Mrs Reeves Classroom Observation 2
Mrs. Reeves Classroom Observation Mark St. JohnSeptember 16, 2018ITL 608Professor Serdyukov Introduction HYPERLINK "" On Monday September 10th I conducted a classroom observation at Woodward Elementary in Mrs. Reeves 5th grade classroom during an English - Language Arts lesson. In this paper I will explain how her actions in the classroom during her lesson on persuasion, demonstrate her understanding of the Learning Map. The Learning Map helps to break down the necessary elements for an effective lesson by an educator. When students are properly engaged they maintain their focus on the lesson and truly become active learners. Classroom Observation SummaryTo open the lesson on persuasion Mrs Reeves recaps last week’s topic of technology and robotics. She asks the class: Is robotics going to be used more, less or about the same amount in the future? The class was directed to stand up and move to the right side of the class for more, the left side for less or the middle if it will remain the same. After they have chosen their stance, students need to huddle and determine reasons that other students should join their position, choosing a spokesperson. After some deliberation time students are then directed to come closer together and sit on the ground as the spokespeople present their arguments. Now that each group has spoken, please move to the area that you believe predicts technology’s role in the future. Even when presented with reasons to change only a couple students chose to switch their position on the subject.Upon returning to their work areas, the class was asked to share their thoughts as to why there was very little change when given the opportunity to reconsider. Mrs. Reeves explains that when people are being convinced to change, that is known as Persuasion. This technique is often present in the writings of authors as they present facts, and opinions that support the reasoning for their argument. She then gives an example of parents asking their child why they haven’t yet cleaned up their room and the child responding with “cause”. Students were called upon to share their responses in that situation, which Mrs. Reeves used to connect terminology that are clues to persuasive writing. After a short video on persuasion, students are instructed to get out their whiteboards and dry erase pens to set up a T-chart to note the Pros and Cons of robotics in the future. Students will listen to phrases she reads aloud, before deciding whether they are positive or negative writing them down on the appropriate side. At the conclusion students are directed to move around the room to find someone who shares the same thinking and compare notes. Once they have transitioned back to their seats, students are introduced to their vocabulary poster assignment. Mrs. Reeves broke down the elements of the vocabulary poster: a student friendly working definition, a picture or illustration of the word, at least two synonyms and one to two sentences using the vocabulary word. After student roles were explained and group assignments were shared, groups met to decide their roles before coming to get their vocabulary word.Post-Observation Interview SummaryMrs. Reeves and I met again Monday afterschool for the post-observation interview. Me: Would it be possible to see your learning plan for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “In her 17th year of teaching, she no longer creates learning plans in the traditional sense but rather modifies the weekly plans provided in the Wonders program that Manteca Unified School District had switched to about three years ago. She does have a plan-book which she uses to write in shorthand notes of what standards she will address.Me: How many of your students were in attendance for today’s lesson? Mrs. Reeves: She has a class roster of twenty-nine students 16-girls and 13-boys, she has about ten students who would be classified as exceptional learners: four English language learners (ELLs), three above grade-level, two with IEPs and one student is considered homeless. With twenty-seven students present that day (5-leave the class for Read 180) Mrs. Reeves places a huge emphasis on problem-solving and comprehension rather than speed. Over the years she recognizes that students have entered school with a higher Reading level due to more exposure to reading at home. Me: Would it be possible to see your learning plan for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Even though she was concerned with the behavior of a few students, Mrs. Reeves was pleased with the class progress towards lesson goals and objectives. Unfortunately, this day was an example of the reality that sometimes you won’t complete your lessons daily but by the end of the week student learning will have been assessed on the topic of Persuasive arguments.”Me: How are your learning plans structured for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Learning plans were structured to follow standards and content while reviewing or drawing conclusions to last week’s teachings. This week’s objectives were RI.5.8: Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s). Reading Standards for Informational Text p.14SL.5.2: Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Speaking and Listening Standards p.24”Me: What are your favorite instructional methods and strategies? Mrs. Reeves: “She finds that one of her favorite strategies is small-group collaboration in groups of three students providing a controlled, constructive time to talk using social interactions.” Me: Did you feel that your students engaged sufficiently for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Although not all students were as engaged they should have been, they were still provided reminders of the current task.” Me: How do you believe the class fared in achieving the goals and objectives structured for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Due to time constraints we were not able to complete the lesson, but she was able to informally evaluate student engagement by the class through participation and student responses.” Me: How will you evaluate student results from this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Formal assessments provide feedback on student outcomes by reviewing their results. She looks for a consensus of understanding or to see if most of the class struggles, then she will reteach. Depending on the number of students and which students scored poorly, she reviews the week’s attendance or her notes of reflection for evidence of absence or distraction. Mrs. Reeves may just work with a small-group or one-on-one for clarification.” Me: Were you satisfied with the students’ work for this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Because the lesson was not completed students will submit their Vocabulary posters on Tuesday. As a group, their finished product will include a working student definition, an illustration, synonyms and one to two sentences.” Me: How were learning procedures disrupted during this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “Lesson procedures were interfered with at times because of technological malfunctions or student behavior.” Me: When do you know that the lesson’s formative assessment was effective? Mrs. Reeves: “Formative assessments will take place later in the week, as the assessment incorporates new material such as a reading comprehension cold read for students to practice learned skills.”Me: How do you know if adjustments are necessary to improve classroom management? Mrs. Reeves: “Effective classroom management calls for consistency and a willingness to modify techniques if they are proven to be ineffective as some students won’t respond to them. I prefer to give students the benefit of the doubt, so proximity and conferencing help to correct conduct.” Me: In reflection, what could you do to improve this lesson? Mrs. Reeves: “She is always looking to improve her learning plan by recognizing that the time allotted for students to move to corresponding viewpoints and discussion, could have been shortened allowing more progress on Vocabulary poster groupwork.”Learning Plan AnalysisMrs. Reeves’ open classroom layout is evidence that she thought about her students with grouped varied seating options around tables such as chairs, a lounge sofa, stability balls, traditional stools and wobble stools. Here she has the freedom to move freely around her teaching island and out to student groups with no obstructions to student vision. In re-visiting last week’s topic, she shows great thought in how she can collect the attention of her entire class efficiently because in our pre-observation interview she mentioned that students had many questions about robotics. The control of the classroom exhibited by Mrs. Reeves is evident as students show understanding of her procedures by waiting for complete directions before getting out of their seats. This observation was a great example of an equitable and inclusive learning community, as students were encouraged to share their thoughts free from ridicule. The selection of learning activities shows that Mrs. Reeves is very much aware of her students’ learning styles, plus the bonus of also using extra energy by incorporating movement. This is done with relocation in the classroom demonstrating a real-world understanding of how robotics correlates to their future lives. Mrs. Reeves understands although she learns best from memorization, her students may not so she incorporates a variety of teaching strategies. As discussed on (Burden, 2016, p.194) throughout the class students had opportunities for social interaction via whole class discussions or partner work like the vocabulary poster. By changing the mode of learning she can maximize her students’ attention spans. In utilizing different attention getters such as the Twister: respond by pointing at the speaker, mimicking a tornado while lowering themselves to the ground, Teacher claps: students respond by repeating the pattern or Teacher countdown which varies from 3 to 10 depending on the activity. Mrs. Reeves can be certain that students remain interested in her message because she has a great variety of tools at her disposal. During teacher instruction she incorporated word association which required students to draw from their long-term memory while adding new terms from their short-term memory in understanding persuasive vocabulary. Prior to introducing the vocabulary poster Mrs. Reeves used the date 9-10-18 to setup a brain-break activity. Students were asked to identify the sum of those numbers, after a few minutes the class shared its solution and were instructed to stand up and complete 37 jumping jacks. Throughout the classroom observation I saw how the smoothness of the transitions between class activities kept the class flow moving. Again, reinforcing the importance of starting the year out strong with practicing procedures and routines. During the class there was one student who attempted on numerous occasions to draw attention to himself by pretending to clear his throat excessively. Initially Mrs. Reeves used proximity to stand next to the student while still giving lesson instruction, this proved to be effective as the student behavior ceased. When students were called together to listen to the spokesperson’s arguments, she asked the aide to talk to him and when given the option to go walking outside he declined but could get a drink from the class water fountain. While Mrs. Reeves was connecting terminology that are clues to persuasion, the clearing of the throat began again so she made her way over to him and directed him to wait outside the classroom. After transitioning the class and starting the persuasion video she had a personal conference with the student at the door about his class interruptions. During the whiteboard activity Mrs. Reeves recognizes the student’s signal for missing a dry erase marker and brings one over so they can participate. ConclusionIn other classroom observations we examined a specific element, now the proverbial curtain has been pulled back so that we can understand the Learning Map. The Learning Map is the blueprint for creating an effective lesson by educators. Student action and participation are critical to their educational success which calls into question the way that educators present information. Throughout their career in education teachers will probably encounter a wide gambit of students with unique needs, it is how they prepare lessons to ensure that students are able to maximize their learning potential. Since students have a variety of learning styles, it only makes sense that teachers must counter with a variety of teaching strategies to meet their needs. Lessons that sustain student attention consistently will help teachers maintain their classroom management and increase student learning achievement. ReferencesBurden, P. R., & Byrd, D. M. (2016). Methods for effective teaching: Meeting the needs of all students (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, And Technical Subjects: Writing Standards 6-12 (2018).C:/Users/marka/OneDrive/Documents/Teaching/National%20University/ITL608/606%20documents/CCSSI_ELA_Standards1.pdf, Reading Standards for Informational Text p.14 Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, And Technical Subjects: Writing Standards 6-12 (2018).C:/Users/marka/OneDrive/Documents/Teaching/National%20University/ITL608/606%20documents/CCSSI_ELA_Standards1.pdf, Speaking and Listening Standards p.24 ................
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