Tiffany Gildea

EDTL 6310
Spring 2013
Reflective Report
Narrative
My field observations took place at a school in the Erlanger Elsmere School District. The
school that I did my observation at is located in the city of Erlanger. The population of Erlanger
Kentucky is about 18, 161 residents. In the district there is one high school, one middle school
and three K-5 elementary schools and one PreK-5 elementary school. I observed in a fourth
grade classroom at Lindeman Elementary. This fourth grade is divided into three leveled groups
with three different teachers. One teacher teaches math, another science and the teacher that I
observe teaches reading. The teacher that I worked with was hired in September of this year due
to the numbers of fourth grades students that were enrolled. She has attended in-school PD but
also has missed a few because of her hire date.
There were about 20-25 students in each leveled group. The students are taught and given
the same skills and information but the way she teaches each skill is different depending on what
the students need and what they are able to do. I observed half of her beyond grade level group
and her on level group. In these classes there were only one Asian student and no ESL students.
She stated that there are no students who get pulled out for special assistance or help during her
classes but there are students who do use special materials to help them succeed in her class. For
example, there are three students who have brought tablets or Nooks from home that they have
loaded books on. They are able to read during their fifteen minute silent reading time.
The assignments and assessments that she gives are differentiated. For example, the
assignments across her three groups are about the same skill but are different from group to
group. She makes sure that the homework that she gives is on each groups reading level. She
also gives the students about five minutes at the end of class to start their homework. She stated
that she knows that many of her students do not have much parental support at home so she likes
to give them an opportunity to ask questions and get help from her before they leave. The
students seemed to enjoy this time and use it wisely.
Analyze
I was able to observe the fourth grade classroom teacher for five days, one hour each, for
a total of five hours. In those times I was only able to observe at the same time of day, which was
in the morning. During this time the teacher was able to complete many different types of
instruction and activities from silent reading, group (partner) work, individual work, whole
group, videos, the SMARTboard, skits and role playing. The teacher was able to reach all
learners when using different types of instructions. This validates what Christensen stated in
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. A teacher
lecturing a classroom of student, all of who use the same textbook, is the most common
monolithic instruction. He states the many students may show some capacity of all the
intelligences they only really succeed in one or two. (Christensen, 2008) The teacher in my
observation does a great job making sure she is reaching every student with not only lecturing
her class but also including many of the intelligences with in her lessons, as well as, keeping
them engaged and on task.

Along with making the students feel welcome and meeting student needs in the
classroom, the school its self does a great job at making students feel comfortable and have a
since of ownership. I got a chance to wall around the halls and peek into other classroom during
my observation. I noticed many posters that list about acceptance and diversity. One display that
was everywhere was a set of posters titled Rachaels Challenges to You! Rachael was a student
that was killed at Columbine High School. Underneath the title there were five challenges for the
students to attempt during the school day. The read,
1) Look for the best in people.
2) Treat others the way you want to be treated.
3) Choose positive influences.
4) Speak words of kindness not of cruelty.
5) Forgive yourself and forgive others.
These challenges emphasized that everyone is different and difference is accepted in this school.
One of our readings during our modules was Equity Begins by Recognizing Diversity by Chris
Stephenson. He listed in a PowerPoint, the key points about diversity and how to overcome the
prejudice like the posters I saw in the hallways I saw in this school. The students in this school
notice the socioeconomic class or race of the others. Many of the students have accepted that and
are making their school a better place by doing so. I hope that others will join in as well.
Synthesize/Judge
During my time in the classroom I saw many activities that involved many learning styles
like I mentioned above. An example of activities that included most of these learning styles were
activities that went along with a unit on slavery the students were working on. On this day the
teacher started the lesson off with a video about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
This was engaging to the students and they were interested in the lesson from the start. Next, the
teacher began a student lead discussion and refection about what they just learned and saw on the
video. They discussed was it may have been like on the Underground Railroad. They also added
to their KWL chart with facts they had just learned. Then, the teacher broke the class into groups.
This teacher stated that she does not have a certain way that she partners students, she says the
she just tries to put higher level workers with students who many need that extra help. She also
states that she tries to have every student work with others students that they normally would not
have worked with. I thought this was a great way for the students to get to know other students.
This may help break some of the barriers that Stephenson was discussing in his PowerPoint,
Equity Begins by Recognizing Diversity. While in these groups, the students worked together to
make a pamphlet about the Underground Railroad. They needed to include facts and pictures. I
did notice that there were some students that were letting their other group members do the work
and not doing their part of the work. At this time the teacher needed to walk around the room to
make sure all students were putting fourth their best effort. The students then came back to their
seats, the teacher read from the book, Barefoot Escape on the Underground Railroad. Using the
information they had learned, the students were to do a masked writing activity. This is where
the student decorates a mask of something or someone that they are trying to become. The
students drew pictures of Harriet Tubman on their mask and put them on. They then were to
write as if they were Harriet Tubman. They were to write about the hardships, struggles,
experiences and stories she had. The student loved this activity. They were able to use their
imagination and the knowledge they just gained to complete this assignment. This assignment is

a great way for students to get into character and experience what it may have been like for the
person. I do this with my first grade class as well.
This lesson included many different types of learning styles but did not include all, but
many students seemed to be very involved. The teacher was successful again, at validating
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.
Christensen states that Students who naturally enjoy the teaching approach they encounter in a
given class are more likely to excel. (Christensen 2008)I do believe that the students in this
class did enjoy this lesson and will continue to enjoy the lessons created by this teacher due to
the different strategies that she uses. I will not be able to see how well the student will do at a test
but believe that the students will excel.
Goal Setting
I have observed and learned many things from the fourth grade teacher I was with over
the last five times I have been with her. She is a reading teacher but creates many lessons that are
cross curricular. This teacher was very good at crossing reading and language arts skills with
social studies. After seeing this teacher in action, I would like to use more strategies in my
teaching to incorporate all subjects. I do this now but I believe that I could be better. When
creating and implementing lessons that are cross curricular, students seem to grasp, understand
and reflect more about what they are learning. I feel that my students will benefit with skills and
objectives that are touched on in each subject all day instead of a lesson during a block and then
not reflecting back on it. Teaching cross curricular also gives that students back ground
knowledge that they may not have had before. The students learning about slavery in reading
class will have background knowledge about slavery when going to their social studies class.
During my observations I came to realize how important diversity and differentiating our
instruction is to meet the needs of all students. During a discussion, Chad Hochetler mentioned,
I think many teachers agree that diversity needs to be embraced and that ideally differentiated
instruction is the best way to go. On top of that, studies continue to show that technology is
beneficial in supporting a student's education as well as necessary, in terms of learning, if
nothing else, to be prepared for the future workforce (not to mention the fact that it makes
learning more enjoyable and fun). I saw much differentiation and use of technology in this
class. When the teacher would use the SMARTboard or watch a video the students were more
engaged and seemed to be more involved in the lesson. I agree with Chad in the fact that
technology can be used with many lessons for differentiation. Students who cannot seem to grasp
the objective by reading the text or listing to a lecture may understand a concept better when
physically going to the SMARTboard and moving object around. I try more and more each day
to incorporate technology in as many lessons as I can. I hope to use it more as my teaching career
progresses.
References
Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting class, how disruptive
innovation will change the way the world learns. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Stephenson, Chris (2000) Equity Begins with Recognizing Diversity. University of Toronto,
Summer Institute.