Josie's Focus On Classroom Observation

1. The only change in the classroom was all of the children special notes from their parents, "My child is Special because" The teacher posted them on all them were posted on the door.

Today was my first day in my elementary education field placement, which was in Kindergarten. I did not know what to expect in the Kindergarten classroom, so I went with my knowledge learned from my textbooks. The classroom was a warm and inviting room that made you feel happy and comfortable. The classroom was filled with brightly colored posters that pertained to many different academic content such as a number line, an alphabet, a calendar, different vin diagram charts, how to make words by letters chart, math procedures, ways to read, need to know words, how to sound out words, and a behavior chart. The room was like a magic learning palace.

PS. 45 is a school in in Staten Island New York, serving 900 students, 61% of the students are economically disadvantaged. This is a diverse school where 5% of students are Asian, 17% Black, 48% Hispanic and 27% White. They have a population of English Language Learners that take up 6% and 23% of the school's population have disabilities. I am observing a 4th grade classroom at P.S. 45. This class is a general education class with 26 students, two of these students are English language learners and two others struggle with focusing. There are also a number of students in the class that need extra support.

For my observation on the indoor activity space, I was able to observe a classroom physically and view all areas in the indoor environment. I first observed if the surfaces where properly cleaned and I found that the floors all had clean surfaces not one dirty desk in sight. Next, I observed that all furniture was sturdy and safe all furniture was rounded and at the child level and size. In addition, I noticed that the classroom area was spacious and all areas had enough space separating the from each other to give children the room to explore without incident. The classroom consisted of many options for children to choose from like pretend play art, science, music, blocks, pretend play, manipulation, and a cozy area, and between those areas they all have the proper space for children to not be distracted from other areas.

Standing in front of about 20 beaming eyes staring at me I struggled to keep my composure. “You teach the class!” I was just a small child in the fifth grade. I was stuck inside a deep hole that I had no control over. “Well? What are learning?” At that moment tears started rolling down my cheeks and my head was in the dumps.

Conducting classroom observations are very important to the prospective teacher. Observing helps show how experienced teachers manage their classroom. For this observation it was important to notice how the classroom was arranged, how the teacher interacted with the students, the teacher’s management style, and interview the teacher.

Focused observation, reflection: The child arrives in the morning to his classroom, he does not acknowledge his mom saying goodbye to him. The teacher says good morning to the child and he does not acknowledge his teacher. He goes directly to the puzzles and takes out the puzzles and places them on the table, he completes the puzzles without any difficulty and quickly. While he is completing the animal puzzle he is making the sound that the animal make, afterwards when he is done with puzzles he puts them away. He goes to the train toys and he takes out the train and plays with it on the floor, some other boys have trains as well they try to play with him but he takes, his train and makes a humming noise and leaves the area to take the train

In Ms.G classroom, the students are expected to learn together. The staff treat the students the same and give students individual attention when needed. Students receive a variety of therapy and counseling such as speech, occupational, and physical Therapy.During my visit i noticed that a young boy, i later learned name was Marco, seem to be reluctant to participate in group activities. Ms.G and other staff did not seem to be bothered by Marco's behavior. Later I asked ms.g what has she done to help Marco open up more. Ms.G explained that Marco has been this way all year and will probably get out of his shell in time. I would recommend the use of Invisible Support which according to the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning (2016)

According to Piaget, Marcus is exploring and learning about the world that he lives in as he acts in his environment. As I observed, he grasps, grabs, stares, listening, as well as pretend in the classroom. Therefore, these are the developmental sensorimotor allows him to grow (Berger, 2016). When I observed Marcus, he exhibited these skills as he played with his favorite ball. He also demonstrated his developmental social and emotional skills during the time he interacted with his peers. When Marcus classmates left him, he cried, this allows him to express himself as well show his feelings. Although, the caregiver redirected him, he demonstrated emotions at that time. Children express their feelings through both nonverbal communication and verbal communication. However, this depend on their caregivers to read and recognize their cues. Emotional expression is not developed in isolation; children’s emotional expression is linked to their ability to regulate their emotions (Illinois Early Learning Guidelines). The infant up to two years old strictly depend on their caregivers to assist them. I also learned, that emotions are connected to the cultural and societal influences

During my interview with Ms. Jenkins, a preschool teacher in a Head Start classroom explained that her students were between the age of 4 and 5. Soon after I asked Ms. Jenkins which of the developmental theories does her classroom practices reflect? Her response was “According to Jean Piaget’s theory on early childhood briefly states that not all children of the same age will have acquired the same level of development. The appropriate practice I implement to first assess each child then based on the information I am able to identify the manner in which to create differentiated instructions for each of the activities. I also do a lot of one to one and peer group activities based on the children’s interest throughout

I conducted my observation on November 3, 2017. I observed a fourth-grade language arts class taught by Robin Smith. Mrs. Smith exudes a love of reading and knowledge from the very moment you meet her. Mrs. Smith’s classroom is a warm, accessible, print rich environment complete with anchor charts, a word wall, and alphabet chart. Mrs. Smith and her classroom environment inspire each one of her students to find a passion for reading and learning. Mrs. Smith demonstrates an understanding of the social-emotional environment, and its importance to the success of a child’s learning experience. Although the social-emotional environment is much harder to grasp and see it is just as important as the physical environment. Mrs. Smith’s approach for classroom management demonstrates how a positive social-emotional environment can lead to an effectively well managed classroom.

Classroom observation is a main approach of teaching research. Scholars or researchers use video to record the real whole class and observe the teachers and students’ actions, words and the efficiency in the class. Though the observation, they analyze what approach is more suitable. This paper will select video 5 and video 3 as the material to do the classroom observation. Different aspects such as teachers’ responds, questions, instructions notes and students’ behavior will be addressed to analyze the efficacy of this class.

Observing in classrooms provide future teachers many opportunities to gain valuable experience in a real classroom. I completed my observation hours at two schools, Sandlick Elementary and L.F. Addington Middle school. All the teachers I observed were very nice and helped me in any way they could. Because I observed at two schools I was able to see the difference in the approach and learning of material from elementary to middle school. I have gained valuable information from observing, which will enable me to teach my future students proficiently and effectively.

I conducted my observation at La Vina Middle School as well as Harvest Elementary in Delano California. In addition, I had the privilege to observe Mrs. Mendivil’s seventh-grade classroom, which was moderate to severe, as well as Ms. Camacho’s kindergarten classroom which was also moderate to severe. Students in both classrooms had various disabilities, however, in Ms. Camacho's classroom, the majority consisted of down syndrome as well as severe autism. In Mrs. Mendevil’s classroom, the majority of the students were emotionally disturbed. Furthermore, both teachers taught me excellent methods and techniques that I will for certain utilize in my classroom. I learned effective methods that I did not even know existed that I will for sure use in my classroom. Moreover, I will discuss all the information I gathered from observing both classrooms as well as what I learned and interest me.

The following data was gathered while fulfilling duties as a principal intern at Theresa Bunker Elementary School. The data was observed during five to seven minutes of classroom observation as part of a walk-through in the spring of the current school year. My cooperating supervisor for my internship was able to go on these walk-throughs with me in order to have a productive reflection meeting afterwards. This elementary school has two of each grade level from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Since it was more feasible in this small school setting, I actually was able to do a walkthrough in eight classes. Here I will report my observations from five of those walk-throughs. As I went in to each room I was looking for four