September 30, 2014

Practicum Observation Write-Up #1

Today was my first day at practicum at Washington High School. I was nervous to
be going in at first, but very excited as well. I have not previously had a practicum at the
high school so I was looking forward to working with a different age group and seeing
how it would compare to the middle schools I had been placed in. Today all I did was
observe and take notes. Mrs. Auten had me take notes on how long she spent on each
activity. I found this activity to be very informative and it was good to see the class time
broken down. When we spoke about the class afterwards, it was very helpful to see where
she spent most of her time and why. Only a few minutes were spent at the beginning of
the class to do things such as check homework and take attendance. I thought this was
good and it seemed that almost right away the class was able to get to the lesson for the
day.
Most of the time was spent on learning the new material and taking notes for that
day. The students were learning the preterit tense today and time was taken to review the
concepts of conjugation and what they already knew. Then the new concept of
conjugating in the preterit tense was introduced and students were able to focus on this
for a majority of the time. One thing I also liked and that seemed effective was that
another larger amount of time, about 12 minutes, was spent on reviewing the vocabulary
they had learned so far. I really liked that this time was spent on vocabulary since they
needed to know these things for the conjugations
The last five minutes of class was spent going over the homework for the next
day. Mrs.Auten made sure that students understood all the directions and she also gave
them time to start working on their assignment and ask questions if needed. I thought this

seemed very beneficial and it helped some of the students who did have confusion about
the assignment. It gave them the opportunity to clear up any doubts they had so that they
would be able to do the assignment on their own.
October 2, 2014
Practicum Observation Write-Up #2
Today I was able to observe Mrs. Auten and her teaching and also walk around
the classroom and answer any questions that the students had. One thing that I noticed
while observing today was that she always used the classroom to her advantage and even
when she was lecturing she moved throughout the room and monitored the students'
progress. This seemed to be a very effective technique. It kept all the students engaged
and on task. I did not notice any off-task behavior from the students and they all were
focused on her lecture. She also monitored what they were working on during activities.
She would go around and listen to their conversations and observe what they were
writing down. This helped because she was able to help make corrections in spots where
they did not understand correctly. She was also able to address areas of confusion
because of this and made clarifications that helped the whole class to have a greater
understanding of the lesson.
I think that these techniques are going to be very important to utilize in my own
classroom. It seemed to me that her students knew her expectations and you could tell
that they knew what they needed to do immediately upon entering the classroom. They
knew that they were expected to practice their vocabulary and to have their homework
open and ready for her to check for completion. I think that having expectations for
students like this will also be useful and will help for the day to flow smoothly and keep

lessons on track. If students know what the routine is for the day, they can become
focused quickly and less time will be lost in transitioning students to different activities.
November 5, 2014
Practicum Observation Write-Up #3
Today at my practicum at Rosa Parks I was able to observe the kindergartener's
math period. The students were all divided into different math groups after eating snack
together. They then rotated to different stations throughout the class period and
participated in a different activity at each station.
One of the things I noticed about Alex's classroom management that I though was
very effective was that he did not call out negative behaviors, but he pointed out positive
ones. If he was waiting for students to be quietly seated with their legs crossed he would
look for a student who was exhibiting that behavior and say that he liked the way they
were sitting. He would then wait for students to all have that same behavior and would
continue saying that he liked the ways in which certain things were being done. I liked
that he focused on the positives instead of calling students out for negative behaviors and
I felt that it helped to create a better classroom environment.
Another thing I noticed that I felt helped the day and lesson flow smoothly was
that certain students were assigned specific responsibilities. For example, two students
had the job of getting the hand sanitizer and making sure each of the students got some
before they ate snack. Another student had the job of turning the lights on or off
depending on the activity. I thought this helped to keep students on task and it also was a
create way to create responsibility and independence in the classroom. Assigning students
jobs is a great way to help them feel that they belong and are important to the classroom.

I felt that both of these ideas created a more positive classroom environment and it helped
to keep the class focused and on task throughout the class period.
November 19, 2014
Practicum Teacher Interview Summary
Today I interviewed Alex and was able to ask him a few questions to get a better
understanding of his classroom and of teaching in general. The first question I asked was
how students are assessed in his kindergarten classroom. Alex said that there are four
large evaluations throughout a semester. These can vary in form but usually are just
checking to make sure that the students are at a certain point in their learning. His rubric
for these assessments is in the form of a checklist that asks questions about where the
students are at in comparison to where they need to be and how they are doing
behaviorally. All other assessment that he does is informal and involves him observing
the students in all of their work and making adjustments in his plans to better suite their
needs.
I then asked Alex what he would say are the most important classroom
management techniques that he uses. Alex has his class set up so that students can
visually see how they are behaving and how they are listening. He moves their names to
different colors which each have a different meaning depending on how students are
acting. This is good incentive for the students because they want to be at the highest level
and it helps to keep their behaviors positive. Alex also told me that he feels one of the
most important things to do is to always be watching the students. He said that if you can
pay attention and be aware of what is happening in the classroom the students will not
have the opportunity for negative behavior. The students in his class are always very well

behaved and it seems that his management techniques really are working. He uses a lot of
grouping for student work and has visuals to help the students see where they need to be
for each activity. This also seems to be a great way to keep students engaged and aware
of what is happening in the classroom.
I also asked Alex if he had any advice for a new or student teacher. He responded
that routines are very important, especially with a younger age group. Routines will help
the day flow smoothly and will make sure that students know what is expected of them.
He also said that being consistent is one of the most important things to remember. You
need to have rules and make sure you follow them. If one student gets away with a
behavior that should not be happening, then others will think it is alright to act the same
way. Rules need to be consistent and fair for all students. This was his main advice for me
and I feel that it is good advice that I will need to remember as I go into my student
teaching next year. I think it will be a great idea to be consistent and to develop routines,
but I will also need to remember that I can switch things up every once in a while to keep
students interested and engaged.