Science Classoom Visit

On Tuesday March 16, I visited Mr. Sterner’s Chemistry class comprised of twenty-six students.  We had arranged for an earlier visit; however an unexpected illness pushed my visit back to a day that was largely made up of review.  When I entered the classroom, the essential question was displayed on the whiteboard along with a practice problem that was to serve as their bell ringer.  Students were very familiar with the procedures, and came in and began working on the problem right away.  I was nervous that a review day was going to limit the amount of instruction that I was able to see, however it turned out really well!  I really enjoyed seeing how he handled reviewing with his students prior to a unit exam.

Throughout the lesson, the teacher worked to focus the students’ attention on the presentation by constantly walking the room.  He started by instructing by the board, but he taught all throughout the room.  As a result, students remained more engaged, as they were constantly changing the location of their focus, as opposed to just staring up front while Mr. Sterner taught.


I was also able to observe the teacher capitalizing on student interest by providing real life examples of the content they were learning.  Granted, there was a relatively high level of interest, as students knew they had a test quickly approaching!  He also allowed students to give examples that they had in order to provide a wider base of information and comparisons for the students.


While working to introduce the new material the beginning of class, the teacher worked to show the work needed to complete the molarity equations.  The teacher showed all of the work for several problems on the board.  I believe that to improve this, however, he should have had students come up and show their work.  The last five minutes of class were designated to distributing student learning maps for the next unit.  I believe that this was another technique used to provide a framework for students as they were able to look forward and know what to expect for the upcoming unit.  After talking with Mr. Sterner, this is something that he does for every unit he teaches in every class. 


Finally, another observation I was able to make while observing Mr. Sterner was his ability to clarify the goals he had for the students.  I was really able to see this as he laid out the expectations he had for his students on the following Monday.  He was attending a conference, and would be leaving the test for a sub to proctor.  Mr. Sterner did a great job with his students.  He had a really large class, but he was able to keep all of them engaged as he introduced new material, and reviewed all of the previous material.  I could tell that the students respected him as a teacher, and in turn he had great student rapport.