Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Season 1

In case you're interested, and for posterity's sake . . .

The following notes were taken during my "Observations," part of my FINAL assignment in college required to earn my Bachelor's degree in elementary education! This assignment involved spending 60 or more hours in different classrooms observing and interacting with the teacher and students to focus on such aspects as classroom management, planning and instructional design, differentiation and modifications for students with unique learning needs and styles, technology and its appropriate use in the classroom, and behavior modification techniques.  The resulting physical work turned in 45 pages! For one assignment! One!

I had to turn it in two times.  The first time I got it back with revisions required (I'd missed some stuff), but it was accepted the second time I submitted it. Phew!

I learned lots of dos and don'ts, cans and can'ts, wills and won'ts.  The kids were, overall, delightful, and the teachers were certainly doing their best to provide an effective education with what they had to work with.  I hope you enjoy reading about my time gettin' schooled.

Enjoy!

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Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 1

November 11, 2015

v Observed language arts lessons

v 2^nd day back “on track” (this is a year-round school)

v Clear routines in place for entering classrooms, completing morning tasks, and readying selves for learning

v Used positive language to guide behavior

v Used extensive team-based planning including weekly scope & sequence by subject area and a detailed weekly plan

v The teacher communicates regularly with parents through a Monday newsletter, which is sent home with a packet of homework for the week, vocabulary/spelling words, and other important paperwork.

v All students were studying the same clusters (thr-, spr-, str-, scr-) and worksheets were differentiated for students based on spelling inventory results into three levels. Leveled worksheets varied in content, quantity, and difficulty.

v Whole-group lessons included explicit vocabulary instruction, discussion of opinion writing, the difference between Patriot’s Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day, the difference between tenses, keyboarding, cursive writing, and ‘shared reading’.

v Independent lessons included students completing daily ‘jobs’ (in lieu of centers) including a spelling sort, vocabulary map, verb worksheet, and fluency.

v Guided instruction took place during independent reading, as the teacher rotated through the room and listened to individual students, noting appropriateness of book choice, areas of challenge, and areas of growth.

v Music was integrated into the day with a morning ‘class song’ following announcements; the teacher using a bongo drum, and a piano in the room.

v Differentiation took place via modifications, providing students with leveled worksheets and reading materials, and individually, as the teacher accommodated a lower-leveled student through two different assignments he was struggling with.

v Informal assessments took place as the teacher rotated throughout the room as the students were completing their jobs and she noticed one particular area that many students were having difficulty with. The teacher adjusted her approach and did that portion of the worksheet with the whole class to ensure understanding.

v Scaffolding was used effectively as the teacher transitioned the students from a pre-writing form that they had been used to doing to a blank sheet of paper. The teacher discussed what was included on the form, and how the students now had that information inside their brains and could refer to it as they filled out the same information on a blank page. This was an effective way of building on prior knowledge and skills in preparation for the students’ first computerized writing assessment during an upcoming spring standardized test.

v Technology was used appropriately when the mobile computer lab was brought into the classroom and each student learned basic keyboarding skills. This was the first of several planned keyboarding lessons in preparation for the students’ first computerized writing assessment during an upcoming spring standardized test.

v I was able to work with a small group of readers, discussing a book after they read it independently, and reviewing the vocabulary words, personal connections, and favorite parts, which the students read aloud.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 2

November 23, 2015

v Kids assembled in the gym and were then escorted to class by the teacher

v Students wore uniforms but teachers were allowed to ‘dress down’, which one student labeled as ‘not fair’

v No observable routine for entry, calendar, homework, attendance, lunch count

v Classroom was a mess, desks unaligned, piles of paperwork everywhere, no identifiable ‘homes’ for anything, homework bin, no-name papers

v Took 20 minutes for the class to get into the room and seated

v Students misbehaved continually – shouting out, interrupting, talking back, physical noise like stomping feet, rocking chairs off the legs

v There were jobs posted but none were utilized

v Positive language was used to motivate good behavior, but it was ineffective

v First activity was a Thanksgiving-themed alphabetizing activity that was ungraded – seemed like busy work. The teacher effectively engaged background knowledge asking kids what they remembered about alphabetizing and going through an example on the board. She gave directions, asked for questions, and passed out the worksheet which kids then did on their own. She did not check for accuracy, but just told them to put it in their backpacks when they were done.

v The kids then gathered for a ‘catch of the week’ – one student being highlighted, who had made a poster about herself, answered a questionnaire about favorite color, favorite food, etc., and brought a story for the teacher to read aloud, which she did.

v One student was allowed to read a book that he had been writing at home.

v The students talked about Thanksgiving traditions, and then the teacher read Bear Says Thanks (Wilson, 2012). The story was quite challenging and the teacher read it very quickly. I would have taken more time reading, showing the pictures, and explaining the difficult vocabulary and the many homonyms that were in the book.

v When the students did the calendar, the two at the front made up calendar-related math problems for the rest of the class to solve, and used below-grade verbiage which I would have gently corrected by repeating the question using proper grammar. For example, they asked ‘how much days ago was November 15’. I would have repeated something like, ‘Okay, class, Leo’s question is “How many days ago was November 15.’

v One student completed a weather graph, which was lost behind rolling carts and stacks of papers and books, coloring in a line on the ‘partly cloudy column’ but nothing was done with it.

v After the calendar, one student at the front was supposed to choose from a stack of 4 x 6 laminated cards with calendar- and money-related questions or word problems. He wasn’t choosing and the class was loud and boisterous, so the teacher said, ‘We’re done because everyone is just talking.’ The student who was choosing the cards argued back with the teacher, and then picked another student to do the task, who came up to the front and asked the question. It was too hard, so the teacher just sent everyone back to their seats.

v The teacher had difficulty locating numerous things throughout the morning. At one point, a student told her she was ‘so unorganized.’

v When the kids were particularly loud, the teacher decided to give them a Brain Break by playing a GoNoodle activity. She walked out of the room after getting it going, but it didn’t play, and all the students just wandered up to the front and began playing around. She came back in just as I was getting ready to send them all back to their seats and give them an alternate activity.

v After the kids had snack and recess, they continued working on a biography that they had been creating. They broke into two groups, one small group with the teacher working on the biography’s glossary and table of contents, and everyone else writing a letter to the ‘catch of the week’. Two students individually came and read with me. Afterward, one student who was behind on the biography came and worked with me on coming up with two questions each for who, what, where, when, why, and how. As I worked with him, I was observing the teacher working with the small group and did not see much interaction.

v At the end of the morning, three students gave presentations they had been creating as homework during the prior week about humans’ effect on the environment. The teacher explained the rubric she would be using to grade them, explaining the criteria and the point scale. One student presented a poster, and two students presented PowerPoint slide shows.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 3

December 21, 2015 – A.M.

v Observed an activity-filled day based around community service and social studies.

v When I arrived, the teacher and her in-laws were preparing pieces of fabric for the students to cut and tie the edges of to create blankets, which were to be picked up by the fire department 2 hours into the day.

v The room was in upheaval, as everything had been pushed out of the way to make room for the blanket project. Otherwise, the room was well organized and decorated in a cute pirate theme, which I think the kids would like.

v There were 28 students in the class, predominantly boys.

v As the students arrived, they were seated in the ‘kiva’, a central area in the wing of the school where the classroom was located. Very general directions were given for the blanket construction and students were arranged in groups of four or five to work collectively on a blanket.  This process would have benefited from more forethought. 

• It  was clear the students’ measuring, cutting and tying skills varied significantly, and that they had not been given the opportunity to practice these skills prior to the activity. There were students who could not cut through the fabric at all and had to resort to only tying. Others were not able to understand the instruction of ‘tie it like your shoes, only twice,’ which I did not feel was sufficient for them to understand. Following the activity, volunteers and I had to retie many of the blankets. This activity could have been improved, and been made less frustrating for the students, if they had practice sessions on scrap fabric, and if students had been assigned specific roles based on their individual skills. However, the students did manage to get 10 or more blankets made before the firemen came. The blankets were to be donated to the United Fire Authority Blanket Drive, in its 40^th year, and, in turn, given to homeless people in Salt Lake City as well as patients at Primary Children’s Hospital.

v While the kids were finishing their blankets, the teacher asked me to assemble graham crackers on foil lined boards for each student. I was very impressed with the planning that the teacher did prior to the activity by having the supplies (graham crackers, foil-lined boards, and pre-measured frosting) ready ahead of time. Following the blanket activity, the students re-aligned their desks, which had been moved to the perimeter of the room to allow ample floor space, and began assembling gingerbread houses. I also like the teacher’s method for instructing the students. She would complete one step at the front of the room, and then the students would work on that step on their own house. There was one volunteer at each table group to help the kids. Decoration of the houses was to take place in the afternoon.

• Once the houses were constructed, the kids moved right into another activity, the culmination of a Holidays Around the World unit. The students had learned about 10 countries, gathering information about winter holidays and traditions to complete a written ‘passport’, and making a ‘souvenir’ from each country that represented the holiday or tradition. All of their artifacts were collected in a ‘suitcase’ that the kids made out of cereal boxes. The class reviewed the first nine countries. The final country was the U.S., and the souvenir was a snowman made from socks and cotton balls. Again, the teacher was very well prepared, with all of the materials for each student in an individual baggie. Parents and other volunteers helped with stuffing, tying, and gluing. Unfortunately, there was only 25 minutes available for this activity, which was not enough time given the students’ varied small motor skill levels. I loved this unit. It is one I’d like to do in my classroom.

v The kids remained engaged throughout the day.

v There were nine volunteers, more than could be useful, and many times it felt like we were all just getting in each other’s and the way of the teacher.

v Time management was a struggle, and I felt the teacher was too ambitious trying to fit this much into a 4 hour block of time. However, the teacher explained that her class had just come back “on track” (this is a year-round school) for two weeks before and she had to fit the entire curriculum of winter-themed units into those two weeks, whereas the other grade-level teachers had been on track 8 weeks or more and could spread the activities out over that period of time.

v The teacher seemed frazzled the entire time, and didn’t seem like she was having very much fun. The kids noticed this, and were very high energy, trying to work quickly and get everything finished in the time allotted.

v I would also have started the day with the kids’ normal morning routines, and then transitioned them into the first activity, maybe splitting the class in half and having one half do each activity, then switching. The teacher realized several hours into the morning that she hadn’t taken attendance or a lunch count.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 4

December 21, 2015 – P.M.

v This class had 24 students, mostly high-level academically, and evenly split between boys and girls. There was very little ethnic diversity.

v The afternoon of this day was spent in a class which, contrary to the morning observation, had been “on track” (this is a year-round school) for 11 weeks, and was just biding its time until the Christmas break started, two days later.

v I joined this class just after lunch. The kids came in and seemed to know exactly what to do. They put their coats away and sat down on a large throw rug tucked neatly in one corner. The teacher joined them there, sitting in a rocking chair, and read several stories aloud to them.

v She had a casual, friendly manner, and seemed very happy, as did her students.

v As this class was also finishing up their Holidays Around the World unit, the stories they read were related to that. One story about Christmas in New Zealand (Morrison, 2006) contained a number of unfamiliar terms for familiar objects, and the teacher had the kids guess what ‘chilly bin’, ‘squabble’, and ‘cricket’ might mean, and then compare their guesses after reading more of the story and looking at the pictures. The story could be sung and the teacher played a CD after reading and they all sang along. It was very engaging and the kids loved it. I think the only thing I would have done differently would be to discuss why Christmas in New Zealand is in the summer. However, that may have been done during the lessons on that country.

v While the kids were still all seated on the rug, the teacher explained what was going to happen next – the kids were going to play math games, some of which were games they had played before and some that were new. She instructed the kids to return to their desks, and put everything away except for a pencil. She gave them three minutes. When the time was up, she quietly rang a xylophone and the kids all immediately quieted down. This was an effective and efficient transition.

v The teacher went to a small, tall desk she had in one corner of the room and asked her ‘media tech’ to pull down the screen. She turned on a document camera and showed the kids each of the math games, new and familiar, explaining the rules and activating prior knowledge by asking them questions about the ones they had played before. The kids were to complete two games with a partner and then, if they chose, they could play one of the other familiar games independently or continue to play the new games with their partner. After 20 minutes, the teacher rang the xylophone again, and then told the kids that, for the next 20 minutes, they could choose any math game they wanted.

v While the students worked, the teacher responded to questions, and worked on organizing the previous theme’s materials back into buckets. We discussed her organization methods.

v For the last part of the day, all of the 3^rd grade classes gathered in one teacher’s room and began watching the movie, The Polar Express (Zemeckis, 2004). The teacher I had been observing left her students in the charge of another teacher, so I stayed and watched how the kids behaved and how the teacher in charge interacted with them for the last 25 minutes of my observation. I really liked the way that this second teacher had her room organized. The posters on the walls were positioned low so the students could see, and the room had minimal décor, it appeared to be just what necessary for what they were learning at the time.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 5

January 5, 2016

v Highly organized room decorated in a Dr. Seuss theme; Bright, not cluttered, fun and interesting.

v When I arrived the class was at P.E. This gave me the opportunity to learn about the class demographics, and many of the routines the teacher has implemented. 

• 26 students, fairly even between girls and boys; 4 challenging boys:

§  1 who is mildly autistic – partners differently, sometimes modifies the assignment but sometimes gives a different assignment if it isn’t something critical to his learning

§  1 who is a talker

§  1 who is a slow finisher

§  1 who is a talker and a slow finisher and

§  1 girl who can ‘quietly bully’ (a.k.a. bossy), so teacher is careful to partner appropriately and stay aware during group activities

• Uses HappyClassApps.com to organize her table groups (Cole, 2012)
• Teams plan together on Fridays after school, follow a scope and sequence, team lead orchestrates meetings; Team decides what they are teaching for that week, shares lesson plans and ideas, and then teachers adapt the lessons to their individual classroom
• Classroom rewards came in the form of coupons that they could use to buy things in the class store; primarily passes for activities like Hamster time, electronics, and lunch with the teacher, along with some candy and other prizes.
• A poster on the wall indicated if the kids should be using ‘Silent Solo,’ ‘Spy Voices,’ Group Voice, ‘Loud Crowd.’
• Kids get two bathroom passes each day. If they ask to be excused to use the restroom while the teacher is involved in a lesson, it costs both passes. If they ask to be excused while there is no active teaching going on, it costs only one. There are also free times they can use the restroom such as lunch, recess, and snack time.  I liked this process.

§  One of the passes that the kids could buy in the class store was Show ‘n Tell, and 5 students had passes on this day. The student stood at the front of the rug and the kids made 5 guesses before the student shared what they brought. Then the student told about it, and the kids could ask 3 questions. I think it would be good for the student to give hints after each incorrect guess, and to extend the language lesson by asking the students to describe the item using adjectives or adverbs.

• To transition the kids, the teacher counted backward from 10. The kids responded well to this and were quiet at their desks every time she hit zero.

v When the students arrived back, they lined up outside the classroom where the teacher gave instructions for what was going to happen next. They got a squirt of hand sanitizer and came in one at a time. This was very well organized and the kids knew exactly what to do. It was clearly well practiced.

v On this day, their assignments were to finish their Password Journals, which they had started before P.E., make birthday cards for one student celebrating that day, and then ‘sit on the carpet’ (a large throw rug) to read until the next activity.

v The kids were transitioned by ringing a bell and the teacher used positive reinforcement by saying things like, ‘I’m looking for table groups that have everything cleaned off their desks.’

v The teacher conducted a lesson about adverbs involving one student acting out a phrase made up by two cards selected by the teacher, one with a verb and one with an adverb (e.g., painting slowly, driving angrily, yelling happily), and the class trying to guess. The teacher then explained adverbs, and gave a clue about how to remember whether adjectives or adverbs described verbs versus nouns (adverb contains the word ‘verb’). The teacher then drew a chart on the board with columns labeled How, When, Where, Why. When she said an adverb, the kids guessed which category it belonged in based on the description it gave a verb – for example, ‘driving angrily.’ The lesson was culminated when the teacher asked the kids why we use adjectives and adverbs in our writing. The kids were totally engaged throughout the lesson. It was an appropriate amount of time, was active, and involved all of the students. The only things I would add would be to ask the kids if ‘slowly painting’ and ‘painting slowly’ meant the same thing, and if it was okay to switch the verb and adverb around in our writing.

v The students were excused for recess by table groups, then came back in and did Daily 5. Since they had just come back from a 2-week break, they were building their stamina back up to 20 minute segments, and were all working on the activity instructed by the teacher. This was a good way to remind students about the ‘rules’ of daily 5, what their materials were for each activity, and what jobs they had to complete.

v She engaged the kids in the conversation, used academic language to gently correct the kids – when they said, ‘get a paper,’ she said, ‘yes, get a writing prompt’ and held up the paper for them to see. She told them they needed to be the best writer they could be, and that she couldn’t wait to read when they had written. Their jobs were to:

• 1) Get their materials;
• 2) Pick a spot to work; and
• 3) Get started right away.

v She explained what she looks for when she grades the papers:

• 1) Capital letters in the right places;
• 2) Good handwriting;
• 3) Punctuation; and
• 4) A story – fill the space.

I would add ‘complete sentences’ and have them include adjectives and adverbs since they were learning about those. When the first Daily 5 activity time was over, the teacher rang her bell and the kids cleaned up and returned to the rug to repeat the process for the second activity, and then a third. As she waited at the carpet for everyone to join her, she sang a song and the class sang along. The other two activities on this day were Word Work and Read to Someone.

v While the kids worked on the Daily 5, the teacher pulled individuals to do Dibels testing. She would invite a student to ‘come read with me’ and then read the instructions to them. This was a great, non-threatening approach. The kids would likely feel much more comfortable than they would if she said she was going to be testing them.

v The final activity for this observation was read-aloud. All of the students got to lie on the floor or sit with a friend in a comfortable spot and the teacher read from Friendship According to Humphrey asking comprehension questions along the way.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 6

January 12, 2016

v This school started out very interestingly. I received the signed copy of the permissions slip in a relatively quick timeframe. But, I could not get in touch with the principal if my life depended on it! He did not respond to any of four emails that I sent confirming dates and times, and I finally called the school and left a message for the secretary, who never returned my call. I finally just showed up at the school on my requested date. All of the staff was in a meeting, so I joined and listened in, which was very interesting. At the end, the secretary asked the fourth grade teachers to hang out after the meeting and asked for a volunteer to let me observe for the morning. This was definitely the most unorganized school!

v During the staff meeting, which I attended the last 30 minutes of, the teachers discussed recess rules, indoor recess on snow days, PLCs (professional learning community), computer encryption, planning for 2016-17 class assignments, license renewal, substitute assignments, reimbursement procedures, and fundraising activities. I was glad that I was there for this part.

v This class had 28 kids, 26 of whom were in attendance on this day – 14 girls and 12 boys.

v The classroom was so sparse and boring. There were very few posters on the walls and no décor of any kind. It honestly looked like the teacher just moved in. I can’t imagine being interested or excited in going there every day as a kid or as a teacher! It was very cold and clinical, and not inviting at all.

v The kids knew their morning procedures, which included picking their lunch choice as they entered, putting backpacks and coats away, and getting out their planners.

v The teacher stood at a podium in the front of the room, or sat at her desk in the back. She did very little moving around the room at any point during the day.

v The kids corrected their math homework as a class, with the teacher explaining the process for solving each problem. I felt this was ineffective, as the kids could have just filled in the answers as they were read, and it was not interactive. I would ask students to share their strategy, and call individual students to the board to do the work so

that the kids could visualize it. If the kids had an error in process, I would have them write in red pen to correct the work.

v As the kids left on the previous day, they left the work they didn’t complete on their desk, which they completed after correcting their math homework. If they had finished all of their work, they read silently. I liked this process, as it reduces homework, and the kids can ask questions as they do the work. However, because there was so little interaction from the teacher, a lot of the students were just sitting doing nothing.

v While the students read silently and completed the prior day’s assignments, the teacher conducted testing with one student who was being evaluated for resource services and to see if she responded to intervention. In front of the student, the teacher volunteered to me that the student did not seem to be responding and rolled her eyes. The student read a passage and then answered comprehension questions, graphed the words-per-minute, number missed, total words, and total time. The student figured out how many words she got correct using subtraction, and then graphed the total. It was an interesting process because they student could see her progress on the graph. However, it seemed that the teacher used a new graph paper each time, instead of keeping a record over time, which I thing would be more beneficial and meaningful. The student also took a spelling test, writing the words as the teacher read them out loud, and then correcting the test herself using a key, telling the teacher what she did wrong, and then re-writing the word correctly.

v Students were beginning the process of writing opinion papers. The previous week the teacher had read aloud Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and students had written a list of reasons why pigeons shouldn’t be allowed to drive. On this day, the teacher reminded them of what they had done previously, and asked them to review their list and choose the three most important reasons, which they would be using to write a 5-sentence opinion paragraph. The students told their neighbor their three reasons. The teacher asked if their reasons were the same as their neighbor, and explained that everyone had their own opinion, and it didn’t have to be the same as anyone else’s. The class reviewed the structure of a 5-sentence paragraph, and discussed transition words and phrases. The teacher gave examples of openings, transitions, and conclusions written by other fourth graders. She read full paragraphs and asked if the kids heard the opening, opinions, transitions, and conclusion. I would have asked them to tell me what they heard instead of just soliciting a yes or no. I would also read some examples that were missing elements and have the kids figure out what was missing. The students only had 10 minutes to write.

v After recess, kids talked about fossils during science. The teacher showed an interactive state map on the overhead that had stars where fossils had been found throughout Utah. When she clicked on a star, a graphic showing the fossil, the animal it came from, and facts about it came up. The kids copied the information down onto a paper version of the map. This wasn’t engaging or effective, and I felt like the teacher was just checking the proverbial box.

v Next, the kids had math time. They did Rocket Math, working with partners to review single-digit multiplication problems, with one student calling out the answers and the other checking an answer key. This was not very effective. Many of the kids just talked, and others were not listening to their partner and checking the key. The teacher was at her desk entering grades while the kids “worked.”

v Then the class did Arithmetic Developed Daily. The students had a booklet with each day’s worksheets in it, which they tore off after each was completed. The teacher showed the worksheet on the overhead, and they discussed how to do each problem. She used clues like, ‘If it were me . . .’ and ‘Hint, this is a multi-step problem.’ The teacher said the kids had 8 minutes to complete it, but she gave them 15. Then they corrected it as a class and the kids put it away and took out their math notebooks. She basically gave them the answers and didn’t ‘teach’ them anything.

v The class had a lesson on perimeter and area in which the teacher drew quadrilaterals on the overhead and explained how to find the perimeter and area. She used an analogy of a yard, where the fence was the perimeter and the grass was the area. I liked that. The class did several together, then the kids tried to solve them on their own and then they did them as a class. Finally they received a worksheet that they did and then corrected.

v Finally, the class saw the homework worksheet they would be receiving and the teacher reviewed how to do each problem. I would have passed out the worksheet so they could write notes on them to help them solve the problems later.

v There were several things about this teacher that I didn’t care for. She was not engaging at all. She hardly ever smiled and, although her voice sounded animated, if you looked at her face it was frowning and not excited at all. She phrased almost all of her questions so that the answer was ‘no.’ She would ask, ‘would you do it this way? No.’

She seemed to give the kids the solutions or strategies, instead of engaging them in the conversation and helping them figure it out on their own. She did not use academic language at all. For example, she referred to the sides of the quadrilaterals as ‘the long one going down and the short one going across’ instead of saying ‘length’ and ‘width’.

v There were quite a few ways that I would have changed the lessons, as well.

• During the writing lesson, I would have let the kids choose whether to write about why pigeons should be allowed to drive the bus or why they should not. The seemed forced into one viewpoint, and were just finding reasons for the viewpoint, instead of having a true opinion of their own.
• During science, I would have displayed a timeline of the different periods of time so that the kids could relate one time period to another. The teacher just said that one animal lived ‘way, way, way, way, way before/after’ another animal. I would also have discussed what some of the bigger words in their text meant, like paleontologist, carnivore, beast-breasted, etc. It would also have been interesting for them to see other places in the world that may have had the same fossils as those found in Utah. The teacher explained that the marine life fossils were found in the west, ice-age fossils in the middle, and dinosaurs in the east of the state. She chalked it up to the writers just choosing to use those fossils in those areas. I would have found out if there was actually a correlation to the terrain.
• During math, I would have used examples other than quadrilaterals for finding perimeter because their homework had triangles and other shapes. She also told them that the strategy for finding perimeter was adding, but then she taught them how to use multiplication, which could have been confusing.

v There were some processes and routines that I liked in this classroom.

• If the kids left the class for any reason, they signed in and out.
• I liked that the teacher told about homework as they were discussing that subject, rather than waiting for the end of the day when the kids may have forgotten about it.

v There were also some processes and routines lacking or that I would change in this classroom.

• I couldn’t identify any transitions.
• The teacher interacted negatively with the students. One student lost his place and the teacher said, ‘It’s right there on the board. If you would just look you can see it.’ I didn’t feel this was an appropriate response.
• I would have had the kids write their homework in their planners.
• I would have asked the kids for their ideas and opinions more.
• There was no system for interruptions. The teacher was constantly being interrupted by kids who needed to sharpen a pencil, get a drink, or go to the bathroom.
• Kids didn’t have the supplies they needed at their table groups, so they were constantly getting up to get colored pencils, glue, scissors, etc.
• Lots of kids were blowing their noses, and there was no hand-washing or hand-sanitizer protocol.
• Many kids were tapping, wiggling, chatting.
• Someone was ALWAYS at the pencil sharpener, and it was very distracting. I would have a big cup full of sharpened pencils available for them to take.
• The classroom door was open all day and there was a VERY loud teacher across the hall. I can’t imagine how the students didn’t get distracted.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 7

January 25, 2016

v 27 students; 21 are boys. 26 in attendance on day of observation.

v Sports themed classroom

v Reading level ranges from C through X

v Student who reads at a C level excels at math

v 4^th year teaching; First year taught 2^nd grade then looped to 3^rd during second year. Moved to Blackridge when it opened 2014-15 school year

v Teacher had music playing while the students entered. Greeted each at the door with a ‘Good morning,’ calling each by name.

v Teacher assigned weekly jobs, then lunch helper read off names for students to go to the back wall, get their lunch stick off the ‘team roster’ and move it to the proper lunch bucket.

v Team meeting

• Kids joined teacher at the carpet and listened to school-wide announcements, talked about their weekends, reviewed classroom goals and told what they had done over the weekend to work toward accomplishing them

§  Academic goal – Sight Words

§  7-Habits goal – Put first things first

§  Behavior goal – What can I do to act differently?

• As each student told their story, the class celebrated the accomplishment with ‘one big hand clap.’  I loved this.  It gave the recognition of applause, but saved from drawn out exaggerated clapping.
• Students were excused to go back to their desks and were instructed to compliment three people and tell them good morning on their way there.

v I worked with individuals and small groups re-teaching the concept of elapsed time.

• They had plastic clocks to help them visually and kinesthetically.
• Students completed a worksheet with questions requiring they figure out how many minutes had elapsed or would elapse between events.
• They were also given times on the clock and had to identify both the number of minutes before the next hour, and the number of minutes after the previous hour.  For example, 2:40 could be two-forty or twenty minutes before three.
• Conceptually the kids had difficulty distinguishing between the two and I had to try various methods to help them understand which, I believe, they were starting to in the end.

v While I was working with the small group, the teacher conducted a read-aloud with the class, reading The Great Fuzz Frenzy (Stevens, 2005). She was animated and articulate. She would stop and ask the students, ‘What is a question you have right now as a reader?’ and would write the questions on the board to see if they could be answered by the text.

v The students spent time in the library learning how to look up books by genre, or determine which genre a book was by the database information. They could check out two books at a time.

v I really liked how this teacher did spelling.

• She used a Fry word list (Fry, 1996) as a pre-test at the beginning of the year to level the kids. Then she worked her way down the list from easiest to hardest and added the next sequential five words as individual sight words for the students. 
• In addition, there were 10 words that she assigned based on the next pattern in her scope and sequence. 
• Finally, students brainstormed 10-15 other words that fit the pattern and the teacher would randomly pick five of them.
• This gave the kids a total of 20 words each week. 
• The pattern on this day was the ‘ah’ sound made by o, au, aw, and al.  I was really impressed with the words that the kids brainstormed, such as maul, awesome, and caught. This system gave the kids some investment in the process, and differentiated for each student’s needs.
• As the kids reviewed each word, they clapped out syllables, identified the pattern, and used the words in sentences. If kids misunderstood a word, she would kindly clarify, and used these as teachable moments to remind the students about the meanings of homonyms, synonyms, comparative and superlative. She was very alert to the kids thinking, and used it to ‘beef up’ the lesson on the spot.

v Mrs. L. had some great ways to keep the kids engaged.

• She silently awarded marbles into a glass fishbowl praising kids for good behavior. When they reached a certain level in the bowl, they earned a class party.
• If a student was going to speak, she would announce, ‘Eyes and ears tracking to . . .’ and give the students name.
• She used various chants, parrots, and songs throughout the day to reward behaviors, praise correct answers, and regain attention.
• Every transition was conducted with a song.

• As kids worked silently at their desks throughout the day, she would rotate around the room giving smiley faces on their best work. She encouraged kids to self-reflect and give themselves smiley faces or stars on the work they were most proud of.

v Students had cursive practice next. She displayed the letter of the day on the projector and had the kids trace it with their fingers in the air. She used terms like over-curve, under-curve, slant, etc. that made it very easy for the kids to decipher the shapes of the letters. Then she did two examples on the overhead, and the kids tried the rest on their own.

v Finally, I had the pleasure of watching Dragon Slayer Math (Fay, n.d.). This innovative program created by one of the school’s teachers, encouraged and motivated kids to learn their multiplication facts. Before beginning, kids worked their way through a series of skip-counting songs to refresh their memories about their math facts. Then, students worked at their own pace, getting the worksheet they last left off with (single-digit through 9s), and then being timed for one minute. They did as many of the problems as they could. If they got all but one or two, they could move on to the next level. If they were unable to complete that many, they tried that level again next time. After they completed all of the 0-9 tables, they were ‘knighted’ by the principal in a special ceremony. 

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 8

February 8, 2016

v Since the first observation, this teacher’s class reduced to 25 students, all Caucasian; 22 in attendance, nearly evenly split boys and girls.

v When I arrived, students were cutting out and sorting spelling words.  They had 21 words following ‘ar’, ‘or’, and ‘Ər’.

v After they had the allotted time to sort the words, she told them that she was interested to know how the students chose to sort the words. They easily identified the ‘ar’ and ‘or’ patterns, but could not easily identify the third pattern, using a schwa.  She read all of the words in that sort, and asked what sound each of the words had in common. The students agreed it was the ‘er’ sound. She did not explain how that sound could be created in a number of ways, using the spelling words as examples, which I would have done. The teacher gave a brief introduction to the schwa-r pattern, but didn’t actually teach about the schwa. I would have done a pre-lesson about the schwa if I knew it was coming up in our patterns. After explaining it, the kids had an opportunity to ‘fix their sort.’ Then they did the sort together on the board, and recited one sound pattern at a time saying each word then ‘chunking it out’, breaking the word into blends.  For example, the word ‘worst’ became ‘wuh-er-st’.  Finally, one student used the word in a sentence and earned a sticker.  After working on the words as a class, the kids wrote their sort in their spelling notebooks. A baggie was attached to the inside of their notebook to contain the cut out words for that week. This was a brilliant idea.

v Kids then began Writers Workshop. The teacher explained a week long Valentine’s Day project they would be doing, which involved writing notes to each other. It was a cute system that I will probably mimic for my classroom. It ensured that all students would receive the same number of Valentines. All students’ names were placed into a container labeled ‘Need a Valentine.’ As kids had spare time during the week, they would randomly draw one student’s name, write him or her a Valentine, and then put the student’s name in to the container labeled ‘Has a Valentine.’ Once all kids had one, the names would be put back into the ‘Need’ container and it would start all over.  They could do it as many times as they were able during the week. 

v Next, the students had a coloring activity by parts of speech. The teacher reviewed what nouns, verbs, and adjectives were. When it was time for recess, the kids put the paper in their ‘Working On’ folder. I liked this idea and will use it in my classroom.

v During Guided Reading, three groups were pulled. One was working on fluency, and she tested two of the four students using Dibels. The second group was working on comprehension, and she asked them questions about what they had read and had them share the answer to a pre-assigned question about the text with the group. The last group was working on phonics using Fry word list words and phrases. The last two groups used whisper phones. While the small groups worked with the teacher, other students worked on Daily 5.

v One student was chosen as ‘Thing of the Week,’ and was able to make a poster and tell about herself.  Then the kids did Calendar, which included time, money, and dates. It was much more effective than I had seen in the other teacher’s class at this school.

v After lunch, students had a math lesson about ‘ungrouping’ to the hundreds place. The kids did four problems together on the board, and then completed the balance of the pages in their workbook themselves. The teacher rotated around the room and answered individual questions.

v Next kids got a ‘brain break’ and danced along with a computerized figure on the screen.

v Since they were practicing for an upcoming performance for their parents, ‘Grammarosaurus’ (Heath, 2008), the students joined another second grade class to go through songs and written parts. It was absolutely adorable. I was impressed with the memorization of the kids. I wondered, though, how much teaching is coordinated with the play. I would probably be singing the songs in class, and would give students with speaking parts a highlighted script to practice from, perhaps letting them read or write their part during Daily 5.

v Science was short and kind of pointless.  Kids took out an animal atlas that they have been working on and copied the coloring of a map on the overhead to identify the habitats in Australia.  There was absolutely no instruction, and this seemed like a waste of time just to check that box for the day.

v The final activity of the day was Spanish. While the regular classroom teacher left to attend an IEP conference, a specials teacher came into the class to teach them Spanish.  Unfortunately, she had such broken English herself that it was difficult for the kids to understand her, let alone understand the Spanish.  They sang a song they had memorized, listened to a story about Valentine’s Day that contained some Spanish words, and had only four minutes to complete a color-by-numero worksheet. I felt this teacher was unnecessarily gruff with the kids, and lost her patience easily. I would not want to leave my students in the hands of this particular specials teacher.

v Transitions were not as smooth this time as they were the previous observation in this class. The kids were much louder overall, and had to repeat a couple of transitions because they were so out of control. As I mentioned in the previous observation of this teacher, each time kids were preparing to start a new activity they were ushered to ‘the carpet’ to get instructions. This seemed to be an effective method, but the teacher was quite distracted on this day, so I think that’s why the kids got a little boisterous.

v The teacher seemed kind of frustrated with the kids on this day, but that could very well be because she was about 2 weeks from delivering a baby, and had been experiencing the symptoms of pre-eclampsia.

v I noticed that early finishers didn’t know what to do with themselves and were often distracting to other students. I plan to provide a week-long early finishers project so that kids knew exactly what to do when they were done with an assignment.

v Many of the things in this room were very tall for the small kids. I would buy low and wide bookshelves that even the tiniest second grader could reach the top of.  Problems on the whiteboard were even written at a height that the smallest student could not reach.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 9

February 29, 2016

v Class of 25 made up of 11 girls and 14 boys

v 24 students were present on the day of observation

v 3 students had culturally diverse backgrounds

v Reading levels span from O – Y

v The class was sparsely decorated and, frankly, not very welcoming. Desks were arranged in groups of 5 or 6, but not lined up to anything and appearing somewhat haphazard. There were very few anchor charts or posters in the room. The areas for students’ personal things were numbered, and only a small number had their names on their desks, so there didn’t seem to be a sense of personalization or belonging. This made me wonder if students had ownership of the room and a sense of accountability and responsibility for it and its care.

v As the class entered, the teacher greeted them with a happy good morning and reminded them of their jobs – doing the lunch count and working on the tasks listed on the board:

• Mountain Language #1-5
• Vocabulary Square
• Spelling written in planner
• Utah Compose

v Students came right in and got to work quickly.

v  The teacher took individual students out of the room for Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System testing, while I stayed in the classroom and guided the students through their lessons.

v The class graded the Mountain Language worksheets together. Many struggled with finding the proper state abbreviation for Alaska, and it made me wonder what kind of lesson had come before making this request of them.

v Next, the students were instructed to get a Journeys for Kids book, which were stored in a central location and numbered by student.

• Although the teacher interaction is scripted within this text, the teacher did a great job of making it very natural and collaborative, asking the students comprehension questions throughout, encouraging them to preview, contemplate, make predictions about the text, and then to discuss their predictions with their ‘elbow partners.’
• Students took turns reading the assigned text out-loud, one paragraph at a time, using a microphone that was passed through the room. Before they began reading, the teacher told them the order they would read in, so there was no time wasted figuring out whom to pass the microphone to next.

v The students’ next activity, after a short recess, was Math.  Again, the students entered the room to see their tasks written on the board. They seemed to know exactly what to do, beginning work on their Arithmetic Developed Daily book, then playing math fact games with partners.

• The ADD worksheet was corrected together. The teacher asked individual students to share their answers, but I would have added a step of asking them to also share their strategy for solving the problem so as to expand the knowledge of other students who may have solved it a different way.

v Students then had a direct instruction lesson about understanding fractions, specifically adding unit fractions. The teacher worked along with the students using an overhead camera, and asked the students to write down their objective, the definition of a unit fraction, and several drawings of like-sized but differently divided rectangles representing whole, one-half, one-fourth, one-third, one-fifth, and one-twelfth. As she moved on to each new representation, she would say ‘one-half plus one-half equals one whole’. I would have added the information that ½ + ½ = ²/₂, which equals a whole because anytime the numerator and denominator are the same, it equals one. There wasn’t any identification made of the numerator and denominator, and I’m not sure how much background knowledge the kids had, so I would have introduced/reinforced those definitions as well. Even though the concept is more advanced, I would have also shown that the denominator doubles when the fractions are made smaller. Since this is a difficult concept to grasp, giving the kids multiple exposures will help to build the necessary background knowledge as they move to more complex areas of working with fractions.

v Next the kids moved on to adding unit fractions. the teacher explained to the students that only the numerators were added, and the denominator stayed the same. But, she didn’t offer an explanation of why. I feel that students learn much better if they grasp the concept, rather than just knowing how to complete the steps. In order to practice the task of adding unit fractions, students were asked to get a whiteboard (large, placemat sized, laminated sheets), which were kept in a drawer in the back of the room. This resulted in 24 students getting out of their desks and congregating near the cabinet. This was terribly inefficient and took a longer than necessary amount of time. I would have asked one or two students to pass the whiteboards out to their classmates. The teacher led the kids in a game of ‘show me.’ She wrote a unit fraction addition problem on the board, the kids wrote their answers and then, on the count of three, they held them up for her to see.  This was a great formative assessment, allowing the teacher to instantly see who was grasping the concept, except there was no re-teaching or reinforcement, so I’m not sure it was being used this way. Next, individual students were able to go to the board and write a problem. Some went a little crazy and tried to write way to many 1/100 + 1/100 + . . . but the teacher stopped them politely. Finally, the teacher gave the students an answer and asked them to write the unit-fraction addition problem they would have to use to get that answer.

v The students completed a 2-page worksheet about sums of unit fractions with a partner. If not complete, this was homework due the next morning, but the teacher encouraged the students to use their time wisely and try to get it completed in the time allowed.

v I particularly liked two of the teacher’s routines: The kids gave her a thumbs-up when they had completed transition instructions and were ready to begin working on the new task; and students placed a ‘hall pass’ on their desk when they left the room to use the restroom or run an errand, telling her at a quick glance who was missing and why. I will incorporate both of these routines into my classroom.

v There were also several things I appreciated about the teacher’s teaching style. She was constantly moving through the classroom, engaging students, encouraging participation, and allowing appropriate think time.  When discipline was required, it was done quietly either with individual students (moving a desk to a new spot) or as a group (put your heads down and think about how you should be acting). However, the students clearly needed a brief ‘brain break’ by this point in the morning, which I would have done between correcting the Mountain Language and beginning the Journeys for Kids assignment. A quick physical activity can do wonders for a tired group of fourth graders.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 10

March 7, 2016

v 27 students; 12 boys and 15 girls

v 2 special needs students; 1 high-functioning autistic, 1 academically low

v Western themed classroom was very well organized, relevant posters & anchor charts, current work displayed. Posters, etc., were hung at child height, which I haven’t seen before and loved the idea of.

v As the students arrived, the teacher was in a brief conference in the office, so I greeted the kids and encouraged them to get their morning jobs done. They knew exactly what to do; took their chairs down, moved their lunch sticks to the appropriate choice, and got their planners out. Then they started working immediately on Cowboy Comprehension. When the students finished that assignment, they began to read silently.

• Cowboy Comprehension is a weekly reading comprehension assignment at their reading level with set daily activities for each day. 

v As the students worked, the teacher rotated through the room to check if planners were signed by parents. If so, she stamped the planner and gave the student a sticker, which they could spend in a raffle on Fridays.

v The teacher reviewed the scheduled for the day, detailing specific learning in each subject, and then answered questions about the day.

v The morning consisted of their language block. The first order of business was Fluency Folders.  Mrs. F. asked the students to explain these to me, and tell me what it means to be a fluent reader.

• Fluency Folders are individual by student. They work with a partner to read a leveled passage, while the partner times, tracks accuracy, and gives constructive criticism, scoring their fluency with a score of 1 through 5. Students then graph their progress, which helps provide informal assessment to guide the teacher as to when to move the students up or down.  There is a formal, cold-read assessment for each level to confirm her decision.
• There are 6 reading assignments for each level, and a volunteer comes in every Thursday to switch the old assignment for the new one each week. 

v Mrs. F. reviewed the types of questions that readers ask which students had previously learned. She had a hand motion for each one – Right there (the answer is right there in the text); Think & Search (the answer may be hidden in various places and the reader has to search for them and then think about the connection); Author & Me (answer is inferred by the text, but not explicitly given). Today the kids were working on Inference.

• The teacher used a great example. She told them that they were going on a trip to Alaska, and that they should pack their suitcase. She then solicited suggestions from the kids as to what they would pack. Mrs. F. explained that she didn’t tell them to pack a coat, gloves, boots and a hat. All she did was give them the clue that they were going to Alaska, and they used their background knowledge to figure out the answer of what to pack. The kids really got it.
• They had also been working on identifying and using text elements, so she showed a story on the document camera, which each student had a copy of, and asked them to use the pictures, title, and captions to figure out what the story might be about. Then she read the story out loud and asked the kids to make inferences about the text.
• After completing the assignment, Mrs. F. wrote: “Make inferences when I read” to the ‘Today I Can’ section of the white board.

v Then the kids transitioned into the Work Board, which Mrs. F. uses instead of Daily 5. There are multiple stations that the kids rotate through in 20-minute blocks during the week.

• ABC Page – Each day the kids get a new letter of the alphabet. They pick something that begins with that letter that describes them, and write about and illustrate it. They were on ‘U’, and will begin the alphabet again after going all the way through. At the end of the year, all of their pages will be bound into a book about them to give to the parents. Mrs. F. explained that other teachers use the ABC pages to have the kids write about animals. I loved this idea and will definitely use it in my classroom.
• Writing Station – The kids reinforce the language arts skill they learned during the previous week using wipe-off boards, paper, wiki-stix, and other tools.
• Listening Center – Kids listened to an audio book reinforcing a skill they learned during the current or previous week.
• Game – Kids played a game related to skill reinforcement.
• Reading Group – In leveled groups, the kids worked with me on their inferring skill, using background knowledge questions, reading a passage, and answering questions about the text.
• During this time, the teacher would pull small groups to re-teach or reinforce concepts, and some students were pulled for additional academic enhancement or challenge.

v Next I conducted a read-aloud with the students about Prairie Dogs, reinforcing the ideas of inferring and using text elements. Mrs. F. explained to me that inferring was a skill required on the Sage test. I started by telling my own story about personal experiences with prairie dogs. Then we reviewed the different text elements. As I read, the students followed along on their own copy of the non-fiction text. I would stop periodically and ask comprehension questions or ask the kids to make inferences. At the end, I solicited questions from the kids, and asked the other students to find text clues to help answer them.

v Grammar Minute came next. The kids were learning about commas, and the teacher used many different interactions to help the kids understand commas and their use. They made the comma in the air with their fingers, brainstormed placed that commas might be used and why (including in math), and discussed with ‘elbow partners’ about how using commas makes us better writers and readers. The teacher rotated through the classroom to listen to the conversations and ensure the students understood the concept.

As a class, the students voted on whether the pause caused by a comma is longer or shorter than the pause created by a period, and the students all practiced writing commas. Finally, the teacher put a worksheet on the board and called students up to find where commas should have been placed. The class did the first two together, then the kids tried one on their own and discussed it as a class, and finally the class did the remaining sentences individually.

v As the students prepared to go to P.E., they put their cursive books and pencils so they would be ready for the next activity when they returned.

• The gym was occupied when we went to P.E., so we spent time outside doing exercises from a set of Superman-themed flash cards, in which one student model an exercise and the class followed along for 10 reps. Then they played Star Wars using foam pool noodles cut in half to have ‘light saber’ battles.  The teacher gave a criterion for each round, such as green versus orange, boys versus girls, etc.  Finally the kids used Chinese jump ropes. This time with the teacher was invaluable. I really enjoyed talking to her and getting ideas about student teaching, differentiation, and keeping kids engaged throughout the day. She was very complimentary of my time spent with the students, so that was nice, too.

v When the kids came back in, the teacher modeled and the students practiced writing the cursive letter N, then the kids brainstormed words that started with N, which the teacher wrote on the board. Finally the kids practiced writing the brainstormed words in their cursive notebook.

v The last activity before lunch was the teacher introducing the students’ new science unit, Heat and Light, which they would be doing in the afternoon. She showed them a traditional thermometer, and a Galileo thermometer, and explained how each works.  The Galileo thermometer she has was a gift from her uncle who had a very large floor model when Mrs. F. was growing up. She shared the story that, when she got her own classroom, her uncle gave her the one she had as a gift. I liked how she made it personal to the kids, and used that as a teaching moment about safety and being careful.

v There were many routines this teacher had that I will use in my classroom.

• The kids earned “money” in the form of a dollar amount written on the board that was modified throughout the day based on behavior. We didn’t discuss it, but I assume the kids earned something when they reached a certain amount.
• She was always previewing what would be coming next for the kids, such as detailing the schedule for the day, getting their materials prepped for the next activity, and sharing the thermometers. This allowed the kids to begin thinking – consciously or subconsciously – about that next activity and to get excited about it.
• I liked the communication she used with parents, in the form of a daily planner check and a monthly newsletter. This seemed like it was enough to keep parents informed, but not enough to overwhelm her or them.
• She was very organized when it came to volunteers. There was one drawer in her cabinets that had a binder for each volunteer. She would put the materials she wanted that person working on in the binder and, when they arrived, the volunteer would know exactly what to do and have all of their materials without having to interrupt or disrupt the class. One volunteer worked with reading groups, one worked on re-teaching, and one worked on classroom organization and prep.
• To regain the kids’ attention, the teacher would say ‘Back with me in 3, 2, and 1’. This worked nearly without fail. If anyone was still talking, she would silently walk over and reduce the dollar amount on the board by $1 or $2, depending on the number of disrupters or add money if they responded appropriately.
• Sticking with the theme of her classroom, there was a branding iron with a G and one with a B. If a student needed to use the restroom, he or she got the appropriate brand and put it on their desk. If the G brand was gone, other girls had to wait to take a turn using the restroom.
• I liked the teacher’s “Today I Can . . .” on the board, and how she identified things that the kids mastered. I think this would give them a sense of pride and motivation.
• For students who were absent, a red folder was placed on their desk. As the day went on, one student was in charge of putting a copy of each worksheet or assignment in the folder so the student had everything they needed when they returned.

This was one of my favorite observation experiences. I hope to be as effective, efficient, and engaging as a teacher with my own class as Mrs. F. was with hers.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 11

March 21, 2016

v 25 students; 15 boys, 10 girls; 23 present

v Huge span of reading levels from E-W

v 3 students require adaptations and modifications, which she offers partially in the form of higher students helping lower students, reading math word problems out loud to lower readers, headphones with white noise for distracted learners, stickers to encourage participation, and student/parent/teacher contracts.

v The classroom was busy and unorganized, with students’ names written with sharpie on their desks, and no rhyme or reason as to where things were placed or stored. It was basically a disaster. Being a Monday, I was surprised that some care to clean up wasn’t taken before class started.  The teacher did not have a desk, so her things were haphazardly placed throughout the room.

v To enter the classroom, the teacher asked the kids Brain Quest questions.  This process took nearly 12 minutes. Many of the students were not able to answer, so she gave them the correct answer and let them in. I felt this was appropriate because the kids may have felt pressure being put on the spot, and it was a still learning experience to give them the answer. Overall, I thought this was an adequate entry ticket, but not ideal. It took a long time, and didn’t really serve a purpose. I would probably choose to quiz them on spelling words, give them a math problem to answer, or something else related to their curriculum.

v As the kids entered, they hung up their backpacks, took their chairs down, and began working on their Password Journal, which included work around a word and number written on the board. The words were taken from their spelling or grammar lessons. During this time, the teacher rotated around the room, reminding them to turn in library books, answering questions, and listening to stories. Kids brought their password journals to her to check when they were done.

v At one point, the teacher instructed that they would be entering a ‘noise-free’ zone and began a count down.  Many students were still talking and making other noises after she reached zero, but there was no enforcement and, within a matter of minutes, the decibels shot up again.

v One method of behavior management this teacher used was to award table points. She used positive reinforcement, saying, ‘I like the way table one is . .’

v 30 minutes or so into their day, the kids gathered at ‘the rug’, which was actually just an area of the room, for calendar time. This was student led, very unorganized, and generally ineffective.  The teacher did not have any engagement with the kids during this time. I feel that calendar time is a very important ‘life-skill’ type of lesson and should not be taken lightly. It should be teacher-led, and developed into a routine.

v Next the kids shared about their weekends in an ‘inside-out circle’, where one half of the kids (numbered off 1, 2, 1, 2) stood in a circle surrounding a cluster of desks and faced out, while the other half paired up with them and faced in. The idea was that they rotated in opposite directions while music played and, when the music stopped, they shared about their weekend with the student they ‘landed’ in front of. However, the kids moved at different speeds, tripped, bunched up, and sometimes even switched circles. The result was some kids not participating at all, and others arguing over which person landed in front of whom. Again, unorganized and ineffective, but a nice thought. I would have drawn Popsicle sticks and let selected students share while they were still on ‘the rug.’

v The teacher then had all of the students sit back down on the rug and she reviewed the features and elements of a fairy tale, and talked about what strategies the students could use when they came across a word they didn’t know in their reading, writing each strategy on poster board.  She then read Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale, by Lynn Roberts, out loud, stopping for words they may not know and writing them down, then analyzing them with the students using the strategies they wrote down. When students got them right, she tossed them a Skittle. She was a great reader, and kept most the kids entertained and engaged. Others were engaged in side conversations, and there was a lot of fidgeting.  Unfortunately they did not have time to finish the story before snack and recess. To dismiss the kids to recess, she asked the questions recapping the strategies they had discussed. The ‘secret’ Skittle color was green, so anyone who got a green Skittle (which seemed to be the entire class) got to pick something out of the prize bucket. Kids were then given a squirt of hand sanitizer and excused to get their coats. The hand sanitizer ended up being a game, though, and many were throwing it and splashing each other, which went unnoticed.

v When the kids returned, they began a literacy block, and I worked with four different small groups on using text elements to define unknown words.  This was, of course, very fun and gratifying, but I was a little surprised that the teacher asked me to do an activity that she had just purchased, was unfamiliar with, and the kids had not done before. I had to immediately gauge the students’ abilities in each group and modify the activity accordingly.

v As with my other observations at this school, I was, once again, struck by how noisy this school was, and this class was no exception. It was downstairs, and the foot-stomping, chair dragging, door closing noises from the second level were very distracting.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 12

April 4, 2016

v Since my first observation in this class, the student body has grown and is now composed of 11 girls and 15 boys

v 25 students were present on the day of observation

v 3 students had culturally diverse backgrounds

v Reading levels span from O – Y

v I had previously observed for a half-day in this class and not much had changed in the five weeks between.  There were a few examples of student work on the wall from a recent weather unit.

v As during the last observation, the teacher greeted them with a happy good morning and reminded them of their jobs – doing the lunch count and working on the tasks listed on the board. 

v Since some of the worksheets they were using were formatted differently from what they were used to, the teacher took time to review the differences. She noted to me that, anytime a worksheet was new or different, she didn’t place them on the students’ desks but held them out to give an opportunity to explain them. I thought this was a great idea and will implement it in my classroom.  Again, students came right in and got to work quickly.  Attention and skill varied greatly. Some kids were done in 15 minutes, and some took all 45 and still didn’t finish. The Mountain Language was corrected as a class.

• During this time, I worked with individual students who needed to practice their multiplication facts just outside the classroom playing War using cards, with each of us drawing a card and the student multiplying the two drawn numbers together.

v The next activity was shared reading, in which the class took turns reading out loud from their Journeys for Kids book. The teacher explained to me before class began that she realized in the middle of the night that her kids needed more practice reading out loud. So, she came up with several innovative ways to have them read this text, including boys and then girls, pulling Popsicle sticks, by table groups, and a group of two boys who weren’t paying attention. There was not much emphasis on fluency traits, but she recognized that they needed to get more experience reading before trying to add in tone, emphasis, and excitement in their voices.

v Students then began their math work, using their Arithmetic Developed Daily book, then playing math fact games with partners. This worksheet was also corrected as a class.

• Following ADD, the teacher directly instructed the students about relating fractions to decimals. They wrote several things in their math journals together including the objective, and then some examples. The lesson was totally ineffective. The students may have ended up understanding the steps, but certainly didn’t understand the concept. Decimals were an entirely new concept and the teacher wasn’t confident in her approach. In fact, later in the lunch room, she asked another teacher on her team how she approached it. Knowing this is such a complex concept, I would have put a lot more thought into the lesson strategy.

v While students got a head start on their homework, the teacher read out loud from a novel.

v Next, the kids switched classrooms, a process that took a significant amount of time. The class that came into this classroom worked on practicing using the computer tools available during an upcoming state-based test, which Ms. S’s class worked on web-based visual math instruction software called ST Math, by MIND Research Institute. I was a little confused as to why the kids had to switch classes for this, but recognized it may have been a nice break in the day for them and a chance to be in a new environment for a period of time.

v During social studies, students began reviewing informational binders that had been created for a particular county in the state of Utah that they were doing a report on. The binders included the history, language, monuments, origin of the name, facts & figures such as area, elevation and population, geographic information, historical populations such as Native Americans and trappers, fossils and minerals, agriculture, and highways. On this day, students created a cover page for their report and one worksheet that contained demographic information about their county.

v Students were given the choice of five novels to read in literary circles. They would spend one week reading the novels as a group, and each had a job to complete during the reading. The teacher read a synopsis of each book, and then drew Popsicle sticks to determine an order for the students to choose. Unfortunately, some kids took longer to decide than others, so some of them lost their chance to pick a particular book because others whose names were drawn later chose more quickly. I would have had the kids line up in the order called and wait their turn.

v For science, the kids were working on review activities as they had completed their units for the year. Today’s activity began a two-week review of weather. This would be accomplished by making an A, B, C book about weather, choosing one weather-related term for each letter of the alphabet and creating a page containing the letter, the word, a definition, a sentence using the word, and an illustration of the word. These would be shared with the students’ first-grade buddies at the end of the two weeks.

v I was reminded of the many things I liked about Ms. S’s classroom, including the system of putting their thumbs up when students were ready to transition, and the way she was constantly interacting with the kids and rotating around the room. Overall, her classroom was managed well and the kids stayed engaged all day.

Perceptions and Reflections - My time gettin' schooled . . . Episode 13

April 13, 2016

v 27 students; 21 are boys. 26 in attendance on day of observation.

v Sports themed classroom

v Reading level ranges from C through X

v As I arrived, the teacher was setting up for a special breakfast that the kids were going to have to celebrate finishing their unit on biographies of famous leaders. The classroom was absolutely adorable, with table cloths, center pieces, and doily placemats. Many of the students arrived in suits or fancy dresses, prepared to give an oral presentation and show their 3-D portrait, created using a 2-litre bottle as the base for construction. The format for the oral presentations, which they had practiced in class, was to go to the front of the class with their portrait, and share three facts and answer two questions about their leader of choice.

• The information shared in each presentation varied differently, so many of the questions were around what day they were born or died, and who they were or what they did. Some students even forgot to introduce their leader (i.e., the student who presented about Michelle Obama forgot to say that she was the First Lady.)  For this reason, the only thing I would have changed would be to give specific criteria in an outline format, such as,

§  “My report is about . . . “

§  “He is an influential leader because . . .”

§  “He was born on _____, and died on _____”

§  “Three important/interesting facts about _____ are . . .”

This was a great project and a fun unit which I would like to incorporate into my curriculum. 

v When the teacher had to leave in the morning to attend a PTA meeting, the mom of one student came into the class to lead them in a writing assignment and in a cursive lesson.  The class was very disrespectful and disruptive. I had to stop the class three different times and ask them to change their behavior.  The mom shared this experience with the teacher when she returned.

v As a result, the teacher held a class meeting to discuss what happened, and to tell them that, since she had received negative reports from substitutes and aides in the past, there would now be a consequence if it happened again, explaining that the class would lose their afternoon recess. I thought that this was a respectful and professional way to handle the situation. She addressed the issue immediately, explained why their behavior was unacceptable, and told them what the consequence would be if they made that choice again.

v The next activity involved continuing the writing process for an opinion paper about whether or not John Glenn was an American hero. This was very well done and planned out, breaking the assignment into chunks for each step in the writing process. The teacher used appropriate academic language, and the assignment was very interactive. She frequently worked along with the kids using an overhead projector. After completing a paper organizer outlining their introductory and concluding paragraphs and three interesting facts based on a written passage, the students drafted a complete paragraph, which I typed into the Utah Compose program, intentionally making several errors for the students to find and correct. The class then worked together to complete the revising and editing steps. This simulated the writing portion of an upcoming standardized test they would be taking and gave them practice navigating the writing process on the computer.  The following week, students would be given a new writing passage and would go through the same steps on their own to write an opinion paper based on that prompt.

v Students then worked on Dragon Slayer math, which is thoroughly described in the notes from my previous observation with this teacher.

v I conducted a read-aloud with the students, reading from a novel they had been listening to called The Power of Un. 

v During math, the teacher was beginning to work with the students on fractions. She did an amazing job, and was much more effective than the other teachers I have observed. During the time, the class discussed the grading percentages for a test that the teacher handed back and how they related to fractions, graphed their results, worked through a guided instruction math worksheet together, completing each problem as a group, and then worked on an independent instruction worksheet with similar problems on their own. When providing direct instruction, the teacher described visual examples such as dividing a watermelon between friends, used circles with dots to represent the division of the whole, pointed out ‘clue words’ like sum, and discussed patterns and various strategies. She really diversified the instruction so that each student could understand. With each problem they did together, she asked the class to share the strategies they used, offered lots of praise, and encouraged the students to celebrate each other. When correcting, kids used a red pen, which would be an effective way to make sure that they weren’t filling in the answers as they were given instead of figuring them out for themselves. As the students came across a problem asking them to shade 3/3 of a box, she exclaimed that they were about to make a big discovery and was very animated when they figured out that it represented one whole.

v For science, the students experimented with dropping marbles of different sizes into a flat container of flour to create craters like those on the moon, and also discussed the orbit of the moon around the earth and the earth around the sun. They completed several pages from their Moon Journals, answering in complete sentences things like ‘where does the moon get its light from’, and ‘what causes day and night.’ The kids began working on a paper model of the moon, earth, and sun that would show the orbits and which would be completed the following day.

v As during the last observation, the teacher used a number of ways to keep the kids engaged such as songs, chants, and constant interaction. Other than working independently with a couple of students who were struggling with fractions, she didn’t sit down once, and was involved with the kids all day. I also noticed a couple of new things on this day:

• Kids talked to ‘eyeball buddies’ (the person across from them) or ‘elbow buddies’ (the person next to them) to share strategies, provide ‘coaching’, and explain concepts.
• When students were done with a task, they put their hands on their heads. This not only notified the teacher they were ready to move on, but also kept them from getting distracted by something else on their or their neighbor’s desks.

***

So, that was my Observation experience, totalling about 64 hours in classrooms and learning what I want to do (and don't want to do) when I'm in my own class.  In season 2, I'll detail my experiences as a Student Teacher, when I will be Marge in Charge of my own little group of tiny humans for 12 full weeks - eeek!  I'm waiting for hear what grade and school I'll be assigned to, but hoping to be placed at a local elementary school, Blackridge, which was my favorite to conduct observations in and the place I felt I connected with the most. And, it has the added bonus of a 3-minute commute from home. :) I could go for that.

Stay tuned . . .