Any one can say they want to be a teacher, but if you’ve never spent anytime in the classroom how do you really know? Once a student is admitted in the Teacher Education Program at Prairie View A&M University, they are required to do 30 hours of observation hours during a three semester period. Observations, according to dictionary.com, is defined as “the act of noticing or perceiving, watching, or noticing”. I find that the required hours of observations help someone to look in and determine the field in which they are planning to go into.

The article by Andrea Holaine, explains the advantages in classroom observations, which I have found true within my own observations. During my observations, I have watched in on several General Education classes, and because my concentration is Special Education I have always sat in on SPED and Resource classes. Even though some of these classes are in the same subject, and they are on the same TEKS it is interesting to see how differently the teachers teach the lesson. Some teachers are hands on while some may just speak/lecture the entire class period. Other teachers are big on group/collaborative work, while some may require individual work (mainly for informal assessments). It is interesting to me to notice how differently the older vs the young teachers handle their classrooms. The newer teachers tend to incorporate and rely on technology more throughout their classroom. Whether it’s the SMART board or a power-point, they make sure that technology is in their lesson. The teachers that have been their longer tend to stay away from technology, and use the white boards in their lessons.

All in all, it is very important to be attentive in your observations. It always you to see different teaching methods and styles that you might want to incorporate into your own classroom one day!