Practice Observation - Philosophy Class

For my practice observation, I decided to observe my philosophy class. I observed many things that I wouldn't really make a point of and notice unless I was actually paying attention to certain details in the classroom. One thing I observed was that everyone sits in the same seat every single class. This is most likely because everyone is familiar of those seats and that is where they are used to sitting every single class. Another thing I observed was that the majority of students sit on the left side of the class room, closer to the door. I believe that this happened because on the first day of class, the students that got to class the earliest got seats closest to the door, while the students that came later; their only option was to sit on the other side of the room away from the door. I also observed that the upper class men and older people in the class talk more and engage in group discussion more than the under class men and younger people in the class. This may be because they have more knowledge and might have taken other philosophy classes, or because they have had this particular professor before and are comfortable with how she teaches and runs the class. Another thing that I observed was that during group work, at first no one was talking because no one was comfortable starting a conversation. Once someone started talking though, it was easier for everyone to chime in with their ideas and to put their input into the conversation. One last thing that I observed was that the professor never shot down anyone's ideas or told them that they were wrong. In this philosophy class, it's all about how you interpret a text, what you think it means and to make a valid argument out of that claim. She is very supportive of everyone's thought and ideas. There are endless situations where when you observe and notice things that you wouldn't if you were to not focus on certain aspects of the situation.