knl class observation report

7/27/2019 Knl Class Observation Report

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Danna Mae T. Yuzon School: Krus na Ligas High School

2009-11177 Level: 3rd

year - Velasquez

EDSSE 161 Schedule of observation: July 23, 24 and 26, 2013

August 9, 2013 Name of Teacher: Benedick M. Lapuz

Topic: Ang Kabihasnang Indus

Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach:

A Classroom Observation Report on a Social Studies Class at Krus na Ligas High School

The Teacher and His Philosophy

It is when humor becomes a useful part of a lesson. It is when the discussion does not need to be

so rigid but rather spontaneous and interactive. This is Social studies and its lessons are not and should

not ever be boring by nature. It may be hard to admit, but sometimes it is the teacher who is boring

because he/she does not know how to bring life to his/her lesson. Thus, it is important to consider that

while there are many strategies that can be used in teaching, another good way to engage the students

with the discussion is for the teacher to become as lively as possible which I think would come out

naturally if he/she is passionate with what he/she is doing. Whenever lecturing, adding a bit of humor to

the lesson will really make the students listen to the discussion. I have seen this aspect in the personality

of Sir Benedick Lapuz, a 3rd

year high school Social studies teacher at Krus na Ligas High School.

During the class discussion, most of the questions he asks do not totally measure the higher order

skills of students because they are more inclined only on testing the students observational skills. For

instance, he begins his lesson by asking the students what they think first when they see an Indian. He

also asked them to locate India on the map. On the first day, he starts his period by asking the students if

they watched the SONA (State of the Nation Address) and when no one answered, he just talked about it

briefly. While these questions may not be so wrong, they are still not enough for the students to apply

their critical thinking. Other than these questions, he no longer asks the students another one. I personally

think that his questions are so minimal and that he should add more.


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The teachers response to students answers is just fair. In that he accepts all of them and does not

label the right ones and wrong ones. He just lets the students answer freely without intimidating them or

making them aware that their answer is wrong or is not so good.

Healthy tolerance is practiced by the teacher as he does not have a gender bias. His treatment for

both genders is equal. He randomly calls students regardless of their gender to recite and express their

answers/opinions in class.

The rules he implements reflect a democratic classroom as he is not so strict. But when he asks

the students to do a certain task, he gives them time limit. For instance, when he allowed some of the

students to get their book, he tells them to be back already after two minutes. He announced that there

will be an activity and clarifies that the students need to do it right away. Whenever discussing, the

teacher serves as a role model by showing respect since alternative viewpoints of the students are

accepted and he encourages them to contribute to the discussion by answering his questions or giving

insights about it.

When it comes to managing student behaviour/discipline, I observed that he is quite too lenient

because he does not reprimand right away those who do not work on the activity and those who obviously

do not listen to him. But still, it is good that when he enforces discipline, such as when he asks his

students to clean the classroom, they would follow him.

His roaming around the classroom while discussing can be considered as one of his classroom

management techniques because the students would pay attention as he walks around them. Even when he

portrays himself as funny at times, his students respect him. He is able to manage the whole class by

reminding them to just behave and listen to what he is discussing since it is important. However, I

observed that while some are indeed listening, some students do not care to listen and act as if they are so

much bored. But the teacher did not call them. For me, the attention of these students must be called for

and they must be directly reminded to focus on the lesson.


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The Teachers Pedagogy

On my first day of observation, the teacher just instructed the class to make a timeline about the

history of the Indian civilization, pointing out that the timeline is for them to have an overview of what

happened in India many years ago. He told them how to draw the timeline on a bond paper but he did not

give specific instructions as to how they will do it. Still, after saying a few words, he finally asked them if

they already understood what to do. The students answered yes but minutes later, a student suddenly

asked again discreetly how to do the timeline. While the teacher was explaining it in detail to that one

student, another blurted out and said, Lakasan mo naman Sir. Thus, he turned his attention to the whole

class and before explaining to them, he said, Sabi nyo naiintindihan nyo na, kanina yes kayo ng yes

tapos yun pala hindi pa . And so he elaborated to them what they will include in the timeline and

illustrated how they are going to organize it. In this situation, I think that whenever we ask our students to

do a certain activity, especially when it is unfamiliar to them, we should explain well how to do it and not

assume that the students would already understand right away or catch what is in our minds. We cannot

expect them to think the way we think unless we say it explicitly to them. Also, if we ask them if they

already understood what to do, most likely, they would answeryes even when they do not, so we have

to make sure that we have already provided the necessary instructions before we let them do anything on

their own.

After explaining about the timeline, the teacher just remained in front and watched the students so

I assumed that it was like the motivation part or introductory activity. But when he mentioned that the

said timeline will be used next meeting for their discussion, I suddenly realized that they will just spend

the whole period doing the timeline. I was surprised even more when the teacher said that it will serve as

their assignment for them to be able finish it at home. I think it was too light already for the students, to

the point that they will not be motivated or obliged enough to work on it while they are in class because

they have the option to just do it at home. I was not wrong. As I observed the class, many students are not

actually working on the timeline. It is obvious that they just while away the time and wait for the subject

to end. Although the said activity may be good in some aspects, it did not work out well since there might


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be something lacking. Even when students are expected to read the book, a brief overview on the topic or

another activity (individual or group) could have been added to supplement the timeline making activity.

On the next day, it turned out that some students were not able to do their timeline despite the big amount

of time they had but the teacher did not reprimand them for not being able to do it. I just thought that he

may be too kind for them already.

As the teacher started to discuss his lesson on the Indian civilization, it is good that while me

makes some jokes which were not that far from the topic, he also tries to integrate some values and other

issues/concerns with the lesson. For instance, he says that everything happens because of man s thinking

and actions and another one is about being responsible through waste management stressing out in a

funny way that wastes cannot move themselves because it is us who takes them to places where they

should not be. Notably, students get even more interested as he links DOTA with the lesson, specifically

on his description of the Kshatriya (mga mandirigma), emphasizing that just like in DOTA wherein your

defense has to be strong in order to win, it is also the same in the caste system wherein the Kshatriya has

to be strong for the society to succeed. However, there are times when he tends to digress a lot from the

topic as he talks about irrelevant things. For example, when a student incidentally mentions of a video

game character, he also began to talk about Super Mario, Teken, and other computer games. Despite this,

he actually started out with a significant concept as he underscored the fact that Indians look, act, and

smell the way they do (based on the students answers) because all of these reflect their own culture.

Truly, we cannot judge them just because they are different because they also have their own unique

culture. But another slightly problematic thing is that as he begins the discussion, he narrowed down the

topic on the smell of Indians and spent quite a lot of time elaborating how Indians got their stinky smell.

Then, he also delivered an informative talk about the Koreans and Americans who do not take a bath

everyday while underscoring the fact that only Filipinos take a bath every day. While discussing, the only

instructional resources he used are cartolina papers wherein an outline of concepts about the Indian

civilization was written. Another material he has is of course his lapel to make his voice audible for all the

students. Managing these materials becomes easy for him and even beneficial for the students. For


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instance, because of the lapel in which a portable speaker was put on a chair and the microphone was

worn by the teacher, even when he was outside the room to talk with a co-teacher because of an urgent

matter, he was still able to instruct the class what to do (preparing a paper for their quiz).

Aside from these, I could not comment about the grouping of students and use of technology

because there was no grouping activity at the time I observed and there was no available equipment like

computer or LCD projector.

Reflections on other factors

The physical environment of the classroom is not totally favorable for the students because of the

lack of ventilation. I also saw that the walls were somehow over decorated because for every corner,

many things are posted such as the class officers both of the two sections that use the room, quotes from

different authors, tourist spots in the Philippines, and so on. Their walls are definitely heavy with a lot of

information but I think that it is not necessary to post all of these in their room. Being asked if the

students learned, I think they did, although honestly, not that much. I knew this because they had a quiz

after the lesson and they were able to answer the questions. However, since the questions were more on

identification of concepts and less in analyzing or explaining them, some of the students could not

remember the answer and had blank look on their faces. What I liked most about the class I observed is

that the students were eager to learn something. When the teacher began to give his introduction about the

Indians, almost all of them were really staring at the teacher, listening. Also, they know their limits as

they show respect and courtesy for the teacher, particularly in moments when Sir Lapuz becomes serious

and asks them to do something. As for the teacher, I liked his way of putting concepts together by using

quotable quotes like great things start from small beginnings which he used to refer to the Indian

civilization which started out as small but eventually became a great civilization. From this experience of

observing a class at Krus na Ligas High School, I have learned that a teacher, despite the things that

he/she may lack, will still be able to work out things for the learning of his/her students for and more

importantly, improve himself/herself in the process. Humor comes out naturally when the teacher enjoys

what he/she does in an effort to engage his/her students for them to smile, to laughwhile they learn.

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