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Classroom Observation
This semester I had the pleasure of observing Selene Acosta in her first
grade bilingual classroom at Sam Houston Elementary. She was a joy to be
around and she was very pleasant. Her classroom had an owl theme to it. It
was very cute and very clean. When you first walk in you see the student's
desks arranged in groups of four and five. To your right, on the north wall,
there is the infamous SmartBoard hanging proudly. This is where she also has
her calendar set up. She placed an owl rug for the children to sit comfortably
as they do their daily calendar routine. Her reading corner is also set up on
this side of the classroom. She purchased an awesome kid size recliner for
the children to do their Daily 5 read to self rotation on. She also has a round
table on this side of the room where she works with small groups. The seats
the children sit on for small groups are adorable. She purchased different
colored crates and placed wooden boards which she covered with owl fabric.
She also placed some cushion so the wooden boards wouldn't be so hard to
sit on. The kids love them! They also match her classroom decor perfectly. On
the next wall she has placed shelves where she keeps all of her word works
station material. She has posters on her windows having to deal with material
the students cover throughout the year. She has noun, adjective, number,
and syllable posters throughout her room. She also has a very long number
line on her south wall and a complete alphabet poster for the students to look
at. On the west wall she has her student computers. This is where the
students do the listen to reading station for Daily 5. On this same area of the
classroom she places the work on writing station for Daily 5. She placed a
small table with four chairs around it. She also placed writing paper, and
picture dictionaries for students to use while they write. On the farthest end
of the room is where her desk is set up. She keeps this are very clean. She
has picture frames of her family, and she has all her binders, notebooks, and
teacher manuals placed very neatly on a shelf. This area is very open so the
students have easy access to ask questions and to come up to her desk
freely. She has the Elmo set up beside her computer, which allows her to do
worksheets or demonstrate assignments from her desk without having to use
the SmartBoard. This device comes in handy a lot. Mrs. Acosta has twenty
one students in her class. They are all Hispanic. The relationship that the
teacher and her students have is one of upmost respect. I have never heard
them say anything to her that was rude, condescending, or malicious. They
are very passive while they work. The Daily 5 system helps a lot because the
students are engaged while the teacher works with small groups. This keeps
the room very quiet and very relaxed.
The classroom management in her classroom is very simple. She often
reminds the students of the her class's rules. Which are to listen while the
teacher is talking, follow directions quickly, raise their hand to speak or
stand, respect others, respect yourself, and respect the school, and the last
rule is to be safe, be kind, and be honest. These rules are very effective
because it goes along with a clip moving system. If the kids brake one of
those rules they have to move their clothes pin from good student, down to
make better choices. If the student has to move their clip down twice, a
phone call is made home to inform the parents of the situation. If they move
down their clip three times in one day, they are sent to the principal to
discuss behavior. Anytime their clip is pulled down the students lose recess
time and have to sit out while the rest play. Once their punishment time is up
Mrs. Acosta calls them over she talks about what they did wrong that day and
how they can improve their behavior, then they are allowed to go play. I think
this makes the students responsible for their actions because they have to
explain why they made an incorrect choice. It also gives them time to reflect
on the things that they did wrong. Mrs. Acosta handles discipline very sternly.
She doesn't approve of any misbehavior or acting out. She takes care of it
right away and does not let it happen again. There are many interruptions
throughout the day but she handles it very well. She is very patient and calm.
The interruptions don't affect the children because they are taught at the
beginning of the year that during centers they are to stay engaged and not
let distractions keep them doing their work. This is very effective because it
doesn't matter who comes in the room or what announcement is made, the
children stay focused and don't let these things disturb them.
I observed a reading sequencing lesson in which the students had to
master the concept of putting things in order from beginning, middle, to end.
The students did very well. They were able to retell the events in the story by
acting out the parts of the story and then using a pocket chart placing
sequencing strips to have a visual of what came first, next, then, and last in
the book. Students also made a flip book, in which they labeled beginning on
one flap, middle in other, and end in the last. They were to draw the events of
the story in order under each flap. They kids loved this activity because they
got to use their crayons and markers. They were assessed during this activity
and the teacher was able to tell which students still didn't grasp the
sequence of events from looking at their drawings. She then pulled them
aside and corrected them nicely. She had students in her classroom who did
need extra help, and at that time the students were sent to a content
mastery program in which the teacher goes over the same lesson with them,
except she breaks it down for them and slowly goes over it with them one on
one so the students get a clearer picture of the assignment. They then
returned to the classroom with their finished activity.
The classroom atmosphere I observed is very similar to the one I would
like to create once I begin teaching. One of her strengths is that she is very
organized. She knows where everything is in her classroom and that always
helps when things get hectic. I did notice a weakness when it came time for
the children to see the errors they made during math time. There is really no
time in the schedule for students to correct the mistakes they made on their
excel worksheet. What I would do differently is maybe have the students
correct these errors during morning work so that it will at least be addressed
and they have an idea of what they need to improve on. I really enjoyed
observing Selene's classroom. She is very passionate about her career and
about helping her students. I aspire to be like her and reach many academic
goals with my children as she has one day.