Third Grade Classroom Observation

It was a warm and sunny morning during August, it was only the first week of school at McDole Elementary, I was in 1st grade. Mrs.Olma my teacher was walking us back from a bathroom break. Eventually when we were in the classroom she told us to sit down because she had something very important to say to the whole class. She made sure everyone in the classroom was paying attention to her.

Student misbehaviour: Describe what happened in the first class. What types of misbehaviour did you observe? When did these happen? How did the teacher respond? What were the most effective strategies used? What were the least effective strategies?

The film Graduating Peter, showed the journey of a boy growing up and experiencing school. Peter is special compared to the average student. When Peter was born, he was diagnosed with down syndrome. His parents wanted Peter to live a normal life just like his other siblings. They wanted him to be in mainstream classes, get a job, and focus on his future. In the film, the audience sees the extents the family goes through to try to make their child as “normal” as they could.

“Student” and “Crow Lake” these two articles both talked about the relationship between teachers and students. Wayman, the teacher in “Student”, he insisted on attracting his students’ interests, but it didn’t work out very well. Katie, the teacher in “Crow Lake”, she recalled a childhood experience during her class, it came out that students got bored by her voice. Wayman tried very hard on helping students learn better, but the students only care about their grades instead of learning things. Katie tried to teach her students, but there had no connections between Katie and the student. In both articles, the teacher showed no connections with students. However, Wayman didn’t give up on helping his students but Katie did walk away from her class.

On Wednesday, September 30th I observed Mrs. Bangham’s three to six year old classroom. The observation was from 8:00 to 10:00, at Greensboro Montessori School. Since they combine different ages I focused more on the five and six year olds that would be in a normal Kindergarten class. I learned so much about Montessori schools and how they work in the two hours I observed.

Although they were quick exchanges he seemed to have the ability to engage with his peers and they were always willing to communicate with him. While this seemed like a positive sign, the interactions looked they they occurred because he was restless more so than because he needed some sort of help. Once the teacher announced silent reading time was over the kids put their books away in their designated cubbies on a shelf that were organized alphabetically. Nick was one of the last to put his books away and, because he was one of the last to do so, the gap where his cubby was supposed to go had slightly closed enough to where he couldn’t easily slide his cubby in place. In trying to put his cubby back Nick exhibited a hill-climbing problem solving strategy. This means he was trying to solve the problem by choosing a method that he believed would get him to his goal the fastest. What he did was continually smash his cubby into his spot instead of taking the time to push the other cubbies back so his would fit. He smashed the cubbies five or six times which made several of them fall over, at which point a classmate became frustrated, but helped him get everything back in the right place. This event took place while most of the class was sitting quietly waiting for the teacher to give them directions about their next

The Unselds’ School is a private school, located in Baltimore, Maryland. The school teaches less than one hundred students from the ages of nine months to teenagers in the eighth grade with a faculty of fourteen. The goal of the school is to provide their students with the necessary skills needed to be accepted and potentially awarded scholarships to high schools that are beneficial in furthering the child’s education, as the public high school of the county has a graduation acceptance rate of forty-eight percent. The Unselds’ School has a thematic teaching approach, which means that the curriculum implemented is based around key subjects and concepts. The concepts

The period of time that I will be reviewing is coming from Mrs. Porter’s first and second grade ELL classroom. Pseudonyms will be in place for all students and teachers present in this description and story. On this particular day I was to help out at a literacy station. Stations are a regular routine in this classroom for all subjects, and the students really do enjoy this part of the day. It breaks up learning into different activities that are both individual practice and group work. On this day, I felt a little stressed and worried for Mrs. Porters students. The 4 children I was working with at this station were assigned a work sheet where they were to write “are big” or “is big” in the sentences below. Mrs. Porters class is extremely

I have been doing my student observation at Scobee Middle School with Coach David Ellis. He currently teaches 8th grade U.S. History. Coach Ellis has different approach for each child in his different classes. These approach help him keep the class in order and help keep the students on track.

Brennan was observed during the morning in his first grade classroom. At the start of the observation, the class was instructed to sit on the carpet for an activity. Brennan got up out of his seat and appropriately sat on the carpet. Brennan’s teacher, Mrs. Jones, began to engage the class in a writing activity. As she engaged the class in a discussion and wrote sentences on the board, Brennan appeared to pay attention as he stared at the board. However, he was not raising his hands or contributing to the discussion. Towards the end of the activity, Mrs. Jones asked the class to provide names of healthy foods. Brennan raised his hand and stated, “mash potatoes.” He then received praise.

Rigel was asked if he wanted to participate in a touching activity. He had answered yes. The teacher had Rigel to sit next to the blue tray. She then took out a container with pink starburst flubber. The teacher had Rigel take the flubber out of the container and had him place the flubber onto his tray. After he took the flubber out he was asked to smell the flubber and identify what it smelled like. Rigel smelled the flubber and said it smelt like strawberries. The teacher told Rigel that he was correct it was strawberry flavored. Rigel then began squishing the flubber in his hands by squeezing it and watching the flubber leak between his fingers. The flubber started off hard and when Rigel first touched it he said “it feels cold and slimy

0:05 (Ch.1) Picks up a small cup dipping into water and emptying, she then picks up a smaller container repeating the same action. Ch.1 states “This is a tiny cup, this is tiny cup” She scoops water from small cup into a slightly larger container. Ch.1 observes another child standing to her left complete a similar process. Ch.1 is holding a purple plastic scraper in her left hand.

During this session, I asked my clinician where her school funding comes from. Christine said the funding comes from the school district and budget related services. If Christine’s department wanted a new standardized test, like the PLS-5, she would put in a request and wait to see if the school had funding for it. The preschool department where Christine works is funded through a grant that can vary depending on the year. If there is X amount of money left over, the teachers offer it to the SLPs. Another area of funding is from Medicaid. An interesting fact Christine told me was that she is able to claim 200$ of personal expenses to taxes if she saves her receipts on SLP materials.

My classmates and I sat eagerly in our chairs as we awaited to find out the names of our “Little Buddies” - a privilege fourth graders gained as they began growing mature. Although we continued on our day, assigning books, receiving piles of paperwork to give to our parents for their night of “homework”, and decorating and embellishing names tags that would stick to our desks allowing Mrs. Ross to get to know our names. Before I knew it, the time to board the bus and return home to tell mom all about my first day of fourth grade approached quickly. However, paranoia set in when Mrs. Ross never gave us the names of our “Little Buddies”! Come to find out Mrs. Ross explained to her students that the she needed to see what her students had to offer before sending them to either hurt or aide the younger second graders. My nerves turned into excitement as I thought that I could inspire someone just by my actions, whether I made them feel welcome or treated them with love.

The first day I observed the entire fifth grade had a short day so their classes were on a time crunch. As the students came into the class, the teacher stood beside the door and welcomed every students with a smile. Beside the door was a small table that held the bell work papers and bell work turn in basket. As students came through the door they automatically picked up their bell work paper for the day. After grabbing their bell work, students placed their materials for the class on their desks and then proceeded to take their backpacks to the hall to hang up. Then the students came back in, sat at their desks, and quietly worked on their bell work. Once the students finished their bell work they went to the netbook cart and grabbed their netbook. The teacher explained to me that