Sherwood Elementary Classroom Observation

Ja'mari is a 3rd grade student attending Lake Forest Elementary Schools of the Art and Sciences. He participates with non-disabled peers in an inclusion classroom for the majority of the day. He is a very sweet and kind student who is willing to work on any task that is given to him. Although Ja'mari is willing to work on any task,he struggles to be confident and social with his peers and adults. He requires prompting, verbal encouragement, one on one support, task adaptations to complete assigned task. According to his recent I-ready results, Ja'mari overall scale scores increased from 404 to 449. He made a 44 point gain. He is making tremendous progress. His strength is in Phonological Awareness. He tested out. Ja'mari has demonstrated the

Sherwood Middle School’s students as well as parents were shocked at the news that Sherwood Middle School was hiring a new vice principal in place of Kevin McIntosh. The new vice principal’s name is Marc Jolley. The reason Mr.Jolley is here is because recently, Mr.McIntosh had made the choice to leave the Sherwood school district. While many students are untroubled and rather pleased with the new change, others are wondering if it was the right decision to hire Mr.Jolley.

The school I observed at is Evans High School located at 4550 Cox Rd, Evans, GA 30809. This school has around 1,800 students in attendance ranging between grades nine through twelve. The teacher I observed is named Jean Lancaster, the chorus and guitar teacher, who has been teaching all grades at Evans High for the past twenty plus years. Lancaster is honestly losing her respect from her students because she is very strict on some students in the classroom, but others can get away with whatever they want without her even batting an eye. She enjoys her job and many believe she will be teaching her classes until she dies.

Starting my opening school experience I was nervous. I could not eat or sleep the day before. I woke up bright and early to arrive at Woodland Middle School by 7:30am only to find out the school did not open up till 8:30am. I was not upset that I got there so early, and in fact, it was a great because I got a chance to get familiar with the school and its principal, Dr. J. Stamper. Woodland Middle school is located behind Camp Creek and is on Stone Rd. Their colors are blue and gold. The mascots of the school are the Wolverines. Woodland’s mission statement: “Woodland Middle School is on the P.R.O.W.L. I am a Problem Solver Recognizing Opportunities, and I am Willing to become a Life Long Learner.” (Woodland, 2015)

This observation lasted about 5 hours at Floyd Elementary School for a 3rd grade class consisting of 9 boys and 10 girls ranging in ages between 8 and 9 years old, plus one female teacher named Mrs.Squarzon.

On Wednesday October, 25nd we went to Lakehill Elementary to observe and teach students. I observed a boy in a grade 4/5. He was wearing camouflage sweat pants, a gray long sleeve t-shirt and Velcro sneakers. He was always front and near the centre during explanations and instructions. This made for him to be a very engaged student. From my observation, I would say that he was very eager to please the teachers and his classmates. He followed instructions and rules and join in with discussions when needed. More so, he always volunteered himself to be used in examples and demonstrations. Overall I would say that this student was enthusiastic, and keen to be in gym class for the majority of the time.

Ms. Foster teaches a self-contained classroom of ninth to twelfth graders. Her students have mild to moderate cognitive disabilities and one student is considered autistic although at a high functioning level. Ms. Foster’s students move to other settings throughout the day, but they receive reading and writing instruction from her. She has one child who is considered ESOL but he has been in the US since he was small and does not appear to have problems with English.

I spent two days in Mrs. ElsaMiller’s special education classroom. In these two days I got a lot of hands on experience with students that have disabilities. The students that I worked with most had programs to help their reading and English skills. I observed Mrs. ElsaMiller working with students and I also interacted with students. When I interacted with students I facilitated reading sessions and listened to students read out loud. On the second day I watched Mrs. ElsaMiller enter data for each student and discussed with her how she thought the progress was going for each student. I found it very interesting to see how some of her students increased at a very steep rate but some of her students stayed in the same spot throughout the whole year. It was interesting to listen to Mrs. ElsaMiller talk about how she thought one student might have a tracking problem and that is why her reading score is not increasing. But, she was hesitant to say that to the parents because the test for that can

I did my observations in a first grade classroom at R. L Brown Elementary school. My supervising teacher had strict guidelines about the lesson that she was allowing me to teach. Because I was doing my observation so close to the end of the year, I could only teach during the science block. She allowed my to choose between two standards. The standard I choose was LAFS.1.RI.3.9 Id( Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same).I spent a lot of time doing my lesson plan called the and different, and I tried to plan for everything possible. To be honest my lesson went okay. It was the little things that caused the most problems. I learned that actual teaching is a complex profession. There are always a million

I teach at Marshall Elementary School in Dubuque, IA. Marshall is in a suburban area of our city. The families at Marshall are in a wide range of incomes, but mostly the families are low to middle income level. The school is located in an area around houses, there is train tracks that run behind the school, then behind that is an industrial area. The Mississippi River runs along the industrial area. The families at Marshall are employed in a wide range of places throughout Dubuque. There are quite a few stay at home moms, factory workers, food service employees, office staff, etc.

Children with learning disabilities are a population who are inherently at risk. They are at risk of not being able to utilize the presented curriculum, as their non-disabled peers do. They are also at risk of suffering from emotional stress and or low self-efficacy as they negotiate classrooms assignments and expectations. Our Exceptional Children text states that children with learning disabilities, “… often struggle with reasoning, attention, memory, selecting and focusing on relevant stimuli and the perception and processing of visual or auditory stimuli (p162 Heward)”. It also says that “Seventy-Five percent of children with learning disabilities exhibit deficits in social skills… and have a higher incidence of behavioral problems (p.169 Heward).” The effects of one or multiple deficits, of those stated above, have the potential to steer, even a willing child, away from academic and or social success.

Today I went to Sunrise Elementary to observe Ms. Thune’s first grade classroom. The teacher was extremely friendly and has only been teaching for three years. Right away we headed to recess to pick up the students who were patiently waiting in line. It was a class size of twenty first graders and I quickly realized the teacher was super personable! I was surprised right away because the students did not go to their desks, instead they headed towards the big mat on the floor in front of the promethean board. I thought that was a good idea because each child had a lily pad they sat on that was a part of the mat which helped them decipher their space. The whole room was themed around frogs and leaping to learn. When I walked into the room I

1. Learning Disabilities- Learning disabilities have become more common in recent years and many students who are in special education placement have a learning disability. As a teacher, it is common to have students with various learning disabilities in the inclusive classroom that can impact the child in their educational experience. There are many different types of learning disabilities and depending on the type of learning disability it may affect the child’s ability to think, listen, speak, write, read, or understand subject material. (Salend, 2016, pg 75) According to our textbook, the learning disability may also affect the child’s cognitive processes as well. Students with disabilities may also have trouble reading, comprehending what they are reading, or have trouble writing, or understanding subject matter. Having difficulty in reading is known as dyslexia while difficulties in writing is known as dysgraphia. (Salend, 2016, pg 77) Some students may have difficulties in language and how they respond to language. It may affect how they communicate verbally or in writing. Another type of learning disability includes gross and fine motor difficulties. Learning disabilities also include emotional and behavioral difficulties. This includes how a student interacts with others and how motivated they are to complete tasks. All of these learning disabilities can affect the child in the classroom. These students despite their learning disability usually have very high

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.

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.