MUSIC 232: Fundamentals of Music Teaching

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives

Class Observation Log #2
Your name: Garrett Prall
Time: 1:30 – 2:30
Location: Thompson 103
Subject: GEOL 125 Natural Disasters

Draw a diagram of the room.

List resources used by the teacher/instructor.

 Projector/Screen
 Powerpoint
 Computer
 Sample videos
 Diagrams
 Graphs of statistics

List resources used by the students.

 Notebooks
 Laptops
 Phones
 Tablets
Give a detailed account of the sequence of instruction. How was the lesson introduced? How was the
lesson developed? How was the lesson concluded?

The instructor began with reviewing the main points of the previous lecture. He then asked the students
questions about the previous content. The room would remain silent for a while until a single student would
answer the question to keep the lecture moving. If this didn’t happen, the instructor would answer the
question himself for the class. After reviewing the previous content, the professor moved on to notable
volcanic eruptions. He frequently used pictures or graphs on slides to give the students an idea of what the
eruption looked like. The graphs were used to show various statistics: loss in life, property damage, and
comparing the eruptions to other similar ones. The lecture continued this way until the end of class.

Name and describe the instructional strategies employed by the teacher/instructor (e.g. cooperative
learning, “think, pair, share,” lecture, group discussion, modeling, etc.).

The class structure was largely a lecture. The instructor spoke and the students took notes. He would
occasionally ask questions which a student (often the same one) would reluctantly answer. The lecture also
included many visual aids. Almost one for every slide on the PowerPoint.

Describe the presentation of the lesson. How did you perceive what went on?

The class was set up like a lecture. All of the desks were facing the front towards a projector screen. There
was little to no dynamic learning in the classroom. Many students played on their phones, talked, or watched
Netflix on their laptops. There was hardly any student involvement throughout the class. As I stated before,
the instructor would occasionally ask questions. Almost all of the questions were answered by the same
student, not out of interest, but out of a want to keep the class moving. The lecture included many visual aids
but they were mostly disregarded due to the lack in interest in the rest of the lecture.

On an additional sheet of paper, describe the learning that took place.

Little dynamic learning took place in the classroom. In all honesty, I saw more students on Facebook than
taking notes. The students were not engaged in the lesson and their teacher made little effort to engage them.
The instructor stated that he would post the PowerPoints on canvas so I assume that most students planned to
study from that, rather than from notes in class.