Observation: Oconee County Elementary School

I observed for fifteen hours at Cherokee Charter Academy. Cherokee Charter Academy is a charter school in Cherokee County on Sixes Road. Cherokee Charter Academy includes kindergarten through eighth-grade classes. There are over nine hundred students and about sixty-five full-time teachers at Cherokee Charter Academy. Charter schools are similar to public schools and are tuition-free. Charter schools are governed independently, but if the school does not demonstrate success it will lose its charter. At Cherokee Charter Academy I observed the kindergarten classroom of Ms. Dunlap. Ms. Dunlap has been a kindergarten teacher for ten years. In this classroom, I observed the students, the instruction, standards, and the teacher.

Middle school is a period of transition for adolescents. Students are no longer the children were once were in elementary school; they are beginning to mature into the adults they will need to become. Gifted learners at the middle-school level face the same developmental and tasks tasks and challenges that their peers do. Yet, gifted learners also possess traits that are different from their peers, which often make them misunderstood or ignored. The need for teachers to identify these students and differentiate instruction in a way that addresses the needs of the gifted students in the classroom is becoming more crucial than ever.

As a Learning Assistant, working in Year 3, I worked closely with a seven year old girl who, for the purpose of this case study, I will call Jane. Jane was a confident and happy girl who, despite not being particularly academically gifted, always participated with class discussions and activities enthusiastically.

The two districts that I chose to compare for this assignment are Sheridan County School District #2 (SCSD2) in Sheridan, WY and Dalton Public Schools, in Dalton, GA. Becoming a teacher in either district have significant advantages and disadvantages in both my personal and professional aspects of my life.

Education has come a extensive way from the times of Plato and Aristotle, but from each new era came a person with a concept that effected the world of education eternally. Sisters, Margaret and Rachel McMillian influenced education through their development of the Open-Air Nursery School in more way then one. Not only had they introduced the idea of starting education at a younger age then the fledgling kindergarten program, but their school was devised for kids from low- income areas that needed the extra care as well. A unique concept of the time that grasped my interest and made me want to discover more about their program and it’s effect on Early Childhood Education.

There are currently 137 certified teachers employed by the Candler County Charter School System (111 White, 23 Black, and 2 Hispanic) and 12 administrators (8 White and 4 Black). 100% of certified staff is currently and have been highly qualified since 2010. The 2015-2016 teacher retention rate was 87.5%, with 96% of teachers having 5 or more years of experience. The principal retention rate for 2015-2016 was 100%. At the end of the 2016-2017 school term, the intermediate school principal will be retiring. In response to stakeholder feedback, the board has decided to return to the elementary school model with a Prek-5 school next school year. Therefore, Candler will have one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school next school year.

In the following report we will examine all of the elements of a Kindergarten classroom that I observed in Miss. Phillips classroom. I will cover over the school, the student’s participation, and the teacher’s overall. I will also include a Building report card. I will discuss how much the experience had an impact on me.

Geiger Elementary School, located in the southern region of Fairfield County, continues to be a staple in the Ridgeway Community. The school serves approximately 330 students in Child Development 3 - 6th grade. Geiger celebrates that fact that we were

My expectations for pre-K was that the students mostly played, listen to educational songs, and watch educational videos. I knew pre-k is not a requirement in Georgia so I think

First, the use of local norming when identifying students for gifted programs. As Worrell (2013) points out, academic performance is substantially influenced by socio-economic factors, and social and cultural issues in the home and school, thus “relative strengths are as important for identifying talent as absolute strengths for students in under-represented subgroups” (p.392). It is important to use local norms and opportunity-based norms (e.g. similar SES, ELL, parent education levels) as well as national norms to find the students that are achieving at the top of their subgroup. Another strategy may be to use performance task to measure achievement, as they are domain specific, assess fluency and complexity of responses, allow for multiple correct responses, focus on problem solving, encourage the use of metacognition, and require a dynamic assessment approach on the part of the assessor (VanTassel-Baska, Johnson, & Avery (2002). Instituting differentiation and other instructional models in the classroom, as well as in gifted programs is a strategy that can be utilized to ensure a student’s specific interests and needs are being met with respect and knowledge of potential social and cultural differences/backgrounds. Lastly, I believe that Rimm’s Trifocal Model (2008) could be a great strategy for supporting and encouraging success amongst these underrepresented groups. Dr. Sylvia Rimm created her Trifocal Model to assist underachieving students, however gifted students from underrepresented groups are just that, in some ways. In short, Rimm suggests that we make school and education meaningful by accessing a student’s interests. For these subgroups, this could mean infusing curriculum and instruction with content meaningful to their culture. Next, she states that parents and teachers should stop reinforcing underachieving behaviors,

Putnam Primary School is greatly influenced by the city of Eatonton in the heart of the county. The city is the home to historical information, the political offices, and local businesses. Located near and around the downtown area of the city is the recreational center and education resources like the Plaza Arts Center and the library. Putnam county is also the home of two lakes: Sinclair and Oconee that bring in a unique population. The city has a vast amount of history as well as it continues to grow and expand with local businesses.

Those that support ability grouping in schools argue that it is not just gifted and talented students that benefit from this practice. Although students benefit slightly from ability grouping even when course content is not altered, they could gain much more when the curriculum is adjusted to suit their academic needs, according to Mary Ann Swiatek (1997). Swiatek argues, students with mathematical talented are ready to learn statistics/probability, geometry, and pre-algebra long before those topics are introduced in school. If the advanced material is presented, gifted students will learn it, thereby boosting their academic achievement. (Swiatek, 1997)

Educators are always looking for new ways on how to engage students in their learning and leading them to success. Even though teachers face many problems with students not wanting to learn, they keep investigating new ways on how to encourage these students to learn. In the school environment, there are many issues affecting students’ learning; therefore, educators and researchers explore different ways on. This research study challenges and motivates students to learn in the classroom working cooperatively with others to enhance instruction. It emphasizes the nagging problem encountered in the classroom and provides possible solutions to meet the need of the students. Next, research data is collected from different sources to complete this plan of action. Finally, the data is analyzed and graphed to improve the academic performance of students and make adjustments to instructional methods. This research study shows significant achievement gains comparing a traditional strategy (lecturing) and a motivational strategy as well as its connections to the literature and best practices in the field of education. In addition, it provides visual representations on how data was analyzed.

Everyone who has gone to school knows that there are students who are livelier and more proactive than the others. We have all sat through classes where there were classmates who eagerly raised their hands to ask questions, participated in every outdoor activity, and often stayed after class to discuss with their teachers about the lesson. We also have been part of classes where there were some learners who quietly sat at their desks and simply left when classes ended. Although students often seem outwardly alike in general, the differences between active students and passive students are enormous. Each type of student has their own way to pursue their education. In addition, natural abilities and environmental factors are playing important roles in how students can become active or passive learners in schools.

Students are considered to be engaged in class when they are involved in their work, continue trying when challenges arise, and take joy when accomplishing the task at hand (Bomia, Beluzy, Demester, Elander, Johnson, & Sheldon, 1997). Engaged students also are able to work well with others, and knows how to use prior knowledge to complete a task (Saeed & Zyngier, 2012). Findings show that student engagement is revolved around goal orientation (Bandura 1982, 1991). Results also have shown that students who have a fear of failure have an inverse relationship with the school setting (Bandura, 1982, 1991). Studies show that test anxiety actually does not have any relationship with a student’s engagement in school (Bandura 1982, 1991). However, the more confident a student is in themselves the better they do in school and the more they are engaged, socially and academically (Bandura, 1982, 1991). Giving students task-specific comments will influence the student’s interest, and communicating high standards or expectations whenever students are doing well can also conduct greater effort and engagement (Butler & Nisan 1986; Cohen, Steele, Rose, 1999). A student who is a truly engaged