I had the opportunity to observe Deanne. She began the lesson by asking her student how he was doing and engaging in light conversation to create a relaxed working environment for the session. She then inquired about his progress with his work so they could start on some Chemistry tasks. Since most of the work was on the student’s laptop, she allowed him a couple of minutes to get everything ready. Instead of wasting this time, Deanne used it to fill out the spreadsheet, enabling her to focus entirely on teaching for the remainder of the lesson.
She started by asking the student to recite information from the subject to warm him up and identify any areas where he might need additional help. When he struggled to remember some of the information, she addressed this by drawing chemical diagrams on the whiteboard. This effectively allowed the student to engage with the material, as he could visualize the content and observe her calculations—a great strategy for memorization. She then allowed the student to work through questions independently, stepping in to assist whenever he got stuck.
Deanne was adept at breaking down each question to prompt the student toward the next steps in solving it. Throughout this process, she encouraged him to attempt these smaller parts on his own, enabling her to assess his understanding and critical thinking skills. She also continued to use the whiteboard as a tool to clarify challenging topics that were hard to visualize. This technique proved effective, as the student’s confidence and abilities steadily improved.
Moreover, when the student started to go down the wrong path on a question, Deanne quickly intervened to redirect him, helping to prevent the formation of bad habits that could lead to repetitive mistakes in the future. She excelled at making her student feel comfortable with making mistakes by using inclusive language, such as “we,” to emphasize that they were working through each question as a team. Overall, she was excellent at keeping the student engaged and confident throughout the lesson, and I will definitely incorporate many of her techniques and strategies into my own teaching.
Jenna Freed
