Rachael Parrish

Dr. Miller- ELED 3226

Clinical- Observation of Language Arts Lesson

Due: 3/26

Observation
Instructional Lesson
Classroom: Ms. S
Grade: 4th
Curriculum Area:
What I notice

Ms. S begins the writers

workshop by allowing students to
read their entries from the day
before
Ms. S draws names from a cup
and invites students to read
their entries
Students absolutely LOVE the
chance to get to read- they do
not necessarily read what they
wrote from the day before, but
they have the choice to choose
what to read, or not read
Ms. S reads an article on John
Henry to the students and shows
them an anchor chart on folk
tales
Then, Ms. S plays The Ballad of
John Henry on YouTube through
the SmartBoard
Students are each given a copy
of the lyrics to follow along and
sing along to
After students learn about John
Henry, they connect it to
exaggerations and how these tie
into folk tales
Students then get the chance to
write a folktale or exaggeration in
their daybooks
The students go back to their
desks or go get a clipboard and
go to their assigned spot in the
room to have some time to write
in their daybooks
All students have to try to write a
folktale or exaggeration and then
they have the choice to develop
it or finish writing from another

Observer: Rachael Parrish

Date: 2/23/15
Time: 9:30 am
Thoughts, Questions, Connections to
Methods Classes
I was happy to see Writers
Workshop within this classroom
and I have been to several
classrooms that do not practice
writers workshop
Writers workshop was definitely
more student centered and the
kids looked forward to not only
sharing but also to Writers
Workshop
I like how my CT was able to
relate their writing to what they
were learning about folktales
A lot of the students told me that
they like writing specific types of
writing in their daybooks and
they were mostly all introduced
to them at some point
Letting students all have the
chance to develop what piece of
writing they want to, but asking
each student to try to learn new
styles of writing was very
refreshing to watch
I noticed that the students were
all very respectful of other kids
sharing their writing and this tied
into creating a classroom
community which we have read
about in Ralph Fletcher and
JoAnn Portalupi
I wonder what steps my CT has
taken to set up Writers
Workshop within the classroom, if
the whole school does Writers
Workshop, and if my CT was the
one to initiate Writers Workshop,
what were some of her first steps
in introducing it to students?

Rachael Parrish
Dr. Miller- ELED 3226
Clinical- Observation of Language Arts Lesson
day

Due: 3/26