On Tuesday September 28th, 2017 I observed Mrs. Rosser’s first grade classroom. Her classroom is located within Donahue Academy which is located in Ave Maria, Florida. The classroom had a total of 14 students. The children cover every basic subject everyday such as science, math, writing, reading, and they also practice their handwriting. Since this is a Catholic school the children also have daily mass along with daily religion studies. When I first walked into the classroom the children were hard at work. They were all spread throughout the classroom sitting on various rugs throughout the classroom working on their writing. The students in the class had the opportunity to work alone or with partners. Mrs. Rosser was fully engaged with the students when I walked into the classroom. She was chatting with the students about their stories and helping them brainstorm in order to extend their stories. Mrs. Rosser promptly greeted me and told me to make myself comfortable. She then quickly got back to helping the students with their stories. I felt that Mrs. Rosser’s classroom was set up efficiently. Her desk is set up where she has a clear view of all of her students. Although when I was in her classroom for my observation she was never at her desk. She was up and moving around the classroom during my entire observation period. The student’s desks were all set up in the center of the classroom in clusters. The only problem with some of the children’s desks were that they don’t face the front white board so they would need to turn completely around in their chairs to see. Although it seemed that Mrs. Rosser typically had the students come to the front rug in front of the white board while she taught. That way the children didn’t have any issues with having to turn around in their chairs. I felt that Mrs. Rosser’s educational philosophy was that she wanted to create a really amazing classroom community. I loved how she referred to all of her students as friends. An example to her calling all of her students friends, she would say, “Gather around friends!” Mrs. Rosser is one of the most positive teachers I have ever experienced. I honestly wish I would have had a teacher as positive as her when I was that age.
A general population third grade class was observed to further understand the psychological aspect of teaching. The Title I school classroom observed has sixteen students, eight girls and eight boys, and is almost entirely made up of students from a low socioeconomic status (SES). The desks are arranged with one big horseshoe and two rows of desks inside the horseshoe shape. The teacher has made adjustments to seating assignments and layout due to student behavior and feedback. The class is made up with students eight to nine years old with two students repeating the third grade. Snowman and McCown (2012) highlight that students in this class would be in Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development, industry
The rooms were inviting, and the students were engaged in learning. I quickly noticed that having a positive, and inviting classroom environment is of upmost importance for successful student learning. As the students walked through the second grade classroom they were greeted with a hug. When the students’ finished their morning work, the chimes signaled the students to line up, and transition to their first class of the day which is Science. This is where I was able to observe both Mrs. Stanford, and Mrs. Taylor
At 1:00 p.m. I entered into Evoline C. West Elementary school on Thursday, July 12 2012 for an interview with Mrs. Yolanda Lawrence. As I entered the classroom, I was greeted by Mrs. Lawrence, the head teacher in this classroom. Mrs. Lawrence has no assistant at this present because of it being in the summer. After I entered into the classroom, the entire class welcomed me with “hello Ms. Flournoy”. It made my day to see all of those smiley faces greeting me. This was a 2nd grade classroom which consisted of 17 students of which 8 were girls and 9 were boys. This interview and observation was a total of 2
I observed the kindergarten classroom of Sarah House. During my observation, Ms. House completed a language arts lesson with her students. Ms. House used both whole class instruction and one on one instruction during her lesson. I felt that she did an amazing job with classroom management and created lessons that were not only engaging, but fun for the students.
At the end of the day, this new teacher sits down at her desk – for what seems like the first time that day and begins to reflect back on the
A typical day in Julie Smith MC 201 class starts of with her playing music. Once her class starts it’s nothing but and excitement. She is a very loud and energetic person. She is not afraid to get all in your face as she is walking around the class teaching you for the topic of the day. She also has a lot of games she uses to keep people engaged in the topics to she is talking about. “ I love coming to Julie class because you never know what to expect from her. One day you might get class where you’re using your phone and the next day she’s handing out candy. I love coming to her class not knowing what to expect.” Said Ciara Bazile. Julie just didn’t wake up one day and say hey I’m going to be teacher like most people as she likes to put it, “ just happened by accident.” One of her old professors called her one night and asked her if she was still teaching at Webster and asked her if she wanted to teach an intro class, she immediately jumped at it. Her favorite part about teaching is “having students contact me after the semester to tell me about examples they 've seen - which shows that what we 've talked about in 201 has stayed with them. I love getting to know them and know their stories. College students are much smarter than people give them credit for.” Julie has been teaching since 1998 so she has no shame when it comes to teaching is not afraid to make a fool of her self when it comes to teaching. “I remember Julie teaching us about television and radio. She
Mrs. Wilson instilled a love for reading in me. In first grade this didn’t seem like much, but as the years went on I saw her impact on my life in many different ways. In fifth grade I was given the opportunity to be “student leader”, presented the opportunity to go to the young grades and read to the kids. I of course chose to read to Mrs. Wilson’s class. This
For my sophomore year, I was blessed with one of the best English teachers at our school, Mr. Granger. From the first day of class I knew that Mr. Granger represented everything I wanted to become in the future, and I made sure to tell him. Soon enough, snacks, lunches, and hours after school were spent in his classroom chatting with him or just enjoying his and the presence of the few other students that loved to be in Room 220. Mr. Granger was the everyman: a friend, a brother, a teacher, and a trusted adult, and in many ways Room 220 was a safe haven and home.
Ms. Penn’s Kindergarten class consisted of 9 boys and 7 girls. This was the last hour of the instructional day, and as I walked in I noticed that the students were already working in centers in groups of 3-4. This class was a little noisy and unorganized as compared to other kindergarten classrooms I have observed so far at Krahn elementary. The students seemed to be enjoying their time in centers and were eager to pack-up after cleaning up in the end since it was close to dismissal.
While observing Mrs. Cirrincione, I liked her classroom management skills. The students seemed to know what was expected of them at all times. Mrs. Cirrincione also connected much of the students’ lessons to their personal interests, which means she has taken the time to get to know each of her students. Mrs. Cirrincione pulled sticks throughout the day giving each student the opportunity to participate. Throughout several of the lessons, Mrs. Cirrincione would give the students helpful hints to remember the content. I struggle to remember new content, so I appreciate that Mrs. Cirrincione took the time to teach strategies to help the students
She had a drawer on her desk for substitutes. Posters with things like the scientific method, main idea, clocks, schedules, alphabet with words that start with each letter, and the current spelling words were all on the walls. The teacher would have the students “take pictures” of things on the board to remember for test. For oral discussions students would clap when other students got the correct answer. For reading there were three groups going at a time. The group at the table with the teacher, a group listening and following along, and a group reading to each other while timing the reading to improve speed. When the other class of students came in she continued the work because her class and the other class follow the same lessons. The students from the other class were very respectful toward her and her to them.
In that class, the student learns about different teaching methods and how to care for children. As part of the curriculum, we volunteered at Long Elementary as teacher aides. Working with 4th grade students and observing an everyday class room was such an awe-inspiring experience. I had a completely new perspective about teachers. I have so much more respect as before. Teachers put so much time and effort into helping children for their benefits. I knew from the first day I helped with Ms. Williams’ 4th grade class, how much a teacher is a positive influence on children. There is an overwhelming feeling when you help a student with a problem and in return they give you the most heart-warming smile. The experience at Long Elementary helped me make my final decision on whether I wanted to teach elementary or secondary school. As much as I enjoyed helping elementary students, in my heart I knew secondary school was the path God had in store for me.
Throughout the lesson she would walk around and interact with the students to make should they were on task and understanding the assignment. She provided visual aids to assist in the lesson and allowed students to pair with each other in order to provide extra help. Students had to sit up straight in class and track the teacher while she was at the board during whole group instruction. One thing I really loved because its someshing I do in my classroom. All students were required to raise their hands when asked a respond to a question regarding the lesson.
Many of the things that we have talked about in class were illustrated for me in
The following data was gathered while fulfilling duties as a principal intern at Theresa Bunker Elementary School. The data was observed during five to seven minutes of classroom observation as part of a walk-through in the spring of the current school year. My cooperating supervisor for my internship was able to go on these walk-throughs with me in order to have a productive reflection meeting afterwards. This elementary school has two of each grade level from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Since it was more feasible in this small school setting, I actually was able to do a walkthrough in eight classes. Here I will report my observations from five of those walk-throughs. As I went in to each room I was looking for four