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.