...The observation sight chosen is known as The Blake Street Early Learning Center it offers pre-k and kindergarten classes. Miss. Reed’s kindergarten class is the observed classroom; the class consists of 15 children ranging between five and six. As the children arrive each child places his or her backpacks and other belongings into his or her designated cubby. Children are provided with a couple of options, children can set at table were a pre-packed breakfast is waiting, children may choose to go into the music corner and sit and listen to classical music or have quiet time in the dimly light corner and relax. It was surprising to the observer how quickly the children seem to be make selections about where to spend breakfast time. After breakfast the children gathered around Miss. Reed on the reading carpet to review the day’s events, this prepares the children for the day and informs them of what is expected of them as the day moves along. Once the schedule of the day has been reviewed, Miss Reed shares a book with the classroom. Class Description Miss. Reed’s class is brightly colored and decorated. In the reading corner there is a long painted scene of a large tree and children of diverse backgrounds playing on and around the tree. The bookshelves are brightly colored and are strategically placed to divide the classroom into its various labeled corners. The floors in the reading area is carpeted in the reading corner is brightly colored hand prints with...
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...Classroom Observation 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. Upon speaking to the principal about observing he assigned me to Mrs. Johnson’s third grade class, because she was the best organized. I was surprised when I walked into the class and it was not pristine and in perfect order. Shelves are organized with baskets but the baskets are overflowing with books. I was glad to see that she actually used her classroom. My observations on the teacher’s management style, interaction with students, arrangement, mutual respect, enforcing and reinforcing classroom expectations, and preventative procedures and activities. The day I observed Mrs. Johnson’s classroom was a good day because not only did I get to see the interaction between her and her students she also had the other third grade class for a period and I got to see her interaction with students she does not have on a daily basis. She was very positive and never raised her voice once. If a student got too loud or was breaking rules she would call the students name and tell them to take a letter. She is very respectful with her students calling them ladies...
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...This artifact is my a journal included in my observation experience assignment that I completed for Communication Arts I and II, ED 323 and 325, in the fall of 2017. The project was a summary of my observation experience of a first grade classroom I was placed in. I observed and assisted for 50 hours in Ms. Hayes’s first grade classroom at Rossiter Elementary School, Helena, MT. This artifact is housed behind Standard H, Performance 1. 4. How does this artifact demonstrate your competency for this teacher performance? In the fall of 2017, I spent 50 hours in a first grade classroom observing and assisting with language arts, phonics, spelling, math and various other disciplines. During this time I kept a journal entry for each day I obsevered. My journal entry and artifact...
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...Our first day at the Child Study Center, we as a group were in the dragonflies classroom, and we were there to observe the children and how they interact with each other while planning for our activity that we would do with them the next time. During our first visit, Mrs. Jackie explained to us that the children loved creating stories and saving people. Also, Mrs. Jackie showed us some of the books that the students created that involving saving people. In our first visit, each of the children were doing their own thing, so we as a group got to watch what they enjoyed playing with the most. Claire, the only girl in the classroom, showed us all of her LOL dolls that she brought to school with her that day. Isaiah, showed us his Pokémon cards while telling us about each of...
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...The approach I took here was to observe children as they progressed through a particular school system. Looking for some correlation or trends and some educational building as it relates to transitioning from grade to grade. In this observation I observed a teacher I already had contact with. She taught my daughter in first grade, and then later on she left teaching for administration position and has returned this year as a kindergarten teacher. I think this speaks about her passion for being in the classroom. She voluntarily left a higher paying taking the first position available which was not her specialty. Overall I was impressed with her teaching style and her methods of communicating with her students. The first thing I observed was the room layout. I believe the room layout plays a very important role in early childhood education. Some rooms can be distracting with too much information or too vacant and not aiding in the education process. What I saw here was not what I expected to see but I think it is efficient. There were no desks other than the teachers. The children sat at tables laid out in a single tiered “U” shape facing the front chalk board as you might see in a college setting, but not a flattened “U”. It was a true “U”. I like this arrangement because it focuses the student’s attention on the center of the room. Another advantage is that no one is distracted by the person sitting in front of them which is especially important with this age group because...
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...My first observation took place in a third grade classroom of twenty-two students. All students were of Mexican descent and labeled as intermediate/advanced English language learners. The classroom environment itself was very warm and welcoming. There was a bulletin board that displayed pictures of students and their families along with autobiographies. There was another bulletin board dedicated to celebrating Mexican culture and people. The teacher was a Caucasian women in her mid twenties with three years of teaching experience. The second classroom I observed was a first grade class of twenty-five students. Students in this class were all of Mexican descent and labeled as early intermediate English language learners. The classroom environment was very welcoming and appealing. There were colorful posters and pictures displayed on the walls. There was a bulletin board that displayed pictures of students with a caption that said “I am special because...”. Another bulletin board celebrated diversity with pictures of people of different cultures. The teacher was a Mexican-American woman in her early thirties with five years of teaching experience. My last observation took place in a fourth grade classroom of twenty-four students. Twenty of the students were of Mexican descent, one was Caucasian, and two were African American. This was a mainstream class with intermediate/advanced English language learners. The classroom environment was somewhat plain and boring...
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...My initial classroom observation went totally different from what I was expecting. I was extremely nervous to be just "staring" at students and typing on my huge laptop. However, a bit of my anxiety went away when I saw my classmate Maggie and also when we both decided that sitting in the front of the classroom was definitely something we were not interested in doing at all. During the duration of the observation I felt like an hour and fifteen minute class session seems way longer when you are just sitting and watching other's just simply do "stuff". I already knew what I was in the classroom to look for but I think I was hoping for better results. This was my first time being inside this very interestingly modeled active learning classroom and from doing research I was expecting smiling faces and super hyper active college students behaving like middle school students when they play education jeopardy. Instead, I observed a great deal of nail biting, and texting for the majority of the time. I thought maybe it's not the students who aren't paying attention, it may be me. Maybe I'm not looking for the right things, or just not looking hard enough. So walking out of my first observation I did not feel confident at all. I thought to myself, what I could do differently since my next scheduled class room observation would be in the next two days....
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...Classroom Observation Instruments Kelly Grand Canyon University 551: Supervision and Instructional Leadership Dr. Gary McDaniel July 31, 2013 Classroom Observation Instruments 1 As a principal, there are many challenges one may face. The challenges range from scheduling to disciplining students. However, one of the most demanding areas is the ability to provide effective instructional leadership. “Recent research shows that high-performing school districts actively seek to establish a clear expectation that the principal will be the instructional leader and the primary architect of instructional improvement at the school (Togneri & Anderson, 2003). Making sure that teaching materials are high- quality and readily available for teachers along with scheduling appropriate professional development are two roles of an instructional leader. In order for these to take place the principal needs to be aware of what is going on within the classrooms. Conducting classroom observations is key in guaranteeing the right tools are provided to teachers. An approach that has becoming increasing popular is the learning-walk or walk- through. When administrators complete a walk through, it gives them the opportunity to gather information about the classroom and help frame collaboration. “The walk-through can be defined as a brief structured, nonevaluative classroom observation by the principal that is followed by a conversation between the principal and the teacher...
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...Classroom Observation Worksheet Instructor_____________________Course_________________________________ Date________________________Observer_________________________________ Directions: Below is a list of instructor behaviors that may occur within a given class or course. Please use it as guide to making observations, not as a list of required characteristics. When this worksheet is used for making improvements to instruction, it is recommended that the instructor highlight the areas to be focused on before the observation takes place. Respond to each statement using the following scale: Not observed More emphasis Accomplished recommended very well 1 2 3 Circle the number at the right that best represents your response. Use the comment space below each section to provide more feedback or suggestions. Content Organization Not observed More emphasis Accomplished very well 1. Made clear statement of the purpose of the lesson 1 2 3 2. Defined relationship or this lesson to previous lessons 1 2 3 3. Presented overview of the lesson 1 2 3 4. Presented topics with a logical sequence 1 2 3 5. Paced lesson appropriately 6. Summarized major points of lesson 1 2 3 7. Responded to problems raised during lesson 1 2 3 8. Related today’s lesson to future lessons 1 2 3 Comments: Presentation Not observed More emphasis Accomplished...
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...1) First impressions of child within initial 15 minutes: The child was very friendly to me right when I came into the classroom she greeted me saying hello. My target child is very quiet she did not speak at all to anyone she would just do her assigned class work. Indeed she is very neat. She had no papers on her desk and inside of her desk was very organized. 2) Describe the activities the child participated in during your observation. During my observation for my first time visit she was seeing her occupational therapist. The first assignment she told me target child to do was to get four marble balls out of silly pudding. She completed this lesson fully and this was a great hands activity. The next activity she did with my target child...
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...because of the large room. The students who have their desks scattered within the room are there because they either get distracted easily or are a distraction to others. The few who are a distraction to others are far apart are individualized for their needs. If they are around others they feel the need to act out to get attention. Having their desks farther away from others does not allow them to speak with other students or even see them if they are sitting at their desk properly. The students have access to book in the library and on the front table there are pencils and any assignment that they are given for the day. Their computers are all in a cart behind the teacher’s desk that they can get to easily if they need to access it. Any classroom materials such as their computer, the library books, or pencils are easily accessible. Anything else they need is given to them when they need...
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...During the opening week of the current school year, I had the opportunity to observe a master teacher. This teacher teaches 8th grade mathematics at Northern Middle School, the school I am currently interning at. On the first day of school, as the students entered the classroom, the teacher greeted each student individually in the doorway, introducing herself to them and asking the students what their names were. After the introduction, the students walked into the classroom and they were presented with a seating chart on the Smart Board in the front of the classroom. The seating chart included the students’ names, as well as their previous year’s school picture. This was all presented in a graphically pleasing way, which showed the class that the teacher was very well organized and took pride in her work. Before she had even presented her classroom expectations, she had set the tone for the school year. Her students knew that she was not only welcoming, but she was also prepared, hard working, and she cared about her work. Obviously, one of the first questions the students asked was “are these our seats for the entire year?” To which she responded, “We will switch up the seating many times throughout the year, and those of you who show me that you can work well together, will have the freedom to choose where you sit.” As the school year moved along, I was able to continue to observe on occasion the same Master Teacher that I observed in the opening week of the school...
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...The context. Provide the reader with the setting of the observation including the place and the content of the lesson interfaced for learning. For my peer observation I had the opportunity to visit Ms. Cade’s 1st grade classroom at Hyalite where Savannah is completing her practicum at. Savannah has being teaching a unit on plants and for this lesson I was able to participate in a lesson that demonstrated whether plants need soil to grow. She had created an activity that would but this theory to action and prove whether plants need soil to grow. Your noticings. What did you see? What felt familiar? Did learning happen? How did you know? One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the classroom was...
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...For the participant observation project I chose to do Chapters book store, which was located at Orchard park mall. The dates I went were; first 26th of July around 1.00 pm, second day was on the 31st of July around 4.00 pm, and finally on the 3rd of August around 11.00 pm. Through critical thinking and deep observation this article’s focus will be; rituals, gender codes, and consumerism (Schultz et al. 2012). Chapters book store is about selling books: the concept of consumerism is deeply tied to selling books. People buy books they prefer and due to consumer demand more books are brought in and sold. Furthermore, this repeated process of buying and selling has become some sort of ritual. There is a repeated process of consumerism at play here, this book buying process is out of daily routine, then there seems to be a schema which is buying books, all of these fits very well with the definition of ritual (Schultz et al. 2012). The people working at chapters and its customers are performing this ritual on a daily basis. There were other rituals such the process of buying of books as well. The customer has to always head to the cashier, the...
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...Observation Two A few days ago, I was able to observe my second teacher for my assignment in the first placement of student teaching. The room was located directly above the classroom that I am currently in. There are windows on two sides of the walls. The seating is also group tables with loose chairs instead of the regular single student desk which is attached to the chair. Today, the desks were put into groups on two sides of the room and one table was in the middle towards the end of the wall. This class was a social studies one and today I was able to observe them have a debt on Universal Health Care. The classroom also had dates of tests/quizzes on the chalkboard with a quote of the day on the projector screen. There was also...
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