Field Observation

So, I went and did my observation at Arts High School and who would have guessed...it wasn't what I expected. I observed Mr. Freire's Spanish I classes. What I witnessed was a teacher who kept his students interested and used his class time well and students who were well behaved and for the most part attentive. Mr. Freire is also a big believer in using technology in the classroom and this was great to see because our inquiry project is on exactly that. He used a smart board that hooks up his computer to a dry erase board and can be used as a touch screen. Although I have seen these sitting in classrooms before I have never actually seen them used and I'll admit, it was quite interesting. He also used AlphaSmart 3000. I have never seen these before, but they are small personal computers that consist of a keyboard and a very small screen that he can upload quizzes to. I think my experience at Arts was a great learning experience because it helped me realize that my conceptions and assumptions were wrong and since I attended a suburban high school, I had to challenge what I thought I knew about urban schools.