ClassroomObservationNarrative

During this observation, I experienced a 40-minute lesson in the class

of a First grade teacher focusing on morning procedures, a rug time, and the
beginning of alanguagelesson.Duringthepre-observationconference,theteacher
described what I would see during my time in her classroom. I would observe
students unpacking their book bags, turning intheir homework, andbeginningtheir
morning work. She described this as their usual procedures after arriving at
school. The teacher also detailed the methods of theirmorningwork. Allstudents
areassigned a packetof worksheets withconceptsdiscussedinmultiplesubjects.
Usually, the work focuses on math and language arts,but geography and science
are often included. The students work independently andcollaboratively, depending
upon student preference. Oncethepacketis complete,studentswillworkintheir
stations.Stationsincludestudyingtheirspellingwordsonlineusingspellingcity.comor
playing with multiple educational games on the computer or ipad. The teacher
explained that while some students are working at stations, she would beworking
with a small group focusing on reading skills. Once most students are complete
withtheir packets, theywill review the answersto a languageartsportion ofthe
worktointroducethecorrectionformationofpluralwords.

During the lesson, Iobserved exactlywhattheteacherdescribed.AsI

entered the classroom, students were unpacking their bags and beginning their
morning workat desks that were grouped together inseveraldifferent areasin
the room.Some students were working insmall groups, whilesome completed the

assignment independently. Still, other students were working with spellingcity.com

and some were discussing homework with the teacher. All learning seemed to be
self-directed andthestudentsthoroughlyunderstoodtheprocedures.Theteacher
explained to the students that they had about fifteen more minutes to finish up
their morning work. Students were mobile in the classroom moving from one
activity toanotherand helpingeach other with difficult areasintheworkpacket.
Meanwhile, the teacher pulled four students to the board to review subtraction
facts. She kept students engaged in the remediation by calling on them randomly
and invitingthem totheboardtodemonstratetheiraccuracy.Whenmoststudents
had completed their packet, she called all students back to their seatsto review
their answers. The teacher utilized the Smartboard to display their work packet
and asked students to remove everything from their desks, except for their
work, a pen, and a highlighter. She highlighted phrases pertaining to rules of
forming plurals on the Smart Board, as students highlighted the phrases in their
packets. The teacherengaged students byasking themto developalist ofwords
that illustrated the various rules. Higher order thinking skills were also utilized by
askingstudentsto create asentenceusingmultiplerulesforformingpluralwords
and to discriminate mistakes in a sentence that she created. The teacher
encouraged good study skills and the use of reference material by servingas a
model. Since I had to return to my classroom to teach, I was not able to stay
throughtheendofthelesson.

At the post-observation conference, the teacher andI discussedthe

details of the lesson, as wellas her successesandopportunitiesforimprovement.

Shedetailed how thisclassrequiredamajoramountofremediationinreading,while
she did have a few students that were above average. The strengths that we
discussedwereherintegrationoftechnology.Notonlydidsheutilizetechnology,`
++```but also students connected with the technology to impact their learning.
Establishedprocedures foruse ofthe technologywereclearlyevident.Inaddition,
I was impressed with her use of differentiation. Students had theopportunityto
work on the same concepts at various levels of involvement and were
self-directed in their study. The students were also consistently engaged in the
content. The teacher drew the students into the lesson by referencing relevant
items, for example, Doritos, in her discussion of plural words. I also appreciated
her integration ofstudy skills throughoutthelesson.Studentswereencouragedto
highlight, make notes with their pen,and usereferencesources during the lesson.
These skillscanbe transferredto other subject areas andwillbea lifelongasset
to the students. One area of opportunity that we discussedwasher procedures
for students needing assistance in their work. When the teacheris working with
the remediation group, students that needhelpoften interrupt herteaching.Sheis
working on ways toprevent these interruptions.She also discussed her needfor
better pacing. She feels that her morning lessons might be too lengthy and her
afternoonlessonsseemrushed.