of man and the different artifacts found
during the history of our time; in short, Anthropology, which is under the subject matter of
Social Science.
As the class went on for one and a half hours, I have noticed several teaching strategies
and classroom management techniques used inside the classroom. Starting from the
classroom’s layout, it is seen that the students had a cornered U-shaped seating arrangement,
having two rows from each side. Separating the board and the students was a big space in the
middle of the classroom, where the teacher can walk around and likewise have the students sit
on the floor, should they feel the need to. Furthermore, seen at the back of the classroom was
a display of the students’ works from other subject matters, which help in decorating the
classroom to become more vibrant. The school supplies needed are easily accessible at the
right side of the classroom, which was neatly placed in plastic containers. However, while there
was a presence of a bulletin board at the side of the classroom, it was not updated and had no
content whatsoever.
In terms of teaching strategies, it is observed that the teacher uses four main sources for
visual aids: a monitor, a module, a whiteboard, and videos. The monitor serves as the students’
basis as to what topic is already being discussed; the module serves as the students’ medium
for note taking; the whiteboard is used to emphasize important concepts and theories
discussed per topic in the lesson; and the videos caught the students’ attention in the middle of
the lecture, which was later on connected to the lessons being discussed in class. These visual
aids helped the students follow what the teacher was lecturing about, and at the same time,
allowed them to ask questions regarding a certain topic. Another strategy observed was the
teacher’s frequent walk around the classroom. Due to this action, the teacher’s questions were
actively answered by the students. This also enables the students to feel that the teacher’s
presence is all around the classroom; thus, giving every student a chance to recite in class.
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Moreover, it is observed that the teacher uses a loud voice and a consistent use of the Filipino
language, which every student understands. When the class begins to sound a little noisy, the
teacher either talks more loudly or stops and stares at the students making noise. Through
those techniques, the teacher is able to move on with her lecture. Furthermore, it is also
observed that the teacher uses praises in encouraging her students to answer more in class by
saying “very good” or “mabuti” or “maganda yung tanong mo na iyan”, which in turn, helped
the students participate more in class. When the lecture begins to become dragging, the
teacher starts to ask questions addressed to the class to answer in chorus, instead of asking a
student to answer individually. Moreover, the teacher’s way of helping the students recall
previous concepts was connecting these to the present concepts she is discussing, which the
students found very helpful—observed in the way that they would say “ah gets” after the
teacher’s explanation. With the guidance of the teacher’s strategy to ask questions and let the
student expound on their answers, the lecture was carried on not just by the teacher, but also
with the big help of the students. However, one downside seen was the teacher’s fast way of
talking and switching of slides. By the end of the lecture, the students had an information
overload with all the concepts discussed for the day.
Overall, the teacher’s knowledge on the subject matter is satisfactory – evident as to
how she is able to discuss all concepts and terms with no hesitation. She is also able to answer
all of the questions raised by her students, which she later on connects to the main topic. In
terms of the students’ behavior, it is seen that with the guidance of the teacher’s strategies, she
is able to catch the attention of the students very well and engage them in a learning
environment where every student can answer questions, ask questions, and interact with each
other. By the end of the class, the teacher wraps up and connects all the terms discussed, which
the children nod their heads to, as a sign of understanding.
Classroom management is one of the most important—if not the most important—
aspect of a classroom because it is through this that the teacher and the students determine
whether or not the environment is conducive for learning. Based from my classroom
observation in UPIS, there are four evident dimensions of classroom management exhibited by
the teacher and the students. First, the managerial dimension refers to the manner on how the
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teacher addresses the behavior of the students. It is seen from the observation that the teacher
is firm with the students, yet still making the students feel comfortable around her. When the
class begins to get noisy before, say, a film showing, the teacher reminds them that the video
will not play until everyone keeps quiet. The teacher is also consistent in reminding the
students to take down notes and raise their hands if they want to recite. These little gestures
and managerial techniques ensure discipline inside the classroom, while still maintaining a
healthy learning environment. Second, the spiritual dimension refers to the matter on how the
teacher regard her students. While the teacher establishes her authority inside the classroom,
she still makes sure to casually talk with the students and entertain them. Through this manner,
the teacher is able to draw the line between being a teacher and being a friend to her students.
Third, the physical dimension refers to the teacher’s set up of the classroom. As mentioned
earlier, the teacher made it a point to roam around the classroom, taking advantage of the
huge space between the students and the teacher’s table. In this manner, she is able to make
her voice louder, radiate her energy towards her students; and in turn, get an active
participation from the students. However, I have also noticed that there is a slight disadvantage
to the seating arrangement, especially for those seated at the back, because the monitor is too
far from their seats. Moreover, the bulletin boards regarding updates, birthdays, and whatnot
are not up-to-date and have an empty content. I believe that there is a big room for
improvement in terms of the physical set up of the classroom, which could actually make a
significant impact to the students’ learning environment. Finally, the instructional dimension
refers to the teacher’s skillful manner of teaching the subject matter. From the observation, it is
noticed that the teacher indeed knows what she talking about, based from the way she delivers
her lessons, how she speaks, and how she gets to answer even the hardest questions from the
students. In other words, the teacher is able to communicate her thoughts, ideas, and
knowledge to the students, which benefits both the teacher and especially the students.
One of the things that struck me the most during the observation was the teacher’s
ability to handle a class with more than 30 students. As a teacher, it is indeed a big challenge to
be able to discipline or catch the attention of your students, especially when the topic is far
from their interests. According to Arends (2012), a teacher plays a vital role of being a
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classroom manager. As a classroom manager, one must be able to live by the different teaching
dimensions discussed in class, while maintaining and achieving the goal of being an effective
manager. As observed, the student-teacher faired well of being a classroom manager. Stated in
Arends’ (2012) “Learning to Teach”, an effective manager gives out clear presentations,
explanations, note taking. This characteristic was evidently and greatly seen during the
observation, as she managed to use four main visual aids throughout the entire hour and a half.
With the help of her presentations, she was able to emphasize all the important concepts
through note taking, while explaining the concepts in Filipino language. The second
characteristic of a classroom manager states that they have procedures and strategies as to
how they should talk to students, enable their participation, and plans on what to do during
downtime (Arends, 2012). It is observed that the students can interact well with the students,
seeing as to how she was able to entice their participation through the use of her language, her
tone, and her sense of humor. However, the teacher may improve on the pace of the discussion
and maybe have room for a short break, seeing as to how the fifth graders are absorbing more
than 50 terms in one sitting. With these two characteristics of a classroom manager, I believe
that the teacher is a work in progress into becoming a successful one. While she exhibits fair
standards in being a classroom manager, she can improve more on her pace for the students’
learning and consider their thought process while discussion a difficult topic.
As a graduate from a private exclusive school for girls, I was exposed to the traditional
type of learning for 14 years. Comparing my observation from UPIS as to how I was being
taught in my alma mater, I could see a parallel resemblance in terms of classroom
management. Considering the number of students being handled by the teacher, a teacher
cannot simply focus on one student’s development, learning, and behavior. Like the teacher
observed, most of my teachers also use the same type of technique when it comes to
transmitting information to our brains: Visual aids. However, as observed, my teachers also
articulate concepts more and better with the use of the blackboard. While the use of
technology is apparent in teaching students, the use of verbal language and manual visual aids
(e.g. blackboards), shall be taken advantage of. It is through the teacher’s verbal reasoning and
questions where the students learn. I also noticed that from the observation, the teacher would
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read the English text from the slides and further move on to discuss them in Filipino afterwards.
This technique was also applied to my high school, since there are studies that show that
students actually learn better and faster when the use of their mother tongue is used by the
person teaching them something. However, it is noted that the defining difference seen
between my classroom observation and my previous experience as a student, was the
classroom’s physical set up. In my high school, we were arranged in various columns and rows,
leaving an aisle in the middle for the teacher to walk to. While I believe this is a neater seating
arrangement, I think that the UPIS’ seating arrangement is more effective because it really
helps the teacher figure out who are misbehaving, who are not actively participating, and
whatnot. These experiences can be related to Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems
Theory. While this theory focuses on behaviorism, it is important to note that students spend
most of their days being in school; thus, being around their teachers and classmates; which in
turn, makes their teachers and classmates part of one’s microsystem. Due to this, there is a
great pressure on the teacher’s shoulders as to how they will be able to transmit ideas and
knowledge into each student’s minds. Through the use of classroom management skills and
strategies, the teacher can greatly impact the child’s behavior with the use of proper
procedures and planned out techniques in handling each child, while still maintaining a well-
planned strategy for the whole class.
Being a Family Life and Child Development (FLCD) student for 4 years now, observing
the UPIS classroom was something extremely different from what I am used to as a teacher.
First and foremost, the age group from the observation is something we do not focus on so
much as FLCD majors, since we mostly handle children until 5 years old. Second, the school’s
educational philosophy varies from what FLCD tackles; since UPIS is focused more on the
traditional philosophy, while FLCD or U.P. Child Development Center (UP CDC) is more on the
progressive philosophy. Due to this, it is apparent that there are things that Ms. Kristine says to
the class, that FLCD teacher would not. For example, she mentions that “hindi tayo
magddiscuss today ng lesson kasi ang ingay niyong lahat,” referring to the students’ noise
before class. In FLCD, the teachers would normally address this kind of noise by reminding the
students to practice “indoor” or “quiet voice” and gently telling them—but still, firmly—that
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“everyone needs to practice silence so that everyone can learn inside the classroom”. Finally,
there is a great difference regarding the classroom management practices inside the classroom.
Because we are dealing with preschoolers in UP CDC, having manual visual aids (e.g. Routine
charts, weather charts, attendance charts, and birthday charts) are important to retain the
attention of the children and interacting with their classmates and teacher. In addition to this,
different areas inside the CDC classroom are evident, while the UPIS classroom simple have
chairs and boards. Because of these differences, it is quite challenging to compare the FLCD
classroom and the UPIS classroom due to varied educational philosophies.
As a student-teacher taking practicum, there are class goals, individual goals, and self
goals I want to accomplish by the end of the semester. Being a teacher means having to
sacrifice so much time and giving commitment for the learning of your students. However, I am
also slowly learning that the students you handle can also become your own set of teachers,
since a teacher also learns from her students. Something, I think, that lacked during my
classroom observation in UPIS was the sense of happiness or fun inside the classroom. The
teacher just simply handed out the students’ materials and display the lesson on screen or on
the board, failing to consider the children’s “happy aspect” of learning. As a teacher in
progressivism, it is one of my goals to foster a fun and happy learning environment for my
students by singing songs, making sensorial and interactional materials, and implementing
activities and stories for them to develop their potential skills.
My observation in the UPIS classroom was indeed a different experience from what I am
used to. This also exposed me to realize that there are so many varied ways on how a teacher
handles a class, and how each philosophy practices classroom management skills. It is amazing
to note that despite coming from different philosophies and applying and experimenting many
classroom management strategies, teachers will also have the highest goal of educating a child.
Ultimately, teachers must always have the mindset of setting up the classroom and defining
their classroom management strategies as being child-centered. It is when the teacher gets to
know her students that the best classroom management strategies work. There are no pre-set
strategies to implement all at the same time because being child-centered means setting
guidelines that are best suited for your students. At the end of the day, the all teachers—
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whether from a traditional educational philosophy or a progressive educational philosophy—
aim to be the best example for the children’s learning, to feed their thoughts and trigger their
curiosity, and educating them to become the best version of themselves for our community and
our nation. By the help of classroom management techniques, we can create a classroom that is
filled with learning and child-centered activities—all of which will be beneficial for the students’
education.

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REFERENCES

Arends, R.I. (2012). Learning to Teach. McGraw Hill: New York.

Campus Programs on Teaching and Learning, University of Illinois (n.d.). Guidelines for

Classroom Observation. Retrieved from

http://teachingandlearning.illinois.edu/pdf/Sorcinelli_Observation_Guide.pdf