Classroom Observation Paper

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."()

This classroom was very organized and it did have a lot of things labeled. I recognized that the teacher had a lot of things in her classroom labeled. She had words like door on the door in the classroom. She used a lot of bright colors. I also recognized that the teacher did a lot of one-on-one with her students. For example, she did very small group activities and a lot of the activities consist of one-on-one activities. She allowed the children to experiment with the project. She stated that she like to have children to participate in morning discussion. This time allows her to introduce the new letter of the week. She believes that children learn a lot of literacy through song and dancing. The children would sing the songs as they played in the classroom. Some of them would dance to music.

The classroom observed for this assignment was a 4/5 year old (pre-kindergarten/kindergarten) room in a local day care. After researching the correlation between play, development, and diversity, many realizations came to light. First, there are different stages of play and they all correlate with the developmental stages. Then, diversity is found in every classroom, either positively or negatively effecting the room. Educators who are flexible with change and comprehends the levels of development for children are expected to create a positive and effective learning environment filled with play-based activities. Below show three scenarios of classrooms from infants, toddlers, and preschool/kindergarten room.

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.

I got to observe my mentor teacher’s partner. She teaches math and science. I was very grateful to be able to observe a different content area. The teacher provided different techniques to accommodate the needs of each child. She provided a hands-on activity for the students who are visual learners. During my observation, my mentor was teaching about currency. She gave each student a quarter and magnify glass so students can observe closely what details are in the quarter. She then provided an anchor chart to write down students’ observations. For example, George Washington faces left on a quarter. The students got to observe each coin and discuss their

I observed Cielo, a preschooler, at my friends house. The observation lasted 30 minutes. I sat down on the couch and observed Cielo at reading books to us.

As walk into the Preschoolers classroom, I notice the kitchen straight ahead with the door closed. To the right side of me, there’s a gate to divide the Preschool classroom from the Pre-K classroom. There are three sinks inside the classroom so that the students can wash their hands, two bathrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. As I continue to observe the class, I noticed four rectangular tables with eight chairs to each table to left side of me. There is a big blue round circle shape rug that is placed in the middle of the classroom for circle time. The students have pictures displayed on a Daily Learning Activities Board (DLA) showing math, writing, science and art work.

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.

I would make the topic of data collecting, organizing, and presenting relevant to the children by introducing it and modeling it. As an early childhood educator I understand that children should be allowed to explore and they are curious. They wonder as they explore and will ask questions. Furthermore I comprehend that each of these questions causes the need for children to observe, collect information or data, reflect upon our data, and determine answer and for theories around the world (Davis & Keller, 2009. p.70).

Create procedures and expectations at the beginning of the year for hands-on activities and group work

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.

Unlike my last visit to the writing center, I was able to commit all of my attention this session to seeing how things unfold in most sessions without also needing to focus on my own paper. I observed a session with Meredith, who seemed to have a different approach as a grad student than the undergrad tutors I had interacted with before. Another new element of the session was the client herself; from the panel we had in class, I had come to believe that repeat clients were rare, but the tutor knew the client and the client’s work well from past sessions. In fact, the client did not come in that day to get help on a specific assignment, but had seen that Meredith had an opening during the week and chose to book it for any general help that might come up. The client seemed to be both comfortable with and grateful for the opportunity to work with a tutor who had been seeing her through an entire admittance process.

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.