Classroom Observation and Reflection
This is What A Gifted Classroom Looks Like?
Classroom Observation and Reflection
Jessica Ballinger
The College of William and Mary
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Classroom Observation and Reflection
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I elected to observe the seventh and eighth grade gifted clusters in my school at
Eaton Middle School. We have a gifted cluster of students at each grade level who are
grouped together based upon their mathematics ability level. These students travel with
one another from core class to core class and are only able to socialize with other students
during lunch, electives, and before and after school. The majority of the students in the
two classes have not been identified as gifted but instead have been labeled as high
achievers, specifically in the area of mathematics. The eighth grade-gifted cluster of
students is enrolled in geometry while the seventh grade gifted cluster is enrolled in
algebra. Currently our school has no placement available for students who are labeled as
twice exceptional since the gifted cluster and inclusion classes are not on the same team
due to staffing issues. A quick and superficial observation of the make-up of the two
classes showed a larger number of girls in the gifted cluster in eighth grade while the
boys outnumbered the girls in seventh grade. The make-up of our school is
predominately African-American and there were more African-American children in the
gifted cluster classes than white students. The two cluster classes that I visited were
taught by teachers who have s in gifted education – one male and one female both white.
I shared the demographic make-up of these two classes because I believe that it is
important to note that the classes are a good representation of the overall population in
our school. However, it should be noted, that while observing these classes I had no
knowledge of who was classified as a gifted student and was using the information that I
have accumulated throughout this course to make an educated guess of which students
were gifted, high achieving or just average.
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I will start with my observations of the eighth grade-gifted cluster since this was
my most disappointing experience. It was disappointing because I felt as though the class
was unable to truly meet its full potential because the teacher had to focus on the
mundane task of meeting the grammar and punctuation requirements set forth by the
Commonwealth. I am not suggesting that these skills are unimportant, however, I do feel
as though there is a better way to review these concepts with your gifted cluster than by
having them briefly fix the mistakes in a sentence and then to go over a worksheet. The
students already knew these skills and understood how they worked within the context of
sentences, paragraphs, and standing alone so why waste time reviewing a skill already
grasped? The skill should have been taken above and beyond a normal curriculum skill
and have been taught in the form of an enrichment activity as a way to meet the needs of
both the gifted and high achieving learners in the classroom. Enrichment activities “lead
to greater knowledge and skills, and both help develop creativity and other thinking
skills” both of which are areas of constant focus and development gifted education
programs (Davis & Rimm, pg 120). These activities would provide an additional level of
higher level thinking skills in the class and provide a way for the gifted students to work
independently or cooperatively to develop their skills. Not only did this class seem pretty
mediocre, the students themselves were very unengaged in the learning process. I will
equate this with their boredom of the particular lesson given that I have taught the
majority of the class and know that they are more than capable of being engaged in all
lessons.
I think that one of the most shocking things that I learned from observing this
class was that they had no idea that they were in the gifted cluster. They just assumed
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that they had been grouped together because of their upper level math course when in
reality multiple students in the class have a gifted label. I also found it interesting that the
students were attempting to go above and beyond the given information but they were cut
off because the teacher needed to get a certain amount of information across in that class
period. The students were also very aware that one of their class members was very
obnoxious, outspoken, and goofy (they actually requested that I throw paper at him when
he started becoming silly). I on the other hand, realized right off the bat that this goofy,
young man was extremely brilliant and was probably one of the brightest students in the
classroom. My first thought though, was that if he had never been found gifted that
perhaps he had been overlooked because of his behavior, his race, and his gender. I will
be the first to admit that this particular student would have grated my nerves as well but
the blatancy of his academic knowledge clearly leads me to believe that he should be in
the gifted program and that the lesson that I happened to observe him during was
completely inadequate to meet his needs.
My observations towards the teacher were that, while he is a certified gifted
teacher, I was unimpressed with his ability to make the lesson more differentiated for the
needs of the students in his classroom. I was under the impression that if I had come to
observe all of his classes that I would have seen the same exact lesson with little to no
variation. It was also a shock when I was first told that he was a gifted teacher because
when I think about what we know a gifted teacher should be he does not fit that identity
to me. He is a great teacher but I did not see the motivation to teach above and beyond
the curriculum, I witnessed zero creativity in the lesson, and absolutely no connection to
the kids beyond what a “normal” teacher has with their students.
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On the other hand, the seventh grade gifted cluster that I observed was
phenomenal! I was impressed with the way the teacher was able to connect to her
students on their level especially since her interpersonal skills with coworkers are
inefficient. I was also surprised by her enthusiasm for the curriculum and her ability to
connect each and every one of the students’ questions to the content that she was
teaching. She was very accommodating to the students and their needs and was very
encouraging of their questions and almost seemed to demand that they dig further into
their knowledge base to produce an answer or an additional question regarding the
subject matter. I was disappointed though that she seemed to single out certain students
who consistently raised their hand to answer questions instead of calling on those
students who were less engaged in the lesson. She was very good at getting the kids to
think about moral issues as they related to the U.S.S. Maine and the Spanish American
War and the students answered with more factual answers than I thought they would. I
was expecting more off the wall and creative answers but the kids’ answers were
solidified in facts. The use of technology in the classroom was also an added perk for
me. The lesson was completely designed around a wiki page and the students had had to
prepare vocabulary definitions in advance for the words they would be discussing based
on pre-selected readings. The students offered their own definitions to the class and the
teacher expected the students to fix their own definitions appropriately and the students
actually seemed eager to do this. The students were also eager to correct one another and
the sense of competition, that I am sure exists in the classroom, was evident. I was dually
impressed with one student in particular and actually spoke to the guidance counselor
about him later in the day. This student was so far advanced and gave responses that
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were well above the other students’ that I felt certain that he had to be gifted. He is
actually currently being considered for skipping the rest of seventh grade and being
placed with more appropriate peers an action that I would deem justifiable based on one
classroom observation.
Overall, I am not impressed with the gifted program in my school. There seems
to be no consistency in how the students are taught, the type of programming used is
different from teacher to teacher and the students have no clue that they are exceptional.
Four months ago my mental image of a gifted classroom was one where all of the
students were eagerly engaged in the lesson, they were all doing their best to please their
teacher, they were all in their seats, and most importantly they were all there to learn
something new. Flash-forward to the present and you can actually see my gifted
classroom image shattering with the reality that it looks remarkably like mine and
numerous other teachers of the “non-gifted.” The actuality of the situation is that there
appears to be no real difference between the gifted cluster classes in my school and the
regular education classes. Gifted education seems to be being pushed to the wayside as
we figure out ways to continue to meet Annual Yearly Progress, to be a fully accredited
school, and most importantly have the highest Standards of Learning scores in the
district. Our gifted students are being left to go through life without learning the valuable
skills that they need in order to become successful individuals and contributing members
of society. These gifted clusters at Eaton, are a failed attempt to draw in high achieving
students with an end result that is both cloudy and full of faults.
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References
Davis, G.A, & Rimm, S.B. (2004). Education of the gifted and talented (5th ed.). New
York: Pearson.