The cerebrum -- which is just Latin for "brain" -- is the newest (evolutionarily) and largest part of the brain as a whole. It is here that things like perception, imagination, thought, judgment, and decision occur. I hope you are thoughtful as you leave your comments on this blog.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Field Observations for Classroom Management (EDU 710)
Use this space to reflect on your observations of the classrooms you visit. Each one of you must post five times. Additional posts commenting on others reflections will add to a more lively discussion... write often!
June 1st was my first visit to the class I'm observing in. I went to this school as a child so it was great walking in the halls again. This school sets a very comfortable and respectful atmosphere where the halls are filled with student work. I'm in a co-taught 1st grade inclusion classroom. There are 19 students in this class an 8 of their have IEPs. When I first entered the classroom I was so confused because there was so much going on...in a good way. Some students were reading a book, working with the teacher, working with the aid, or working on a writing assignment. The students were very engaged in whatever they were doing. I really love how these two teachers work together, they really are a perfect example of what co-teaching should look like. The students do not gravitate more to one teacher, or only ask one teacher to go to the bathroom, get water, etc. During a lesson, when the general education teacher mentions a word that some students may not know the meaning of, the special education teacher will say something like, "What does that word mean Mrs. B?" and the general education teacher will answer her, or have the students try to explain the word (if they know it). Also, it is really great how they both use, and follow through with the same classroom management plan. For example, there is a student who was diagnosed as being on the spectrum, so they use a token system with him. All the teachers that work with this child use this token system. The teachers are very patient and remain calm at all times with the students. They are all about giving the students choices and allowing them to make good decisions. Also, they use clapping, modeling behavior, repeating directions, a stop light, and praise for classroom management. Overall, I had a great day, learned a lot, and was happy to see co-teaching done right for a change.
Today was a very fun day for the students. All three 1st grade classes were doing an author study on Eric Carle, and today was the end to that unit. Therefore, they all went down to the cafeteria where one teacher read the book, "Pancakes Pancakes" by Eric Carle. While she was reading the book the other teachers were cooking pancakes, putting out strawberries, blueberries and chocolate chips. All the students were very engaged by the book because the teacher read it with such feeling. After the book the students ate pancakes. Of course the students loved this, and had a great time. When the students went back to the class they had to write about their experiences and draw a picture, which they all loved to do. When a student doesn't know how to spell a word, the general education teacher prefers that they try to sound it out and spell it themselves. Also, when they are reading and come to a word they do not know, the teachers give them time to figure it out, they do not tell them the word immediately, there is a reasonable wait time. At the end of each day, the students who work with Mrs. S, the special education teacher go down to her room where they work on homework, basic skills, Math, etc. In this room they use "score cards" where the students earn stickers on their score card once they have completed a particular goal. Each students' score cards are different based on the goals from their IEP. I really like the idea of score cards because they are constantly working towards their specific goals, and once they are met, they move on to another goal, so they are constantly progressing. Today was a half day, so there wasn't much else going on, but today was definitely a fun day, where I learned a lot of great techniques.
I didn't get a chance to write a response for yesterday, so I am doing it today. Yesterday went by very fast. Every morning the class meets on the rug to do a lunch count. What's really cool about this is that Mrs. B (the general education teacher) turns it into a Math lesson. For example, if there are 19 students in the whole class, 8 of them are getting pizza, 3 are getting grilled cheese, and 3 are getting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How many students are bringing lunch from home? I think it's a great activity because she made the Math problem relevant to their life, she's getting her lunch count done, and the students are learning at the same time. All the lessons I have observed have taken place on the rug. Mrs. B sits on a chair and uses a easel/dry erase board while the students sit on the rug. During a lesson she allows the students to share their comments, thoughts and stories. After the lesson, she usually has them go back to their tables and work on the assignment. Then 10-15 minutes later she has them meet her on the rug again and does another activity. She also does centers which is really great because the students know where to go, they just rotate and take charge in their own learning, while the teacher just facilitates the activities or works one on one to assess a student. Also, since it is the end of the year, they are used to this routine. This school follows a literacy based program which they are very big on, so this class I'm observing in is doing a lot of author studies, writing and illustrating books, and reading assignments. Since they do a lot of writing, Mrs. B has students volunteer to share their writing with the class. She has them stand in front of the class and read their writing piece, which the students absolutely love; you can tell that they are very proud of themselves. There is a great environment in the classroom, the students all get along, they respect each other and are polite to everyone. Also, if an issue does come up, Mrs. B encourages them to solve the problem, and work it out on their own, or together. The more I observe and learn about students with disabilities, the more questions I have.
Today was the first full day of the week. As usual, today started out with the Math lunch count. They then talked about money, and Mrs. B made up a song for them to remember about what a quarter, dime, nickel, and a penny are worth. She actually, tries to make up a lot of songs so students can remember important facts. I like the idea of using songs to remember things. I know I remember all the little rhymes and songs I was taught in elementary school, and kids love to sing. Today Mrs. B told me check the student's homework, and I noticed that they were all different, and she told me about this "homework menu." Mrs. B uses a homework menu for spelling and Social Studies. She has about 15-30 different activities the students can choose from every night (expect Friday). For example, for spelling they can either made a study guide, draw a picture using the spelling words, etc. For Social Studies they may interview someone, write a story, draw a picture, etc. This goes with Curwin and Mendler's Model about giving students choices. I love the idea of a homework menu. Another really great thing I saw today was how Mrs. B read a poem about "creatures under the ground" (worms, moles, ants, etc). Not only did they read the poem, as a class she had them estimate how many words are in the poem, which incorporates Math and caters to the logical and Mathematical learners. She had them draw a picture that corresponds to the poem, which caters to the visual and spatial learners. In addition, they are finishing up a Science unit about earth worms, which ties in with the poem. Since today was the last day learning about Earthworms, at the end of the day Mrs. B took her class outside to bring the worms back to their natural habitat. So, in this class I see a lot of differentiating instruction, which all students benefit from.
The day of my first classroom observation, June 1st was a particularly hot and humid day. Sadly for me my car does not have a working a/c. By the time I arrived at P.S. 83 Annex in the Bronx from Queens I was looking a bit disheveled. The environment of P.S. 83 (district 11) is vastly different from P.S. 168, a special education school in district 75. The hallways and classrooms of P.S. 83 was newly renovated,the walls painted with bright and happy colors. While P.S. 168 was kind of dreary. I was observing Mrs. Drescher's 2nd grade class. There are 26 students in that class, 6 of which who have IEPs. When I arrived to P.S. 83, it was Mrs. Drescher’s prep period, her class was in gym. I went with her to pick up her students. To ensure that everyone lines up in an orderly fashion, Mrs. Drescher told the girls to line up first by finding a square (the floors are tiled). When everyone was lined up she told them to all put a finger to their lips. The children walked in an orderly fashion but when they were walking up the stairs Mrs. Drescher said they sounded like a “stampede of elephants.” I noticed that whenever her students were out of line, Mrs. Drescher would always point it out to them so that they would discontinue their bad behavior. I think she is a pretty strict teacher. In the classroom all the children use hand signals, that way there’s less talking: a) Thumbs up: done with work b) 2 fingers: pencil needs to be sharpened c) 3 fingers: bathroom Mrs. Drescher also has this chart with all her students’ name on it. Whenever a student misbehaves such as, talking when they’re not supposed to, he/she will receive a big blue X next to their name. I forgot to ask her what happens when the X’s are tallied up. I’ll have to ask her the next time I go to observe. Some more things I notice that day: Mrs. Drescher provided very specific directions to minimize confusion. Different helpers were assigned to hand out notebooks so that there’s less scuffling and less noise. There is a 5 count warning to clean up time.
On June 1st I began my observations at a middle school (5-8 grade) most of my observations are taking place on the fourth floor because that is where the majority of the sixth graders have classes.
It was a very interesting first day because the class that I am observing is a CTT class. The special education teacher travels with them to almost all of their classes. The only classes she does not accompnay them to are the electives and science. I found this first day interesting because the special education teacher works very well with the general education teacher.
In my past observations at a High School, the special ed teacher seemed rather lost and barely walked around the classroom. She also did not seem to have a connection with the general education teacher and seemed very frustrated most of the time.
The Middle School is very different because the Special education teacher will teach one period of ELA and the general education teacher will teach the next. On some days the students have double periods of math, ela, science, or s.s and I have noticed that some days she will teach (pertains only to ELA) the entire two periods while the general education teacher grades h.w, or writes the assignment on the board.
They also have a reading specialist who will randomnly pop in and re-phrase questions for the students. So far from what I have observed the Special education, general education teachers, and the reading specialist seem to collaborate in a very positive way. I feel this is essential in any enviornment especially when they have a rather large class, 31 students and 12 students have IEP.
During my second day of observations (6/3)I finally heard screaming from a teacher. Not that this is postive but on my first day the class was very well behaved and aside from the clowning around for a minute or two most students were very well behaved. I had the opportunity to observe them during Art class and it was very hot in that classroom. The teacher had sweat dripping from her forehead. Half of the school does not have air conditioning because when they were building the school, they ran out of money. The teacher seemed angry as the students entered her class and she was quite unfriendly. She told them their assignment and handed out supplies to each table. Halfway through the class she walked over to table 9 and asked where her eraser was? Everyone at the table stayed quiet and one of the students yelled out that he had seen Frankie throw it across the room. The art teacher began to yell hysterically saying, "where is my eraser, where is it and your table is never getting an eraser again, where is it,someone confess NOW!" She then looked at Frankie got near his face and began screaming at him asking him over and over to tell her the truth. Frankie sat there dumbfounded and turning a shade of pink as he said, "I don't know". This must have went on for twelve minutes and at one point her voice even cracked because she was screaming very loud. In the end she didn't find her eraser, nobody confessed, and the class had to go on. I couldn't help but think to myself, did she really need to do all that yelling for an eraser?
Jenny- I really like how the teacher you are observing uses hand signals for different things. (ex. 3 to go to the bathroom)Does she use any other hand signals?
Pricilla- Wow, I can't believe that teacher went on about an eraser..that is crazy.
Today I completed my observation hours. It was a busy day, but went by fast. Not to mention, it was the only day in the past two weeks that I wasn't dripping sweat which was nice. Anyway, there was a substitute this morning, and she read two books. One book she read was "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" by Trinka Hankes. Friday they are going on a trip to the Queens Zoo, and this book basically talked about a boy who brought his snake to a field trip. After the book, they went over the map of the Queens Zoo to see where they are going and what animals they will see. Also, they read "If You Give a Mouse a Muffin." Most of the children have heard the "circle" books before, so they pretty much could predict what will happen in the story, so they were very engaged, they thought the story was hilarious.
As the rest of the class was finishing writing their books, Mrs. B called one student at a time and asked them things like, "How would you grade your effort? Are you trying your best? How would you grade your handwriting? Do you think it is excellent, very good, just okay, or stinky?" I really liked how the asked the students what thy thought about their own work, because most of them were very honest on how hard they worked, how neat their handwriting is, etc. Then she would give them suggestions, such as, "I think that you should work on your capitols, and maybe try not to space the words so far apart." After this, a few students who finished their story went in front of the class to share their writing. I really liked how after they read, Mrs. B opened it up to the class to say "What they noticed" and "I wonder." For example, a student might say, "I noticed how you used a lot of details in your pictures, but I wonder if next time you can add more details to your writing."
After lunch the class reads independently for 10 minutes before starting Math with the ESL teacher. Since Daniel (who is Autistic) did not get the full 10 minutes of reading time (since he came in a little late) he did not want to start Math. He said it's too early, basically Daniel does not like change, and did not get his full 10 minutes. Therefore he did not want to start Math. The general education teacher (Mrs. B) said, "Let him finish his book and then he can start Math." The special education teacher brought the token board over and told him that he needs to start Math with the rest of the class if he wants a token. He said, "I can't its too early." Then Mrs. S (the special education teacher) said, "You can't just do anything you want, it is time for Math and if you want a token then you need to clean up and start your Math," so he did just that. Which teacher do you think handled it better?
On my first day of observing, I really took notice of the school atmosphere. It made me feel very comfortable and I could tell that this building had a goal of building good character amongst its students. Each hallway (and there are many) are named strategically. Some examples are: Honesty Highway, Attitude Alley, Responsibility Way, etc. There are various quotes and posters hanging on the walls in the hallway, all positive and promoting good character. The hallways were quiet and calm, and once the bell rang for students to enter they knew exactly where to go in an orderly way. Teacher's doors were decorated with names of the students in their classroom, recent things they have been learning, etc. You did not just see a room and a room number, but decorative things that made it feel at home. I am observing a co-teaching 3rd grade class. During the morning portion of the day, a special education teacher and a general education teacher work together. After lunch, they split and the special education teacher takes her 14 students into their own classroom and continues with the lessons for the day. There are 2 aides during the morning lessons and 3 aides during the afternoon lesson. Obviously there are many adults in one room with all of these students, but my cooperating teacher has had a positive experience with most of them which is great considering there are multiple people she works with each day. After meeting both of the teachers I could tell I was going to have a great experience just by their personalities and how ready they were for the day to begin. It has just been one day and I already see many things I will be blogging about soon.
Priscilla, Your experience in the art room about the missing eraser is unbelievable. That is a classic 'what not to do'. The teacher's reaction made me scared and I wasn't even there! That kid will remember that moment for the rest of his life, how unfortunate.
The use of technology is constantly used in Ms.D's classroom. During a math lesson the students are introduced to what they are learning by watching a video clip on the smart board. Here, Ms. D is able to pause it at times and review the material with the class. She is also able to write on the board and show examples before moving on to more difficult concepts. The students are also exposed to technology when they move into their special of computers. They took a butterfly quiz during computer time using clickers with the smart board. This was a fun tool for them and will help Ms. D in their comprehension. A couple days before, the class had read a story about butterflies and learned about them, so after computer was over Ms. D was able to take the printout of the quiz results with her and review them to see how much information the students retained. Ms. D also used the smart board during an ELA lesson of how to write a friendly letter and used so much enthusiasm during this exercise; the students enjoyed every minute of it. This was one of my favorite lessons I have seen so far. First, Ms. D showed them the 5 parts of a friendly letter. They saw it up on the smart board and repeated after her multiple times. Then, she introduced a song to them so that they would remember these steps of Heading, Greeting, Body, Closing and Signature. She sang it for them, they sang it with her and they repeated probably a good 5 times. Then, she moved on with the smart board presentation. She had multiple activities to reinforce these steps. The students were able to come up to the board and move around words to match the correct definition, label the parts of a letter on a sample she presented, and then create a class letter together to the principal asking them to extend their lunch to two hours. Then, the students worked on their own letter to Ms. D. All of these steps can be found in the learning pyramid. Ms. D does a wonderful job with her group in reviewing material and reaching many different levels of comprehension. The students not only had an audio-visual, reading, discussion and demonstration but they practiced it themselves as well. The excitement that Ms. D creates in the classroom when choosing a student to come up to the smart board and participate is so great and makes every student want to participate. This portion of the lesson shows that Ms. D has good classroom management skills because she has all students constantly engaged, enjoying the lesson without ever getting bored and reaches them in a variety of ways. It's also great to see how focused they are when technology is being utilized in a lesson. It really makes that video we watched during the first week of class come to life, we are teaching 21st century learners who respond so well to the latest technology, not the old ways of lecture.
Observation Placement- For my field placement, I observed eight different classes over the course of four school days at Mineola Middle School. During the four days, I took notes and decided to narrow down my focus to five classes (due to fire drills, and substitute teachers). All five classes were inclusion classes that implemented some type of co-teaching methods.
Overview of the School Environment- The overall tone of the building is very positive and upbeat. Children are laughing, smiling, and chatting in between class periods. I have worked as a substitute teacher in the district for a year and I rarely saw any negative student interactions. Students tend to be very respectful of one another as well as respectful of teachers and staff members. The students take pride in their school. Character Education quotes are discussed during the morning announcements...this week's message, "Never dare to judge until you've heard the other side." Student artwork is displayed all through the school. The school places an emphasis on recycling and this seems to be part of the "Going Green" theme in the hallways. Mineola Middle School offers a variety of after school activities, clubs, and sports for students. Some of the after school activities that Mineola Middle School offers are Jazz Band, Photography Club, Art Club, Yearbook, Science Club, Anti-Bias Club, National Jr. Honor Society, Environmental Club and seasonal sports. There are many different ways for students to become involved in their school and it seems that most students get involved. Mineola Middle School is a very collaborative team environment. You can sense that the teachers enjoy co-teaching and lesson planning. This not only helps teachers develop great lessons, but it is highly beneficial to their students. The administration is very present and helpful to both staff and students.
School & Classroom Expectations- The expectations were posted in most of the classrooms that I observed. The universal display of expectations created consistency for children.
Mineola Middle School- Building Expectations 1. Respect yourself, each other, and adults. 2. Follow the Mineola Middle School Code of Conduct. 3. Have a hall pass to be out of class. 4. Enter a room only when an adult is present.
Mineola Middle School- Classroom Expectations 1. Be courteous and cooperative. 2. Bring all books and materials to class. 3. Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings. 4. Listen the first time questions are asked or directions are given. 5. Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak. 6. Stay in your seat.
Math- Grade 8. Inclusion class. Co-teaching. 6/7, 6/8, 6/10, & 6/11 The special education teacher took on the role of an assistant/observer. Meaning that the general education teacher led the math lesson while the special education teacher circulated the room and observed and assisted students. Eight students had IEP's and there was one student that worked closely with a teacher aide. The layout of the room had the desks in rows with the Promethean board taking center-stage. The teacher predominately used the Promethean board to present the lessons and go over math questions. Math assignments/testing dates were posted on a dry-erase board in the back of the room. Each period began with a "Do Now" assignment that was posted on the Promethean board. The "Do Now" assignment consisted of a few math problems that were review from content previously learned in class. The "Do Now" assignment is helpful to the teachers because it got students seated and working before the bell even rang. The "Do Now" assignment was also effective at activating prior knowledge before introducing a new math concept. Once the students answered the "Do Now" questions independently, they volunteered to answer the questions up at the board. Students took math notes using the T-note style (question and answer) form of note taking. The teacher said this style of note-taking helps students with the organization of math problems. While the teacher would solve examples on the board, she would ask questions and have students shout out their replies. There was little to no wait time in between questions because at least one student would respond immediately with an answer. I thought that this way of asking questions could be an issue for students that may need a few moments to process the question or students that were shy or quiet. There was no sign of any incentive or reward program. There was lunch detention assigned to any student that walked into class late three times. Homework and lateness was recorded using a grade book during the class period. The class ran relatively smoothly, there were no significant behavioral problems that I observed.
I feel that in respect to classroom management, you really have to look for the way Ms. D manages her own classroom. There are no 'strikes', names on the board, or anything obvious when you first come into her class. I think she is just one of those great teachers who has control and when she needs to discipline she does, but does not make it center stage. In Ms. D’s own class of 14, she has one student who is autistic. During the morning lessons, her class combines with a general education class for math. Ms. D was teaching a lesson on multiplication using the smart board and reviewing with the students. The child who is autistic came to them this year from a self-contained class last year. At the beginning of the year he had a lot of trouble with staying in his seat and staying on task. If someone just popped into this classroom and took a snapshot, it would be such an adorable sight to see. If you are in the world of special education, you see a great teacher engaging a student who is usually fidgeting around at this point of the lesson. Ms. D had the boy as her helper up at the smart board. She would review concepts with the class and when she could see he was getting restless, she would ask him to read "step 2" or any information on the board to keep him focused. He also changed the slides for her when she was ready and asked him to. Ms. D constantly moves around the room to keep the attention of her students. As she was moving around, the student with autism followed her around as well. Ms. D talks with much emotion, and the student could sense them and imitated her in a way when he was walking along side her. Not only was she keeping him from acting out a bad behavior that would probably take place had she not asked him to be her helper, but he was absorbing the information at the same time. It was so great to see how natural this was for the one student and all the other students in the room. No student asked why he was her helper and no one else, because Ms. D made every student involved in the lesson as she floated around the room. While students were doing a couple problems independently, I watched over several students in the back of the room. When I saw that they made a small mistake, I went over the steps Ms. D had taught them and they quickly found where they messed up. They were not upset that they made a mistake but just exclaimed, "ohhh!" like it was a new discovery and something so exciting. I have always considered the idea of having a helper who is a student that may need to be more involved with the lesson, but it was so amazing to see how this worked so smoothly and did not present a distraction to the rest of the class. It really shows that a classroom strategy can be effective even though every student is not treated the same, since their needs are different.
I had the opportunity to observe a health advisory period. It was really interesting because during this period all of the sixth graders are broken into different groups of 12-15 students. Each student has an assigned advisor which is one of the sixth grade team members (general ed. teachers, special ed. teachers or literacy coach)they make popcorn, drink soda, or water and discuss how they are feeling. Each class forms a circle and the members of each group rate from 1-10 how their day is going. Each person also explains why they gave their day a particular score. Every student must listen and they are not allowed to interrupt each other. At the end they can ask each other questions.One student rated his day a 5 because his dad is overseas and never called to give his stepmother authorization so he could go to the dance that evening. At the end some of student's suggested possible reasons for his dad's failure to call. Another student (rated her day a 4)commented that she felt lonely because she really does not have anyone to talk to at home. She mentioned how there are only certain things you tell your parents and your teachers. The advisor asked her if she wanted to share what was bothering her but she opted not to (the students all related to her feelings) and at the end she was feeling better because she realized they all feel the same at times. Aside from the two student's who rated their day between 1-5, the remainder rated their day from 8-10 because it was Friday. They all agreed they were looking forward to the weekend. I feel health advisory period is essential for a school to have because it gives student's the opportunity to vent about their current frustrations and go on to their next class without feeling overwhelmed or upset. Overall I would have to say this is a postive experience for every student and I noticed the shy students also participated and felt comfortable.
Pricilla, I thought that the health advisory period was so interesting. I've never heard of a grade-wide discussion period. "...it gives student's the opportunity to vent about their current frustrations and go on to their next class without feeling overwhelmed or upset." I agree that this would be beneficial to students because it allows students to be kids and express themselves in a comfortable setting. I would have loved to observe the different discussions.
Math- Grade 7. Inclusion class. Co-teaching. I had the opportunity to watch a truly collaborative teaching team. The general education teacher and special education teacher worked so well together that if I didn't already know their job titles, I would not be able to distinguish between the two teachers. There were seven students with IEP's in a class of about twenty. The lessons that I observed were engaging and fun. They used a variety of instructional methods (role-play, group work, short videos, etc.). The teachers infused technology into every lesson using the Promethean Board. Role-play in a math class? Who would have thought this was even possible! To introduce the new term "reflection" they had students break into pairs. The pairs were required to mimic each others body movements as if they were watching themselves in a mirror. The graphing exercise that followed used reflection to plot points. Even the graphing exercise was designed around the students' interests. Students plotted the coordinates (J,A,C,K) and (R,O,S,E) and it turned out to be a ship, and once the ship was reflected it looked like it was sinking. Truly inspiring. Every part of every lesson had a purpose. The teachers had a great working relationship, they were able to switch roles with out the kids even noticing. Also, I should point out that one teacher used a microphone to increase the sound of her voice. At first, I thought it was because a child had a hearing impairment but it turns out that the teacher used it for herself. I thought the microphone was great and I am interested in getting one for myself when I have my own classes. I think the best part of my observation hours were the hours spent in this classroom. The teachers were very engaging and helpful. They seemed like they really loved their jobs and cared about the kids in their room. I think this had a huge impact on their relationship with their kids. Kids are able to tell when a teacher cares about their well-being, these kids knew. The most interesting part is that one teacher has been teaching for years, yet she has the energy and attitude of a new teacher . I was very impressed.
Academic Intervention Services (AIS)- Grade 8. Inclusion. Co-teaching This class was operated by two special education teachers. They worked as a strong collaborative team which seemed to be beneficial to the students. The class size was relatively small, consisting of about 8-10 children that came to class every other day. Most of these students have IEP and BIPs and require special attention in order to keep them on task and focused. AIS offers extra support to students with special needs and students that are struggling with the eight grade curriculum. The class was set-up into stations of about 6-8 desks per station. This week the AIS class was focusing on practice for the eighth grade social studies assessment. One teacher would lead discussion and take questions while the other teacher would circulate and assist students. This method kept the students on task and paying attention. The teachers would ask the practice questions aloud and wait until a student volunteered an answer. There was a good amount of wait time for a student's response. Also, if the response was extra long, the teacher would begin to discuss the circumstances surrounding the question and then ask the question again. This method of re-activating prior knowledge worked well, students were able to make connections. During one particular class, the Promethean board was used to develop a graphic organizer based on European explorers. Students were engaged and eager to respond to the teachers prompts. The student-teacher relationship is very positive since teachers are very patient and pro-active with the behavior. This activity worked really well because the students wanted to participate. There is one student in this class that has a Behavioral Intervention Plan. The BIP has definitely helped because the student has made significant improvements over the course of the year. The BIP is a work in progress because the student still has difficulty paying attention and often seeks out the attention of his peers. When the teacher sees that this student is becoming distracted, she quickly asks him a question related to the lesson. Addressing his behavior is very subtle, almost hidden, and it seems to work. By not directly addressing the behavior she avoids embarrassing him and yet still changes the negative behavior. The student is re-directed and continues doing his work. The teachers are very sensitive to their students needs.
Olivia ~ I was reading your entry on your observations and thinking how if I were still a first grade student, I’d love to be in that classroom. I really like how the teachers decided to make pancakes along with reading Eric Carle’s “Pancakes Pancakes”. I love it! I think that probably made the book more memorable for the students. Melissa~ Often times we say that young children can be really cruel. We forget how accepting they can be. It’s great how Ms. D found a way for the student with autism to have a sense of belonging in their classroom. How with the responsibilities she has given him allows him to be a constructive learner and how the other students are okay with this. Yay!
My second day of observation actually took place 10 days ago but I never had the chance to write a post on it until today. 6/3/2010 Today Mrs. D had to give her students a math assessment test on the principal's orders. This math assessment test was given to the students at the beginning of the school year. I think the goal of it was to compare the two test score. Something funny happened. There was this one question, "Which one of these below is a bird?" This one student circled the fish as the answer. When Mrs. D asked her out loud, "Which one of these is a bird?" the student pointed to the bird. Yet when Mrs. D told her to re-do the test she circled the octopus next. I think this shows how some students might not be good test takers. Anyhow I was talking to the paraprofessional and she told me that the format of this assessment test is different from how their assessments are usually formatted.
I heard that by the end of the school year many teachers feel burnt out. They even have articles on teaching forums on how to make it to the end of the school year. I noticed Mrs. D's frustrations as she was teaching. She threw one student's notebook across the room. This one student's desk is placed right against the blackboard (facing the blackboard, with his back to the rest of the class). Mrs. D said if he sits with anyone else he will have a lot of trouble working and will also disrupt the other kids. As strict as Mrs. D seems to be, all her students are very enthusiastic about participating in class. They all raise their hands excitedly and some even run out of their seats. But, Mrs. D will not call on them unless they are seated.
6/7/2010 For the past few days, the children have been working on writing assignments. Mrs. D stressed how important it is for them to be able to write a reading response correctly. After working with elementary school children in an after school program, I know how a lot of them hate writing reading responses. Some students struggle in re-telling a story in their own words. In Mrs. D's class,for their writing assignment they were responsible for writing down Title, Author, Characters, Problem & Solution of the story. In order to motivate them to work harder, Mrs. D would tell them that they were being graded on their assignment. She also told them that their grades have been slipping since the beginning of their year so they should try harder. I guess the teachers are not the only ones feeling burnt out by the end of the school year.
While observing today, I was offered the chance to go see a contained special education classroom. I decided to go take a look while the children were working on their writing assignments. In the contained classroom there was one lead teacher and a paraprofessional. It was kind of a mess in there. The special education teacher expressed how it has been difficult teaching the children for the past two months. There are 12 students and they were separated into 4 groups of 3 to work on a group project. They were given out hand-outs of different places in New York City, such as, The Bronx Zoo, The Brooklyn Botanical Garden, The Yankee Stadium. As a group, they were to extract important information like location of the place from the hand-outs. One girl refused to work with her group because "the assignment is boring!" I had to agree with her on this one. What was worse was that the hand-outs were in black and white, so even the pictures of the places were in black and white. In another group, this one girl was very dominant. She would take the hand-out and place it in front of her, making it harder for her two other group members to read. She would wave the papers in their face and grab their notebooks telling them, "She would help them." I told her, by writing down the answers for your friends, you're not helping them, they must try to write on their own in order to learn. Anyhow the special education teacher was overwhelmed with her students. Whatever she said did not seem to faze her students. The same girl who refused to work with her group also threatened to kick and punch another girl. She also got into a verbal fight with another student for calling them a retard. The paraprofessional was out of the room for the most part. She didn't come back until it was lunch time.
During the teachers' lunch breaks I was talking to another teacher about the special education class and how it seemed like they were placing children with different disabilities into the same classroom. It seemed like the students were picking up one another bad habits. She told me that the DOE does stuff like that in order to save money. Does anyone else know about this? Do you guys think that it is okay to place students with different disabilities into one room? Should the lead teacher have more than one helper if she has 12 students?
During my observations today I got to see the true chaotic side of teaching. Since it is the end of the year, my cooperating teacher has many things to do- report cards, progress reports, IEPs, ELPs and so many other things. So needless to say, my teacher was under a bit of stress today. To add on top of that, technology was working against the school when their computer system wasn't working for a good portion of the day. Lucky for me, a lot of stress on the teacher meant I was busy the entire time I was there. I was able to get hands on experience create a running record for a couple of students, which I had done in literacy classes before. I also observed the students during a separate reading lesson, where Ms. D used differentiated instruction. She already had groups set; she had a "large group" which sat with her on the carpet and were her lower level readers, and a "small group", her on level readers who read the story with one another in another area of the classroom. Since it is June, the class works like clockwork. They know to bring their books to the carpet, read together and outloud. They then go to their desks after the story is finished and answer corresponding questions. After all students are done, they come back yet again to the carpet with a highlighter (no student needed reminding). Here they go over each question with Ms. D. They do not just go over the question and answer, but they must look into the story and find the page where they found their answer to prove themselves. They highlight the correct answer and any other important information. It was great to see that although Ms. D had so much going on with herself, she was able to keep the students on track and everything ran so smooth.
Unfortunately, today the one student with autism in the class did not have a great day. I had been told that last year he was in self-contained and had very disruptive behavior. His mother and insisted that he wasn't being challenged enough which is why he was acting out. This year he was put into Ms. D's class for 3rd grade and has made remarkable improvements. He has gone from not being able to sit for more than 10 minutes at a time to sitting 90% of the time that he is expected to. Today was a rare occasion where he wasn't following directions as well as he had been. He receives a behavior sheet each day that he brings home to his mother. Today Ms. D had to give him marks that he did not like, since they were not all in the excellent or good column. This made him very emotional, but Ms. D had a talk with him. She explained to him how he has been so great this year and she is not going to let him give up on the last full week of school. After speaking with Ms. D she said that she feels he is acting out because he know the school year is almost over and soon he is going to have to meet a new teacher, new aide, new classroom environment and he just isn't ready for that yet. It was sad to see him get so upset but I think he took the behavior report fairly well, in that he followed directions to put it in his take home folder and did not rip it up or crumple it.
I have no idea what the rules of the DOE regarding placing students in particular classes is. It does seem as if that teacher needs some more help in the room but I guess it depends on the students in the class? The class I am with has 1 teacher, 2 classroom aides and 1 one:one aide. So there is a lot of help. On the flip side, sometimes more people can only make more chaos!
Last week I had my first day of observation in a first grade inclusion classroom at PS 217 in Brooklyn. I had observed at this school last semester, so I was familiar with the staff and some of the students in another class. The fact that I feel comfortable in this school makes the experience much more. The school itself is very large-K through 8- and very well run. The administration is very present throughout the school. The principal has met with me several times to makes sure that I am having a good experience and observing good teaching. The 1st grade class consists of 23 students-- 13 with IEP's and 10 general students. The special ed teacher was absent, so it was an interesting day to observe to say the least.
Ms. Caraccia starts the day off by having each table put their belongings away. She does the date, weather, and attendance with the students. The attendance monitor takes the attendance by turning over actual pictures of the students who are not present (I loved this idea). At the start of the day, only 13 of 23 students are present. A few come in late, but the class was smaller than usual. Lateness is not reprimanded, much less acknowledged. It was apparent how necissary it was to have two teachers in this class, because Ms. C had a difficult time controlling/working with the class as a whole. After their morning routine, a spelling test was given-- it took awhile just to have all the students ready with their names on the paper. At this point, one of the special ed students starts to cry (one of three criers that day). She gets through the test after some time, and it is suddenly second period. 2nd period we went outside with the rest of the 1st grade classes to participate in a walk for diabetes. It was so great. The school has a small playground with a turf field and mini track to the left of it. There was music playing as the kids and their teachers (and me!) marched around the track and played instruments and danced. The kids had a blast, and it was so nice to watch because they were having fun while doing something special together as a school. Once we got back from this special event, Ms. C put on some classical music while the students worked on spelling workbooks and reading. The rewards system is in the form of a chart with smiley stickers given for good behavior. It is used several times throughout the day to entice good behavior from the students. It certainly seems to work. The middle of the day I spent with the Science teacher in inclusive classrooms. This teacher is very carasmatic and uses humor well with the students. SHe did a lesson on the life cycle of the butterfly and followed that with an art project (coloring a butterfly). She traveled from class to class with her supplies. THe one thing that was lacking here was control. It was difficult to get all the students to pay attention/engaged in the lesson. Although she used humor well, it sometimes led to the students getting off track and losing focus. HOwever, she only works with these students one period out of the day- where Ms. C and the other teachers, are with these kids all day. Ms. C is a patient and a great teacher as far as I can see. As I said earlier, it is clear that she needed the other teacher there, but the day went as smoothly as seemed possible. I give her a lot of credit for the amount of patience she displays. I am excited to see the class when Ms. G comes back... I am sure that it will make a huge difference in the overall atmosphere of the classroom.
Common planning time is difficult to come by in the elementary setting. During our lunchtime Ms. D and I ate with her co-teacher, the other special education teacher whom she shares a room with in the afternoon, and on occasion, some of her aides. Here, they are able to talk about anything they need regarding their lesson plans and curriculum and always put this first before anything else. Ms. D has been in charge of the math lessons ever since all 3rd grade classrooms got a smart board. She has been creating smart board lessons and sharing them with the entire grade level. All of the other teachers have been sharing handouts and worksheets with her that they have used in the past. Also during this lunch time, Ms. D's co-teacher often has students coming in during their recess time to go over any work that they found confusing or did not have time to finish during their morning jobs. At first when we spoke about this in class, I thought most students would not want to give up their recess, but surprisingly many students have asked to come back to the room to have extra work time, which only shows that they enjoy being in the classroom.
I took note of the classroom rules posted up in the inclusive classroom. There were only 5:
1. Always listen carefully. 2. Work quietly. Do not disturb others who are working. 3. Respect others. Be king with your words and actions. 4. Take good care of all school and personal property. 5. Always do your best!
I think that these rules were kept positive and did not seem demanding. It would have been great to be able to observe the first couple days of school, rather than the last few. Then I would be able to see how the rules went into effect and how long it took for the class to conform to the routines expected. The end of year has looked very smooth so whatever was done in the first few weeks worked.
ELA- Grade 6. Inclusion class. Co-teaching. I observed this class for two periods a day for four days. The teachers took turns leading instruction and circulating the room. The classroom was set-up into five stations with 4-5 students at each station. The Promethean board was the central focus of the classroom with student work posted on either side. This classroom was run on a money system, or a system of rewards and punishments. This class was managed differently than the other classes I had the opportunity to observe. There was a variety of instructional methods used during each period. For example, one day the Promethean board was used to take notes about the Renaissance, and the following day it was used to post discussion questions before reading aloud from a book. The desks were arranged into stations, this provided an easy way for students to communicate ideas. During whole-class discussions, students were required to raise their hand and wait their turn. Behavior that was considered inappropriate (talking, being unprepared, etc.) was address immediately. These teachers followed the classroom management theory of Lee Cantor's assertive discipline. The rules of the class are 1. Respect others and their property, 2. Be prepared with all materials, 3. Raise your hand to speak, 4. Listen to all directions. This classroom's behavior management program used fake money to reward children that were prepared for class, respectful of their peers, and positively participating in the classroom activities. The money is paid to the teachers if a student is unprepared, or has broken any of the classroom's rules. I left really uncertain about the effectiveness of this system. During one particular class period students were given back scrantons. A student had her test on her desk with the grade exposed. The teacher quickly said "Turn your test upside down now! We don't share our grades in this class!" To me, I don't even think the girl knew her test grade was showing. The girl turned red and rolled her eyes when the teacher wasn't looking. Then, the teacher said, "Julie was the only student to get 100% on her test! (referring to another student)" It seemed to me that there could have been a different way to tell the student that her test was showing. Also, it seems contradicting to then announce another student's grade. On another day, a student was called out of the room for cheating. This happened at the beginning of the period and both teachers went into the hallway with the student. During this time, I was inside of the classroom listening to the students' response to what was happening. "Everyone shhhhh, let's listen!" "What did she do?" "She was caught cheating!" "Shhhh this is bad!" These were some of the reactions that I heard. I was sitting in the back of the room and I could hear bits and pieces of the hallway conversation. I was amazed to see how many students knew what was going on and how many were interested in the situation. I think this could have been handled better if the student's behavior was addressed after class, in private, and not during class time.
Life Skills. One-to-one aides for each child. I believe I learned the most from this class. I have worked with life skills classes before and I was always interested in how behavioral management plans were developed and used by both the teacher and student. I think it is important to note that there is not one universal way to address social and behavioral problems with children that are placed in a life skills class. Each child has completely different needs based on their learning disability. In this particular class, there were five students and each had their own aide. I found that organization skills and time management skills are very important in this classroom. Each child's individual schedule is written on the board each day. The children refer to the board when they need to know what to do next. Everything book has a place, each student has their own folders and workspaces. Some children are very independent, while others need a lot of prompting from their aides. Each child that I observed had their own behavioral management plan. If the children followed the plan and worked well during the school day, they would be given a reward of their choice. One child would play video games at the end of the day if all his work was completed. Another child loved watching videos on the computer at the end of the day. Another student is currently working on limiting the number of questions he asks and a clipboard is used to document his behavior. If he is able to limit his questions, he can have a snack or a break from work. Another child was having outbreaks of physical abuse towards other children and she is currently working on positively interacting with her peers. Her progress is monitored using a clipboard check-off system. If she behaves well in her classes and is able to work well with her peers, she will receive a reward. The system is working for her because she has less outbreaks and can sit for a longer period of time with out breaks. These children require a lot of attention. They have various needs and behaviors that constantly need to be checked. They need clear directions for everything. There needs to be step 1, step 2, step 3 in order for most things to be accomplished. THe teacher is consistent with her expectations and rules that way children know exactly what to expect if they do not follow directions. Work is broken up into easily accessible parts for the children and breaks are allowed to keep the children focused on the task. On the last day of my observations, I was invited by the students to go to their end of the year beach party. I was amazed to see how the children transformed a classroom into a beach party. They helped cook all the food and a held a contest for the best beach (made out of ice cream and candy). The kids were all looking forward to the beach party all week and they seemed to genuinely have a good time. I think working with children with learning disabilities is extremely rewarding. I had the best time in this class and I am thankful for such a great experience.
I think for the past few days the children have been learning place value. Each student was given a table with a thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones column. The resource room teacher read out loud numbers and the students were supposed to write down the number in the correct column. Mrs. D had to run out of the room to complete an errand. One student was raising his hand with two fingers up. His pencil was broken and he needed it to be sharpened. One of the rules in this classroom is that only an adult is allowed to sharpen pencils. The resource room teacher said, "I can't help you sharpen your pencil right now because we've already begun." Obviously, he became really upset, threw his pencil down on the table and placed his head in his arms. I realized that he missed the first two numbers that was said out loud because of his broken pencil. I quickly got up to help him sharpen his pencil so that he would be able to follow through with the activity. I think the resource room teacher didn't want to make everyone wait so that she could sharpen one student's pencil. Although, sharpening a pencil really does not take long. I guess to in order to prevent something like this to happen (student cannot complete classwork because he does not have a pencil) the teacher can provide a supply of pencils for students to borrow. I think someone mentioned this in our classroom management class. Students can borrow pencils by exchanging with the teacher something of theirs. This serves as a precaution so that students will return pencils at the end of the day. For the next lesson, the children were doing shared reading. Mrs. D used an overhead to project the article, "Hello! Anyone Out there?" There was a picture of the toy aliens from Toy Story on the article which made all the students giggle. Everyone reads the article on aliens out loud. Then everyone had to answer 3 questions based on the article. Mrs. D asked the children, "What would you do to help yourself answer these questions?" The students answered with, "We must re-read the questions and also look back to the article." The students worked quietly on these questions, then Mrs. D went over the answers by asking some students to volunteer.
During observations I sat in on a sixth grade social studies inclusion class. Both of the teachers worked very well together but I was a little disturbed because they did not really allow one student to actively participate. K.J is a polite, friendly, eleven year old boy who has ADHD. He has an IEP and throughout my observation period his impulsive behavior (tapping, gazing, prematurely answering questions)inhibited his listening skills. During social studies class he raised his hand multiple times because he was eager to answer the questions. However the general education teacher would never acknowledge him and the few times when he practically jumped out of his seat while waving his hand frantically she yelled at him. She would always say, "K.J your talk is not going to be accountable, therefore put your hand down". While she might have been right I felt it was horrible for him because after being turned down he would begin to loose focus. He was not being given an opportunity.During this class he continously tapped his fingers on his desk, whispered to his neighbor, or gazed out the window, He rarely completed assignments or paid attention to the lesson. I realized that he began to drift away once he realized he was not going to get an opportunity to participate. I was surprised because the Special ed teacher did not come over to help him during the lesson and at times she would not even prompt him as to what he should do next. I felt he could have benefited from extra support because when he was reminded and assisted, he would gladly do as he was told.She clearly told me he needed continual reinforcement and they did not think it could be met in an inclusion class. While I understand that his needs may be difficult to meet in such a large classroom I felt that there was not enough being done to begin with to help him in any way. All that was ever being done was : yelling or telling him his talk was not accountable.
The class had a substitute for science. She has subbed at the school before and is familiar with the school and students. It was interesting to see how the students reacted to her because they seemed to miss their regular teacher even though she was playing Science Bingo with them. When the students walked into the room she asked them to take a seat and be quiet. They did as they were told but when she announced they were playing BINGO they became loud and excited. Their excitement ,angered her and she threatened them by telling them they were going to have to silently read for the entire period if she did not get complete silence. One student giggled because he said they were not making that much noise. The sub began to give them a sppech on how they need to take responsibility for their actions and that if she tells them to be silent they should be silent. She also went on to say she could care less what they did for the entire period. She told them it did not matter to her if they suffered while reading(it was really hot 85 degrees and no a/c)afterall she was getting her paycheck at the end of the week and they would be sitting in a hot classroom reading. Finally after about 20 minutes she decided to get the game started... I did not think all of her lecturing was neccessary because the students were not being rowdy or disrespectful. They were being "sixth graders" who get excited when they find out they are going to play a game of science bingo.It made me realize that some teachers are so afraid that their classroom will get out of control that they don't allow the students to actually enjoy the class and they do not actually enjoy their job.
Olivia- The school where you are observing sounds amazing. It's nice to see they differentiate instruction and also allow students to relate the material to their life.
Melissa- I think it's great that your class incorporates technology. Mrs. D sounds like a great teacher who knows how to effectively manage her classroom.
6/21 It is Monday, and school is winding down. A few of the teachers have meetings with the principal and find out that they are being moved to another grade. One of those teachers is the general ed teacher in the class I am observing. Her and the special ed teacher, Miss E, are very upset because they had a great chemistry and partnership in the classroom. The general ed teacher that is being moved in there I had observed earlier in the year. It is clear that she was not doing well, and needed the support of another teacher. Once again, I am aware of how important the administration is in this school. They are on top of EVERYTHING (including me). They will not allow for a teacher to struggle if they can change for the better.
Today Miss E, the special ed teacher, is back. It is clear the impact that she has on the students, because everyone seems much calmer and more collected. In the morning there is only 1/2 the class present because they are extended day students ( mandated by bloombergs plan)-- they require extra help, so they arrive before the rest of the class. The students are told to play word bingo. This is clearly busy work because the two teachers are freaking out about being seperated/discussing what to take and what to leave... this will be prevalent throughout the rest of the day.
Miss E does a shared reading with the whole class about a gorilla who learns sign language (as a future ESL teacher, I loved this lesson because it incorporated many important ideas for the ESL students). Miss E does a wonderful job with the class. She is constantly asking questions that requires students to really think about their answers. She also did a Venn Diagram to compare the gorilla to humans.
I noticed that throughout the day, the IEP students are being taken out by various specialists (pt, ot, reading specialist, speech specialist, math specialists, etc.) It is clear, once again, that this school is run very well and that they provide students with the needed support.
In addition, some of the ADHD students have special seats bubbles that they sit on, which is supposed to release some of the tension from their bodies. I thought this was very interesting.
(I observed the next 2 periods in another classroom, which I will blog about next).
The end of the day is pretty unproductive, in my opinion. THe teachers are busy cleaning and organizing the classroom while the students watch Sleeping Beauty. The students are not paying attention and are not well behaved. The teachers will randomly pick out an individual to yell at, but its clear they are not paying attention to anything that is going on in the classroom. I almost feel like I should be doing something with the student in front of me who is singing to his pencil.... but of course, I do not want to intrude. Classroom management at this point of the day is at a low... but I am hoping that this is just because it is the end of the year ( not that it is an excuce)
I spent the middle of the school day in another 1st grade classroom. The atmosphere in this classroom is much different than in Miss E/Miss C's room.
There are not as many IEP students. However, the teacher has excellent classroom management. The students all come up and say good afternoon to me. The teacher tells them to take a book for independent reading-- she reviews with them that if they cannot read 5 words or more ona page, then the book is not right for them. The computer teacher comes in a few minutes later. The computer teacher has little patience and rules her class through yelling. However, once the students are set up on their laptops (9 of them), they seem content and engaged. The lesson seems like its ends pretty quickly. Next the teacher does a language arts lesson with long vowels and short vowels. THe students are gathered around a white board on the reading rug. They are engaged, cooperative, and enthusiastic. It is clear they love this teacher. She defines the words as she goes, has the students spell the words, and is always positive. Next she does a lesson where she asks the students to make an estimated guess about how many corn pops are in teh jar she is holding. She puts the guesses on sticky notes and puts them from least to greatest. The students count the pops as a whole, and then figure out who had the best guess. The winner gets the jar. Once again, the students were so involved and enthusiastic with this lesson.
It was intersting to see this class because the although the students were still doing work at the end of the school year, they were having way more fun than the students doing nothing. The teacher was being moved as well, but she was not using her school day to clean the classroom. She said she would feel guilty just putting a movie on for them.
I arrive at 8 am for the extended day students. They are with the art teacher. The art teacher does a wonderful job with them-- they are creatinga "number" drawing, and seem to love the lesson. It is clear that at this point of the year, these students have their routine down (with the exception of 1 or 2 of the more severe IEP students, who take a few extra minutes to process what they should be doing).
The rest of the students arrive. There is chaos for a few minutes, then they are put into stations. It was especially interesting to watch Edward-- he was the student I mentioned in the last blog who was singing to his pencil. From what I had seen, he has a very difficult time staying on task (although he does not act out). When the other kids are scattered into stations, he is left with one other student at his table. He is suddenly extremely focused. It is clear he does much much better when there are not so many students/distractions around him.
Miss E and Miss C do lessons with seperate groups of 5-6. The general ed teacher teaches at a faster pace, and therefore takes the students who are excelling at the content area (regardless of IEP or general ed). The special ed teaches at a slower/lower level rate and takes the students who need more help in an area. I thought this was a great way to go about using their specialties.
During the middle of the day I go to the other 1st grade classroom again. The students are listening to a song, "habitat for humanity." they are painting in water colors an undersea drawing. She also some newspaper articles hanging about the oil spill-- loved this!
The end of the day with Miss C/ Miss E was spent similarly to the day before. There was a movie on... and when the students couldnt behave they were told to take out a math booklet. One of the more severe IEP students started to get upset about going to 2nd grade (possibly because the teachers were freaking out all day moving). However, MIss E handled the situation very well by sitting with him and giving him encouraging words about how well he would do next year and how proud she was of all the work he had accomplished in the first grade.
As I leave PS 217 today, I realize how much I really like this school. It is not a typical NYC school (at least from what I hear). Although diversity reigns here, it seems that most of the students are oblivious to it-- they allg et along pretty well. There is constant activity everywhere... and the halls celebrate their work. The teachers are always on their toes, because the admininstrators are constantly running around making sure they are doing what they should be doing.
Although the commute isnt ideal, this is a great school for me to be observing in :)
6/18/2010 Today the students were learning how to differentiate between a fact or an opinion. Mrs. D said,
"We went to the zoo. Is this a fact or an opinion?" (The class went on a trip to the zoo earlier this week.)
"I love the zoo. Fact or opinion?" She gave her students some time to answer then said, "Correct, some people like the zoo and some people do not, which makes it an opinion."
The children were really happy to play the fact/opinion game. I thought this was a nice activity as well after all the writing compositions they had to complete. Everyone were given a sheet with opinions and facts in boxes they had to cut out. Then they had to label the back of it as an opinion or fact. They were paired up, given a dice and also a game map. Players raced one another by answering correctly whether the statement is a fact or an opinion, if they answer correctly they get to move the number of spaces that was on the dice. All the students seemed to enjoy this activity immensely.
Then Mrs. D told her class to break up into their literature circles to complete their group poster based on the book they had read together. Sometimes, the students would speak loudly amongst themselves because they were excited about what they were working on which evoked an verbal warning from Mrs. D.
I think it's great that there are a lot of helpers who come into their classroom. There's a resource room teacher, a paraprofessional and an A.I.S (Academic Intervention Services) teacher who work with the children. There are also classroom helpers who come from the middle school next door. I like that there is a lot of team work in this classroom. I'm sure it relieves some weight off the lead teacher's shoulders!
Today is especially hot and the kids are a bit out of control. Miss E and Miss C do guided reading with 2 sepereate groups... they focus on opinion vs. fact and sequencing. It is clear that many of the students stills truggle with reading. The 2 teachers do very well with the small groups and make sure that they undertsand their questions and the lesson.
Next, we go out to the reading garden for a "scavenger hunt". This was a very cute idea.. the students had to find 4 objects in the garden that were a certain color. Again, the kids were not well behaved today and it was somewhat chaotic. It is tough to keep the attention of some of the IEPs who appear to have adhd. Some of the pairs have a tough time working together.
The rest of the day is spent doing centers/watching a movie.
The time I spent in the other 1st grade classroom was somewhat more producitve. She had the stduents create a reference sheet of "reading look fors". SHe encouraged the students to use this over the summer with their summer reading books and to keep it for the 2nd grade. The students then were told to do independent reading for the next hour.
Throughout the building, it is clear the teachers are on their last string. It is hot, everyone seems stressed, and there is a lot of yelling going on. I know this is not great management, however, I give them a lot of credit. By 1 oclock. I was ready to get out of that school and back to Long Island!
This was a great observation experience in all. Although it was the end of the year and there was less teaching going on than usual, it was good to observe the studnets after a full year of teaching and routines. I certainly realize the effort and patience IEP students take, as well as the extra management requried with them in the room. :)
On February 14th I observed (for the second time) a Global I inclusive environment class. The weather was brilliant and warm and rays of sun streamed through the blinds of the classroom antagonistically playing with students who within forty-five minutes time would be embracing the start of a deceptively early spring. To keep students focused and on task the special education co-teacher (Ms. Snow) prompted children to get out all notebooks, handouts, and other materials related to work that was previously covered the week before. Students that lagged were asked again to quickly retrieve their folder and or notebook with the handouts. The handout referred to consisted of a chart on diverse religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam Buddhism, Taoism etc.) that students filled out slowly as the weeks and lesson plans progressed. Individual lesson plans explored one of these religions; as students received information on the subject they committed facts to the chart as a tool of study. I recognize that this is a brilliant way to teach students (any student - despite the inclusive environment configuration of the classroom) to create effective study methods. It also keeps knowledge organized and efficiently underscores the most important or significant information to retain. The charts represent something more for the students with cognitive disabilities as I see it as a way of instilling independent study practices but also something to be responsible for week to week. Later in the class, indications were made about test dates and consequences of missing work.
My first day of observing at Forest Hills High School was stressful. Ten long years ago, I walked through the very same halls and sat in some of the identical classrooms I was viewing as a graduate student. I still got lost and found it equally hard now as it was then to maneuver my way through the masses of students traveling from room to room. The assistant principal of social studies, Ms. Sanchez, created a full-day schedule (with 5 periods) for me to observe. Period 8 which begins at 1 and ends at 2 was my last class of the day and the one vital to the Managing Inclusive Environments course. I did not know what to expect. Because of this, I was more observant in comparison to periods 4-7 where I was naturally inclined to assume the role of student. I immediately noticed the presence of two teachers – one that floated throughout the rows of seats randomly checking the notebooks of students and their progress while the other teacher lectured. At the back of the large class (there exist 30 students in the Global I Inclusive Environments class) I noted two adults that were neither administration nor observing graduates students. After pulling the drifting secondary teacher to the side I asked in a very soft voice who was who and what was what. Ms. Snow said “I am the special education co-teacher” and the lecturer, Ms. Glass, is “the general education instruction.” The two adults flanking me were “paras” or aides. “Ah. Thank you”, I said a bit overwhelmed by the attendance of five adults in the classroom, four of which whom were not doing the actual teaching. I wondered if it was distracting for students. Now of course I know that every individual present including myself is imperative for the prosperity of children with cognitive disabilities.
42 comments:
June 1st was my first visit to the class I'm observing in. I went to this school as a child so it was great walking in the halls again. This school sets a very comfortable and respectful atmosphere where the halls are filled with student work. I'm in a co-taught 1st grade inclusion classroom. There are 19 students in this class an 8 of their have IEPs. When I first entered the classroom I was so confused because there was so much going on...in a good way. Some students were reading a book, working with the teacher, working with the aid, or working on a writing assignment. The students were very engaged in whatever they were doing. I really love how these two teachers work together, they really are a perfect example of what co-teaching should look like. The students do not gravitate more to one teacher, or only ask one teacher to go to the bathroom, get water, etc. During a lesson, when the general education teacher mentions a word that some students may not know the meaning of, the special education teacher will say something like, "What does that word mean Mrs. B?" and the general education teacher will answer her, or have the students try to explain the word (if they know it). Also, it is really great how they both use, and follow through with the same classroom management plan. For example, there is a student who was diagnosed as being on the spectrum, so they use a token system with him. All the teachers that work with this child use this token system. The teachers are very patient and remain calm at all times with the students. They are all about giving the students choices and allowing them to make good decisions. Also, they use clapping, modeling behavior, repeating directions, a stop light, and praise for classroom management. Overall, I had a great day, learned a lot, and was happy to see co-teaching done right for a change.
Today was a very fun day for the students. All three 1st grade classes were doing an author study on Eric Carle, and today was the end to that unit. Therefore, they all went down to the cafeteria where one teacher read the book, "Pancakes Pancakes" by Eric Carle. While she was reading the book the other teachers were cooking pancakes, putting out strawberries, blueberries and chocolate chips. All the students were very engaged by the book because the teacher read it with such feeling. After the book the students ate pancakes. Of course the students loved this, and had a great time. When the students went back to the class they had to write about their experiences and draw a picture, which they all loved to do. When a student doesn't know how to spell a word, the general education teacher prefers that they try to sound it out and spell it themselves. Also, when they are reading and come to a word they do not know, the teachers give them time to figure it out, they do not tell them the word immediately, there is a reasonable wait time. At the end of each day, the students who work with Mrs. S, the special education teacher go down to her room where they work on homework, basic skills, Math, etc. In this room they use "score cards" where the students earn stickers on their score card once they have completed a particular goal. Each students' score cards are different based on the goals from their IEP. I really like the idea of score cards because they are constantly working towards their specific goals, and once they are met, they move on to another goal, so they are constantly progressing. Today was a half day, so there wasn't much else going on, but today was definitely a fun day, where I learned a lot of great techniques.
I didn't get a chance to write a response for yesterday, so I am doing it today. Yesterday went by very fast. Every morning the class meets on the rug to do a lunch count. What's really cool about this is that Mrs. B (the general education teacher) turns it into a Math lesson. For example, if there are 19 students in the whole class, 8 of them are getting pizza, 3 are getting grilled cheese, and 3 are getting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How many students are bringing lunch from home? I think it's a great activity because she made the Math problem relevant to their life, she's getting her lunch count done, and the students are learning at the same time. All the lessons I have observed have taken place on the rug. Mrs. B sits on a chair and uses a easel/dry erase board while the students sit on the rug. During a lesson she allows the students to share their comments, thoughts and stories. After the lesson, she usually has them go back to their tables and work on the assignment. Then 10-15 minutes later she has them meet her on the rug again and does another activity. She also does centers which is really great because the students know where to go, they just rotate and take charge in their own learning, while the teacher just facilitates the activities or works one on one to assess a student. Also, since it is the end of the year, they are used to this routine. This school follows a literacy based program which they are very big on, so this class I'm observing in is doing a lot of author studies, writing and illustrating books, and reading assignments. Since they do a lot of writing, Mrs. B has students volunteer to share their writing with the class. She has them stand in front of the class and read their writing piece, which the students absolutely love; you can tell that they are very proud of themselves. There is a great environment in the classroom, the students all get along, they respect each other and are polite to everyone. Also, if an issue does come up, Mrs. B encourages them to solve the problem, and work it out on their own, or together. The more I observe and learn about students with disabilities, the more questions I have.
Today was the first full day of the week. As usual, today started out with the Math lunch count. They then talked about money, and Mrs. B made up a song for them to remember about what a quarter, dime, nickel, and a penny are worth. She actually, tries to make up a lot of songs so students can remember important facts. I like the idea of using songs to remember things. I know I remember all the little rhymes and songs I was taught in elementary school, and kids love to sing. Today Mrs. B told me check the student's homework, and I noticed that they were all different, and she told me about this "homework menu." Mrs. B uses a homework menu for spelling and Social Studies. She has about 15-30 different activities the students can choose from every night (expect Friday). For example, for spelling they can either made a study guide, draw a picture using the spelling words, etc. For Social Studies they may interview someone, write a story, draw a picture, etc. This goes with Curwin and Mendler's Model about giving students choices. I love the idea of a homework menu. Another really great thing I saw today was how Mrs. B read a poem about "creatures under the ground" (worms, moles, ants, etc). Not only did they read the poem, as a class she had them estimate how many words are in the poem, which incorporates Math and caters to the logical and Mathematical learners. She had them draw a picture that corresponds to the poem, which caters to the visual and spatial learners. In addition, they are finishing up a Science unit about earth worms, which ties in with the poem. Since today was the last day learning about Earthworms, at the end of the day Mrs. B took her class outside to bring the worms back to their natural habitat. So, in this class I see a lot of differentiating instruction, which all students benefit from.
The day of my first classroom observation, June 1st was a particularly hot and humid day. Sadly for me my car does not have a working a/c. By the time I arrived at P.S. 83 Annex in the Bronx from Queens I was looking a bit disheveled.
The environment of P.S. 83 (district 11) is vastly different from P.S. 168, a special education school in district 75. The hallways and classrooms of P.S. 83 was newly renovated,the walls painted with bright and happy colors. While P.S. 168 was kind of dreary.
I was observing Mrs. Drescher's 2nd grade class. There are 26 students in that class, 6 of which who have IEPs. When I arrived to P.S. 83, it was Mrs. Drescher’s prep period, her class was in gym. I went with her to pick up her students. To ensure that everyone lines up in an orderly fashion, Mrs. Drescher told the girls to line up first by finding a square (the floors are tiled). When everyone was lined up she told them to all put a finger to their lips. The children walked in an orderly fashion but when they were walking up the stairs Mrs. Drescher said they sounded like a “stampede of elephants.” I noticed that whenever her students were out of line, Mrs. Drescher would always point it out to them so that they would discontinue their bad behavior. I think she is a pretty strict teacher.
In the classroom all the children use hand signals, that way there’s less talking:
a) Thumbs up: done with work
b) 2 fingers: pencil needs to be sharpened
c) 3 fingers: bathroom
Mrs. Drescher also has this chart with all her students’ name on it. Whenever a student misbehaves such as, talking when they’re not supposed to, he/she will receive a big blue X next to their name. I forgot to ask her what happens when the X’s are tallied up. I’ll have to ask her the next time I go to observe.
Some more things I notice that day:
Mrs. Drescher provided very specific directions to minimize confusion.
Different helpers were assigned to hand out notebooks so that there’s less scuffling and less noise.
There is a 5 count warning to clean up time.
On June 1st I began my observations at a middle school (5-8 grade) most of my observations are taking place on the fourth floor because that is where the majority of the sixth graders have classes.
It was a very interesting first day because the class that I am observing is a CTT class. The special education teacher travels with them to almost all of their classes. The only classes she does not accompnay them to are the electives and science. I found this first day interesting because the special education teacher works very well with the general education teacher.
In my past observations at a High School, the special ed teacher seemed rather lost and barely walked around the classroom. She also did not seem to have a connection with the general education teacher and seemed very frustrated most of the time.
The Middle School is very different because the Special education teacher will teach one period of ELA and the general education teacher will teach the next. On some days the students have double periods of math, ela, science, or s.s and I have noticed that some days she will teach (pertains only to ELA) the entire two periods while the general education teacher grades h.w, or writes the assignment on the board.
They also have a reading specialist who will randomnly pop in and re-phrase questions for the students.
So far from what I have observed the Special education, general education teachers, and the reading specialist seem to collaborate in a very positive way. I feel this is essential in any enviornment especially when they have a rather large class, 31 students and 12 students have IEP.
During my second day of observations (6/3)I finally heard screaming from a teacher. Not that this is postive but on my first day the class was very well behaved and aside from the clowning around for a minute or two most students were very well behaved.
I had the opportunity to observe them during Art class and it was very hot in that classroom. The teacher had sweat dripping from her forehead. Half of the school does not have air conditioning because when they were building the school, they ran out of money.
The teacher seemed angry as the students entered her class and she was quite unfriendly. She told them their assignment and handed out supplies to each table. Halfway through the class she walked over to table 9 and asked where her eraser was? Everyone at the table stayed quiet and one of the students yelled out that he had seen Frankie throw it across the room. The art teacher began to yell hysterically saying, "where is my eraser, where is it and your table is never getting an eraser again, where is it,someone confess NOW!" She then looked at Frankie got near his face and began screaming at him asking him over and over to tell her the truth. Frankie sat there dumbfounded and turning a shade of pink as he said, "I don't know". This must have went on for twelve minutes and at one point her voice even cracked because she was screaming very loud. In the end she didn't find her eraser, nobody confessed, and the class had to go on. I couldn't help but think to myself, did she really need to do all that yelling for an eraser?
Jenny- I really like how the teacher you are observing uses hand signals for different things. (ex. 3 to go to the bathroom)Does she use any other hand signals?
Pricilla- Wow, I can't believe that teacher went on about an eraser..that is crazy.
Today I completed my observation hours. It was a busy day, but went by fast. Not to mention, it was the only day in the past two weeks that I wasn't dripping sweat which was nice. Anyway, there was a substitute this morning, and she read two books. One book she read was "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" by Trinka Hankes. Friday they are going on a trip to the Queens Zoo, and this book basically talked about a boy who brought his snake to a field trip. After the book, they went over the map of the Queens Zoo to see where they are going and what animals they will see. Also, they read "If You Give a Mouse a Muffin." Most of the children have heard the "circle" books before, so they pretty much could predict what will happen in the story, so they were very engaged, they thought the story was hilarious.
As the rest of the class was finishing writing their books, Mrs. B called one student at a time and asked them things like, "How would you grade your effort? Are you trying your best? How would you grade your handwriting? Do you think it is excellent, very good, just okay, or stinky?" I really liked how the asked the students what thy thought about their own work, because most of them were very honest on how hard they worked, how neat their handwriting is, etc. Then she would give them suggestions, such as, "I think that you should work on your capitols, and maybe try not to space the words so far apart." After this, a few students who finished their story went in front of the class to share their writing. I really liked how after they read, Mrs. B opened it up to the class to say "What they noticed" and "I wonder." For example, a student might say, "I noticed how you used a lot of details in your pictures, but I wonder if next time you can add more details to your writing."
After lunch the class reads independently for 10 minutes before starting Math with the ESL teacher. Since Daniel (who is Autistic) did not get the full 10 minutes of reading time (since he came in a little late) he did not want to start Math. He said it's too early, basically Daniel does not like change, and did not get his full 10 minutes. Therefore he did not want to start Math. The general education teacher (Mrs. B) said, "Let him finish his book and then he can start Math." The special education teacher brought the token board over and told him that he needs to start Math with the rest of the class if he wants a token. He said, "I can't its too early." Then Mrs. S (the special education teacher) said, "You can't just do anything you want, it is time for Math and if you want a token then you need to clean up and start your Math," so he did just that. Which teacher do you think handled it better?
On my first day of observing, I really took notice of the school atmosphere. It made me feel very comfortable and I could tell that this building had a goal of building good character amongst its students. Each hallway (and there are many) are named strategically. Some examples are: Honesty Highway, Attitude Alley, Responsibility Way, etc. There are various quotes and posters hanging on the walls in the hallway, all positive and promoting good character. The hallways were quiet and calm, and once the bell rang for students to enter they knew exactly where to go in an orderly way. Teacher's doors were decorated with names of the students in their classroom, recent things they have been learning, etc. You did not just see a room and a room number, but decorative things that made it feel at home. I am observing a co-teaching 3rd grade class. During the morning portion of the day, a special education teacher and a general education teacher work together. After lunch, they split and the special education teacher takes her 14 students into their own classroom and continues with the lessons for the day. There are 2 aides during the morning lessons and 3 aides during the afternoon lesson. Obviously there are many adults in one room with all of these students, but my cooperating teacher has had a positive experience with most of them which is great considering there are multiple people she works with each day. After meeting both of the teachers I could tell I was going to have a great experience just by their personalities and how ready they were for the day to begin. It has just been one day and I already see many things I will be blogging about soon.
Priscilla,
Your experience in the art room about the missing eraser is unbelievable. That is a classic 'what not to do'. The teacher's reaction made me scared and I wasn't even there! That kid will remember that moment for the rest of his life, how unfortunate.
The use of technology is constantly used in Ms.D's classroom. During a math lesson the students are introduced to what they are learning by watching a video clip on the smart board. Here, Ms. D is able to pause it at times and review the material with the class. She is also able to write on the board and show examples before moving on to more difficult concepts. The students are also exposed to technology when they move into their special of computers. They took a butterfly quiz during computer time using clickers with the smart board. This was a fun tool for them and will help Ms. D in their comprehension. A couple days before, the class had read a story about butterflies and learned about them, so after computer was over Ms. D was able to take the printout of the quiz results with her and review them to see how much information the students retained. Ms. D also used the smart board during an ELA lesson of how to write a friendly letter and used so much enthusiasm during this exercise; the students enjoyed every minute of it. This was one of my favorite lessons I have seen so far. First, Ms. D showed them the 5 parts of a friendly letter. They saw it up on the smart board and repeated after her multiple times. Then, she introduced a song to them so that they would remember these steps of Heading, Greeting, Body, Closing and Signature. She sang it for them, they sang it with her and they repeated probably a good 5 times. Then, she moved on with the smart board presentation. She had multiple activities to reinforce these steps. The students were able to come up to the board and move around words to match the correct definition, label the parts of a letter on a sample she presented, and then create a class letter together to the principal asking them to extend their lunch to two hours. Then, the students worked on their own letter to Ms. D. All of these steps can be found in the learning pyramid. Ms. D does a wonderful job with her group in reviewing material and reaching many different levels of comprehension. The students not only had an audio-visual, reading, discussion and demonstration but they practiced it themselves as well. The excitement that Ms. D creates in the classroom when choosing a student to come up to the smart board and participate is so great and makes every student want to participate. This portion of the lesson shows that Ms. D has good classroom management skills because she has all students constantly engaged, enjoying the lesson without ever getting bored and reaches them in a variety of ways. It's also great to see how focused they are when technology is being utilized in a lesson. It really makes that video we watched during the first week of class come to life, we are teaching 21st century learners who respond so well to the latest technology, not the old ways of lecture.
Jaclyn Zoll
Classroom Management
6/9/10
Observation Placement-
For my field placement, I observed eight different classes over the course of four school days at Mineola Middle School. During the four days, I took notes and decided to narrow down my focus to five classes (due to fire drills, and substitute teachers). All five classes were inclusion classes that implemented some type of co-teaching methods.
Overview of the School Environment-
The overall tone of the building is very positive and upbeat. Children are laughing, smiling, and chatting in between class periods. I have worked as a substitute teacher in the district for a year and I rarely saw any negative student interactions. Students tend to be very respectful of one another as well as respectful of teachers and staff members. The students take pride in their school. Character Education quotes are discussed during the morning announcements...this week's message, "Never dare to judge until you've heard the other side."
Student artwork is displayed all through the school. The school places an emphasis on recycling and this seems to be part of the "Going Green" theme in the hallways. Mineola Middle School offers a variety of after school activities, clubs, and sports for students. Some of the after school activities that Mineola Middle School offers are Jazz Band, Photography Club, Art Club, Yearbook, Science Club, Anti-Bias Club, National Jr. Honor Society, Environmental Club and seasonal sports. There are many different ways for students to become involved in their school and it seems that most students get involved.
Mineola Middle School is a very collaborative team environment. You can sense that the teachers enjoy co-teaching and lesson planning. This not only helps teachers develop great lessons, but it is highly beneficial to their students. The administration is very present and helpful to both staff and students.
School & Classroom Expectations-
The expectations were posted in most of the classrooms that I observed. The universal display of expectations created consistency for children.
Mineola Middle School- Building Expectations
1. Respect yourself, each other, and adults.
2. Follow the Mineola Middle School Code of Conduct.
3. Have a hall pass to be out of class.
4. Enter a room only when an adult is present.
Mineola Middle School- Classroom Expectations
1. Be courteous and cooperative.
2. Bring all books and materials to class.
3. Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings.
4. Listen the first time questions are asked or directions are given.
5. Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak.
6. Stay in your seat.
Math- Grade 8. Inclusion class. Co-teaching.
6/7, 6/8, 6/10, & 6/11
The special education teacher took on the role of an assistant/observer. Meaning that the general education teacher led the math lesson while the special education teacher circulated the room and observed and assisted students. Eight students had IEP's and there was one student that worked closely with a teacher aide. The layout of the room had the desks in rows with the Promethean board taking center-stage. The teacher predominately used the Promethean board to present the lessons and go over math questions. Math assignments/testing dates were posted on a dry-erase board in the back of the room.
Each period began with a "Do Now" assignment that was posted on the Promethean board. The "Do Now" assignment consisted of a few math problems that were review from content previously learned in class. The "Do Now" assignment is helpful to the teachers because it got students seated and working before the bell even rang. The "Do Now" assignment was also effective at activating prior knowledge before introducing a new math concept. Once the students answered the "Do Now" questions independently, they volunteered to answer the questions up at the board.
Students took math notes using the T-note style (question and answer) form of note taking. The teacher said this style of note-taking helps students with the organization of math problems. While the teacher would solve examples on the board, she would ask questions and have students shout out their replies. There was little to no wait time in between questions because at least one student would respond immediately with an answer. I thought that this way of asking questions could be an issue for students that may need a few moments to process the question or students that were shy or quiet.
There was no sign of any incentive or reward program. There was lunch detention assigned to any student that walked into class late three times. Homework and lateness was recorded using a grade book during the class period. The class ran relatively smoothly, there were no significant behavioral problems that I observed.
I feel that in respect to classroom management, you really have to look for the way Ms. D manages her own classroom. There are no 'strikes', names on the board, or anything obvious when you first come into her class. I think she is just one of those great teachers who has control and when she needs to discipline she does, but does not make it center stage. In Ms. D’s own class of 14, she has one student who is autistic. During the morning lessons, her class combines with a general education class for math. Ms. D was teaching a lesson on multiplication using the smart board and reviewing with the students. The child who is autistic came to them this year from a self-contained class last year. At the beginning of the year he had a lot of trouble with staying in his seat and staying on task. If someone just popped into this classroom and took a snapshot, it would be such an adorable sight to see. If you are in the world of special education, you see a great teacher engaging a student who is usually fidgeting around at this point of the lesson. Ms. D had the boy as her helper up at the smart board. She would review concepts with the class and when she could see he was getting restless, she would ask him to read "step 2" or any information on the board to keep him focused. He also changed the slides for her when she was ready and asked him to. Ms. D constantly moves around the room to keep the attention of her students. As she was moving around, the student with autism followed her around as well. Ms. D talks with much emotion, and the student could sense them and imitated her in a way when he was walking along side her. Not only was she keeping him from acting out a bad behavior that would probably take place had she not asked him to be her helper, but he was absorbing the information at the same time. It was so great to see how natural this was for the one student and all the other students in the room. No student asked why he was her helper and no one else, because Ms. D made every student involved in the lesson as she floated around the room. While students were doing a couple problems independently, I watched over several students in the back of the room. When I saw that they made a small mistake, I went over the steps Ms. D had taught them and they quickly found where they messed up. They were not upset that they made a mistake but just exclaimed, "ohhh!" like it was a new discovery and something so exciting. I have always considered the idea of having a helper who is a student that may need to be more involved with the lesson, but it was so amazing to see how this worked so smoothly and did not present a distraction to the rest of the class. It really shows that a classroom strategy can be effective even though every student is not treated the same, since their needs are different.
I had the opportunity to observe a health advisory period. It was really interesting because during this period all of the sixth graders are broken into different groups of 12-15 students. Each student has an assigned advisor which is one of the sixth grade team members (general ed. teachers, special ed. teachers or literacy coach)they make popcorn, drink soda, or water and discuss how they are feeling. Each class forms a circle and the members of each group rate from 1-10 how their day is going. Each person also explains why they gave their day a particular score. Every student must listen and they are not allowed to interrupt each other. At the end they can ask each other questions.One student rated his day a 5 because his dad is overseas and never called to give his stepmother authorization so he could go to the dance that evening. At the end some of student's suggested possible reasons for his dad's failure to call.
Another student (rated her day a 4)commented that she felt lonely because she really does not have anyone to talk to at home. She mentioned how there are only certain things you tell your parents and your teachers. The advisor asked her if she wanted to share what was bothering her but she opted not to (the students all related to her feelings) and at the end she was feeling better because she realized they all feel the same at times.
Aside from the two student's who rated their day between 1-5, the remainder rated their day from 8-10 because it was Friday. They all agreed they were looking forward to the weekend.
I feel health advisory period is essential for a school to have because it gives student's the opportunity to vent about their current frustrations and go on to their next class without feeling overwhelmed or upset. Overall I would have to say this is a postive experience for every student and I noticed the shy students also participated and felt comfortable.
Pricilla,
I thought that the health advisory period was so interesting. I've never heard of a grade-wide discussion period.
"...it gives student's the opportunity to vent about their current frustrations and go on to their next class without feeling overwhelmed or upset."
I agree that this would be beneficial to students because it allows students to be kids and express themselves in a comfortable setting. I would have loved to observe the different discussions.
Math- Grade 7. Inclusion class. Co-teaching.
I had the opportunity to watch a truly collaborative teaching team. The general education teacher and special education teacher worked so well together that if I didn't already know their job titles, I would not be able to distinguish between the two teachers. There were seven students with IEP's in a class of about twenty. The lessons that I observed were engaging and fun. They used a variety of instructional methods (role-play, group work, short videos, etc.). The teachers infused technology into every lesson using the Promethean Board.
Role-play in a math class? Who would have thought this was even possible! To introduce the new term "reflection" they had students break into pairs. The pairs were required to mimic each others body movements as if they were watching themselves in a mirror. The graphing exercise that followed used reflection to plot points. Even the graphing exercise was designed around the students' interests. Students plotted the coordinates (J,A,C,K) and (R,O,S,E) and it turned out to be a ship, and once the ship was reflected it looked like it was sinking. Truly inspiring. Every part of every lesson had a purpose.
The teachers had a great working relationship, they were able to switch roles with out the kids even noticing. Also, I should point out that one teacher used a microphone to increase the sound of her voice. At first, I thought it was because a child had a hearing impairment but it turns out that the teacher used it for herself. I thought the microphone was great and I am interested in getting one for myself when I have my own classes.
I think the best part of my observation hours were the hours spent in this classroom. The teachers were very engaging and helpful. They seemed like they really loved their jobs and cared about the kids in their room. I think this had a huge impact on their relationship with their kids. Kids are able to tell when a teacher cares about their well-being, these kids knew. The most interesting part is that one teacher has been teaching for years, yet she has the energy and attitude of a new teacher . I was very impressed.
Academic Intervention Services (AIS)- Grade 8. Inclusion. Co-teaching
This class was operated by two special education teachers. They worked as a strong collaborative team which seemed to be beneficial to the students. The class size was relatively small, consisting of about 8-10 children that came to class every other day. Most of these students have IEP and BIPs and require special attention in order to keep them on task and focused.
AIS offers extra support to students with special needs and students that are struggling with the eight grade curriculum. The class was set-up into stations of about 6-8 desks per station. This week the AIS class was focusing on practice for the eighth grade social studies assessment. One teacher would lead discussion and take questions while the other teacher would circulate and assist students. This method kept the students on task and paying attention. The teachers would ask the practice questions aloud and wait until a student volunteered an answer. There was a good amount of wait time for a student's response. Also, if the response was extra long, the teacher would begin to discuss the circumstances surrounding the question and then ask the question again. This method of re-activating prior knowledge worked well, students were able to make connections.
During one particular class, the Promethean board was used to develop a graphic organizer based on European explorers. Students were engaged and eager to respond to the teachers prompts. The student-teacher relationship is very positive since teachers are very patient and pro-active with the behavior. This activity worked really well because the students wanted to participate.
There is one student in this class that has a Behavioral Intervention Plan. The BIP has definitely helped because the student has made significant improvements over the course of the year. The BIP is a work in progress because the student still has difficulty paying attention and often seeks out the attention of his peers. When the teacher sees that this student is becoming distracted, she quickly asks him a question related to the lesson. Addressing his behavior is very subtle, almost hidden, and it seems to work. By not directly addressing the behavior she avoids embarrassing him and yet still changes the negative behavior. The student is re-directed and continues doing his work. The teachers are very sensitive to their students needs.
Olivia ~ I was reading your entry on your observations and thinking how if I were still a first grade student, I’d love to be in that classroom. I really like how the teachers decided to make pancakes along with reading Eric Carle’s “Pancakes Pancakes”. I love it! I think that probably made the book more memorable for the students.
Melissa~ Often times we say that young children can be really cruel. We forget how accepting they can be. It’s great how Ms. D found a way for the student with autism to have a sense of belonging in their classroom. How with the responsibilities she has given him allows him to be a constructive learner and how the other students are okay with this. Yay!
My second day of observation actually took place 10 days ago but I never had the chance to write a post on it until today.
6/3/2010
Today Mrs. D had to give her students a math assessment test on the principal's orders. This math assessment test was given to the students at the beginning of the school year. I think the goal of it was to compare the two test score. Something funny happened. There was this one question, "Which one of these below is a bird?" This one student circled the fish as the answer. When Mrs. D asked her out loud, "Which one of these is a bird?" the student pointed to the bird. Yet when Mrs. D told her to re-do the test she circled the octopus next. I think this shows how some students might not be good test takers. Anyhow I was talking to the paraprofessional and she told me that the format of this assessment test is different from how their assessments are usually formatted.
I heard that by the end of the school year many teachers feel burnt out. They even have articles on teaching forums on how to make it to the end of the school year. I noticed Mrs. D's frustrations as she was teaching. She threw one student's notebook across the room. This one student's desk is placed right against the blackboard (facing the blackboard, with his back to the rest of the class). Mrs. D said if he sits with anyone else he will have a lot of trouble working and will also disrupt the other kids. As strict as Mrs. D seems to be, all her students are very enthusiastic about participating in class. They all raise their hands excitedly and some even run out of their seats. But, Mrs. D will not call on them unless they are seated.
6/7/2010
For the past few days, the children have been working on writing assignments. Mrs. D stressed how important it is for them to be able to write a reading response correctly. After working with elementary school children in an after school program, I know how a lot of them hate writing reading responses. Some students struggle in re-telling a story in their own words. In Mrs. D's class,for their writing assignment they were responsible for writing down Title, Author, Characters, Problem & Solution of the story. In order to motivate them to work harder, Mrs. D would tell them that they were being graded on their assignment. She also told them that their grades have been slipping since the beginning of their year so they should try harder. I guess the teachers are not the only ones feeling burnt out by the end of the school year.
While observing today, I was offered the chance to go see a contained special education classroom. I decided to go take a look while the children were working on their writing assignments. In the contained classroom there was one lead teacher and a paraprofessional. It was kind of a mess in there. The special education teacher expressed how it has been difficult teaching the children for the past two months. There are 12 students and they were separated into 4 groups of 3 to work on a group project. They were given out hand-outs of different places in New York City, such as, The Bronx Zoo, The Brooklyn Botanical Garden, The Yankee Stadium. As a group, they were to extract important information like location of the place from the hand-outs. One girl refused to work with her group because "the assignment is boring!" I had to agree with her on this one. What was worse was that the hand-outs were in black and white, so even the pictures of the places were in black and white. In another group, this one girl was very dominant. She would take the hand-out and place it in front of her, making it harder for her two other group members to read. She would wave the papers in their face and grab their notebooks telling them, "She would help them." I told her, by writing down the answers for your friends, you're not helping them, they must try to write on their own in order to learn. Anyhow the special education teacher was overwhelmed with her students. Whatever she said did not seem to faze her students. The same girl who refused to work with her group also threatened to kick and punch another girl. She also got into a verbal fight with another student for calling them a retard. The paraprofessional was out of the room for the most part. She didn't come back until it was lunch time.
During the teachers' lunch breaks I was talking to another teacher about the special education class and how it seemed like they were placing children with different disabilities into the same classroom. It seemed like the students were picking up one another bad habits. She told me that the DOE does stuff like that in order to save money. Does anyone else know about this? Do you guys think that it is okay to place students with different disabilities into one room? Should the lead teacher have more than one helper if she has 12 students?
During my observations today I got to see the true chaotic side of teaching. Since it is the end of the year, my cooperating teacher has many things to do- report cards, progress reports, IEPs, ELPs and so many other things. So needless to say, my teacher was under a bit of stress today. To add on top of that, technology was working against the school when their computer system wasn't working for a good portion of the day. Lucky for me, a lot of stress on the teacher meant I was busy the entire time I was there. I was able to get hands on experience create a running record for a couple of students, which I had done in literacy classes before. I also observed the students during a separate reading lesson, where Ms. D used differentiated instruction. She already had groups set; she had a "large group" which sat with her on the carpet and were her lower level readers, and a "small group", her on level readers who read the story with one another in another area of the classroom. Since it is June, the class works like clockwork. They know to bring their books to the carpet, read together and outloud. They then go to their desks after the story is finished and answer corresponding questions. After all students are done, they come back yet again to the carpet with a highlighter (no student needed reminding). Here they go over each question with Ms. D. They do not just go over the question and answer, but they must look into the story and find the page where they found their answer to prove themselves. They highlight the correct answer and any other important information. It was great to see that although Ms. D had so much going on with herself, she was able to keep the students on track and everything ran so smooth.
Unfortunately, today the one student with autism in the class did not have a great day. I had been told that last year he was in self-contained and had very disruptive behavior. His mother and insisted that he wasn't being challenged enough which is why he was acting out. This year he was put into Ms. D's class for 3rd grade and has made remarkable improvements. He has gone from not being able to sit for more than 10 minutes at a time to sitting 90% of the time that he is expected to. Today was a rare occasion where he wasn't following directions as well as he had been. He receives a behavior sheet each day that he brings home to his mother. Today Ms. D had to give him marks that he did not like, since they were not all in the excellent or good column. This made him very emotional, but Ms. D had a talk with him. She explained to him how he has been so great this year and she is not going to let him give up on the last full week of school. After speaking with Ms. D she said that she feels he is acting out because he know the school year is almost over and soon he is going to have to meet a new teacher, new aide, new classroom environment and he just isn't ready for that yet. It was sad to see him get so upset but I think he took the behavior report fairly well, in that he followed directions to put it in his take home folder and did not rip it up or crumple it.
Jenny-
I have no idea what the rules of the DOE regarding placing students in particular classes is. It does seem as if that teacher needs some more help in the room but I guess it depends on the students in the class? The class I am with has 1 teacher, 2 classroom aides and 1 one:one aide. So there is a lot of help. On the flip side, sometimes more people can only make more chaos!
Last week I had my first day of observation in a first grade inclusion classroom at PS 217 in Brooklyn. I had observed at this school last semester, so I was familiar with the staff and some of the students in another class. The fact that I feel comfortable in this school makes the experience much more. The school itself is very large-K through 8- and very well run. The administration is very present throughout the school. The principal has met with me several times to makes sure that I am having a good experience and observing good teaching.
The 1st grade class consists of 23 students-- 13 with IEP's and 10 general students. The special ed teacher was absent, so it was an interesting day to observe to say the least.
Ms. Caraccia starts the day off by having each table put their belongings away. She does the date, weather, and attendance with the students. The attendance monitor takes the attendance by turning over actual pictures of the students who are not present (I loved this idea).
At the start of the day, only 13 of 23 students are present. A few come in late, but the class was smaller than usual. Lateness is not reprimanded, much less acknowledged.
It was apparent how necissary it was to have two teachers in this class, because Ms. C had a difficult time controlling/working with the class as a whole. After their morning routine, a spelling test was given-- it took awhile just to have all the students ready with their names on the paper. At this point, one of the special ed students starts to cry (one of three criers that day). She gets through the test after some time, and it is suddenly second period.
2nd period we went outside with the rest of the 1st grade classes to participate in a walk for diabetes. It was so great. The school has a small playground with a turf field and mini track to the left of it. There was music playing as the kids and their teachers (and me!) marched around the track and played instruments and danced. The kids had a blast, and it was so nice to watch because they were having fun while doing something special together as a school.
Once we got back from this special event, Ms. C put on some classical music while the students worked on spelling workbooks and reading.
The rewards system is in the form of a chart with smiley stickers given for good behavior. It is used several times throughout the day to entice good behavior from the students. It certainly seems to work.
The middle of the day I spent with the Science teacher in inclusive classrooms. This teacher is very carasmatic and uses humor well with the students. SHe did a lesson on the life cycle of the butterfly and followed that with an art project (coloring a butterfly). She traveled from class to class with her supplies. THe one thing that was lacking here was control. It was difficult to get all the students to pay attention/engaged in the lesson. Although she used humor well, it sometimes led to the students getting off track and losing focus. HOwever, she only works with these students one period out of the day- where Ms. C and the other teachers, are with these kids all day.
Ms. C is a patient and a great teacher as far as I can see. As I said earlier, it is clear that she needed the other teacher there, but the day went as smoothly as seemed possible. I give her a lot of credit for the amount of patience she displays.
I am excited to see the class when Ms. G comes back... I am sure that it will make a huge difference in the overall atmosphere of the classroom.
Common planning time is difficult to come by in the elementary setting. During our lunchtime Ms. D and I ate with her co-teacher, the other special education teacher whom she shares a room with in the afternoon, and on occasion, some of her aides. Here, they are able to talk about anything they need regarding their lesson plans and curriculum and always put this first before anything else. Ms. D has been in charge of the math lessons ever since all 3rd grade classrooms got a smart board. She has been creating smart board lessons and sharing them with the entire grade level. All of the other teachers have been sharing handouts and worksheets with her that they have used in the past. Also during this lunch time, Ms. D's co-teacher often has students coming in during their recess time to go over any work that they found confusing or did not have time to finish during their morning jobs. At first when we spoke about this in class, I thought most students would not want to give up their recess, but surprisingly many students have asked to come back to the room to have extra work time, which only shows that they enjoy being in the classroom.
I took note of the classroom rules posted up in the inclusive classroom. There were only 5:
1. Always listen carefully.
2. Work quietly. Do not disturb others who are working.
3. Respect others. Be king with your words and actions.
4. Take good care of all school and personal property.
5. Always do your best!
I think that these rules were kept positive and did not seem demanding. It would have been great to be able to observe the first couple days of school, rather than the last few. Then I would be able to see how the rules went into effect and how long it took for the class to conform to the routines expected. The end of year has looked very smooth so whatever was done in the first few weeks worked.
ELA- Grade 6. Inclusion class. Co-teaching.
I observed this class for two periods a day for four days. The teachers took turns leading instruction and circulating the room. The classroom was set-up into five stations with 4-5 students at each station. The Promethean board was the central focus of the classroom with student work posted on either side. This classroom was run on a money system, or a system of rewards and punishments. This class was managed differently than the other classes I had the opportunity to observe.
There was a variety of instructional methods used during each period. For example, one day the Promethean board was used to take notes about the Renaissance, and the following day it was used to post discussion questions before reading aloud from a book. The desks were arranged into stations, this provided an easy way for students to communicate ideas. During whole-class discussions, students were required to raise their hand and wait their turn. Behavior that was considered inappropriate (talking, being unprepared, etc.) was address immediately.
These teachers followed the classroom management theory of Lee Cantor's assertive discipline. The rules of the class are 1. Respect others and their property, 2. Be prepared with all materials, 3. Raise your hand to speak, 4. Listen to all directions. This classroom's behavior management program used fake money to reward children that were prepared for class, respectful of their peers, and positively participating in the classroom activities. The money is paid to the teachers if a student is unprepared, or has broken any of the classroom's rules. I left really uncertain about the effectiveness of this system.
During one particular class period students were given back scrantons. A student had her test on her desk with the grade exposed. The teacher quickly said "Turn your test upside down now! We don't share our grades in this class!" To me, I don't even think the girl knew her test grade was showing. The girl turned red and rolled her eyes when the teacher wasn't looking. Then, the teacher said, "Julie was the only student to get 100% on her test! (referring to another student)" It seemed to me that there could have been a different way to tell the student that her test was showing. Also, it seems contradicting to then announce another student's grade.
On another day, a student was called out of the room for cheating. This happened at the beginning of the period and both teachers went into the hallway with the student. During this time, I was inside of the classroom listening to the students' response to what was happening. "Everyone shhhhh, let's listen!" "What did she do?" "She was caught cheating!" "Shhhh this is bad!" These were some of the reactions that I heard. I was sitting in the back of the room and I could hear bits and pieces of the hallway conversation. I was amazed to see how many students knew what was going on and how many were interested in the situation. I think this could have been handled better if the student's behavior was addressed after class, in private, and not during class time.
Life Skills. One-to-one aides for each child.
I believe I learned the most from this class. I have worked with life skills classes before and I was always interested in how behavioral management plans were developed and used by both the teacher and student. I think it is important to note that there is not one universal way to address social and behavioral problems with children that are placed in a life skills class. Each child has completely different needs based on their learning disability. In this particular class, there were five students and each had their own aide.
I found that organization skills and time management skills are very important in this classroom. Each child's individual schedule is written on the board each day. The children refer to the board when they need to know what to do next. Everything book has a place, each student has their own folders and workspaces. Some children are very independent, while others need a lot of prompting from their aides.
Each child that I observed had their own behavioral management plan. If the children followed the plan and worked well during the school day, they would be given a reward of their choice. One child would play video games at the end of the day if all his work was completed. Another child loved watching videos on the computer at the end of the day. Another student is currently working on limiting the number of questions he asks and a clipboard is used to document his behavior. If he is able to limit his questions, he can have a snack or a break from work. Another child was having outbreaks of physical abuse towards other children and she is currently working on positively interacting with her peers. Her progress is monitored using a clipboard check-off system. If she behaves well in her classes and is able to work well with her peers, she will receive a reward. The system is working for her because she has less outbreaks and can sit for a longer period of time with out breaks.
These children require a lot of attention. They have various needs and behaviors that constantly need to be checked. They need clear directions for everything. There needs to be step 1, step 2, step 3 in order for most things to be accomplished. THe teacher is consistent with her expectations and rules that way children know exactly what to expect if they do not follow directions. Work is broken up into easily accessible parts for the children and breaks are allowed to keep the children focused on the task.
On the last day of my observations, I was invited by the students to go to their end of the year beach party. I was amazed to see how the children transformed a classroom into a beach party. They helped cook all the food and a held a contest for the best beach (made out of ice cream and candy). The kids were all looking forward to the beach party all week and they seemed to genuinely have a good time. I think working with children with learning disabilities is extremely rewarding. I had the best time in this class and I am thankful for such a great experience.
6/16/2010
I think for the past few days the children have been learning place value. Each student was given a table with a thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones column. The resource room teacher read out loud numbers and the students were supposed to write down the number in the correct column. Mrs. D had to run out of the room to complete an errand. One student was raising his hand with two fingers up. His pencil was broken and he needed it to be sharpened. One of the rules in this classroom is that only an adult is allowed to sharpen pencils. The resource room teacher said, "I can't help you sharpen your pencil right now because we've already begun." Obviously, he became really upset, threw his pencil down on the table and placed his head in his arms. I realized that he missed the first two numbers that was said out loud because of his broken pencil. I quickly got up to help him sharpen his pencil so that he would be able to follow through with the activity. I think the resource room teacher didn't want to make everyone wait so that she could sharpen one student's pencil. Although, sharpening a pencil really does not take long. I guess to in order to prevent something like this to happen (student cannot complete classwork because he does not have a pencil) the teacher can provide a supply of pencils for students to borrow. I think someone mentioned this in our classroom management class. Students can borrow pencils by exchanging with the teacher something of theirs. This serves as a precaution so that students will return pencils at the end of the day.
For the next lesson, the children were doing shared reading. Mrs. D used an overhead to project the article, "Hello! Anyone Out there?" There was a picture of the toy aliens from Toy Story on the article which made all the students giggle. Everyone reads the article on aliens out loud. Then everyone had to answer 3 questions based on the article. Mrs. D asked the children, "What would you do to help yourself answer these questions?" The students answered with, "We must re-read the questions and also look back to the article." The students worked quietly on these questions, then Mrs. D went over the answers by asking some students to volunteer.
During observations I sat in on a sixth grade social studies inclusion class. Both of the teachers worked very well together but I was a little disturbed because they did not really allow one student to actively participate.
K.J is a polite, friendly, eleven year old boy who has ADHD. He has an IEP and throughout my observation period his impulsive behavior (tapping, gazing, prematurely answering questions)inhibited his listening skills. During social studies class he raised his hand multiple times because he was eager to answer the questions. However the general education teacher would never acknowledge him and the few times when he practically jumped out of his seat while waving his hand frantically she yelled at him. She would always say, "K.J your talk is not going to be accountable, therefore put your hand down". While she might have been right I felt it was horrible for him because after being turned down he would begin to loose focus. He was not being given an opportunity.During this class he continously tapped his fingers on his desk, whispered to his neighbor, or gazed out the window, He rarely completed assignments or paid attention to the lesson. I realized that he began to drift away once he realized he was not going to get an opportunity to participate. I was surprised because the Special ed teacher did not come over to help him during the lesson and at times she would not even prompt him as to what he should do next. I felt he could have benefited from extra support because when he was reminded and assisted, he would gladly do as he was told.She clearly told me he needed continual reinforcement and they did not think it could be met in an inclusion class. While I understand that his needs may be difficult to meet in such a large classroom I felt that there was not enough being done to begin with to help him in any way. All that was ever being done was : yelling or telling him his talk was not accountable.
The class had a substitute for science. She has subbed at the school before and is familiar with the school and students. It was interesting to see how the students reacted to her because they seemed to miss their regular teacher even though she was playing Science Bingo with them. When the students walked into the room she asked them to take a seat and be quiet. They did as they were told but when she announced they were playing BINGO they became loud and excited. Their excitement ,angered her and she threatened them by telling them they were going to have to silently read for the entire period if she did not get complete silence. One student giggled because he said they were not making that much noise. The sub began to give them a sppech on how they need to take responsibility for their actions and that if she tells them to be silent they should be silent. She also went on to say she could care less what they did for the entire period. She told them it did not matter to her if they suffered while reading(it was really hot 85 degrees and no a/c)afterall she was getting her paycheck at the end of the week and they would be sitting in a hot classroom reading. Finally after about 20 minutes she decided to get the game started...
I did not think all of her lecturing was neccessary because the students were not being rowdy or disrespectful. They were being "sixth graders" who get excited when they find out they are going to play a game of science bingo.It made me realize that some teachers are so afraid that their classroom will get out of control that they don't allow the students to actually enjoy the class and they do not actually enjoy their job.
Olivia- The school where you are observing sounds amazing. It's nice to see they differentiate instruction and also allow students to relate the material to their life.
Melissa- I think it's great that your class incorporates technology. Mrs. D sounds like a great teacher who knows how to effectively manage her classroom.
6/21
It is Monday, and school is winding down. A few of the teachers have meetings with the principal and find out that they are being moved to another grade. One of those teachers is the general ed teacher in the class I am observing. Her and the special ed teacher, Miss E, are very upset because they had a great chemistry and partnership in the classroom. The general ed teacher that is being moved in there I had observed earlier in the year. It is clear that she was not doing well, and needed the support of another teacher. Once again, I am aware of how important the administration is in this school. They are on top of EVERYTHING (including me). They will not allow for a teacher to struggle if they can change for the better.
Today Miss E, the special ed teacher, is back. It is clear the impact that she has on the students, because everyone seems much calmer and more collected. In the morning there is only 1/2 the class present because they are extended day students ( mandated by bloombergs plan)-- they require extra help, so they arrive before the rest of the class. The students are told to play word bingo. This is clearly busy work because the two teachers are freaking out about being seperated/discussing what to take and what to leave... this will be prevalent throughout the rest of the day.
Miss E does a shared reading with the whole class about a gorilla who learns sign language (as a future ESL teacher, I loved this lesson because it incorporated many important ideas for the ESL students). Miss E does a wonderful job with the class. She is constantly asking questions that requires students to really think about their answers. She also did a Venn Diagram to compare the gorilla to humans.
I noticed that throughout the day, the IEP students are being taken out by various specialists (pt, ot, reading specialist, speech specialist, math specialists, etc.) It is clear, once again, that this school is run very well and that they provide students with the needed support.
In addition, some of the ADHD students have special seats bubbles that they sit on, which is supposed to release some of the tension from their bodies. I thought this was very interesting.
(I observed the next 2 periods in another classroom, which I will blog about next).
The end of the day is pretty unproductive, in my opinion. THe teachers are busy cleaning and organizing the classroom while the students watch Sleeping Beauty. The students are not paying attention and are not well behaved. The teachers will randomly pick out an individual to yell at, but its clear they are not paying attention to anything that is going on in the classroom. I almost feel like I should be doing something with the student in front of me who is singing to his pencil.... but of course, I do not want to intrude. Classroom management at this point of the day is at a low... but I am hoping that this is just because it is the end of the year ( not that it is an excuce)
I spent the middle of the school day in another 1st grade classroom. The atmosphere in this classroom is much different than in Miss E/Miss C's room.
There are not as many IEP students. However, the teacher has excellent classroom management. The students all come up and say good afternoon to me. The teacher tells them to take a book for independent reading-- she reviews with them that if they cannot read 5 words or more ona page, then the book is not right for them.
The computer teacher comes in a few minutes later. The computer teacher has little patience and rules her class through yelling. However, once the students are set up on their laptops (9 of them), they seem content and engaged. The lesson seems like its ends pretty quickly.
Next the teacher does a language arts lesson with long vowels and short vowels. THe students are gathered around a white board on the reading rug. They are engaged, cooperative, and enthusiastic. It is clear they love this teacher. She defines the words as she goes, has the students spell the words, and is always positive.
Next she does a lesson where she asks the students to make an estimated guess about how many corn pops are in teh jar she is holding. She puts the guesses on sticky notes and puts them from least to greatest. The students count the pops as a whole, and then figure out who had the best guess. The winner gets the jar. Once again, the students were so involved and enthusiastic with this lesson.
It was intersting to see this class because the although the students were still doing work at the end of the school year, they were having way more fun than the students doing nothing. The teacher was being moved as well, but she was not using her school day to clean the classroom. She said she would feel guilty just putting a movie on for them.
I took lots of mental notes in this classroom!!
6/22 (Tuesday)
I arrive at 8 am for the extended day students. They are with the art teacher. The art teacher does a wonderful job with them-- they are creatinga "number" drawing, and seem to love the lesson. It is clear that at this point of the year, these students have their routine down (with the exception of 1 or 2 of the more severe IEP students, who take a few extra minutes to process what they should be doing).
The rest of the students arrive. There is chaos for a few minutes, then they are put into stations. It was especially interesting to watch Edward-- he was the student I mentioned in the last blog who was singing to his pencil. From what I had seen, he has a very difficult time staying on task (although he does not act out).
When the other kids are scattered into stations, he is left with one other student at his table. He is suddenly extremely focused. It is clear he does much much better when there are not so many students/distractions around him.
Miss E and Miss C do lessons with seperate groups of 5-6. The general ed teacher teaches at a faster pace, and therefore takes the students who are excelling at the content area (regardless of IEP or general ed). The special ed teaches at a slower/lower level rate and takes the students who need more help in an area. I thought this was a great way to go about using their specialties.
During the middle of the day I go to the other 1st grade classroom again. The students are listening to a song, "habitat for humanity." they are painting in water colors an undersea drawing. She also some newspaper articles hanging about the oil spill-- loved this!
The end of the day with Miss C/ Miss E was spent similarly to the day before. There was a movie on... and when the students couldnt behave they were told to take out a math booklet. One of the more severe IEP students started to get upset about going to 2nd grade (possibly because the teachers were freaking out all day moving). However, MIss E handled the situation very well by sitting with him and giving him encouraging words about how well he would do next year and how proud she was of all the work he had accomplished in the first grade.
As I leave PS 217 today, I realize how much I really like this school. It is not a typical NYC school (at least from what I hear). Although diversity reigns here, it seems that most of the students are oblivious to it-- they allg et along pretty well. There is constant activity everywhere... and the halls celebrate their work. The teachers are always on their toes, because the admininstrators are constantly running around making sure they are doing what they should be doing.
Although the commute isnt ideal, this is a great school for me to be observing in :)
6/18/2010
Today the students were learning how to differentiate between a fact or an opinion. Mrs. D said,
"We went to the zoo. Is this a fact or an opinion?" (The class went on a trip to the zoo earlier this week.)
"I love the zoo. Fact or opinion?" She gave her students some time to answer then said, "Correct, some people like the zoo and some people do not, which makes it an opinion."
The children were really happy to play the fact/opinion game. I thought this was a nice activity as well after all the writing compositions they had to complete. Everyone were given a sheet with opinions and facts in boxes they had to cut out. Then they had to label the back of it as an opinion or fact. They were paired up, given a dice and also a game map. Players raced one another by answering correctly whether the statement is a fact or an opinion, if they answer correctly they get to move the number of spaces that was on the dice. All the students seemed to enjoy this activity immensely.
Then Mrs. D told her class to break up into their literature circles to complete their group poster based on the book they had read together. Sometimes, the students would speak loudly amongst themselves because they were excited about what they were working on which evoked an verbal warning from Mrs. D.
I think it's great that there are a lot of helpers who come into their classroom. There's a resource room teacher, a paraprofessional and an A.I.S (Academic Intervention Services) teacher who work with the children. There are also classroom helpers who come from the middle school next door. I like that there is a lot of team work in this classroom. I'm sure it relieves some weight off the lead teacher's shoulders!
6/23
Today is especially hot and the kids are a bit out of control. Miss E and Miss C do guided reading with 2 sepereate groups... they focus on opinion vs. fact and sequencing. It is clear that many of the students stills truggle with reading. The 2 teachers do very well with the small groups and make sure that they undertsand their questions and the lesson.
Next, we go out to the reading garden for a "scavenger hunt". This was a very cute idea.. the students had to find 4 objects in the garden that were a certain color. Again, the kids were not well behaved today and it was somewhat chaotic. It is tough to keep the attention of some of the IEPs who appear to have adhd. Some of the pairs have a tough time working together.
The rest of the day is spent doing centers/watching a movie.
The time I spent in the other 1st grade classroom was somewhat more producitve. She had the stduents create a reference sheet of "reading look fors". SHe encouraged the students to use this over the summer with their summer reading books and to keep it for the 2nd grade. The students then were told to do independent reading for the next hour.
Throughout the building, it is clear the teachers are on their last string. It is hot, everyone seems stressed, and there is a lot of yelling going on. I know this is not great management, however, I give them a lot of credit. By 1 oclock. I was ready to get out of that school and back to Long Island!
This was a great observation experience in all. Although it was the end of the year and there was less teaching going on than usual, it was good to observe the studnets after a full year of teaching and routines. I certainly realize the effort and patience IEP students take, as well as the extra management requried with them in the room.
:)
On February 14th I observed (for the second time) a Global I inclusive environment class. The weather was brilliant and warm and rays of sun streamed through the blinds of the classroom antagonistically playing with students who within forty-five minutes time would be embracing the start of a deceptively early spring. To keep students focused and on task the special education co-teacher (Ms. Snow) prompted children to get out all notebooks, handouts, and other materials related to work that was previously covered the week before. Students that lagged were asked again to quickly retrieve their folder and or notebook with the handouts. The handout referred to consisted of a chart on diverse religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam Buddhism, Taoism etc.) that students filled out slowly as the weeks and lesson plans progressed. Individual lesson plans explored one of these religions; as students received information on the subject they committed facts to the chart as a tool of study. I recognize that this is a brilliant way to teach students (any student - despite the inclusive environment configuration of the classroom) to create effective study methods. It also keeps knowledge organized and efficiently underscores the most important or significant information to retain. The charts represent something more for the students with cognitive disabilities as I see it as a way of instilling independent study practices but also something to be responsible for week to week. Later in the class, indications were made about test dates and consequences of missing work.
My first day of observing at Forest Hills High School was stressful. Ten long years ago, I walked through the very same halls and sat in some of the identical classrooms I was viewing as a graduate student. I still got lost and found it equally hard now as it was then to maneuver my way through the masses of students traveling from room to room. The assistant principal of social studies, Ms. Sanchez, created a full-day schedule (with 5 periods) for me to observe. Period 8 which begins at 1 and ends at 2 was my last class of the day and the one vital to the Managing Inclusive Environments course. I did not know what to expect. Because of this, I was more observant in comparison to periods 4-7 where I was naturally inclined to assume the role of student. I immediately noticed the presence of two teachers – one that floated throughout the rows of seats randomly checking the notebooks of students and their progress while the other teacher lectured. At the back of the large class (there exist 30 students in the Global I Inclusive Environments class) I noted two adults that were neither administration nor observing graduates students. After pulling the drifting secondary teacher to the side I asked in a very soft voice who was who and what was what. Ms. Snow said “I am the special education co-teacher” and the lecturer, Ms. Glass, is “the general education instruction.” The two adults flanking me were “paras” or aides. “Ah. Thank you”, I said a bit overwhelmed by the attendance of five adults in the classroom, four of which whom were not doing the actual teaching. I wondered if it was distracting for students. Now of course I know that every individual present including myself is imperative for the prosperity of children with cognitive disabilities.
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