Blog #2

In my field experience, I have not witnessed too much non-verbal communication between my teacher and her students.  Due to the fact that testing is currently happening, while I was in my classroom I really only witnessed my teacher doing practice tests with her students.  Because of this, when someone was doing something wrong, she used her voice to let that person know that they were disrupting the class, their neighbors, and her.  When doing this, the student would then put their head on their desk as instructed to symbolize that they were finished with their work.

Throughout the practice tests, Mrs. Brown would walk around the classroom to make sure that the students were doing what they were supposed to be working on.  When she came across someone who wasn't, she would kneel down and ask them why they didn't do the assignment properly or why they stopped working before the assignment was completed.  However, from where I was sitting I didn't see many students doing their work.  There was a lot of side conversation and fidgeting with things in their desk.  

Throughout their test taking, Mrs. Brown would come and sit with me and talk to me about the class.  She was helpful due to the fact that she was informing me about ELL students, telling me about the test and its preparations, and talking to me about different students disabilities, but this was very distracting for the class.  All of them would look over at us when they heard their names and she would tell them to focus on what they were doing not on us.  

When it was time for lunch, Mrs. Brown dismissed the students one by one.  She looked to see if the students were sitting properly, if they cleaned up their desks, and if they were being quiet.  When these things were accomplished she would call out a name and they would get their things for lunch and art (they went straight from lunch to art).  When walking through the hallway to the cafeteria, Mrs. Brown makes the kids stop at all the corners in the hallway before going on.  She says that she does this so she can keep count of everyone and make sure nobody gets too far ahead.  

Walking through the hallway was one of the only times I saw non-verbal communication.  I noticed it when we were outside of a classroom, and the students were being too loud she would stand next to that student.  Just by walking next to the student, they realized that they needed to be quieter when walking through the hallway.  

In the end, there wasn't much non-verbal communication for me to notice due to the fact that the students have only been taking practice tests when I am with them and I haven't really seen them during a lesson.