Nicole Burrell

ED 305-Multicultural Practicum
Fall Semester
Journal # 1
At the beginning of my practicum, I decided to compare my own grade
school experience of racial composition and socioeconomic status to the Dr.
Cleveland Stewart, Jr. Elementary School in the Gateway School District. I
went to Donegal Elementary School, which is in the Mount Pleasant School
District. Mount Pleasant School District is in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. It is not a very
diverse school district. 96.83% of students are White, 1.44% of the students
are Black or African American, 1.01% of students are Multi-Racial (not
Hispanic), 0.38% of students are Hispanic, 0.29% of students are Asian and
0.05% of students are American Indian/Alaskan Native and 0% of students
are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. I also looked at the
socioeconomic status of the school district. 42.82% of students receive free
or reduced lunches in the school district. Whereas, the Gateway School
District in Monroeville, Pa is very diverse. As of 2013, 60.35% of the students
are White, 21.93% of students are Black or African American, 7.95% of the
students are Asian, 6.35% of the students are Multi-Racial, 2.17% of the
students are Hispanic, 1.09% of students are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific
Islander and 0.17% of students are America Indian/Alaskan Native. Also, as
of 2013, 36.6% of students are low income and receive free or reduced
lunches in the school district. In 2014, 100% of the students in the Dr.

Cleveland Steward, Jr. Elementary School receive free lunches. The Dr.
Cleveland Stewart, Jr. Elementary School is very different than the
elementary school I went to. In some ways, it is a culture shock for me to be
in an urban school district.
For both elementary schools, I have compared the teaching strategies.
At the Donegal Elementary School, the teachers had students complete a lot
of hands-on activities. The teachers would also model how to do math
problems or build science projects. In addition, the teachers would help
students at any time and further explain concepts if students did not
understand the concepts at first. Also, students still had to take tests at the
end of math, language arts and social studies units. The elementary school
did not have a lot of technology for teachers to utilize in their lessons. The
teachers used the over-head projector or television to give students notes.
However, at the Dr. Cleveland Stewart, Jr. Elementary School, the teachers
use a lot of technology in their classrooms. The teachers have iPads and mac
laptops for the students to use in their lessons. Although the teachers use a
good bit of technology, they still have hands-on activities for students to
complete. The students still have to take tests at the end of math, language
arts and social studies units. In addition, the teachers help students with any
questions they have and further explain concepts. Overall, the teaching
strategies at both elementary schools are very similar with the exception of
advanced technology.

During the first day of my practicum, I learned many helpful classroom

management strategies. My first day at the Dr. Cleveland Stewart, Jr.
Elementary School was Friday, September 19, 2014. I met my cooperating
teacher, Dr. Levine, who made me feel very welcome. She told me that she
teaches third grade. Then, she explained the different areas of her classroom
to me and told me about how she helps the students with disabilities in her
classroom. Also, she introduced me to Mrs. Hilton, an aide, who helps
students with autism in her classroom in the mornings. As soon as the
students arrived in the classroom, Dr. Levine introduced me to them. Then,
the students went through their daily routines. I watched them complete
their daily routines, such as picking their lunch choice and turning in their
homework. Dr. Levine had students complete the worksheets on their desks
as their morning work. She asked me if I would help students with their
worksheets and answer any questions they had. Therefore, I walked around
the room and answered questions. For the most part, I explained the
definition of words and helped students sound out and spell words. By
looking at the worksheets and answering the questions, I met the II.A.5
competency. After all of the students came into the room after breakfast, Dr.
Levine made sure all of the students picked their lunch choice and turned in
their homework. Then, she asked the students to line up for music class. All
of the students lined up to go to their music class with Mr. Verno. I really
enjoyed observing the music class. In the music class, I sat in the back of the
classroom and observed the lesson and activities. More about the music

class I observed is in the class observation report form below. By observing

the music class, I met many competencies. The competencies I met were
II.B.1, II.B.2, II.B.4, II.B.5, II.C.1, II.C.2, II.C.3, II.C.4 and II.C.5. Also, I believe
that I acted professionally in the classrooms and followed all school
procedures and policies. Therefore, I met the II.D.1 and II.D.2 competencies.
Overall, I spent 2.5 hours observing in the classroom today.
On the second day of my practicum, which was Monday, September
22, 2014, I observed Dr. Levines math class. She introduced a new topic to
her students. The new topic was the properties of addition. Dr. Levine
accessed the students background knowledge by talking about fact families.
Then, she passed out papers with the three properties of addition and asked
the students to get out their interactive math notebooks, scissors and glue
sticks. I walked around the room and helped the students cut and glue their
papers into their notebooks. By observing Dr. Levine and helping the
students, I have met the II.A.1, II.A.5, II.B.2, II.B.4 and II.B.2. After the
students glued their papers in their notebooks, Dr. Levine gave a definition
and example for each property. Also, she had the students complete multiple
practice problems, which involved the addition properties, on whiteboards.
During this activity, I walked around the classroom and answered the
students questions and helped students answer the problems. Also, I helped
keep the students focused. Therefore, I met the II.C.3, II.C.2, II.C.5 II.C.1,
II.A.5 and II.B.4 competencies. At the end of math class, the students took a
check-up quiz and received ten math problems for homework. By observing

Dr. Levine go over the quiz, I met the II.C.1 and II.C.5 competencies. Also, I
believe that I acted professionally in the classroom and followed all school
policies and procedures. Therefore, I met the II.D.1 and II.D.2 competencies.
Overall, I spent 2.25 hours in the classroom today. I now have a total of 4.75
hours in the classroom.
On the third day of my practicum, which was Wednesday, September
24, 2014, I observed Dr. Levines language arts class. She started the class
by telling the students that they would be re-reading the story that they have
been talking about. She asked the students what story that had been talking
about. One student said that they were reading a story about the astronaut,
Ellen Ochoa. Dr. Levine praised the student for giving the correct answer.
Then, she asked the students to get out their reading textbooks and turn to
page 117. She turned the boom box on and put on the recording of the story
about Ellen Ochoa. The students had to listen to the story and look at the
pages in the story. I walked around the room to make sure students were
paying attention. So far in the class, I met the II.A.5, II.C.3 and II.C.4
competencies. After the recording was over, Dr. Levine showed students a
short YouTube video about Ellen Ochoa on the projection screen. She asked
the students what interesting facts they learned about Ellen Ochoa after
watching the video. After a few students shared their thoughts and facts, Dr.
Levine asked the students to look at the school newsletter on page 134 in
their reading textbooks. She asked the students questions about the article.
Some of the questions dealt with the heading and other important elements

on the newsletter. Dr. Levine called on students that had their hands up and
students that did not have their hands up. Then, she asked the students
some elements they might put in their school newsletter. The students came
up with some very good ideas.
After that, she asked the students to look at the glossary at the back of
their reading textbooks. Dr. Levine went over multiple entries in the glossary
and talked about the meaning of words, pronunciations and the parts of
speech. Also, she asked students to define the word, synonym. They talked
about synonyms. Then, they talked about antonyms. After that, she asked
the students to put their books away. During this observation, I met the
II.A.5, II.B.2, II.B.4, II.B.5, II.C.1, II.C.2, II.C.4, and II.C.5 competencies. Next,
Dr. Levine passed out yellow construction paper to each student. Also, she
passed out two sheets of paper. One of the papers had words on it and the
other paper had definitions on it. Dr. Levine told students how she wanted
them to fold the construction paper. Then, she modeled her construction
paper for the students. I helped the students fold their construction paper
correctly. After that, Dr. Levine asked students to find a certain word and cut
it out and glue it to the one side of the construction paper. Then, she asked
the students to try to find the definition of the word. She asked the students
what they thought the definition was and then told the whole class the
definition. Then, they had to glue the definition on the flip side of the
construction paper. I helped the students cut and glue the correct definitions
on their construction paper. Therefore, I met the II.A.5, II.B.2, II.B.4, II.B.5,

II.C.1, II.C.2, II.C.4 and II.C.5. After they finished that project, Dr. Levine
passed out a worksheet with predicates and subjects. The students had to fill
in the subjects of five sentences. Dr. Levine asked the students to provide
some subjects for the sentences. She wrote the ideas down on the
chalkboard. Then, they created predicates for five different sentences. Again,
Dr. Levine wrote their ideas down on the chalkboard. During this activity, I
walked around the room and helped students stay on task. Also, I asked the
students questions. Therefore, I met the II.B.2 and II.C.2 competencies. In
addition, I believe that I acted professionally in the classroom and followed
all school procedures and policies. Therefore, I met the II.D.1 and II.D.2
competencies. Overall, I spent 2.25 hours in the classroom today. I now have
a total of 7 hours in the classroom.
On the fourth day of my practicum, which was Monday, September 29,
2014, I observed Dr. Levines math class. When the students came into the
classroom in the morning, they marked off their lunches and turned in their
homework. Then, they completed their morning work, which was a vowel and
consonant activity on page 33 in their orange workbooks. As the students
were completing their workbook page, I walked around the classroom and
answered their questions. Therefore, I completed the II.B.4 competency. After
all of the students arrived and marked off their lunch choices, Dr. Levine
started the math lesson. She told students that they would be talking about
a new addition strategy. Dr. Levine talked about the strategy in terms that
the students would understand. She asked students to break the second

number into a number that ends in zero and the remaining amount of the
number. When students broke down the second number into a number that
ended with zero, they could easily add the two numbers together. Then, the
students had to add the remaining amount of the second number to the
number they just found. Dr. Levine gave the students multiple examples so
that they knew exactly how to complete the strategy. One of the examples
was 41+57. She turned it into 41+50, which equals 91. Then, she added
91+7, which equals 98. She told the students that they didnt have to use
this strategy on their homework. She just wanted them to know about the
strategy and practice using it in the classroom. After writing a few examples
on the chalkboard, Dr. Levine asked the students to get out their
whiteboards. Dr. Levine wrote practice problems on the chalkboard. The
students completed the problems on their chalkboards. She emphasized that
the students use the new strategy that she had just talked about to complete
the problems. I walked around the room and helped the students write down
the problems and answer their questions. Also, Dr. Levine looked at the
students work and told them if it was correct or if they needed to look at the
problem again. The students completed many different problems before
putting their whiteboards away. During this activity, I met the II.A.1, II.B.1,
II.B.2, II.B.4, II.B.5, II.C.1, II.C.2, II.C4 and II.C.5. After the students put away
their whiteboards, Dr. Levine gave the students a place value worksheet to
review place value concepts. I walked around the classroom and helped
students with the worksheet. When all of the students completed their

worksheets, Dr. Levine went over the worksheet with the students. Then, she
told the students that they would have ten problems for homework. After
that, she passed out worksheets with their homework problems and asked
students to line up for computer class. From observing this activity, I met the
II.B.2, II.C.1, II.C.2 and II.C.5. Also, I believe that I acted professionally in the
classroom and followed all of the school policies and procedures. Therefore, I
met the II.D.1 and II.D.2 competencies. Overall, I spent 2.5 hours in the
classroom today. I now have a total of 9.5 hours in the classroom.
On the fifth day of my practicum, which was Friday, October 3, 2014, I
co-taught a math lesson with Dr. Levine and observed a learning support
classroom. When the students came into the classroom, they marked off
their lunches. Then, they turned in their homework. After that, they had to
color a haunted house. I walked around the room as the students were
coloring and asked them how they were doing. When all of the students were
done coloring, they had to cut out their haunted houses and ghosts, which
had their completed rounding problems on. After cutting out the ghosts, they
had to glue their haunted houses and ghosts to a piece of black construction
paper. After finishing their haunted house projects, Dr. Levine and I explained
what they would be doing for math today. Dr. Levine split the 21 students
into three groups of seven students. She told the students that they would
be completing three different centers and that they would be at each center
for about twenty minutes. At the first center, they had to work with
subtraction with Dr. Levine. At the second center, the students worked on

addition with me. At the third center, the students had to do independent
work from their math books. My addition activity had students spin two
different spinners with a paperclip to find a two-digit number. They had to
write the two-digit number down. Then, they had to spin the spinner to get
another two-digit number. After they wrote the number down, they had to
add the two numbers together. All of the students added their numbers very
well and completed the activity early. Therefore, I challenged students to
add three-digit numbers. From completing this activity, I learned that the
students really enjoyed that activity, but it was too easy for them. Next time,
I would have already had three-digit problems made up for them to
complete. All of the students worked well in the groups and took turns. I was
very happy to see the students working together and enjoying themselves.
By co-teaching this lesson on subtracting and adding, I met the III.A.1, III.A.2,
III.B.1, III.C.1, III.C.2, III.C.3, III.C.7, III.C.8 and III.C.9 competencies. Also, I felt
that I was acting professionally and following all school rules and procedures.
Therefore, I met the III.D.1, III.D.3, III.D.4, III.D.5 and III.D.6 competencies.
After completing the math activities with the students, they went to
music class and I observed Mrs. Millers learning support classroom. When I
entered the learning support classroom, I saw four students in the classroom.
Mrs. Whitfield, an aide in the classroom, was giving the one student a fluency
progress-monitoring test. Mrs. Miller explained to me that the students do
progress-monitoring tests concerning fluency, math or comprehension every
Friday. The progress-monitoring tests align with the different goals in each

students IEP. When the students werent working on their progressmonitoring tests with Mrs. Whitfield, they were working on a math activity
with two-digit addition problems. The students had to roll a pair of dice and
write down the two numbers on the paper that they rolled. Mrs. Miller and I
walked around the classroom and helped the students complete their math
activity. I answered the students questions and made sure they knew how to
correctly complete the activity. When the students completed their math
activity, they spent the last ten minutes of class playing educational games
on the iPads. By helping the students, I completed the II.B.2, II.B.4, II.B.5,
II.C.1, II.C.2, II.C.4 and II.C.5 competencies. Also, I believe that I acted
professionally in the classroom and followed all of the school procedures and
policies. Therefore, I met the II.D.1 and II.D.2 competencies. Overall, I spent
3.25 hours in the classroom today. I now have a total of 12.75 hours in the
classroom.

SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

EDUCATION PROGRAM
CLASS OBSERVATION REPORT FORM
Student Teacher: Nicole Burrell

Date: September 19,

2014
Classroom Teacher: Mr. Verno

Grade: 3rd

School: Dr. Cleveland Stewart, Jr. Elementary School Subject: Music

Lesson Theme: Steady Beats, Rhythm and Pitch
Students: 23

Number of

I. The Setting
A. General description of room, seating plan, atmosphere
Mr. Verno
had a very colorful classroom meant for music education. Many
different colored musical notes and cd disks hung from the ceiling.
Musical note bulletin borders lined the two bulletin boards that were
at the back of the classroom. The teachers desk was at the back of
the classroom. Storage cabinets, music CDs and extra music books
were by the teachers desk. There were twenty-five student chairs in
the shape of a rectangle around the room. Therefore, all of the
students could see Mr. Verno and the chalkboard at the front of the
room. There was a piano and a projection screen in the front of the
room. In addition, musical instruments, such as small drums and
shakers, were in the open shelving under the windows. Five windows
were on the left side of the classroom. The windows were decorated
with musical note decals. Two desks with chairs were at the back of
the classroom. Also, a sink was in the back right corner of the
classroom. The classroom rules were posted above the chalkboard at
the front of the classroom. The classroom rules were to make good
choices, use good manners and speak when Mr. Verno allows it. A
second chalkboard was at the right side of the classroom. The
atmosphere of the classroom seemed relaxed and comfortable
because Mr. Verno welcomed all of the students. Also, the colorful
classroom with musical notes seemed inviting.
B. Furnishings
Mr. Verno had five windows in his classroom with
music note decals on his windows. Above the windows, he had
posters of the woodwind family, the brass family, the string family
and the percussion family. The students could see these posters at
any time. Twenty-five student chairs were placed in a rectangular
setting around the classroom so all of the students could see the
main chalkboard at the front of the classroom. A piano was at the
front left of the classroom so that Mr. Verno could easily play it for the
class. Also, he had a projection screen at the front of the classroom.
He hooked his mac laptop to the projection screen to show the
PowerPoint to the students. The musical instruments were in the front
left of the room in the open cabinets under the windows. Mr. Vernos
desk was at the back left of the classroom. He had storage cabinets
with extra music books and cds by his desk. In addition, there were
two desks with chairs at the back of the classroom. A sink was also in
the back right of the classroom. Finally, there were colorful music
notes and CDs hanging from the ceiling.

C. Teaching Aids (equipment, displays, bulletin boards, library) Mr.

Verno had multiple musical instruments, including small drums,
tambourines and rattles, in the front left of the classroom. He had a
chalkboard that he could use to write on. Also, he used his mac
laptop and hooked it up to the projection screen to show the lyrics of
the songs, America the Beautiful and Bobby Shafto. He was even
able to show the different pitches in each song on the PowerPoint
projected on the projection screen. Mr. Verno played the piano, which
was at the front of the classroom, while the children were singing to
the songs. At the beginning of the class, Mr. Verno played the slide
whistle while the children practiced their pitch. Towards the end of
class, the students were given small drums or tambourines to play
along to the beat of the song. Also, he gave each student a
whiteboard and a dry erase marker to write down the different levels
of pitch. The students had to share five erasers to clean off their
boards. Mr. Verno had posters of the different musical families that
the students could see all of the time. He had two blank bulletin
boards in his classroom. The bulletin boards only had musical note
borders around them.

II. Outline of Session

A. How the subject was introduced: Mr. Verno asked the students if they
remembered what songs they sung last week in music class. They
said that they werent sure. Therefore, Mr. Verno showed the lyrics to
the song, America the Beautiful. Then, he asked the students to
sing along with their strong voices. He played the slide whistle while
the students sang. He said that they did a good job and that they
would be focusing on phrases, pitch, rhythm and steady beats. He
asked the students to sing the song again while he played the piano.
After the students sang the song, Mr. Verno introduced the song,
Bobby Shafto, on the projection screen.
B. Methods used: Mr. Verno asked the students to remember what songs
they sang last week. Also, we used the projection screen to show
students the lyrics in the song so they could sing along. Mr. Verno
played the slide whistle while the students sang. Also, he had the
students sing the song again. He even told the students what topics
they would be working on in class. He played the piano the second
time the students sang. Then, he introduced the new song, Bobby
Shafto, on the projection screen. He modeled the song for the
students before they actually sang it. He had the students tap out
the beats as they sang. Then, he had students write down the pitch
of the words with a dry erase marker on a hand held whiteboard. The

students marched around the room and played the drums while they
sang the song, Yankee Doodle. Mr. Verno also had students use
hand signals to show the pitch of the words. He had the students
interact in multiple ways. Also, he used musical instruments and
technology in his classroom.
C. Teaching aids employed: Mr. Verno used the piano and slide whistle
to play the songs in his class while the students sang. He had the
lyrics of the songs on the projection screen. Also, he had students
use their hands to signal the pitch of certain words. They even used
dry erase markers to write the pitch of certain words on the hand
held whiteboards. Towards the end of class, the students marched
around the room and played the small drums. Mr. Verno made sure
that the students could actively participate in the classroom.
D. Brief description of the lesson: Mr. Verno sang the song aloud for the
students to hear and then he had them sing the song. Then, he had
the students tap out the beat with their hands on their knees. They
even talked about the pitch of songs according to so, so, me. The
students had to use hand signals to show how high the pitch was for
each word. He also raised his hands to show how high the pitch was
for each word. Then, he had the students write down the pitches of
each word on the whiteboards that he passed out. He helped
students individually, if they seemed to need help. After that, he had
three students share their work on the whiteboards to the other
students. After that, Mr. Verno talked about the song, Yankee
Doodle. He played the piano and sang the lyrics. He had the lyrics
on the projection screen for students to see. He asked students to
clap out the rhythm. Then, he had students stand up and march
around the room to the beat of the song. After that, he passed out
drums to every other student marching in the circle. The students
played the drums to the beat of the song. After a few minutes, the
students had to pass their drums to the person to their right. Finally,
they passed in the drums and he asked the students questions about
what they learned in class.
III. Student Participation
A. Number of students participating actively: 22
B. Participation
Mostly Voluntary: 22
Mostly Requested: 1

C. Level of student interest (describe): The level of student interest for

this music class was very high. Most of the students were very
interested in the lesson because they could sing along to the songs
while Mr. Verno played the piano. Mr. Verno kept the students
interests by asking them questions. Also, the students used their
hand signals to show the pitch of certain words. They even liked
writing the pitch of certain words on the hand held whiteboards. The
students really liked marching around the room while singing. They
really enjoyed playing the small drums while marching and singing to
the song, Yankee Doodle. One student did not want to participate
because he was in a bad mood. Mr. Verno tried to get the student to
participate, but the student was being rude. Therefore, Mr. Verno had
the student sit at one of the desks in the back of the room and calm
down. The student eventually participated in the activity after he
calmed down.
D. How interest was stimulated: Mr. Verno always had the students
participating by answering questions, singing or moving. The
students always had something to do. Therefore, they paid attention
and completed the multiple activities. The students really enjoyed
using the hand signals and marching around the classroom while
playing the small drums. Also, the students could always see the
lyrics to the song on the projection screen, if they were unsure of the
lyrics.
E. Provisions for individual differences: One student was hard of hearing
and had hearing aids. To help this student even more, Mr. Verno wore
a microphone system that allowed the student to hear Mr. Verno
better. During the whiteboard activity, Mr. Verno helped a child with
autism. Mr. Verno helped the child one on one with the different pitch
levels for each word. Also, the one student who was mad had a
behavior disorder. Therefore, Mr. Verno gave him clear warnings and
had him calm down at the desk in the back of the room before
returning to the activity.

F. Preparation for future participation: Homework, etc. (describe) Mr.

Verno didnt give students homework, but he asked the students to
listen to the steady beat of music they hear outside of music class.
Also, Mr. Verno asked students to think about the songs they talked
about in class and try to remember them for the next music class.

SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

EDUCATION PROGRAM
CLASS OBSERVATION REPORT FORM
Student Teacher: Nicole Burrell

Date September 22,

2014
Classroom Teacher: Dr. Levine

Grade: 3rd

School: Dr. Cleveland Stewart, Jr. Elementary School Subject: Math

Lesson Theme: Cumulative, Associative & Identity Properties

Number of

Students: 20
I. The Setting
A. General description of room, seating plan, atmosphere: There were
five groups of five student desks . Therefore, twenty-five student
desk were in the classroom. The groups of desks were in the middle
of the classroom. A chalkboard was at the front of the classroom. The
teachers desk was in the front left of the classroom. The door was at
the front right of the classroom. Another chalkboard was on the right
wall of the classroom. A projection screen was also on the right side
of the classroom so all of the students could easily see it. A sink was
in the far right corner of the room. Two squares tables with four
chairs were at the back of the classroom for students to work
independently. A semi-circle table with six chairs was at the back of
the classroom for students to work in groups. There were ten
windows on the left side of the classroom. The shelves under the
windows had many different books for students to read. The books
were organized into bins with the level of the books on the outside of
the bin. The counter had extra supplies, such as extra math books,
and the absent folders for each student. Dr. Levines desk was at the
front of the classroom. She had multiple filing cabinets beside her
desk so she could easily find certain resources. Also, Dr. Levine had
mailboxes for all of the students right by the door. The classroom
even had many bulletin boards. The one bulletin board had
statements about not bullying. Another bulletin board showed the
students writing and what they looked forward to most in third
grade. The bulletin board had the saying Third Grade Rocks.
Colorful paper guitars were beside the students work. The
atmosphere of the room was very welcoming because Dr. Levine
greeted each student and had many colorful bulletin boards. Also,
the atmosphere was comfortable because the students were able to

ask Dr. Levine any questions they had or tell her about any concerns
they had.
B. Furnishings Dr. Levine had ten windows on the left side of the room
that let the sunshine come in. She had two chalkboards in her
classroom that she could use at any time. There was a chalkboard on
the right side of the room and a chalkboard at the front of the room.
She also used the projection screen by hooking her computer to it.
She had the two square desks and the semi-circle desk in the back of
her room for students to work independently or in a small group. She
had twenty-five student desks in her classroom, but she only had
twenty-four enrolled students in her class. Therefore, she has an
extra desk to use in her classroom. The different colored bins with
the leveled books helped students know which books were on their
reading level. The bins helped keep Dr. Levines classroom organized.
Also, Dr. Levine had a small moveable cart that was at the back of
her classroom. Extra paper and the pencil sharpener were on the
cart. Finally, I noticed how small Dr. Levines desk was at the front of
the classroom. She had very little room to do her work. Also, she had
multiple filing cabinets beside her desk to put all of her resources in.

C. Teaching Aids (equipment, displays, bulletin boards, library) Dr.

Levine used the projection screen a lot in her class. She would hook
up her mac laptop to the projection screen to show students
significant videos or notes. She used the chalkboard so students
could see how she completed a math problem. Also, she had a boom
box in her room to play stories in language arts class. In the back left
corner of the room, there was a television hanging from the wall. Dr.
Levine had the mac laptop cart in her room that day. Therefore, the
students were able to utilize the mac laptops to take their Reading
Counts quizzes. Also, she had twenty-five iPads in her room for the
students to use for activities during the day. All of the books were
organized into colored bins with the reading level on the shelves
underneath the windows. Math and phonics games were also on the
shelves beside the books. Dr. Levine even had a globe on one of the
shelves. In addition, she had whiteboards and dry erase markers for
students to use during activities. Finally, Dr. Levine had three
different bulletin boards in her room. The one bulletin board showed
the third grade students writing assignment from the beginning of
school. It said that third grade students rock. Another bulletin board
had ways for students to handle bullying and how to tell a teacher
about bullying. The last bulletin board had important reading and
language arts terms, such as predicate, subject and biography.

II.

Outline of Session

A. How the subject was introduced: Dr. Levine asked the students to
look up at the chalkboard because she had written something
important. She asked the students if they knew what she wrote down
on the chalkboard. One of the students said that it was a fact family.
Dr. Levine praised this student and explained that fact families lead
into the topic of the days math lesson. She told the students that
they would be talking about properties of addition. By writing on the
chalkboard and going back over fact families, Dr. Levine accessed the
students prior knowledge before starting the lesson. Then, she asked
the students to get out their interactive math notebooks. She held up
an interactive math notebook so the students would know what
notebook she was talking about. She passed out a piece of paper
that had the properties of addition on it to each student. After that,
she asked the students to open their notebook to the next blank
page.

B. Methods used: Dr. Levine modeled the actions, such as cutting and
gluing, for the students to complete. She wrote the definitions on the
board for the students and also said them aloud. The definitions had
terms that the students would understand. At the beginning of the
lesson, she used fact families to access students prior knowledge.
During the lesson, she gave examples for each property and showed
them on the board. After the students completed their problems on
their whiteboards, Dr. Levine told each student that they had the
correct answer or that they needed to look at the problem again.
Also, she modeled the answer for the students when all of the
students completed the problem.
C. Teaching aids employed: Dr. Levine had the students get out their
interactive math notebooks and glue their papers on a blank
notebook page. Therefore, the students used scissors and glue sticks.
She used the chalkboard to write down the definitions and examples.
Also, she had the students use their whiteboards and a dry erase
marker to complete the math problems. Dr. Levine and I helped the
students with their problems if they had questions.

D. Brief description of the lesson: After the students had their notebooks
open to a blank page, she asked them to get their scissors and glue
sticks out of their desks. She asked the students to only glue the very
edge of the paper. Dr. Levine held up her notebook page to show the
students what she wanted. Then, she asked the students to cut the
paper on the black lines. After that, she told the students that she
would be writing the definitions of the addition properties on the
chalkboard. She asked the students to copy the definitions into their
notebooks under the correct properties. The first property she went
over was the cumulative property. She said that it was also called the
flip-flop property because the numbers on each side are the same
and can be in a different order. She gave the students an example.
After that, she put some problems on the board and asked the
students how to make the sides equal. She asked the students to pull
the whiteboards out of their desks to complete these problems. Then,
she talked about the associative property. She gave the students the
definition that there are parentheses and the numbers can be in any
order on each side. She told the students to make sure that each side
had one of each number. Again, she gave the students an example
and then wrote some problems on the board for them to figure out on
their whiteboards. Finally, she went over the identity property. She
told the students that this property means that you add zero to the
number and it is still that number. Again, she gave the students an
example and had them figure out problems on their whiteboards.
III.

Student Participation

A. Number of students participating actively: 20 (All students who were

there for math)
B. Participation
Mostly Voluntary: 20
Mostly Requested: 0
C. Level of student interest (describe): All of the students seemed very
interested in the lesson because they liked cutting and gluing the
paper into their notebooks. They even were interested in what Dr.
Levine wrote on the board because they had to write in down in their
notebooks. The students really enjoyed completing their practice
problems on their whiteboards. They liked working on their
whiteboards because it was interactive.

D. How interest was stimulated: Dr. Levine would ask the students
questions and have them complete practice problems on their
whiteboards. When the students found an answer to the problem,
they had to raise their whiteboards so Dr. Levine could see their
answers. Then, she would say that their answer was correct or that
they needed to look at the problem again. Also, I walked around the
classroom and asked the students how they got their answers.

E. Provisions for individual differences: One student in the classroom

had hearing aids and was hard of hearing. Therefore, he sat class to
the chalkboard so he could hear Dr. Levine better. Also, Dr. Levine
wore a small microphone on her shirt that helped him hear her words
better. Dr. Levine and I helped the students with autism cut and glue
their papers because they had a hard time with their hand
coordination. Also, I walked around the room and helped the students
with learning disabilities complete the practice problems.

F. Preparation for future participation: Homework, etc. (describe): Dr.

Levine gave the students ten problems where the students had to
write down the correct addition property. The homework was due the
next day. Also, at the end of class, Dr. Levine gave the students a
check-up quiz with five questions on topics they already covered in
math. She read the directions to the students and gave them clues to
figure out the problems. The students put up two folders so that
others couldnt see their papers.