4.3 Classroom Observations
4.3.3 Lesson observation 3
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I noticed that teacher Ntsoaki used teaching strategies such as a game, group work, and questioning and answering to teach. Free play was used to familiarise learners with the materials which were intended to be used during the teaching process and during that play she asked questions about their creations. This was a good strategy which could have been used to great advantage when introducing the lesson, but it failed in its effectiveness because no constructive questions which would have required learners to think critically about their play were asked. Instead, most of the questions were recall questions which merely required of learners to describe their creations. No ‘why’ or ‘how’ questions were used to stimulate deep learning.
I further observed that teacher Ntsoaki arranged the classroom by partitioning it into five corners namely book, block, fantasy, art and discovery corners. I learned that those corners were used to reinforce content of the theme/topic which was being taught throughout the week. Learners were allowed to play in these corners during free play or structured play. The classroom of teacher Ntsoaki had a discussion area where learners sat on a mat in a semi- circle. However, there was no space to display learners’ work. Materials at the disposal of learners in the different corners were concrete locally available items. There were different posters on the classroom walls which included posters showing mathematical concepts.
4.3.3 Lesson Observation 3
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I arrived at the school during toileting time (09:15). The principal was absent, so I was welcomed by a class seven teacher who accompanied me to the Grade R class. After washing their hands, the learners entered the classroom. The Grade R teacher welcomed me to her class and told me that she was about to teach mathematics.
Classroom Observation
She ordered learners to sit on their benches. There were twenty one learners altogether. The teacher requested them to keep quiet, and then told them that they had a visitor who was going to learn how they learned mathematics - so they had to behave well.
After that, the teacher told the learners that they were going to learn about ordering. She informed them that they would order things according to their height. She took a box filled with empty tins and bottles, then arranged five bottles according to height. She then told learners that she had demonstrated how to arrange bottles according to their height. Teacher Manyai then asked the learners to count the number of bottles she had arranged.
Learners (together): One, two, three, four, five.
(The teacher was pointing at the bottles as the learners counted.) Teacher Manyai: Good!
(Teacher Manyai explained that the bottles had been arranged in order of height.) Teacher Manyai (pointing at bottles): Do you see? I have put the short bottle first, then I have ordered them up till the last bottle which is the tallest of all the bottles.
Learners (together): Yes, teacher.
Teachers Manyai: Okay! Now I want you to come and arrange tins from the boxes like I did.
(A number of learners ran towards the table where the arrangement had been demonstrated by the teacher. The teacher had to shout to restore order.)
Teacher Manyai: Hey, Hey! Don’t rush, all of you go back. I will select those ones who are still seated.
(All the learners went back to their seats and the teacher asked ‘Mamalia, one of the learners who had remained seated, to come and order tins according to height. ‘Mamalia walked towards the table and the teacher told her that she should begin her arrangement with the shortest tin.)
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Teacher Manyai: ‘Mamalia, are you going to arrange tins, bottles or boxes? You have to choose.
‘Mamalia: Tins.
Teacher Manyai: Good girl. Show us the shortest tin then.
‘Mamalia (pointing at the shortest tin): This one.
Teacher Manyai (to the class): Is she correct?
Learners (together, some saying yes while others were saying no): Yes teacher/
No teacher!
Teacher Manyai: Ok, ‘Mamalia, continue with the arrangement.
(‘Mamalia arranged the tins starting with the shortest tin. After she had arranged the tins, the teacher asked her to lead all the learners in counting those tins. After they had counted the tins, the teacher asked Lerato to come to the front to rearrange the same tins and start with the tallest tin. Lerato did as instructed by the teacher. The teacher asked Mosa to come and arrange blocks according to height. Mosa walked to the table to arrange blocks and she told the class that she was going to start her arrangement with the smallest and go to the biggest. The teacher allowed Mosa to continue with the arrangement. Teacher then called upon another learner, Moeketsi, to come and rearrange the blocks, starting with the biggest. Moeketsi rearranged the blocks starting with the biggest block.
Teacher Manyai then showed the learners other containers, informing them that those containers were filled with different contents; as a result, they had different weights, so learners had to arrange them according to weight, starting with the one with the most weight to the one with the least weight (i.e., from the heaviest to the lightest).)
Teacher Manyai: Yes, Thapelo, come and arrange the containers according to their weight.
(Thapelo marched forward to the table and arranged the containers. After the arrangement, the teacher asked Thapelo to explain how he knew that the container he had put first was heavier than the other two containers, but Thapelo had no answer. The teacher ignored him and asked another learner to come and judge which container was heavier than the others, so another learner called Bopane went to the table to judge and justify which container had more weight than the others. Bopane rearranged the containers and when the teacher asked her why she had come up with such an arrangement, Bopane responded that the
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first container was filled up with water while the other containers were empty.
The teacher then emphasised that the container which was filled with water was shorter than an empty container but since it was heavy, it was good that it was put first and an empty container was put after it. She then concluded the lesson by telling learners that they had learned about ordering objects according to their height and their weight. She then asked learners to sing as they marched out of their classroom to take a short break.)
From this observation I learned that teacher Manyai’s understanding of the teaching of mathematics had a limited influence on her teaching of mathematics because she experienced challenges in not understanding the mathematical concept she was teaching. For instance, teacher Manyai was teaching ordering according to height. Firstly, she did not clearly use ordering words appropriate to describing ordering arrangement; even her instructions were not clear as to which word to use in order to arrange objects. For instance, she asked one learner to arrange blocks starting with the smallest to the ‘biggest’. This showed that the teacher did not know the content she was teaching. She could have identified a word to explain ordering such as ‘tall’, so that the ordering would be described as ‘tall, taller, and tallest’. Her arrangement could have been of three objects only, and not five. She could also have asked them ‘why’ questions that would have made them aware of the use of ‘...er’ and ‘…est’ in words to denote degrees of comparison. Five bottles were arranged on the table but she used opposite words (tall and short) to explain the ordering that was done; she could have used three bottles instead so that she would have size modifiers (adjectives) such as ‘tall, taller, tallest’ or ‘short, shorter, shortest’. This would have addressed the need for mathematics learning to be linked with language learning.
Secondly, she failed to focus on one category like ‘height’; instead she wanted learners to order things according to ‘height’ and ‘weight’, which caused confusion among the learners.
This showed that she had a very limited understanding of how to teach mathematics in this grade. Planning and teaching more than one concept with the incorrect use of mathematical terms brought confusion to both the teacher and the learners. This was a clear indication that teacher Manyai did not understand or know the subject content or the learners that she was teaching. Her activities were not presented sequentially such as starting with concrete objects first, then moving on to semi-concrete objects, as she had mentioned in the interview. This
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means that she might have theoretical knowledge but that she had not yet made the link between theory and practice. However, she partially asked a ‘why’ question regarding weight.
The classroom activities of teacher Manyai partially addressed the required learning styles but were not appropriate for cognitive level development in her learners. This was owing to confusion which was as a result of her planning to teach more than one mathematical concept at a time. Moreover, the majority of the learners were not actively involved in the learning process. The teacher chose a few learners to do ordering, which demonstrated that she did not understand that young learners need to experiment their learning; they need to use all their senses to learn and not sit by and watch passively. She could have brought enough materials for each learner to do his or her ordering. Through questions, learners could have been given an opportunity to describe their ordering, sharing ideas and comparing their own results with those of others. Teacher Manyai did not ask questions to check if learning had taken place and she failed to review learners’ prior knowledge. Other subjects were not integrated into this lesson. In fact, a golden opportunity to combine mathematics and language was missed.
Teacher Manyai used teaching strategies like demonstration, questioning and answering, discussion, and free play. However, she did not have strategies to manage learners’ behaviour.
The fact that she allowed learners to leave their groups and separate themselves from the lesson was worrisome. The fact that Teacher Manyai’s class was arranged to accommodate various key development areas and that she used concrete materials to support her teaching showed that she had some understanding of the need for the use of both concrete and abstract materials in her teaching.
Moreover, the discussion area in teacher Manyai’s classroom where learners sat on a mat in a semi-circle during discussion of themes was also a positive step in getting close to her learners and thus getting to know them and their needs in a more intimate manner. However, she needed to apply her knowledge of her learners and their needs in her lesson, instead of ignoring some and giving opportunities for learning to others. Having well arranged tables and chairs for each learner was also a positive set up because Grade R learners are expected to practice writing skills so that arrangement afforded learners a chance to practice good sitting posture.
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