Peer Observation

PEER VISIT

Visiting Silvia Maas. Biology class with a large population of ESL Students.

Response

     At the recommendation of Hans Becker, VP at Point Loma High, I visited a classroom that was sopposed to be very "SDAIE" .  Although the teacher used some similar methods to the SDAIE training I received, I'm not sure it could be classified as following a SDAIE PIE lesson plan.   

     The EL Students were engaged and worked in teams on there projects and note taking.  CALP and BICS were both used, BICS to explain the biological vocabulary that was present.  I think it would have been useful if the teacher had used some of the strategies I learned.  For instance, the students could have worked in teams to create a poster that could have been used for a gallery walk.  Or, they could have each played a part in the process of photosynthesis and acted it out in front of the class.     I believe that would have made it very memorable for the students.  

     Here is basically what happened during my visit with a few observations.


     During my visit to Silvia Mass's class, I was very impressed with how the EL students were not only engaged but worked through the assignments at the same pace as the english speaking students.  During the slide presentation, the students took notes as per instructed by copying the CALP vocabulary that was projected on the wall.   Since this was a biology class, the students also drew diagrams  that were projected on the screen.  (This note taking is something that could be used in the future to do Journal writing and or Learning Logs as per SDAIE).  The terms were explained clearly by the teacher using BICS and questions were asked by the students for clarification.  The teacher bridges information from prior understanding (Breathing) to new knowledge (photosynthesis) and how the oxogen created by plants and is used by humans.  A coloring page was handed out for the students to fill in.  The students work in groups of two to four helping each other complete the work sheet.   (This would have been a good spot to use Groups Discussion, Stand up and share).   I also think Pairs Check would be a good strategy to use with all of the biological terms.  The affective filter is low as the class is relaxed and the students are engaged in conversation about the subject.  

Perhaps in conclusion, the students could have used the strategy of Reflections to cement the information in their mind. Moreover, the most effective strategy I can think of using here for a biology class would be Visualization. I can remember my days in natural biology and geology having to remember parts of the fish. I still remember that the coddle fin was the lower fin of the fish.  How do I remember 30 years later?  Through visualization.  The saying for the visualization was,  "The Coddle fin cuddles the fish."  For geology I remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites.  The visualization was a saying that invokes the image.  "As the mites come up, the tights go down." 

I do believe that this instructor did a fantastic job leading her students to understand the subject. However, with more SDAIE strategies, the material might have been remembered for a longer period of time and probably in a fun and effective way.