Classroom Observation Paper

Many students who struggle with reading ask why should we read, what is the point? The point is that being able to read opens you up a whole new world of knowledge and imagination. But to have that new world opened up you need to be able to comprehend what you are reading. The primary goal of reading is to determine the meaning of

To assist students to “read with purpose and anticipation,” Vacca et al. (2014, p. 173) suggests, in their book Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, that teachers need to “create an instructional context” that activates their students’ “prior knowledge” and helps them to become interested in a lesson. Throughout chapter six, “Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest,” Vacca et al. (2014, pp. 172-173) explain instructional strategies that can lead students to “read with purpose and anticipation.” This chapter presents the reader with a plethora of instructional strategies and means for applying them, along with example for real educators. As I journeyed through this chapter, I discovered many instructional strategies,

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.

After completing all the assessments and the parent interview, reading and writing activities were differentiated and conducted during whole group and small group instruction. Bear (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009c) discusses using the RRWWT Framework for guiding instruction for students. During the Read To activity, the Emperor’s Egg (Jenkins,) is read whole group to the students. This is an information text which uses labeled diagrams and captioned pictures throughout to provide additional information about the topic. During the Read To, students are following along in their basal as I read, and I have students discuss the diagrams of the Emperor Penguin. Drawing attention to the diagrams and teaching the students how illustrations and diagrams within text can aid in their understanding of what is being read seems to help the struggling reader. Using the visuals such as the diagrams helps this

During the duration of Alternative Education Perspectives, the class has visited different educational environments. The different environments include Spectrum School, Beloit Memorial High School, and the Welty Center. Spectrum School, which is located in Rockford Illinois, is a private school ranging from the ages 4 to 14. Beloit Memorial High School, which is located in Beloit Wisconsin, is a public high school that houses about 1900 students from the ages of 14 to 18. The Welty center, which is located in Beloit Wisconsin, is an environmental center that teaches kids from the ages 4 to 14. The three different learning environments teach their kids using different techniques. There is controversy on how each place teaches, but all of the teaching techniques are effective in teaching their students. Spectrum School, Beloit Memorial High School, and Welty Center use different teaching techniques that are similar to the readings in class.

The location of my observational study is the indoor Prentice Café located here on Cobleskill's campus adjacent to Knapp Hall and Bouck Hall. My reason for choosing this location for my research paper is because this dining hall is a very active place with a convenient location to make observations. My goals are broad, my role as an observer s to observe the different people who enter this area, do they enter in groups or individually? What time is usually the most active? What appears to be their mood? One of my main goals during this study is to conclude the possible effects and impact that Prentice Café and other dining halls have on not only students but also on the campus as a whole. The amount of visitors that come here are diverse which

For the second interactive read aloud, teachers should read the book for a second time

The Portland Public Schools uses a reading program called Reader's Workshop to guide K-6 students through the process of learning to read and reading to learn. Reader’s Workshop is a research-based program developed by Teacher’s College. As part of Reader's Workshop, all students are assessed at the beginning of each school year using a reading screen called Fountas and Pinnell. The Fountas and Pinnel reading screen allows teachers to identify each student’s reading level. Once reading levels are identified, teachers work collaboratively to design an individualized program of literacy instruction that builds student fluency, accuracy and comprehension. Through Reader’s Workshop, as opposed to each student reading the same text in a one-size-fits-all instructional model, each student reads a personalized text that engages students at their current ability level and scaffolds text complexity as students develop the ability to engage fiction and informational text.

January 21 from 2 o’clock until 4. The first activity was a presentation put on by various

As I sat on campus observing my surroundings, I witnessed some really interesting things. After starting my timer I immediately noticed a familiar situation of my generation presenting itself. There were a group of boys staring at a girl and I thought to myself “why are they staring at her for such a prolonged period of time?” During this observation I wonder why they never approached, maybe because there were 6 of them and 1 of her or no one was brave enough to gather their thoughts in order to think of something appropriate to say. Then the idea came to my mind that they were all judging her based on her appearance and concluding that she was out of their league. As my time period progressed I noticed another girl standing all by herself

During my observations in week eight on March 1st at two fifteen in the afternoon, the teacher called on John to read an excerpt from the reading and John was having trouble pronouncing words. Students began to laugh and read any word he mispronounced, the teacher then read louder than John causing John to stop reading and the teacher finishing the excerpt. This opportunity would have been great for John to practice reading vocabulary words he often has trouble understanding and pronouncing. The second goal for John’s guide to progress would be to give him the opportunity to speak out loud and exercise his public speaking skills. Silvia Rico states, “Talk to the students in the classroom about how students have different learning experiences/styles

A major part of the college social scene is revolved around alcohol use, drinking, partying and going out. That is why bars particularly have become a popular attraction for college students to migrate to after a long week of classes. Stress from the syllabi and the eagerness to socialize are factors in the motivation getting college students out and about. My curiosity as a college student myself, has led me to study other college students’ behavior when they go to bars and “distress” from arduous schoolwork. In my research, I observe and compare how students behave in a bar setting in two different locations: West Hartford, Connecticut and Charleston, South Carolina.

However, the second method being discussed in this paper, the whole language approach, focuses much of its attention on making sure the student understands and enjoys what he or she is reading. Whole language instruction occurs when a student acquires language rather than learning it through direct instruction (Brooks 35-36). This method is more child centered than teacher dominated, because the objective is for the student to learn how to read through talking and doing rather than through passive listening. Unlike phonics, whole language uses a variety of ways to give students the opportunity to interact with the text they are reading. Questioning, discussing, problem-solving, listening, writing, drawing, and dramatizing are among the ways students interact with text. Students are also encouraged to implement simple strategies while reading such as: reading the sentence and guessing what word will come next, looking at the picture on the page to help figure out the sentence, and also rereading the sentence for clarification. This method also does a good job in allowing the students to engage in text at their own speed and often in their own ways (36).

Explicit instruction is important in connecting to prior knowledge and skills when beginning a learning sequence (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2016). It helps to lay the foundational areas of reading and literacy as a whole in the early years of schooling. Effective reading instruction builds on what children already know, how students learn and on what degree of support they need to become successful in reading/learn and apply new information (Archer, 2011, p.18). Here the idea of scaffolding is evident where “the support provided by the teacher (or another student)…bridge(s) the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal” (Rupley, Blair and Nichols, 2009, p.129). It is important for students who are learning something new, to have the opportunity to have it explained, the opportunity to apply that information guided by their teachers and the opportunity to apply it independently (Archer, 2011). Through an explicit approach the responsibility for learning shifts from teacher to student as they gain confidence and competence with reading. Reading is not an automatic process and must be taught, “explicitly, systematically, early and well” (National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, 2005, as cited in Hempenstall, 2016,p.5). Building on this, it is not enough for explicit instruction to be effective; it must also be efficient so that students can meet outcomes as soon as possible and are given the opportunity to apply it. This highlights