For my classroom observation, I chose to observe two classrooms with teachers I do not work with at my current job Bobbie Smith Elementary in Long Beach, CA. My area of interest is elementary, I chose to observe a Kindergarten and Second grade classroom. Although I prefer to teach a Kindergarten class and not go over the Second grade, I know that teachers never get a pick of what grades you teach sometimes. So I am glad that I am able to gain experience in each grade level. The first hour and a half I spent observing Mrs.
Ballardo kindergarten classroom. The type of lesson that I am observing is Math Cooperative groups and the objective that is being worked on in this lesson is that the students can show that they know the numbers by counting dots on a die. When walking into the classroom I immediately felt like this was a class that promoted learning. It felt so welcoming, and the mood of the children were great they were all sitting on the rug and ready to learn. The classroom is arranged with the five tables.
When you first walk into the classroom there are two tables which is on the right side and each table seats about five to six students, the teacher’s table is in the middle and about five students sit at her table, and lastly there are two more tables on the left side each table also seat about five to six students. All of her walls are filled she has a writing wall, word list wall, a calendar wall, basic colors wall, language arts wall, math wall, and kindergarten rules wall.
The kind of rapport that exists between Mrs. Ballardo and her students is that she make her students feel comfortable and she is clear in her expectations that she expects from them. The way that Mrs. Ballardo uses verbal communication in her classroom is by smiling at the children and letting them know that they are doing a good job and staying on task. She also walks around the classroom and reassure them that she is interest in their work. Nonverbal communication that Mrs.
Ballardo uses in her classroom is hand clapping and eye contact, they know that if she is staring at them that their behavior is inappropriate and she will also just move their clips down on the faces (superstar, green, yellow, and red is what the clips consist of). The teacher uses her classroom media such as music by listening to a good morning song and the alphabet song. The teacher motivate her students by encouraging them and praising them for their efforts and accomplishments. The student’s respond with smiles and thank you.
The students are in cooperative groups and they are doing a dice rolling activity that is called roll and color the turkey. They are doing David and Roger Johnson theory which is partner and group work which is centered on clearly structured tasks. Yes, the students are very engaged in the learning. The students are having fun and they are really enjoying the activity. The conversation patterns meaning who holds the conversational ball was student-tostudent because they have to communicate with each other and take turns rolling the dice.
Yes, there is evidence that the student is learning and no there is no evidence of students having difficulty or misconception because Mrs. Ballardo is going around asking all the students do they need help or do they understand and they all said yes. The second class that I observed for the next hour and a half is Mrs. Carlson second grade class. The type of lesson that I am observing is language arts a writing activity. The students read a story and now they must create a double bubble map.
The objective that is being worked on is that the students can identify, the characters, setting, and major events in the story. Mrs. Carlson second grade class is a literacy class. The literacy class is for students who are below their grade level and need extra help with reading and writing. The mood in the classroom is calm Mrs. Carlson is playing music which seems to be classical while the children are writing. Walking through the front door of the classroom, the class was very organized, clean, and it promotes learning.
Mrs. Carlson desk is in the middle of the classroom and it has the document camera and her teaching materials, then there is one desk right on the side of her desk, then on the left hand side there are eight desk split into two, with four desk each and the same go for the right side. In the middle of the desk there are plastic drawers with all of the student’s material inside of them such as glue sticks, dry erase boards, markers, erasers, pencils, crayons, scissors, and school books.
On the walls she has the student’s numbers with their writings up under, a birthday calendar, number chart, alphabet wall, and number line. The kind of rapport that exists between Mrs. Carlson and her students is that she have clear expectations that demonstrate her trust and respect while also helping the students feel safe and secure in the classroom. The verbal language that Mrs. Carlson is using in her class is Barak Rosenshine theory, which is doing frequent checks for understanding while giving direct instructions.
Nonverbal communication that Mrs. Carlson shows is through her posture and moving toward the student desk that is being disruptive who sits by her and before she even reaches him he receive the message and so do the other students in the class. The types of questions that Mrs. Carlson ask her students are “can some students tell her what they are to put inside their double bubble map”? She ask the questions while she is going over the double bubble map on the document camera and this is also a way that she use classroom media.
Mrs. Carlson motivate her students by encouraging them to finish their work and reassure them that they are doing a great job. Her students respond with smiles and they continue working and get their work done. The students are doing their writing activities and most of them are engaged some of the students are working in groups helping each other and some students are not happy doing this writing activity and they are working individually.
Mapping the conversation patterns in this classroom I would have to say that the teacher holds the conversation ball because the students are asking many questions on how to do the double bubble map and if they are doing it right. Yes there is evidence that the students are having difficulties because they are all lined up at their teacher’s desk asking questions and showing her their work to see if they are doing it right.
