Today we visited Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College. We met downstairs at 8:00. We split into taxis and were on our way to the school. We first started by getting breakfast and water brought to our room. We got a few quick fun facts and went to our first classroom. We got a tour and then went to go observe another classroom. After the observation, we went to Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We had such a great time today and it was so fun to be around everyone. 

In our first classroom, I first noticed how relaxed it seemed. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing and were paying attention. The students were learning how to make a website in a Sociology course. The teacher was very active in the class and we were able to talk to the students and ask them questions. My partner and I were able to have an amazing conversation even though English is not his first language. He lives on his own and at 18 in a country he did not grow up in. Having to have responsibilities and learning how to do everything on your own is crazy. He was very friendly and interested to talk and learn more about the United States. In the second class, we sat in the classroom and watched the lesson being taught. She was able to engage her class and keep them on task. She would randomly call on someone to answer questions to keep them involved and engaged in the lesson. She was actively walking around the classroom and checking if the students were listening. 

In between the classes, we had a tour around the school from the assistant principal. I loved how there was a big open space in the middle of the school their students were able to hang out outside. It was a courtyard and it was so beautiful. The students were able to hang out, catch up with work, and even get a breath of fresh air. After the tour, the assistant principal gave us an informative speech. He was able to have us think about teaching on a deeper level. We learned the different aspects of how you should teach at certain levels and how involved you need to be. The cycle and process we learned were expert input, student output, assessment, and feedback. An example of expert input is talking through it by being verbal. A student output example is interactive is the verbal response. We then discussed assessment and a good example of it is a paper or an exam. Finally, a step to continue growing is feedback. One key feedback example is verbal feedback and getting an educator to tell and show you what you can do better to improve yourself. This made me go through and process the education system and how much it affects the classrooms. Having an educator be able to control their classroom and put such a good spin on our students of our future is very important and impacting. 

We then had lunch brought to our room. We then got our lunch we ate and then we headed to the. There we took many pictures and it was amazing. It was so pretty and we all had so much fun together. We took pictures with the floors behind us and all talked and walked around. After the gardens, we were ready for dinner and decided on a place to eat. We got an Uber to Bullring and got something to eat. We ate at Five Guys and everyone was so happy to go to the hotel and hang out. We walked back to the hotel and it was about a 20-minute walk. We wanted to Uber again but thought it would be better to just walk. We finally made it back to the hotel and everyone was so excited to hang out.

Overall our day at Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College was very informative, especially for our research. We learned how to incorporate life skills into our teaching. We also learned that it is important to learn all of the aspects of teaching to make a difference in the world. It will better manage the classroom and keep behavioral issues down. This leads to more learning happening and more progress is being made. It was very exciting to see how college works for them and how they learn. Walking through the Birmingham Botanical Gardens we found such pretty flowers. We had such a great time. Again, I just get so sad thinking about leaving, but am so excited for tomorrow.