The Observation
Danny Jordan's World History class began at 10:39 am and ended about an hour later. Upon entering the class, I was received very warmly by Mr. Watterson and was encouraged to sit in the front corner of the class in order to observe more effectively allowing me to see both the teacher and the students. At the start of class, Mr. Watterson had on his overhead a thought provoking question in which the students were to answer individually until the bell rang. I did not hear the bell ring and he later confirmed that the bell could not be heard from his location. Despite the audio difficulties, the students sat immediately in their seats and began their "quick write". During the "quick write" session, Mr. Watterson took general attendance and noted the tardy students on the computer.
Once the bell rang, Mr. Watterson began a class discussion on the topic overhead. Today, the topic discussed the sinking of the Titanic and then asked the students what their favorite historically based movies were. Most of them listed recent movies such as the 'The Patriot', 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Braveheart' etc. I personally was thinking movies such as 'Gone with the Wind" or "Schindler's List". Mr. Watterson spent about 10 minutes of the classroom arbitrarily asking students to reveal their favorite movie and encouraged them to give a short explanation. The students seemed genuinely interested and did not mind being called upon.