ED414 Observation #3

1. Identification of the Learning Objective: P.O (Performance Objective)  #35 Students will practice problems involving unit rate

2.     Description of Student Body: There were a total of twenty-one students in the ICT classroom. Of those children, there were ten male, and eleven females. There was a teacher who followed the students to each class. This teacher also informed us that about seven students had an IEP. There were all 21 present today.

3.     Description of classroom environment: (Mostly the same as last time) The teacher had updated some of her students work, and so the room was full of new works the kids were proud of. This teacher has decorations, posters, student work, covering the room (front, sides, back, windows, and bottom). There is room for more student work to be displayed. The walls have inspirational quotes and motivational words. The room is organized with worksheet centers; text books in the back lockers, pencils on the side. I also remember seeing a chart that had a connecting symbol with Math & Language Arts. She put up a general guideline grading schema for the class. Still no rules posted and for whatever reason there is no where in her class that it says her name. Not on her door? or her desk or even on the students work. I had to ask a student her name. 

4.     Description of Instructional Strategies: (Similar) This teacher usually teaches direct instruction in her class. She has the kids go up to the SMARTboard and show their work and answer the problems. She uses formative assessment by asking the class if they all got that answer and if they agree  disagree on the solution. Every Friday she has them buddy up and switch papers to peer edit, using indirect instruction. Last week she said buddy up with the person next to you. But, she forgot to pair up the kids with their buddies who were absent. They paired up on their own. The same child is always by himself, students do not want to work with him and make mean comments to him. I realized it is almost like since the teachers brush him off so do the students. This week she had assigned pairs to work with and so everyone was paired together. One student was confused on the wording of question #1 on the worksheet, the teacher then clarified to the class by drawing out a visual (manipulative) and another way of wording the question. 

5.     Assessment Strategies: (Same as observation 1) The teacher uses formative instruction by having the children complete a Do Now assignment and see if they have comprehended their homework. She then calls on a few students to come up to the smart board and write and share their answers. She also uses summative assessment by having the students’ grade each other and then put into their portfolio.Last week  I thought that maybe student teacher meeting are coming up and so the teacher is preparing for it, I found out this week that Friday is portfolio day.  I also realized this teacher does not walk around the classroom, she waits for a student to raise their hand and then walks over. She does check the students work who are done first and if they have a answer wrong she says "maybe you went a little wrong here, look again". On question #2 of the worksheet a student calls he over and says the answer is not in any of the multiple choice answers. The teacher then had the class cross out the multiple choices (a-d) and had them write in their answer.  I was a little shocked and impressed that this worksheet contained both standards and the rubric for the students to know what the teach is expecting. 

6. Classroom Management: (Same)This teacher seems to have control over the class. The students all respect her, a lot more than the other classes I have seen them with.  She keeps her class on task, she is always reassuring the kids and guiding them. There is always a child who is isolated in the back of the class, and out of the entire day there, she was the only teacher besides the traveling teacher who gave him a chance to do well. This child raised his hand to show his work on the board, he has the correct work and answer and the teacher gave him a compliment. You could tell by the smile on his face that he received the confidence boost, he desperately needed.
      Side note: Today in period 2, the student who is always isolated almost got into a fight and was removed from class to talk to the teacher on the side. The teacher showed he cared and finally the child flipped out and shouted "I hate this!, they all think I'm retarded" 
       This moment reflected goos behavior for his the rest of the school day, and gave him courage to participate more.

7.     Use Technology: (Same) This teacher had a smart board in the front of the room. She uses it to teach her lesson, as well as have the students share their answers with each other. She used the smart board for her do now, objectives, notes, student work, and word problems for kids to solve. She is using the technology effectively. This class she did a lesson where the kids used fractions to bake a birthday cake, and had to figuring our how to accommodate the recipe to amount of guests.

8.  Closure: This class the teacher did not have a closure. Thinking back, I don't think any of the classes had a closure. This is an important part of the lesson, this is where the teacher and the students either do a re-cap, answer question left on the subject matter or simply reflect. I believe if this teacher did use a closure, her class might grasp the concepts of math she is teaching them better. 

Assistive Technologies Being Appropriately Used To Increase Student Performances

Assistive technology is a wide range of devices and services for students with moderate to severe disabilities. žAssistive technology offers students with disabilities access to the general education curriculum and tools for adults throughout their lifespan (Chmiliar 2007).
   Assistive technologies can be appropriately used to increase student performance for many reasons. Assistive technologies are used to increase the learning experience of students; whether the technology is used to accommodate a student’s disability or to engage a student more during a lesson.

There are many types of assistive technologies to use:

Students who are hearing impaired could use some technology such as hearing aids,television captioning,FM system, computer technology, sign language etc. 

           

Students who are visually impaired can use technology such as: 

Braille embossers & Refreshable Braille displays 

Alternative Keyboards

Online Audio Books 

My favorite assistive technology is the     
The DynaVox is a company that has created various types of electric communication boards.  Depending on the tablet that you chose, your communication board could speak in different voices and languages (English, Spanish, German, and French).  It could have Windows 7, a camera that can serve as an eye tracker, different input options, Bluetooth, and can connect with other devices. The dynavox is a type of assistive technology that is used for children who have a motor disability. However, this piece of technology can be used with any general education classroom or ICT classroom. This is a way to have the shy children speak up, the visual learners work close up, the kinesthetic learners have a hands on tool and the audio learners voice their opinions. 

Including Technology Into My Teaching Philosophy

When we first created our teaching philosophy, including technology was not even a thought in my mind. After being introduced to many types of technology in our CS322-ILC I believe that technology could enhance both the students focus and comprehension of a topic. Some types of technology that we all knew prior to the class are computers, smart boards, tape recorders. However, much to our surprise there are so many ways technology could be used in our classroom. Some technologies that I believe that I could implement into my classroom are smartboards, blogs, podcasts, wikis and online grade book. Along with that we learned about Prezi, which is a more detailed way of creating a presentation, instead of using power point.

Some possvle ways to use them are: 

Smart boards: many teachers use smartboards as just a projection screen. Some either forget or are just uneducated on how to use the technology. This technology can be used to have students interactively come up on the board and physically touch and place items. This is good for kinesthetic learners.

SmartBoard

Blogs: This is good piece of technology to have kids show their comprehension for a topic. This is also good for long term use, to track a students progression of the school year. The blog could also be a way for all the students to communicate with the teacher and vice versa. 

Podcast: This piece of technology could be used as a study tool for students. This way instead of the students reading or writing their notes, they have a recording they could listen to.

Online grade book: This is good for the teacher, students and the parents. This is a great way to have the teacher organize grades and have the children and the parents be involved and updated in the grading policy and upcoming assignments. 

ED414 Observation #2

1.     Identification of the Learning Objective: The teacher had “SWABT complete the real life situation of fractions and apply it to their own lives.

2.     Description of Student Body: There were a total of twenty-one students in the ICT classroom. Of those children, there were ten male, and eleven females. There was a teacher who followed the students to each class. This teacher also informed us that about seven students had an IEP. There were only 18 present today.

3.     Description of classroom environment: (Mostly the same as last time) This week she had updated her student work, and so the room was full of new works the kids were proud of. This teacher has decorations, posters, student work, covering the room (front, sides, back, windows, and bottom). There is room for more student work to be displayed. The walls have inspirational quotes and motivational words. The room is organized with worksheet centers; text books in the back lockers, pencils on the side. I also remember seeing a chart that had a connecting symbol with Math & Language Arts.

4.     Description of Instructional Strategies: (Similar) This teacher usually teaches direct instruction in her class. She occasionally has them buddy up and switch papers to peer edit, using indirect instruction. However, this week she said buddy up with the person next to you. But, she forgot to pair up the kids with their buddies who were absent. They paired up on their own. The same child is always by himself, students do not want to work with him and make mean comments to him. I realized it is almost like since the teachers brush him off so do the students.

5.     Assessment Strategies: (Same as observation 1) The teacher uses formative instruction by having the children complete a Do Now assignment and see if they have comprehended their homework. She then calls on a few students to come up to the smart board and write and share their answers. She also uses summative assessment by having the students’ grade each other and then put into their portfolio. I think that maybe student teacher meeting are coming up and so the teacher is preparing for it now.

6.     Classroom Management: (Same)This teacher seems to have control over the class. The students all respect her, a lot more than the other classes I have seen them with.  She keeps her class on task, she is always reassuring the kids and guiding them. There is always a child who is isolated in the back of the class, and out of the entire day there, she was the only teacher besides the traveling teacher who gave him a chance to do well.

7.     Use Technology: This teacher had a smart board in the front of the room. She uses it to teach her lesson, as well as have the students share their answers with each other. She used the smart board for her do now, objectives, notes, student work, and word problems for kids to solve. She is using the technology effectively. This class she did a lesson where the kids used fractions to bake a birthday cake, and had to figuring our how to accommodate the recipe to amount of guests.

8.     Description of materials used during observation: The teachers had the students use materials such as: the smart board, pencil, paper, colored pens) and a calculator. Smart board was to go over math problems, the paper and pencil was to take notes, the colored pen was to grade a classmate’s work (constructively) to grade each other, and the calculator was to check their work. She also had little cut outs of ingredients as manipulative.

9.     Personal Reaction: Week 2: Transition Between Activities:  There is no real transition that is obvious. The teacher does go over each question on the worksheet for the class, and then breaks down the answer before she moves on, but that is all. I have noticed that in every class, there is a student who is always in the back, at a distance from the rest of the class. Some teachers just ignore his existence but some keep him involved.  The boy is still alienated from the class. I feel as if the teachers do not want to be bothered by him. The two teachers from the previous week, who graduated from Wagner College, asked about homecoming and how classes are going, old teachers ad etc.  It was nice that they reached out a little bit, it made me feel like we were on the same level and was nice to connect with a teacher you are observing.  

ED414 Observation #1

1.     Identification of the Learning Objective: The teacher had “SWABT complete an assignment for their math portfolios

2.     Description of Student Body: There were a total of twenty-one students in the ICT classroom. Of those children, there were ten male, and eleven females. There was a teacher who followed the students to each class. This teacher also informed us that about seven students had an IEP.

3.     Description of classroom environment: The room is my favorite out of all the classes! This teacher has decorations, posters, student work, covering the room (front, sides, back, windows, and bottom). There is room for more student work to be displayed. The walls have inspirational quotes and motivational words. The room is organized with worksheet centers; text books in the back lockers, pencils on the side. I also remember seeing a chart that had a connecting symbol with Math & Language Arts.

4.     Description of Instructional Strategies: This teacher usually teaches direct instruction in her class. She occasionally has them buddy up and switch papers to peer edit, using indirect instruction. However, she doesn’t assign the partners; she lets them form them on their own. One child is always by himself, students do not want to work with him and make mean comments to him. Young teenagers will choose their friends, and so to be fair, the teacher should assign partners at random.

5.     Assessment Strategies: The teacher uses formative instruction by having the children complete a Do Now assignment and see if they have comprehended their homework. She then calls on a few students to come up to the smart board and write and share their answers. She also uses summative assessment by having the students grade each other and then put into their portfolio.

6.     Classroom Management: This teacher seems to have control over the class. The students all respect her, a lot more than the other classes I have seen them with.  She keeps her class on task, she is always reassuring the kids and guiding them. There is always a child who is isolated in the back of the class, and out of the entire day there, she was the only teacher besides the traveling teacher who gave him a chance to do well.

7.     Use Technology: This teacher had a smart board in the front of the room. She uses it to teach her lesson, as well as have the students share their answers with each other. She used the smart board for her do now, objectives, notes, student work, and word problems for kids to solve. She is using the technology effectively, but she could be going the extra mile. For example: she could have a mix and match fraction activity, like in my lesson plan. She could have a giant piece of pizza, and as the students touch a piece, it gets eaten. She could use the board for ore interactive activities to keep the students interested.

8.     Description of materials used during observation: The teachers had the students use materials such as: the smart board, pencil, paper, colored pens) and a calculator. Smart board was to go over math problems, the paper and pencil was to take notes, the colored pen was to grade a classmate’s work (constructively) to grade each other, and the calculator was o check their work.

9.     Personal Reaction:  After following this group a children all day I have seen some interesting things. I have already picked up on who are the class clowns and who are the children always on task. I have seen how each child’s attitude and work focus depends on the class they walk into. Some teachers favor students and about 2 out of those 8 are fair. I have noticed that in every class, there is a student who is always in the back, at a distance from the rest of the class. Some teachers just ignore his existence but some keep him involved.  

I loved this classrooms set up. The room was so colorful and inviting. The teacher created a friendly and happy environment for the kids to come to. Out of all the teachers, she received the most respect and good feedback from the students.

During the day, I also encountered 2 teachers who graduated from Wagner College! It was really good to see that not too long ago they were in my shoes but they survived and were successful in finding a job.