Mr Clapp Middle School Classroom Observation

Watching Mr. Clapp and his classroom of Middle School 6th graders for Language Arts has been an informative adventure for me. While observing his lessons I noticed that he was a laid back teacher who lets the children gain their own self-discipline. He is not a strict teacher at all. In fact, Mr. Clapp has made his classroom an interesting and fun way to learn. His classroom rules are standard throughout the school. All students are to follow the Wildcat Roar rule system, Respect, Ownership, Academics, and Readiness. When the students get off track, I notice that he reminds them to look at the “O” in ROAR or whichever area of the rules they may be on the verge of breaking. I asked Mr. Clapp personally how he deals with violence or misbehavior. …show more content…
Clapp has his student’s line up outside the door. He waits for the other class to leave before the next class is able to enter the room. Other times I noticed that students would just walk in and socialize before settling down. I guess it all really depends on how the day is going to determine the entrance procedure. Mr. Clapp uses every minute of his time for mini lessons, assignments and group discussions. During individual work time, Mr. Clapp walks around the room and checks on students to be sure they are understanding the assignment. He gives his assistance and helps students on a one on one basis for a few minutes at a time then moves on to another student. If a student asks a question during this time, they typically get up and go to the teacher or the assistant and ask. During class collaboration or group assignments, students raise their hand to participate and sometimes Mr. Clapp goes down the seated rows allowing students to participate or pass. He never forces a student to speak out in class if they do not want to. As class is in session students are free to sharpen pencils without asking and if they need to go to the restroom they are allowed to sign out on a clip board by the door and take a restroom pass. If the pass is not available, they are to wait until someone comes back from the bathroom to go. For exiting the classroom, students are to turn in work to the assigned classroom drawer, however, they seem …show more content…
Clapp went over vocabulary terms and made a foldable. He asked students to look up the meanings for evidence, prior knowledge and infer/ inference. He allowed his students to use their phones or a dictionary to look up the terms. After he gave them a good amount of time to work on this assignment, he let volunteers share their work and definitions. This day, I noticed a student who had finished her work early and started to read a novel. As the Mr. Clapp stood up to give that class another mini lesson, this student didn’t stop reading. He never addressed this situation but I noticed that she eventually put her book down and tuned in to the class discussion on her own. Later, I asked Mr. Clapp about this student and he explained that she is one of his gifted students and has no problem keeping