Jennifer Schneider

ECE 251

Observation of Caring Classroom Elements

Week 7

School: Liliam Lujan Hickey Elementary School Telephone: 702-799-1899

Teacher: Mrs. Guel Age/Grade: 1​st​ grade 6 years

old

Date: 2/23/18 Beginning&Ending time:11am-

2:30pm

Teacher Characteristics

Meeting the teacher: Mrs. Guel is a young teacher this is her second-year teaching at this

elementary school. I could relate to her because she is still a new teacher figuring out new

experiences as they come. The feelings I felt when I first met Mrs. Guel were a confident

teacher and someone that has full control of her classroom. By the end of my observation it was

clear she had a well-behaved classroom and the students loved her.

Individual differences: A student that was done with his test early had trouble sitting still in his

chair while the rest of the class finished, Mrs. Guel asked him what he would like to do while the

rest of the class finished up and he said clean the whiteboard, so she let him do that while he

waited.

Challenging behaviors: While the students were at lunch a boy in her class pulled another girls

ponytail, when they came back from lunch she pulled him aside and calmly asked him why he
pulled her hair and gave him a warning to never do it again. If he did he will get written up and

his parents would have to come to the school to have a meeting.

Bonding

Bonding Rituals: As the students walked back into the classroom they would either high- five or

hug each of the students to show them that she missed them while they were at lunch. She

would get very excited when her students knew the right answer or can read a full sentence.

She would say “awesome job!” “look at you-you're so smart” “you’re going to make me cry”.

Schedule: I think Mrs. Guel has a balanced program where there are both children and

adult-directed activates. Her class schedule is well rounded with short and long-time segments,

active and time and self- directed and teacher directed. Mrs. Guel was doing a science lesson

about plants she did the first have with the class together and then let them finish on their own.

Routine: teacher interview

How did you teach your students various aspects of your classroom routine?

Teacher- For the first full week of school all we did was follow school procures. How to walk in

the hallways and how to walk and find the classroom. All students must walk in a “bubble” so

they don’t touch anything as they are walking in the halls. Practice is the only way for my

students to learn these procures.

What singles do you use to get your students attention?

Teacher- I use different singles depending on the situation. I have a bell if the students are

being too loud and I don’t want to yell over them. I say the word “okay” in a higher pitch voice if

they are getting distracted to get them back on track. I also count down from 5 when they are

too distracted.

What student signals do the children have?

Teacher- My students cross their fingers if they need to use the restroom and put 3 fingers up

that make a shape of a W if they need water.

Transition: When the students got back from lunch she had them lined up outside the classroom

as she gave instruction. She asked a few students to help her hand out materials which they

knew to get from the closet, so they can prepare for the science lesson. She said “everyone

takes a seat and wait for your glue stick and scissors” this made the students eager to sit in their

chairs to wait for their materials. It was easy to transition into the science lesson with her

students in their seat ready to start. They were learning about plants and had to identify parts of

the plants. This transition was appropriate because it got her students settled down from lunch

and ready to jump into the next activity. I don’t think this transition needs improvement it worked

well with her class.

Rules

Posted: Mrs. Guel’s classroom rules weren’t clearly listed she has rules for each procedure.

G​et Does your sentence have SWAG? In this

classroom

R​espect each other S​tarts with a capital We respect

each other

O​n task W​ritten neatly We try our

best

U​se quiet voices A​ space between each word We create

P​articipate G​iven punctuation. We learn from

our mistakes

S​tay in one spot We celebrate each other’s success!

Verbalized or Implied: Mrs. Guel would say the student's name each time she would ask them to

sit down or stay in their seats. “Timmy please sit down” “Timmy pick up your trash” “Raise your

hand to answer questions”.

Consistent: Mrs. Guel is very consistent in enforcing her rules she repeats herself very often.

When the class was preparing to take a reading test she used a lot of verbalized rules, such as

“no looking at your neighbor’s paper” “folders up” “no talking during the test”.

Nature and use of rules: The nature of Mrs. Guel’s classroom rules are to encourage her

students to do their best. She doesn’t start a rule with the word NO instead she uses mnemonic

devices to carry out her rules. One improvement I would give her classroom rules is to have one

list that her students can call classroom rules instead of the rules scattered around the room

and they should stay the same throughout the year.