An observation of teaching

It is one thing to read about and talk about classroom management and think about how you would do it yourself.  It is quite another thing to observe it first hand.

In a good sized high school, an auto shop instructor attempts to teach his students how to maintain and repair their cars in a way that not only the school itself and the district approve, but in such a way that the state approves as well.  He described it as a bit challenging to figure out, but he managed to come up with a series of skills that the students should learn, basing much of it off of a Boy Scout merit badge on auto repair and maintenance.

I enjoyed his ingenuity in creating his curriculum as well as the laid-back manner in which he interacted with the students in his class.  It was amusing to me that everyone, the teachers and students included, referred to him by first name.  I know that it can be detrimental to be too much of a friend to your students, but while his manner was personable, he was not "their friend" but clearly a caring instructor.  I do not know if I could pull that off, but he certainly could.

During part of the activity, in which the students were learning how to change the oil, he used a system where one student was the narrator, reading the instructions out loud, and the rest took turns doing each step.  The instructor also had the students alternate between boys and girls, thus making sure that even those who wanted to hide in the back (I observed both boys and girls) had the opportunity to participate.

The first period that I was observing existed because of a driver's education course that only lasted half of the school year.  As a result, there were a good number of students in the class that were obviously hesitant about doing anything with a car, but the instructor lovingly cajoled them into trying and, for the most part, everyone participated.

At the beginning of the next period, I witnessed one of the best anticipatory sets ever.  With winter coming on, the instructor had the students help him describe what happens when water freezes (it expands) and then transitioned to water in an engine block, and how the block itself could crack and be ruined.  This then perfectly led into how to test and maintain the coolant system in a car, and how to begin getting the vehicle ready for a cold winter.  This is something that I want to emulate.  He had those students' attention extremely quickly and held it during the entire lecture/discussion portion of the class.  None of them wanted to lose a car this winter due to the outside temperature alone!

In summary, I considered him to be an amazing teacher.  His love for his students was obvious and their respect for him was also great.  In all honesty, if I had been able to take his class while in high school, it is entirely possible that I would have ended up as a mechanic instead of a computer geek.