During your field experience, it will be important to take mental notes of what’s going on in the classroom, whether it’s an obvious event or a subtle occurrence. If you haven’t already been logging a mental evaluation of your classroom, to get yourself into the necessary mindset, take one day on-site to practice. If you’ve not yet started your field experience, use a class on campus to do this activity. Choose one that’s not a class you regularly take, so that you can pay attention to the style of teaching rather than what’s being taught.

Be polite! Sometimes teachers become a little anxious when someone who is not their student sits in their class and takes a lot of notes. So, explain to the teacher what you’ll be doing before the class begins. In this activity, the objective is to observe things that are happening in the classroom and to watch while the teacher adjusts to different circumstances. Even though it may seem that “nothing happened” this particular day, teachers continuously monitor and adjust to their students.

While observing the professor or teacher, arrange a time to discuss your notes with him or her. What are some of the examples of adjusting that you saw? How large an issue did it appear? Did the teacher consider these adjustments out of the ordinary or simply a part of teaching?

Ask the teacher where he or she learned to monitor and then adjust to students and the events of the school. Also, ask how important flexibility was during the course of a school day and where they learned it.

How could you practice these skills during your teacher education program? Don’t be afraid to think outside the program; many aspects of your life involve flexibility and monitoring.

Your field experience will be all about “learning by doing.” Lectures, on the other hand, are about “learning by listening.” This activity is a chance to take a moment from both of those methods to focus on “learning by observing.” Knowing how to observe and analyze in the moment will be important skills to bring to your field experience, too. If you’re finding it hard to keep up with your mental notes, don’t despair! Sit in on some more classes and do the exercise a few more times. Practice will get your mind going, and soon you’ll find yourself analyzing and adjusting your efforts as naturally as what you’ve watched!