Heidi M Santiago

Introduction
I am conducting my observation of the learning hours at Family Christian Academy
School, which teaches grades between pre-kindergarten and 12 th grade. This School is located
at Coto Laurel, in Ponce. Currently the school has a principal, an academic supervisor, and a
full time teacher for each grade. They could have as many as 25 students per teacher.
After the professor gave me the guidelines for the classroom observation I prepare
myself to visit the school. The classes were schedule by the academic supervisor. Before I
observe the class, I didnt know anything about the teachers plans. The present document
discusses the forms of involvement on two different classrooms in a period of one day in class.
This report includes a table with different details of the classroom observed, the backgrounds
of teacher and learners and finally, the students and teachers behavior.
The classes were observed on Friday, March 27, 2015. I observed a teacher and her
first grade students at an elementary school, the lesson started at 8:10 a.m., and also I observed
a teacher and her third grade students at 12:15 p.m. My first observation was done in Mrs.
Judith Quiones first grade class. The medium of the communication for the class was English
90% from the teacher and a 50% by students. Her class has twenty three students, four of
which have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There is a
teacher assistant assigned to this classroom. The second observation was in Mrs. Ana Iris
Sanchez class, she teaches third grade, her class has twenty one students, and two of them have
been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There is no teacher
assistant assigned to this classroom. The medium of the communication for the class was 100%
English by teacher and students. In both classrooms, the seating arrangement was similar to the
traditional one. There were about five rows of students with five chairs in each row. Each row
of students was facing the whiteboard in a full-air conditioned room. The organization of each
room allowed for successful learning. Although the two rooms are bright and the atmosphere is
nice for students, it has limited space. In both classes the objective and the lesson topic were
posted in the whiteboard.

Classroom Observation Report

Overview
School

FCA (Family Christian Academy) Ponce

Class

First Grade

Number of Students

23 (there was 0 absent student)

Curriculum

A Beka Book

Teacher

Mrs. Judith Quinones, Arden Toucet, Assistant

Objective

Write sentences with giving words.

Materials Used

-Whiteboard
-A Beka Book (Language I)
-Game Silly Sentences

Topic of Lesson

Writing sentences

Skills

Integrated (listening and speaking)

Use of English

-Teacher: 90% English 10% Spanish

-Student: 50% English 50% Spanish

Observation Date

March 27th, 2015

Overview
School

FCA (Family Christian Academy) Ponce

Class

Third Grade

Number of Students

21 (there was 0 absent student)

Curriculum

A Beka Book

Teacher

Mrs. Ana Iris Snchez

Objective

Proper and Common Nouns

Materials Used

-Whiteboard
-Mimeographed paper and pencil

Topic of Lesson

Writing sentences

Skills

Integrated (listening, reading and speaking)

Use of English

-Teacher: 100% English

-Student: 100% English

Observation Date

March 27th, 2015

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During the first observation

In first grade classroom the first activity was working together in cooperative groups.
When I got into the first grade, the teacher told the students that I was going to observe the
class and asked them to give a warm welcome. When the teacher starts to teach, she makes
sure to be very clear in everything she says. She uses a vocabulary the students can
understand. First, she explains to them the instruction of the activity they will do. She divided
the class into groups of four students and gives each group a puzzle with words to form a
sentence. In this way they are not only having fun, even more she provides communicative
activity, allowing the students to practice language skills and to learn by working in a group.
The teacher and the assistant walks around the room from group to group observing in
case they need some help. After the students construct the sentence, the teacher send one
student of each group to write on the whiteboard a sentence and read it aloud. If a student
makes any error when he/she write or read the sentence, she doesnt correct them. At that
moment I think that she is more interests in making them to speak freely. This is achieved in
part through such Natural Approach techniques as not demanding speech from the students
before they are ready for it, not correcting student errors, and providing subject matter of high
interest to students. (Approaches and Method in Language Teaching, page 138).
After they finish with the sentences the teacher tells them to open their book on page
133. Later, the teacher read aloud the instructions, Write four things that your parents help
you make. Some of the students dont understand what the teacher is talking about, so she
decides to explain giving them some examples. She gave a few minutes and then she asks for
some of the examples they wrote. Students raise their hands and the teacher sends one of them
to read aloud and then write it down on the whiteboard. At times students could not wait the
teacher to send them and began to speak loudly, and when teacher thought that the class was
out of control she turns off the light to bring order to the class.
After writing the words, the teacher continues with the next exercise on page 134. The
teacher asks for someone to read aloud the instructions, and then she explains and gives an
example. This exercise consists of filing the blank with the picture given. After the students
complete the exercise on their own, they go over their answers together. If the students make
any mistakes on their pronunciation, she doesnt correct them because again it seems like she
is interested in having them speak without fear and make them feel confident. When students
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loose interest in the exercise it is because they do not feel secure or they do not understand, the
assistant teacher explains and helps them with the exercise. After the class discussion,
homework was assigned and then she finishes the class signing the workbooks.
After the class was over, the teacher and I talked about her experience and the students.
According to the teacher the main focus or objective of the class was writing sentences, that is
why she provides the activity in which the students form a sentence with the puzzle given. She
felt that the activity presented was successful because all of the students were participating,
and interacting with each other while they were forming the sentence. They were having fun
and learning at the same time.
During the second observation
When I entered the third grade classroom, I felt very welcomed, she had all the
students stand up and introduce themselves. It was a very colorful classroom covered with the
childrens art work. Also, there were signs to remind the students the rules, and posters with
different subjects being taught.
First the teacher begins introducing and describing her lesson topic, nouns, both
proper and common nouns. Teacher and students talk about the difference between each one;
it seems that they talked about this topic in the previous lessons. The teacher starts by naming
something, and ask them, What type of noun it is? Then she asks them to mention some
nouns and identify them as proper or common. At every moment students raise their hands to
answer. The teacher explained to a student who was struggling how to figure out the concept
by reviewing what nouns are and giving her some examples. After the students gave many
examples, the teacher starts off with a practice problem on the whiteboard, There are flags in
our room, and then she asks the students, Who wants to read the sentence aloud and identify
a noun? The majority of the students raised their hands so they can participate. After the
students identify and discuss the type of noun, the teacher tells them to make a sentence in
their mind using a proper noun. Later, she told a student to write his sentence on the
whiteboard and others students underline and identify the types of nouns in the sentence. After
the discussion, she asks: What kind of nouns are the Bible books? After they answer she
told them to stand up to sing a song; the song mentions in order all the Bible books. I see this
like a break in which they can stretch their bodies and at the same time they were reviewing
the Bible books and having fun. The students seem to feel comfortable and enjoy the dynamics
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of the class. She seeks to create a positive environment where at the same time they are
learning.
On the last activity the teacher gives the students a hand out for reading strategy
practice. The first part consists of completing the sentences with the correct noun given and
the second part consist of time word selections where the students get five minutes to find and
underline as many nouns as possible in a paragraph. This is for help students with reading
comprehension and with practice scanning when they read. After the students complete each
section on their own, they go over their answers together.
Last, before the students leave they sing an italian song. After all the students were
seats straight and ready to go lunch. Students show they are ready to go to lunch by sitting
quietly with their hands folded. The teacher call the line leader that she thinks is ready then
they stand in line and leave.
After my observation, I asked the instructor a few questions. I wanted to learn more
about her experience, her class and her students. She told me that she is a retire teacher and
that she has (30) thirty years of experience in a public school and five in the private school.
Furthermore, the teacher told me that in the previous class, the students learned about what are
proper and common nouns. For this reason, she begins her class by naming something that is in
the classroom and the students were answering what type of noun it was. Referring to the
students they all surprise me because they were responding in English. The teacher informed
me that she has no problem with the students because they do not feel afraid or ashamed to
express themselves in English. It was more difficult with parents because they demonstrated
their fear and resistance. Also, she told me that she uses different types of techniques, and real
life examples that third graders can understand and know them. She also makes sure to ask the
kids question that she knows they will be able to answer with success. And if anyone has
questions or doubt, she will answer it the best she can to try to help that students. This way the
kids really understand it, and they are excited to be learning English.
Conclusion
This observation gives me the opportunity to familiarize with the different teaching
methods and strategies that the teachers uses, how to interact with students and how kids
respond and interact with the teacher and peers in the classroom. Also, these observations give

me some ideas of how to face different situations that I may have to deal with while teaching
the class.
The purpose of the school is that students could dominate the English language like if it
was their maiden language for this reason that is why all classes are given in English except the
Spanish class. This language method is related to Immersion where students are immersed in
the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn math, science,
humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.
The classroom had a reasonable quantity of students that in my opinion small groups
are better to teach and create a better learning environment for the students. This has an
advantage, in this way the teacher can identify the students who has difficulties or doubts and
who has a good understanding of the material. Therefore, the teacher can give them the
attention necessary so they can learn better.
The lesson plan the teachers had designed were structured as suggested by A Beka
Book. I think that the lesson objectives were clearly stated and so were the learning and
teaching strategies. Their lessons were very well organized and both teachers successfully
achieved the objectives and the activities they coordinated for that day. In addition, they
provided sufficient time to work their activities and in turn were pending while working if
there is any doubt. I think that it would be a good option to allow students to work in groups
or in pairs when they are going to perform a task, because group activities allow students to
develop oral proficiency.
With regard to the method, the teacher was based on the use of teacher-student
interaction where the teacher asked questions to the whole class and students raise their hands
and wait for the teacher to send them to respond.
The activities presented in this class were appropriate for the students level even
though there were occasions were the students had doubts. Despite this I understand that
teachers approached their students and modeled the instructions again by using gestures and
other examples. This behavior relates to the Total Physical Response (TPR) method where
teacher uses gestures, pictures, and dramatic flair to convey meaning.
Overall, observing these classes was a good experience as a future educator because I
was able to see that students motivation is very important for them to acquire knowledge and
learn a second language.
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