Classroom Observation Paper

In a good classroom, students should feel safe and comfortable. The classroom was staffed with Ms. Caitlin the kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Doherty the teacher's assistant. The class size consisted of twenty children. The classroom held five round tables with four students per table. Having tables rather than individual desks, Ms. Caitlin encouraged a sense of community rather than allowing a child to be alone at a desk. The furniture was at an appropriate level and size for 5 and 6-year-old children. Also, there was space for children to store their work and personal belongings in cubbies. The class had four different learning center stations these included: writing/reading center, block center, math center, and the kitchen center. Bulletin boards were displayed and decorated with colorful pictures which reinforced concepts learned in the classroom. For example, the alphabet, numbers and days of the week. Student work was also visible in the classroom. In the front of the classroom, a smartboard and rug was arranged for the students to gather for lessons and play. This area was kept free from all forms of distraction. In the back of the room, extra materials were available such as pencils, erasers, crayons, glue sticks, and scissors. Overall, I believe that Ms. Caitlin provided her students with a positive, cheerful, and organized learning environment. She instilled in her students that the classroom is a

Through observations, many thoughts can be running through our minds at what we observe. Some of our thoughts can be good and/or bad because we unconsciously generate particular thoughts based on personal experiences, stereotypes, biases, etc. A couple of days ago, I observed some students that were sitting around me in the library. I observed various students over the course of 4 to 5 hours because I was also working on homework for other classes as well. Before and after my classes I go to the 4th floor in the library, on the individual desks to eat work on homework, and study for my classes. It’s become my second home.

This week I did both an interview and a small observation of my third grade host teacher's classroom. I was first able to interview my host teacher. Miss A does use many of the techniques for teaching words that were listed on my observation form. Specifically she uses crossword puzzles, dramatizing, word sorts, possible sentences and dictionaries. She also uses many techniques that are not listed on the observation sheet as well. She does a lot of repetition with her students. She has them right there words in rainbow colors, in vowels and consonants colors, in alphabetical order and many more that I didn't see. Miss a believes that " they are all useful for different students. Some students feel like crosswords are helpful and others feel like pictures are helpful" () I would completely agree with her statement in this regard. I do think it's good to have many different options for the many different students you have in your class. Miss a believed that there were a lot of benefits to wide reading. She make sure that the children are provided with a variety of texts especially her students who are ELL students. She mention specifically that it "helps build their schema for Content areas such as social studies and science and the vocabulary that goes with that."()

I observed at a daycare called Children's house, I have observed here before and I know the teachers very well. I interviewed a teacher that was formally called Ms. A now called Ms. C who has been working there for 10 years. The Children's house is a private, suburban daycare with 20 children. The room that I observed in is a 3 to 5 year old room. Ms. C had a lot of 3 and 4 year olds. 7 of her children are 3 year olds, 11 are 4 and only 2 are 5 year olds. in her classroom she has 4 children with speech problems and 1 child with a development delay. She has an aid named Ms. M who works with her during the day. Ms. C tries to make their jobs equal, Ms. C teaches lessons and Ms. M teaches other lessons. While they are at center time they have one teacher work on a activity and the other teacher will drift around and insure that the children are behaving well and are out of harm's way.

The children I have observed were adolescents and were going through the beginning stages of puberty. I used my knowledge about concrete operations to observe the students rational thinking and logical thought. For example a student was given a task to do their assign class work without any socializing with his peers. The student who I was observing, noticed his peers were talking during the assignment. He took the decision upon himself to look around the classroom and began to socialize with his peers. This particular student made his decision by using his rational/ logical which was influenced by his peers. He knew the assignment involved not socialize with his peers but he saw the others were talking around him, he then began to do the same.

At this point of my observation, I am questioning how important is to be familiar with the person that we need to greet. It seems that the people I have observed so far need to be very familiar, not just being acquaintances, but to have certain kind of closer relationship. The young male student greeting to his instructor (my assumption) is an example of the role of familiarity when people greet.

For one week, I observed my roommate doing his regular activities. In respect for my roommate, I will not use his real name, I will call him Tom in this essay. Tom is a Hispanic video gamer, he works part time helping his friends run a doggy day care. If he is not at work, he is at home playing video games all day long. He did attend community college in Portland, Oregon has very little education. Tom wants to obtain a degree, but he feels he is old and disable with back injuries. He is the age of 37. Tom is single and never married. As I talk a little more of my roommate, he loves his video games. It seems like gaming is his happiness.

On Monday morning, I reported to the ENL I class at Central Islip High School as I did many mornings before. I observed the ENL teacher as she taught a class of 20 students who had recently begun studying in the United States and were required to take 2 periods of intense English language learning every day. The classroom was made of students who had immigrated from Central America and the Caribbean, all of the students in the classroom spoke Spanish as their first language. Each student that I observed carries with them a unique story and set of demands and expectations. At the end of my observation, I concluded that the social implications of the current political climate in combination with the ENL curriculum being followed directly impacted the success of the students in their second language acquisition.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been volunteering in Mrs. Fritz’s first grade classroom at Oak Ridge Elementary. When I get to the classroom around 8:30 A.M., the class is sitting down in three rows on a big rug learning a new lesson from Mrs. Fritz. She is usually teaching them how to spell different words and how to sound them out. If they are not doing something in the language arts department, they are learning new ways of doing math. After they are done with the lesson the children either go into their centers and complete spelling worksheets for about 30 minutes, or they grab a book and read as a class. The first graders have been working on Wonder as well, which is a theme that they focus on for the week. The theme is usually something

Earlier today I attended the lecture which was being held in the Hutton Honors College. It was presented Casey K. Morewedge on the very interesting topic food and how it related to other physical cravings that are present in the human. Titled, “Thought for Food: How Imagnined Consumption Influences Actual Consumption” Casey K. Morewedge debunks popular beliefs in regards to human physical cravings. His lecture was based on the principal that cravings can be increased, decreased, or forgotten based on mental exercises which he presented to the audience.

My observation hours took place at Montgomery Jr. High school during the month of October. Most of my observations took place on Wednesdays which were October 5th, 12th, and the 27th but one took place on Monday the 17th. Most were history, science, and math classes since they were placing me in multiple classes to observe. I switched classes the same as the students and it was interesting walking into the classrooms. Many of the teachers thought at first that I was a new student until they realized the slacks and probably got a better look.

For the second observation, Reading, I again chose to go to Durham Public Schools: Forrest View Elementary and observe Ms. Rogers during her designated literacy block. I really enjoyed the diversity and experiences these students have attained as it creates larger funds of knowledge and therefore a better observation experience for this course. From the text we had been reading in EDUC 616, I expected to see several types of reading methods such as: guided reading, independent reading, and closed reading (read aloud). However, in my time observing I saw two of three strategies: closed reading, read aloud, and independent reading. On the day of my observation, Ms. Rogers had chosen to read a book about ants and their habits to successfully

For observation log number one, I observed Mrs. Henry’s sixth grade classes on Monday, August 31, 2015, at LC Middle School. I arrived before 8’ o clock that gave me plenty of time to have a pep talk with Mrs. Henry and get all settled before class started. First, I observed Mrs. Henry’s Homeroom Reading class for an hour, after that I observed her Social Studies Class that had several Special Ed children in it, I also observed her students during a seminar and then the rest of the day on I observed Mrs. Henry’s Social Studies classes. Mrs. Henry is primarily a Social Studies teacher who has taught for twenty-two years. I observed for a total of _______ hours this day.

The classroom that I observed had a reverse mainstreaming setting, two developed students were place in a classroom with students who have disabilities. The arrangement of the room was very colorful, and kid friendly. As you entered the classroom it had all the children art work posted on the walls. They had several centers, dramatic play, math, manipulative, blocks, writing, reading, science area, and art center. The visual information present the months, birthday, and the children art. The visual information works efficiently for the classroom setting. The visual presentation was outstanding. They use this program called Star Fall, which where they do circle time. Star presents many programs for the children to engage and participate in.

During my observation in the classroom, the students with the help of the assistant teacher start unpacking their book bags. Afterwards, they sit down at their desk, waiting for instructions for the day. The schedule that is by the wall, Get Ready to Learn, Morning Meeting, Literacy, Language Art, Music, Lunch, Activity how to make a Jack-o- Lantern using a pumpkin, snack, to pack their book bag, and go home is what’s planned for the day. However, in the classroom there’s one student that is very smart for his age, he is four years old and already know how to write his name. Nevertheless, there is one problem, as smart he is, he doesn’t like to do work. I knew he loves the color purple, so I gave him a purple crayon, that smell similar