Classroom Observation
11/13/12
I observed a third grade classroom three different times during communication arts instruction. There are 16 students in this third grade class. I was familiar with all of the students, so having me in their classroom wasn’t too big of a disruption and didn’t seem to make them preoccupied wondering why I was there. Overall, I gave very high scores on the evaluation sheet. The students remained engaged and very few disruptions occurred during my observations.
I. Physical Space Overall: 4.5
In this classroom, the arrangement of furniture allowed for traffic to flow easily throughout the room. Student desks were in front of the whiteboard and smartboard and one side of the room had a large carpet where the class could come together for whole group discussions. Computers were available and out of the way of traffic. A small group table was positioned in one corner of the room and the teacher’s desk was in one corner of the room. It appeared that the teacher would be able to have full view of the room from her desk and from the small group table. I thought this was important because occasionally bookshelves or computers will block the view of a portion of the room and can provide students with an opportunity to be out of sight. There was room to walk in between students’ desks and they didn’t have any instances of being crowded or invading each other’s space, however they were close enough to turn in their chair and talk to a neighbor when necessary. It was easy to see what each section of the room was most likely used for; however there weren’t any labels indicating centers or certain areas. This may have been because it is a third grade classroom and labels may not have been necessary and center time may have been minimal. However, I rated it a four since I didn’t actually see these areas being clearly identified.
II. Attention Overall: 3
There wasn’t a clear attention signal used to gain the students’ attention. Different methods were used, but nothing was consistent. On one occasions the students were talking and she raised her hand in the air and waited for the students to do the same. They did this quickly and she had their attention, but it wasn’t used consistently. To make this more effective, I would use it consistently and give praise and recognition when the students responded appropriately. She did use a variety of techniques to maintain and regain students’ attention such as walking around the room and having them use whiteboards to respond to questions to keep them involved and active.
III. Time Overall: 5
Students seemed to be very aware of what was expected of them and what their job was during the time I was observing. There was one day that they were coming in from a special class when my observation began and the teacher met them at the door to remind them to, “Go to your seat and get out your spelling book.” The students followed directions with minimal down-time. By the time they had gotten their books out, the teacher had joined them and was directing them which page to go to. Another thing that stood out to me was the pre-corrects given before transitions. On a separate day, the class was lining up to leave the classroom when my observation ended. The teacher told them they would be leaving soon to go to a special class and they should be finishing up their work and getting ready to put things away in the next few minutes. When it was time to line up, she reminded them that when they got into line it meant they were quiet and ready to go into the hallway. They stood in line without talking and she praised them for following directions and showing that they were ready. The only intrusion that I observed was one time the school nurse called the classroom on the intercom to ask the teacher to send a student down to her office. When the intercom beeped, students immediately got quiet and the conversation only lasted a few seconds. The teacher asked the student to go to the nurse and resumed instruction without losing the attention of the students.
IV. Behavior Management Overall: 4
There were really no behavior problems while I was observing. Rules were posted and the teacher referred to them as necessary reminding students to “be safe” when they were tipping their chair on two legs and “do your best work” when they rushing through the assignment. A lot of praise was used and there were a lot of things that students were doing correctly and opportunities for praise to be given. A few things I heard her say were, “That’s very neat handwriting, I can tell you’re working really hard” and “Thank you for not working ahead and staying with us, I appreciate you following directions”. Even though rules were posted and referred to and praise was given, she didn’t always give a replacement behavior and some corrections were not stated positively. For example, she told one student, “Leave things in your desk alone”. This could have been stated more positively by saying, “Remember, to be a responsible learner means you’re focused on your work” and this would have reminded the student not to be focused on things in his desk. Another time a student was trying to talk to another student and she just reminded him he wasn’t supposed to be talking. This was during a time when they were working on a Grammar page independently. She could have made this more effective by giving a replacement behavior like telling him to raise his hand if he had a question and she could help him. Overall, this seemed to be a very engaged class with little behavioral disruptions. I didn’t observe any continuum of responses for discouraging inappropriate behaviors, but this may have been because they weren’t needed during my observation. It seemed like there were many different responses used to encourage positive behavior.
V. Routines Overall: 5
The teacher seemed to have clear and consistent routines in place throughout my observations. Each time I observed the lesson started with her giving instruction and doing a few sample items with them, then they were given time to complete the work once they seemed to grasp the concept. It appeared that this is the routine most lessons took because students didn’t have questions about what they were supposed to be doing. At the beginning of one observation, I did see a student collecting homework from other classmates. She then counted papers to make sure she had collected them from everyone. They also knew what to do with their personal belongings. When they came in from recess, they went to their lockers and put coats away if they were wearing them. It was also quick and easy to have them work with a partner because they turned to a person beside them and no one had to get up and move. They did this while practicing spelling words and the teacher directed them to work with a partner sitting close to them. I think they do this frequently because everyone turned to a partner with no confusion about who was going to be working together. Having desks placed in rows also gave them their personal space to complete work independently.
There were only a few things that were scored at 4 and one of those was obtaining materials and supplies. Students had to get reading textbooks off the shelf in the back of the room. They did a wonderful job doing this without any problems, but one thing that I think would improve this would be if the teacher would have called certain groups of kids at a time to get supplies. This would have meant fewer kids were trying to get books at one time; however this is a small class so she probably thought they were capable of going at the same time. I also noticed that students had to ask to use the computer to take AR tests. There were certain times they were told they could and other times they couldn’t depending on what was going on at that time in the classroom. For instance, at one time she had to tell a student that they couldn’t take an AR test because they only had a couple of minutes before they were going to be leaving for a special class. This routine seemed to work for this small group of students and they understood the reasoning behind why they couldn’t take an AR test. I rated this 4 because it seemed like this routine worked for this class, but if I was trying to find ways to improve it might work well to schedule specific times when it was okay to take a test without asking. I watched them entering and exiting the classroom and each time they knew to get in line and be quiet and she gave a lot of pre-corrects to remind them what was expected. The only thing that I noticed was that sometimes the line would start exiting the room while a couple slow moving students would still be finishing up putting their things away or putting their coat on for recess. This wasn’t because students weren’t given ample time, it was just because these couple of students weren’t following directions in a timely manner like other students did. The line always stopped at the corner in the hallway and the students were out the door by then, so they weren’t completely left behind. A way to improve this would be to give more praise or an incentive to those students who followed these directions in a timely manner.
VI. Curriculum and Content Overall: 5
This entire section received a rating of 5. The students were highly engaged and responding to questions when asked. The teacher was walking around the room to check for student understanding and had them complete work on handheld whiteboards so she could easily see the answers they were coming up with. This resulted in a high rate of response from the students because they were answering every question. This was similar to the response cards we used in class, but they weren’t limited to multiple choice because they could write out the answer on the whiteboard. She built on the students’ current and past skills by reviewing what they had previously learned at the beginning of lessons. Throughout lessons she would also relate things to their previous lessons in class. Assignments were explained clearly and students were encouraged to ask questions. The teacher was walking around monitoring student work and available to help if students needed assistance. She was also able to see how quickly students were moving through an assignment and make adjustments to the amount of time they were given to complete assignments if needed.
11/13/12
I observed a third grade classroom three different times during communication arts instruction. There are 16 students in this third grade class. I was familiar with all of the students, so having me in their classroom wasn’t too big of a disruption and didn’t seem to make them preoccupied wondering why I was there. Overall, I gave very high scores on the evaluation sheet. The students remained engaged and very few disruptions occurred during my observations.
I. Physical Space Overall: 4.5
In this classroom, the arrangement of furniture allowed for traffic to flow easily throughout the room. Student desks were in front of the whiteboard and smartboard and one side of the room had a large carpet where the class could come together for whole group discussions. Computers were available and out of the way of traffic. A small group table was positioned in one corner of the room and the teacher’s desk was in one corner of the room. It appeared that the teacher would be able to have full view of the room from her desk and from the small group table. I thought this was important because occasionally bookshelves or computers will block the view of a portion of the room and can provide students with an opportunity to be out of sight. There was room to walk in between students’ desks and they didn’t have any instances of being crowded or invading each other’s space, however they were close enough to turn in their chair and talk to a neighbor when necessary. It was easy to see what each section of the room was most likely used for; however there weren’t any labels indicating centers or certain areas. This may have been because it is a third grade classroom and labels may not have been necessary and center time may have been minimal. However, I rated it a four since I didn’t actually see these areas being clearly identified.
II. Attention Overall: 3
There wasn’t a clear attention signal used to gain the students’ attention. Different methods were used, but nothing was consistent. On one occasions the students were talking and she raised her hand in the air and waited for the students to do the same. They did this quickly and she had their attention, but it wasn’t used consistently. To make this more effective, I would use it consistently and give praise and recognition when the students responded appropriately. She did use a variety of techniques to maintain and regain students’ attention such as walking around the room and having them use whiteboards to respond to questions to keep them involved and active.
III. Time Overall: 5
Students seemed to be very aware of what was expected of them and what their job was during the time I was observing. There was one day that they were coming in from a special class when my observation began and the teacher met them at the door to remind them to, “Go to your seat and get out your spelling book.” The students followed directions with minimal down-time. By the time they had gotten their books out, the teacher had joined them and was directing them which page to go to. Another thing that stood out to me was the pre-corrects given before transitions. On a separate day, the class was lining up to leave the classroom when my observation ended. The teacher told them they would be leaving soon to go to a special class and they should be finishing up their work and getting ready to put things away in the next few minutes. When it was time to line up, she reminded them that when they got into line it meant they were quiet and ready to go into the hallway. They stood in line without talking and she praised them for following directions and showing that they were ready. The only intrusion that I observed was one time the school nurse called the classroom on the intercom to ask the teacher to send a student down to her office. When the intercom beeped, students immediately got quiet and the conversation only lasted a few seconds. The teacher asked the student to go to the nurse and resumed instruction without losing the attention of the students.
IV. Behavior Management Overall: 4
There were really no behavior problems while I was observing. Rules were posted and the teacher referred to them as necessary reminding students to “be safe” when they were tipping their chair on two legs and “do your best work” when they rushing through the assignment. A lot of praise was used and there were a lot of things that students were doing correctly and opportunities for praise to be given. A few things I heard her say were, “That’s very neat handwriting, I can tell you’re working really hard” and “Thank you for not working ahead and staying with us, I appreciate you following directions”. Even though rules were posted and referred to and praise was given, she didn’t always give a replacement behavior and some corrections were not stated positively. For example, she told one student, “Leave things in your desk alone”. This could have been stated more positively by saying, “Remember, to be a responsible learner means you’re focused on your work” and this would have reminded the student not to be focused on things in his desk. Another time a student was trying to talk to another student and she just reminded him he wasn’t supposed to be talking. This was during a time when they were working on a Grammar page independently. She could have made this more effective by giving a replacement behavior like telling him to raise his hand if he had a question and she could help him. Overall, this seemed to be a very engaged class with little behavioral disruptions. I didn’t observe any continuum of responses for discouraging inappropriate behaviors, but this may have been because they weren’t needed during my observation. It seemed like there were many different responses used to encourage positive behavior.
V. Routines Overall: 5
The teacher seemed to have clear and consistent routines in place throughout my observations. Each time I observed the lesson started with her giving instruction and doing a few sample items with them, then they were given time to complete the work once they seemed to grasp the concept. It appeared that this is the routine most lessons took because students didn’t have questions about what they were supposed to be doing. At the beginning of one observation, I did see a student collecting homework from other classmates. She then counted papers to make sure she had collected them from everyone. They also knew what to do with their personal belongings. When they came in from recess, they went to their lockers and put coats away if they were wearing them. It was also quick and easy to have them work with a partner because they turned to a person beside them and no one had to get up and move. They did this while practicing spelling words and the teacher directed them to work with a partner sitting close to them. I think they do this frequently because everyone turned to a partner with no confusion about who was going to be working together. Having desks placed in rows also gave them their personal space to complete work independently.
There were only a few things that were scored at 4 and one of those was obtaining materials and supplies. Students had to get reading textbooks off the shelf in the back of the room. They did a wonderful job doing this without any problems, but one thing that I think would improve this would be if the teacher would have called certain groups of kids at a time to get supplies. This would have meant fewer kids were trying to get books at one time; however this is a small class so she probably thought they were capable of going at the same time. I also noticed that students had to ask to use the computer to take AR tests. There were certain times they were told they could and other times they couldn’t depending on what was going on at that time in the classroom. For instance, at one time she had to tell a student that they couldn’t take an AR test because they only had a couple of minutes before they were going to be leaving for a special class. This routine seemed to work for this small group of students and they understood the reasoning behind why they couldn’t take an AR test. I rated this 4 because it seemed like this routine worked for this class, but if I was trying to find ways to improve it might work well to schedule specific times when it was okay to take a test without asking. I watched them entering and exiting the classroom and each time they knew to get in line and be quiet and she gave a lot of pre-corrects to remind them what was expected. The only thing that I noticed was that sometimes the line would start exiting the room while a couple slow moving students would still be finishing up putting their things away or putting their coat on for recess. This wasn’t because students weren’t given ample time, it was just because these couple of students weren’t following directions in a timely manner like other students did. The line always stopped at the corner in the hallway and the students were out the door by then, so they weren’t completely left behind. A way to improve this would be to give more praise or an incentive to those students who followed these directions in a timely manner.
VI. Curriculum and Content Overall: 5
This entire section received a rating of 5. The students were highly engaged and responding to questions when asked. The teacher was walking around the room to check for student understanding and had them complete work on handheld whiteboards so she could easily see the answers they were coming up with. This resulted in a high rate of response from the students because they were answering every question. This was similar to the response cards we used in class, but they weren’t limited to multiple choice because they could write out the answer on the whiteboard. She built on the students’ current and past skills by reviewing what they had previously learned at the beginning of lessons. Throughout lessons she would also relate things to their previous lessons in class. Assignments were explained clearly and students were encouraged to ask questions. The teacher was walking around monitoring student work and available to help if students needed assistance. She was also able to see how quickly students were moving through an assignment and make adjustments to the amount of time they were given to complete assignments if needed.