RebeccaCarreon

TLS416
Lee
SEIObservation
Yourname:RebeccaCarreon
School:DrachmanMagnetMontessori
School
SchoolDistrict:TUSD
Grade(s):Kinder
Programtype(SEIorELD?):SEI
Subjectbeingtaught:All
Teacher:ElviaRodriguez
Yearsteaching:39

TrainedinSEI/SIOP/Shelteredstrategies:
__x___YES______NO
Wheretrained:Onsite,throughDistrict
Numberofstudentsintheclass:15
NumberofELLsintheclass:2
Theirhomecountries:Somalia
Languagebackground(s)Somali,Maay
Dateofobservation:September19
Dayoftheweek:Monday
Time:from:9a.m.to10:45a.m.

Mrs. Rodriguezs kinder classroom is spacious; there are four tables

that seat 4-6 children and three that sit only one. The tables are spread out
with enough space for walking in between them. A large rug is in the center
of the room where children sit for attendance taking and presentations.
Around the perimeter of the classroom are shelves with many different
materials. On one side the shelves are filled with language activities and on
the other, math. The school follows the Montessori pedagogy so things are
very organized, everything has its place and the students know where to
return the items. There are five computers in the classroom; only 4 are for
the students use. There is also a rolling metal TV stand with a TV, an
unopened projector, and a document camera. Mrs. Rodriguez got this
technology at the beginning of the year and has not yet been able to make
use of it.
Mrs. Rodriguez is of Hispanic descent, middle aged, and a mother of
two. She is bilingual in Spanish and English. She also has a female Russian

teaching assistant, Inna, who is in her 30s and bilingual in Russian and
English. Inna used to be a high school teacher in Russia.
There are a total of 15 children in the class with a mix of different
ethnicities. There is two of African American descent, eight children of
Hispanic descent, two refugees from Africa, two children who are possibly
from Native American descent but we arent sure, and only one child of Anglo
or white descent. While sitting around the rug, most of the children are
successfully sitting crisscross applesauce with no reminders. Some children
are fidgeting and cannot sit still. For the duration of this lesson they are
working as a class on the rug. One child is walking around the classroom and
intermittently doing his own work at a table. Sometimes he will walk up to
the teacher to point at something on the book she is reading.
There are no learning objectives posted on the walls. We do have a
word wall that only includes our names for now; once they master the sight
words they will go up on the wall. There are also multiple alphabets and
number lines posted around the classroom.
All instruction is in English. There is a lot of repetition of instructions,
words, and books read. No other language is used because our two ELLs
speak Somali and none of the teachers speak it. The intercom
announcements from the principal and the front office staff are also al in
English. If clarification is needed, teacher uses a simpler word synonymous
with the original word that was misunderstood.

The teacher uses step-by-step instruction and modeling for the tasks
they have to complete, even for things that are coming next for the routine.
There are many visuals in the classroom from flashcards to instruction
booklets that are in picture form. She speaks slowly and enunciates her
words, when a word has a silent letter she explains this and why it isnt
pronounced. Her pitch and intonation remains the same for everyone and her
grammar is easy to understand, no present perfect tenses. When she asks a
question or greets someone, she gives the appropriate wait time for them to
respond and does not rush or move on to the next person. There are many
hand gestures used, when letters are reviewed there is a hand sign that is
associated with it. A student is assigned to review this with a pointer
together with the class every morning. Before a new lesson is introduced
they read a book with a pointer that theyve already read and review the
lesson from the day before. Once the lesson is introduced, the teacher
pauses multiple times to ask if there are any questions, if not the teacher
asks a child to repeat the last thing she said to check for comprehension.
Lastly, when any student does something good, there is a lot of praise and
positive reinforcement. There doesnt seem to be a reward system in place
for the students and the good things they do.
The lesson is on letters, beginning sounds, and sight words. The
teacher reads two books that they already know and one new book to
introduce new sight words. She asks for volunteers to read the different
words in the story. When a child uses windows technique (pointer fingers

on either side of the word) that she taught them she says look at As
windows, boys and girls. This way she knows which letters belong to one
word. A child calls out from the rug I know that says me!. There is about
90% participation from the class, only exception is the child who wanders
and does his own work at a table. One ELL student is very vocal, he does not
have very much of an accent and he volunteers answers readily, the other
ELL is very quiet, she does not talk very much or participate in choral
reading. The students do help each other by reminding their peers to sit
crisscross or to look towards the teacher if they get distracted. Not a lot of
content assistance comes from the students in this lesson. As mentioned,
one student is not participating in the lesson, he has his own worksheets that
he is doing at a table. There are a few students on the rug who are chatting
with the person next to them or fidgeting with their hands, shoes, or hair.
After observing the lesson, I felt somewhat bored. There were
interesting parts of the lesson but the lesson itself was not so exciting. I felt
that the teacher went so slowly on account of her two ELLs that the rest of
the class who had already mastered their letters were restless and bored. I
see the benefit for the ELLs to learn alongside their English-speaking peers
but at the same time I feel that the native speakers are getting held back
because of the two ELLs. There are also some pedagogical restrictions in
play as this is a Montessori school. I would teach these particular ELLs using
the SEI strategies when in large group settings but I would reserve the
differentiation of instruction to small group settings or individual instruction.

That way I will be able to individualize their instruction and help them
understand the content without sacrificing the learning of the native English
speakers.