Observations
While closely observing the fourth grade classroom in which I taught, I also observed in many classrooms throughout the school. I observed classrooms from every grade (1-5), resource rooms, and specials. The observations I culled provided an overview of how the school I taught in operated, the continuity across grades, and also differences between grades. Here, I have included my notes and reflections about three classroom I observed.
First Grade: Where Literacy and Technology (e)merge
9/14/07
Italicized words and sentences indicate my own thoughts throughout the observation.
T = teacher
All dialogue has not been recorded, only selections.
The lesson was focused on 1) identifying letters of the alphabet to their sounds, and also 2) learning how to use the Smart Board. The students dragged the identified letters on the Smart Board to its correct spot on the grid. Literacy and technology skills were developing simultaneously, seemed intricately linked.
T: Who didn’t get to write on the Smart Board yet?
(a few students raise their hands)
T: Joseph if you talk…
Boy: John is being really rude.
T: I know…
(to other students) You gotta stop erasing because we have to keep moving. You need to focus Joe. (to student at the Smart Board) – It’s ok it takes awhile to get used to the markers.
(to a “disruptive” girl): Please go sit at your desk.
(to a “disruptive” boy): Joseph you need to leave the carpet now.
Giles, you’re next.
-Joseph is now every quiet at this desk; head down, seems to still be paying attention to Smart Board
-Girl doesn’t seem to be paying attention now.
-How does this type of seating help or distract students?
Joe: I’m read to have a turn.
T: I’m ready to have you listen.
(to all students) explained how the Smart Board eraser works. If the eraser isn’t in the correct spot, then can technically use finger to erase.
Boy: Oh, cool.
Girl: your finger would be blue then.
T: keep going, I can tell that it’s an N.
(Students in seat)
Joseph: Excuse me, I’m tired. It’s not even night yet.
T: Joesph, are you ready to come back? (does not ask this to the girl in her seat, who has been quiet this whole time. Joseph seem to advocate for himself.)
T: Boys and girls if we can’t get through the activity, we can’t go to recess because we won’t have time for it . (prioritizing the lesson)
Finishes lesson
Transitions
T: shake out your wiggles, and face my easel.
Girl: we’re stretching.
T: I’ve been watching your journals and I’m going to do a lesson on how to write on paper.
My capital letters will take up the whole space.
(Explains process of writing capital and lower case letters on lined paper, the use of margins, etc.)
T: Let’s review. Top of paper is the fat space on top. And where do we start?
Girl: on the left.
T: Where do we write our lower case?
Girl: between the pink and blue line.
T: Where do capital letters go?
Girls: at the beginning of your sentence.
T: I’m going to give you a paper like this, and you’re going to write three sentences about your birthday. Anything about birthday. Maybe it’s a special dinner, or a special cake.
T: Oh I forget where you write you name on the paper (explains…)
This lesson resulted from the teacher looking at students’ needs and the pace of their writing. It is very explicit in the sense that learning to write on paper is not a skill that some students simply inherit. I am reminded of the importance of explicitness.
Transitions by playing music during the time they are working. The music indicates when students should be working.
Students working on writing sentences…
The two lessons are important because they both teach important literacy skills, and very explicitly too. It is interesting to compare the literacy lessons in 1 st , 2 nd, 3 rd, and then 4 th grade. For example, even in fourth grade, students are reminded to write on correct lines, how to indent, and how to write a heading. It still seems to be a process that is taught, but it is more explicitly taught in first grade.
Also to note was how the classroom management looked very different in this 1 st grade classroom than in my 4 th grade classroom. It seemed much more concrete and explicit. In 4 th grade sometimes the teacher mandated that things be done a certain way, especially with assignments and activities, but for behavioral issues the teacher would sometimes take the student aside or address the class as the best way to solve the problem, which encourage students to think independently, but were provided with scaffolding.
In the first lesson, I personally only wrote down selections of dialogue and interactions, and it happens that the dialogue about managing the class on the floor and about how to use the Smart Board seemed most prominent. Interestingly, I did not transcribe much of how the alphabet was taught. I thought that the use of technology was integral to the learning of letters in the lesson. Children could only be successful in this lesson once they merged their use of Smart Board and their knowledge of the alphabet. I wonder if there is a conflict into which one should take precedence in a 1 st grade classroom. Perhaps if both are taught together like this, it will only enrich their literacy experience. As literacy merged technology, the skills for both were emerging. Overall, even from just this observation, I got a sense of the linearity involved in literacy that spanned first through fourth grade.
Third Grade: On Classroom Management
9/23/07
9:15am
*denotes a transition or classroom management tool I observed
Teacher goes over schedule listed on the white board. It is noted that the Smart Board is present in the room.
*Teacher asks students to have “eyes closed and heads down” (All children do it immediately. I’m noticing this is a transition method.)
Teacher choose one student to start “Nice and Good”. (what they did on weekend- similar to what I did in middle school and high school called “new and good”)
*Transitioned to students standing up in a circle. Student that was picked says “thank you” after everyone shared their Nice and Good.
Teacher reminds class, “Remember you can pass if you’d like. Save questions and comment to the end.”
The activity involves a structure that students follow every Monday. In the circle, student quickly shares their nice and good. The whole activity takes about 10 minutes, including transitions. This may go so quickly because students expect the pace and structure. Students in my 4 th grade remember this very well, and has mentioned the structure of the activity before. Teacher has even structure it so that one student always says thank you. Imposing manners? But at the same time explicitly showing that saying thank you is an appropriate response to this activity.
*Transitions to Language Arts (took about 3 seconds!)
Teacher: Boys and girls, we’ll check our Daily Language and share journals and move on” This teacher has a very quick pace but the students seem to follow well
*Teacher: Sitting in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” – Students sit down right away and look at half sheet of paper that is their Daily Language.
-Class goes over Daily Language (on Smart Board) rhyming words with mouse-
-boy: mouse? What’s a louse?
-Teacher: We’ll have this discussion later
-girl: There in an appropriate definition of louse- an animal that burrows.
-teacher: How did you know that?
-girl: I read a lot of books.
-Teacher: I know it- (relates louse to lice; and how during the Medieval Times it
Was a problem)
*Teacher: Moving on to… Analogies!” Completes analogies and correct sentences on Smart Board
*Boy1: I think it’s all correct now- I first the motion that it’s all correct now!
*Boy2: I second the motion.
*Teacher: Motion approved! (draws a large C over sentences and move on to next sentence.
Teacher has grounded into her classroom that students should take ownership of when something is correct or determining how work is finished. The process is quick and seems to imply a notion of a democratic classroom. Teacher uses this motion of “passing” motion approving so that students can determine how when something is correct, and not always the teacher deciding when something is right or wrong.
*Transitions to “share journals”
Boy sits on stool and share his story about dinosaurs
*Teacher: Two questions or comments for your classmate.
*Puts a number of question and comments so perhaps students will think about their answer or understand that this is for questions and all out discussion.
Girl (raising hand): Actually what’s the name of?
Boy: I heard also that they alived in the ocean
Boy: well there’s…
Next girl reads.
Girl: once upon a time -.. reads about ur 0002 (a character)
Boy: how old I ur 0002
Teacher: this is a nice spin off of Morgan’s story
*transitions to math
Teacher asks “Team Friday”: What’s the math fact family?”
*count up points for your team – depend on sentences wrote in journal) I guess this is an incentive to write in this 3 rd grade class.
*transitions to white boards and allowed “silent play for 3 minutes”
Teacher: If you need to go to the bathroom, go now because we will be starting a lesson..
Boy: how long is it”
Teacher: 5000 hours and two minutes!
After 3 min, teacher: (turns lights off) Lights off- please erase your white boards.
*transitions to lesson about capital letters…
*uses overhead projects; explicit lesson about when to use capital letters
Says things such as “well done, erase”
“sit on hands for a minute while I erase this”
“This is something completely new, so I want you to pay attention”
*transitions to subjects and predicates
Goes into activity with sentences and white board.
*teacher asks students to consult with each other and then discuss as class.
*At end of lesson, plays a quick game of Simon Says, then asks students to “sit down”
End 10:30am
There are numerous amounts of transitions in span of an hour and a half! I have realized how different teachers use similar and different ways of managing a classroom. This classroom seemed adept at transitioning quickly. Counting all the stars, I noticed about 11 types of transitions or methods the teacher used to manage the classroom, but I am sure there are many more. This observation got me to think about different ways of managing a classroom, is there really a good way? How does one promote a democratic classroom? By allowing students to decide if material is correct or not, but also expecting students to move quickly and respond to Simon Says and follow the packed schedule… It all seems to play out differently in each classroom.
Studies Anyways?
9/7/07, 11:45am ~ 12:45pm
It is an hour before lunch, and Social Studies is the subject. The 4 th grade have the last lunch period, and several children comment that “I’m starving!”. The children are seated at their desk, more or less. The desks are arranged in an “E” shape on the left side of the classroom (when observing in the back) and on the right side of the classroom, they are 3 rows of desks. The air conditioner is on.
Teacher introduces the subject of Social Studies by asking students to take out their Social Studies folder, which is blue, and before she even prompts a question, one student asks “What’s Social Studies anyways?”. I got the impression that Social Studies was not emphasized as much, at least as a concrete subject matter, in previous grades.
Teacher: Well, someone asked “What is Social Studies?”, does anyone have an idea?”
Katya: (eagerly raises her hands, along with several other students) My dad is a social studies teacher, and social studies is about history.
Teacher: Yes, history is a part of social studies.
The teacher goes on to explain that social studies in 4 th grades consists of studying 1) Geography, 2) History, 3) Economics, and 4) Government and citizenship. She draws 4 rectangles on the blackboard and title each rectangle with each topic. She goes through each topic an discusses that geography is about “place and peoples”, history is about “events in the past”, economics is about “money and resources”, and government and citizenship is about “laws”. Here are some pieces of dialogue that emphasizes the students’ prior knowledge.
Economics
Teacher: Does anyone know what economics is about?
Katya: I know this! My dad told me before. I know this, I know I know this, but I forget! (Katya seems excited and frustrated at the same time because she is familiar with the area of Social Studies)
Morgan: Isn’t economics have to do with, like, gas prices. When people want it, the prices change because it’s important. (basically referring to allocation of resources. Perhaps she heard it in the news or from parents?)
History
Teacher: What kind of events happen in history?
Student: War
K: I can’t stand war.
Teacher: Why would we study it?
Student: Because we can know about what happened and learn.
Teacher: Yes, when people get in conflict, it might result in war, but we might be able to learn from what happened in the past.
As the activity to reinforce the definition of social studies, the teacher says, “Now, I want you to…draw a picture to represent each aspect of social studies”. Then, goes on to model examples on the board.
Noah: Can I draw a nuclear bomb for “history” or is it inappropriate?
Teacher: Hm, I will allow it only because history has conflict, and unfortunately, ends up in war. But do you know why we study war?
Noah: It’s the same reason I read about tornadoes, to recognize it be prepared.
Teacher: Yes that’s the reason. So we can learn lessons from our history.
Students proceed to draw pictures on the stickers to decorate their social studies folders.
These discussions seem important because the students begin to understand the relevance of social studies in their lives. As a follow up, the students learned about the continents and oceans, and also how countries are named, fought for, bought, and can result in war. The students make the connection that continents aren’t just land masses, but a part of history. One student again asked me “Why is social studies so important?”.
Elisha Ann's Student Teaching Portfolio Reflections
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