Here is the table that I designed to better accommodate the notes that I take as jottings. I had a rude awakening that even though I have done observational notes that closely resemble field notes, due to the nature of being "split" between teaching and observing, I will have to have more practice or as stated in the prior blog post, I will need to find different methods of taking notes.
Week 4 Teaching Artistry
My guiding question for this practice run of taking field notes was:
Are students able to make shapes with their entire body to create the letters of the alphabet?
One of my revelations was that even if your guiding question is specific to the class you are watching, with each viewing you will want to dig deeper and so as I observed/taught the 1st graders, I realized perhaps an even more challenging question would be:
Are students able to make three-dimensional shapes with their entire body to create the letters of the alphabet?
Of course, I would have to scaffold the learning to talk about 2D and 3D, but until posing this question to myself about the class, it wasn’t a transparent process. This helped me immensely. Most of the letters with age group were flat to the ground, and so by trying out this guiding question, I was able to refine my teaching to include the words, three-dimensional, levels, and connected.
As I attempted my field notes, I realized immediately how challenging it would be to simply try to write and scan the class. It would have been easier in a class where I had a paraprofessional in the room, but I chose to try capturing my first grade class. In my second attempt at doing this, I created a table to write my jottings in fuller form after the class was over. Though it was easier this time, there are still challenges to teaching and note taking, a practice that classroom teachers do all the time.
One conclusion I came to: I need to find a more effective way of doing this.
I remember taking field notes when I observed another teacher's class and even that was challenging to capture adequately. Perhaps, I should take a cue from my orthopedic surgeon. In each of my check ups, since the accident, he talks to me and then uses a recorder to make notes. I might use that as my strategy.
Another option would be to video tape the specific class and observe later. I have done that but it is not as immediate.
My third and perhaps best option is to save the detailed jottings to be done during the group work portion of the class. Teaching independence is what most of the 1st grade team is focusing on and so if I have a decent rubric and guiding question and allow for students to also self-assess, I could manage the class a bit more seamlessly.
Attached to this post is the table that I designed to better accommodate the notes that I take as jottings. Even with the rude awakening about my observational notes I realize that it was just what I needed to activate the urgency for discovery new and different methods of taking notes.
Next week I begin in earnest to find my class’ rhythm and to begin tracking their social and emotional wellness. I have my 10 students and I have supplementary materials ready to use.