Allyce-CO1

     My first Classroom observation was with Whitney Harvey's listening group 3. The difference in levels (I've been primarily working with lower level students) was a stark contrast from what I'm used to. The level of comprehension was much higher and their vocabulary words rivaled those of any undergraduate student at FSU. The list was as follows; literacy, stigmatized, capacity, dedicated, predicate, hierarchy and contention.  Ms. Harvey did an incredible job of explaining some of these difficult words to the students and made sure to go over them briefly before having the students watch the video clip. She also handed out comprehension questions which went in chronological order so that students would remain focused on listening to the clip and searching for answers.
     The video clip she chose was about 20 minutes long and was from the TED speaks convention, the monologue was by Sir Ken Robinson regarding the death of creativity within the education system. As a student myself I felt the clip was very interesting and I even enjoyed watching it along with the students. It was rather comical because occasionally Robinson would make a joke which was based upon a word pun or something and I would laugh out loud, some of the student just laughed along right with me and I heard a couple say that they didn't get the joke. Luckily, Ms. Harvey took 10 minutes after the clip to answer any questions and clear up any vocabulary which may have impeded students from understanding the point of the clip and then we proceeded to watch the clip again. I noticed that the second time around, more students got the jokes and heartily laughed along with me and the teacher.  They also seemed to have a stronger comprehension of the message.  This whole teaching method was enjoyable for both the students and the teacher which really created a fun environment.
        Ms. Harvey explained that they typically spend 2 days performing academic work such as traditional listening activities and then spend the following 2 days watching a video clip which allows them to put their listening skills to use. It seemed to me that the students really enjoyed coming to this class and got a lot out of the activities. They were able to discuss the clip thoroughly with each other and seemed genuinely pleased at her video choice.  The class was a success and I can only hope that my students enjoy themselves in a learning environment as much as Ms. Harvey's did!

      I've placed the video she played in class within the blog. I think that it may prove interesting for all of us students!