My Journal Reflections

Observation 1: TPSD First Grade, Phonics First, Lesson 13c Level 2-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrqPzL-dERk

To begin my observational journey, I started with Mrs. Amy’s first grade class learning all

about phonics. This class had approximately twenty students that were broke up into 4 desk

groups each with five students. As I was observing I first started off with taking note of the

physical setting of the classroom. It was very colorful and expressive with posters all around, and

the student’s artwork hanging from the ceiling. However, in the video I could only see straight

on into the classroom where the camera man was standing, so I was not able to find the door in

and out of the classroom, or what could have been on the other side of the room. For storage, all

the students had their own cubbies that had their names on them, and then at the bottom of each

of their cubbies was a hook for their backpacks and their coats. This space allows them to have

more room at their desks which is something that I want to have in my classroom. Along with

name tags on their cubbies they also have them on their desk with a place to put their pencils.

After observing all the physical features to the classroom, I began to analyze the way Mrs.

Amy would start the class. To start off the lesson, Mrs. Amy would have the students “tip-toe” to

the student rug to have a group discussion. I thought that this a fun interactive way for the

students to begin their day and also after the students would work at their desk bring them back

to rug each time the same way to regroup. The lesson that Mrs. Amy taught was all about

phonics and producing words with the sounds and letters that make them up. Her objective for

the students was to be able to make the sounds a group of letters make, and to identify the letters

from the sounds being announced. She used strategies like my turn your turn where she would
say the word and have the students say them. Then something called pound it down where they

would hit the word down and then tap the word on their arm. In her lesson, she had them use

whiteboards and markers to write down the letters of the sounds that she was making, and then

switched it up by having them write the sounds for the letters she was announcing. That was also

the way she would assess them because if they could write down the right sounds or letters, she

knew they were comprehending the lesson. She used methods like counting to get eyes on her

and took the time to praise those that followed directions. Something that I found that really got

the students to gain confidence was allowing them to stand up and shout their answer and be

proud of it. That was something I really enjoyed because sometimes students are too shy to

answer questions and Mrs. Amy really brought all of her students together.

Other strategies that she used to help the students learn include the group discussion where

she would allow them to whisper answers to each other and help each other out with the

assignment. Allowing students to do peer-based work also helps students develop necessary

social skills. When asking them questions at the rug she used the expression, “Don’t let it pop

out, think -think- think…”, this shows students to not always call out ideas but allow yourself to

process it. Another strategy that the teacher used was having the students trace over the words

and as they were doing so allowing them to say the letters to make the word, along with pointing

to the word while reading.

She had amazing control of the class, they all paid close attention to what she was saying and

respected her. There was one point where one of the girls got upset because she could not be in

the group, she wanted to be in but the teacher was able to diffuse the situation. The students to

student relationships were good and they all enjoyed working together. This lesson reminds me

of all the hands-on approaches we talked about in class and being sure to walk around and pay
attention to each student to make sure they are on task. If I were to ask this teacher anything it

would be how she manages to keep such good control over a younger group of kids?
Observation 2: 4th Grade Reading- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERIwByt4xc0

The next class that I observed was a fourth-grade reading class, I was unable to catch the

name of the teacher and the exact set up of the classroom but I know there were about eighteen

students in the classroom. This teacher’s physical set up was extremely organized and I actually

could see myself having a classroom set up like this one. I plan on teaching K-6 with a

specialization in art and English so I loved all of the posters she had everywhere and all the shelf

space for books. The lesson this teacher introduced was about character traits, her objective for

this class was for the students to be able to show the students how to find character traits in the

books that they are reading.

The objective of the class was to show the students how to find character traits in the

books they are reading. She starts the class by bringing them all to the rug, which I always

thought was the best way to get the students closer together. This is because the students can get

all of their thoughts and idea out. She introduces the scenario that the students are historians and

asks them to get into the mindset of finding facts and she also appraises them and acknowledges

the different views of each student. While the teacher is reading, students continuously raise their

hands to ask questions, so she comes up with the technique of hold your questions until I’m

finished. She then transfers it to another part of the classroom where the smart board is, and

offers to read what is on the board or the students to read to themselves, so allowing them to

choose what is best for their learning is also something very significant. The task that she gives

the students is to come up with four-character traits about George Washington as a group. She

then asks them about the resources they have to use and allows them to answer for themselves so

she knows they know everything they have available to them. Always having available resources
in the classroom has always been something important to me because if a student does not have

everything, they need they will not do well in the classroom.

She puts them in their groups and I really get to see how well the students work together.

With the teacher only casually stepping in when students have questions or to remind them to

have meaningful conversations, I can see how they can learn in their own best way. The teacher

goes around to each group to talk to the students and helps them express their ideas, and when

asked if they could use certain materials, she reminds them, “you have control of your learning”.

This was something that really spoke to me because I believe in a humanistic education

philosophy which is learning through experience. The behavior of the classroom was amazing,

when the teacher starts speaking to all of them, they all stop, they all followed directions, and

worked well in a group and with the teacher. After the time was up, she brought them all back to

the rug to wrap up thoughts and find out where the students were. She used a strategy called

pulse point to assess where the students were individually. This allowing her to see the majority

of the classroom who felt that they were ready for at test and those who were not which I felt was

a creative way to gain insight on the students.

I truly loved the way this teacher ran her classroom, and it would be incredible to sit in a

classroom where a teacher teaches the way this one did. I enjoyed seeing how each student began

to understand the lesson and grew the confidence to participate in the class and genuinely feel

like they knew what they were doing. If I were to ask this teacher anything, it would be which

education philosophy she follows? This is because I see a lot of humanistic qualities in her

teaching style and knowing if she considers herself that one or another would be very interesting

to find out.
Observation 3: KCSD 8th Grade Math Lesson "Matching & Creating Word Problems"-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PRAV3T6i8Q

This group of eight graders that I observed were going the distributive property. This

classroom was more based on a logical learning style. There were about twenty-two kids in the

classroom in various desk set ups. The teacher started off the classroom with a problem for

everyone to work on. She would walk around and help but say things like “I don’t know where

that number came from”, and to me that is not something that would help students gain

confidence to want to learn. After she realized that a handful of students were struggling, she

walked through step by step to solve the problem and when a student would say the next step,

she would ask why to make sure they knew how they got there. With math, asking why, is a huge

part to a student’s success because there is one way to get to an answer and if you do not know

how you got there, there will always be struggle in that subject. After the warm-up, she then put

the students in groups so they can work with partners and tackling the objective, which was to be

able to create an equation from a word problem and then be able to solve that problem.

With this in mind, she allowed them to use pens, highlighters, and pencils, to underline

any piece of information that was important to use for the lesson. As the students were working,

she walked around and stopped when she noticed maybe a student was not getting it. Since this

was supposed to be a group activity, she was getting a little frustrated at those that were working

by themselves. This could be a problem for students that learn better individually, which is

something in my classroom that I want to allow. For the most part, the behavior in the classroom

was not bad but there were a lot of students who were very rude and rambunctious. Students that

had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom, or would walk around the classroom. Some

students talked over her or would raise their hands as she was speaking. As kids get older
especially in middle school with going through all these phases it was harder for the teacher to

keep a tight grip on all the students. At one point while standing over the student, she said, “I

don’t like that equation at all” “rethink the equation”, while it is okay to try and help the student

correct their mistake, I do not think the way that she said it would have given the students the

motivation to keep going. The students worked pretty well together, and she just had to remind

them on volume.

It was definitely interesting after watching younger grades being taught transitioning into

older grades and their behavior and different techniques that were being used. She brought the

students attention to her but frequently asking question and at the end of the lesson getting an

idea of those who may need more time to work on the lesson details. If I were to ask this teacher

anything it would be how she managed to stay patient for some of the students who were being

disrespectful while she was teaching?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSY0dG59qjo

This class I feel was the most organized for the older grades. I enjoyed watching all the

teacher and the students all interacting with each other. This class was grade ten with about 16

students in the classroom. It was a very open and bright classroom with the classes posters and

work hanging around. The desks are broken up I’m about 4 to 5 students to each table. The

students very verbal and enjoyed speaking which made the class even better to observe. The

teacher started with an agree and disagree activity, where she would ask the students certain

questions for example would they make a sacrifice in order to protect their family. It was

obvious that some of the questions made the students feel uncomfortable, however, that didn’t

stop them from wanting to answer. I really enjoyed observing this class because I felt that the

teacher really spoke to them as an equal and not just an authority figure. She allowed them to

express themselves freely without any criticism. She was very organized and that is something

that I strive to have in my classroom. She also had the respect from all the students and that is

something that is hard to obtain from older grades.

To continue on after the agree and disagree activity, she brings up the essay that they began

reading the day and reviews all the possible emotions the author is trying to convey along with

the tone of the writing peace. She engaged all the students and allowed them to announce what

they got from the text without judgement. She is talked about what would you do show which

relates to the interest of the students and helps them participate more in the lesson. After

discussing for a little while she has the students being their station work as a group. She breaks

the groups up by students that she knows has the materials readily accessible to them and pairs

them up with students that may not have the same material. She does not make them feel bad
about it either. She just shows them how to take advantage of the resources they do have and it

allows them to build a better team bond.

While the students are engaged in group work, she walks around to all the tables and is sure

to ask them questions to make sure that they are staying on track. Every once in awhile she will

also pause the group discussion and as a class talk about what each group is doing. The students

all worked well together and showed a genuine interest in the subject they were talking about. If

I were to ask this teacher anything it would probably be how she keeps her classroom so

organized?
Observation 5: 4th Grade Math- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw4R3HwwiUY

This observation was done on a fourth-grade math class, in a classroom with about 22

students, the desk arrangements I drew out may not be exact they were a little confusing because

they were a little all over the place. She started of the lesson with a do now, where she showed

them an image for a few seconds, and they had to draw out what they see, she would turn the

image off and did it a couple more times to give some of the kids who did not have a chance to

finish, finish copying it. The image was of eighteen circles in six groups of three. This

assignment was to get them ready to all of different answers because all students can look at the

information in a different way. So, after the image she asks them to write down all the different

types of equations they could possibly see then allowing the students to go up to the board to

write on and be interactive. Defining what multiplicative comparison was, was the objective for

the day. She allowed them to do think pair share and all the students communicated well with

each other and she even had students help other students by picking one out to help another who

had a question. She got their attention back by using clapping patterns.

When a student gets it wrong, she reassures him that it is okay to analyze questions in a

different way. She asked them who needed help still, or who feels like they mastered it and that

was good way of checking in with the class. She has a list of rules in the classroom, and she was

actually the first one in all the videos I watched that had one. She also ran majority of the class

with a discussion method rather than making them write. The teacher walked around to help

during group discussions so she was not standing in just one spot which is something we have

talked about before in class. Being sure to be responsive in any parts of the classroom. She wants

them to be able to prove the problems just like we infer in reading, we prove it with evidence so

that way the students always know how and why they got their answer and it does not just end
with that is the answer and that is it. When the students get it right, she has them say it again nice

and loud which helps them gain confidence. Confidence is something that is so important in the

classroom. She allowed the student Ethan to be a teacher while she became the student so he

would have to explain exactly what he meant in class when he answered what multiplicative

communication is. Allowing the students to go up to the board is an interactive way to get them

to want to respond in the class. She explained it as sometimes kids understand your language

better than mine because they are used to their peers speak. She is repetitive and goes back on

the questions to make sure the students all understand which is important for younger grades so

they have more chances to ask questions. The students respect her and she is kind and

encouraging to the students. If I were to ask her anything it would be why she set up her

classroom the way that she did?

This fourth grade science class, has about 23 students separated all in a different desk set up.

The lesson that the teacher introduces is about crickets and what they have to do with the food

chain. To begin the lesson, she has “material managers” go and get the materials needed for the

project and what the students are doing. She shows them all their materials needed and what each

one is for. When it comes time to start giving directions she uses the saying, “ give me five, that

means hands are free, eyes on me”, this saying was useful because all the students stopped what

they were doing and start paying more attention to her. You can tell that all the students enjoyed

speaking with her and asking her questions because she gave them responses and did not

embarrass them for being confused.

As The lesson continues and the students began to volunteer to share their hypothesis, she has

the hot seat where a student goes up to answer the questions they sit right in front of the

classroom. This gives them a new layer of confidence where they can practice speaking in front

of groups and feel more comfortable. They make observations and get to work together as a

group. She walks around to each of the students and ask some questions, this helps him keep the

conversation going within their groups. She pulls the cricket up on the smart board and allows

the students to name the body parts. This is interactive and fun for the students because I can see

it in real life and it makes it easier for them to label it on the board. She then has them answers

questions from their book. The whole class is based on hypotheses and getting different point of

views. Being able to test out their hypothesis is a humanistic type of learning. Being able to

interact with live crickets and being able to discuss the outcome with your classmates allows

them to learn through experience. They regrouped at the rug and discussed some of the most

interesting things that they found and they got to discuss with each other. They also go to group
discuss so after talking individually came together as a group. This classroom was organized in a

good way and all the students seemed to enjoy the class room and the assignment they got to

work on. I would ask this teacher how she recommends keeping them engaged in the lesson?
Observation 7: Mrs. Ward teaches her Algebra 1 class. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=FAgT1NaDdq8

There were about 24 students in the classroom all sitting in groups of three. She reviews

everything she is going to do for the class. She is the first teacher, to list all the things she plans

on doing in the classroom that day. The other teachers listed their objective for the lesson, and so

did she, but she included the agenda for the day. Starting with the warm-up going into the test

topic review, then the lesson of comparing linear and exponential functions, then onto The

King’s Chessboard, and chessboard and functions activity. Then onto the next lesson of

exponential grown vs. exponential decay. She is then going to close with an exit quiz. She has

the objectives listed as statements for the students, for example, “I can evaluate and write

numerical expressions involving integer exponents”. This is something very important to have in

the class because at the end of the lesson the student should be able to do those statements and if

they can’t a teacher knows they have to go over it again. She also tells them about the test

tomorrow and to write down the links to review the subject if they need help, she also tells them

to take their notes home to help them with school work. This shows the respect that she has for

her students by communicating with them and making sure they know the expectation she has

for the class.

She walks around and helps them with their warm up and goes over it. She offers the

history of chess to her students for those who may be interested. This is something I took note of

because it’s important that if you want the students to value your lessons you give them the

material to keep on learning them. When it comes time for the lesson, she has the resource

manager, the only person who can get up and get the material needed for the class, time watcher,

and the creative person to draw everything. These three roles help the students develop
leadership skills and team building skills that will continue to help them throughout the rest of

their lives. All the students respected her and were not afraid to ask her questions and that is an

incredibly important type of classroom setting to create. At the end of the lesson she did a

thumbs up and thumbs down to each of the goals that she had for the beginning of the class and

she did it with all of the students keeping their heads down. Keeping their heads down allow the

students to be more honest about what they might not get because they won’t have all their peers

staring at them to look at their response.

After observing all these classrooms, it is safe to say that every teacher has a specific

style that works for them. Each observation I made was completely different from the other and

that is what made sitting through all of them so interesting. Since there was a mix between older

and younger grades, I got to really the see the behavior, the teaching techniques, and obviously

the material change drastically. Also, since we did both the Philosophy of Education and

Learning paper, before this assignment, I got to watch how these teachers taught in their

classroom and try to come up with what styles they incorporate in their classroom. I also got to

watch how each teacher set up their classroom and that is something I am so incredibly excited

for. Ever since I was little, every time I would walk into a new grade or a new school, I would

observe all the details of the classroom, the colors, the posters, how the desks were set up, and as

I got older, I started to realize why desks were set up the way they were, and the importance of a

classroom that draws students in and does not cause a headache. It is so important to me when I

gather my classroom together one day, that I create an open learning environment. One where

the students feel comfortable, and they enjoy looking at all the different things around the room.

Also, the organization in all the classrooms is something I paid close attention to where teachers

kind of threw things on top of the cubbies, or had numerous storage units, and bookshelves to

organize all of the materials in the classroom. Organization is key to my success because if

everything in my classroom is scattered, I will not be able to focus on my lessons.

To continue, being able to see how all of the teachers handled all of the students. In the

videos there did not seem to be a crazy number of kids that were completely disrespectful and

rude to the teacher. The eighth-grade math class had quite a few kids that did not really want to
be stuck doing math and would have a hard time focusing and they also had to be reminded of

the volume they were speaking at. I also took note of the little things that the teachers did to draw

attention back to their lesson. For example, the clapping pattern that the students repeat, the give

me five eyes on me to see the hands were free, and also just spending time on the rug. This is

something I most definitely want in my classroom. Even when I was in school, I always felt that

rug time brought all of my classmates together. It was the one time we all got to listen to a story,

or talk as a group and it made everyone feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts on the

subject.

In the fourth-grade reading class observation, when the teacher said, “you have control of

your learning” it stuck in my head and that is something I want to carry with me into my own

classroom one day. It is incredibly important to me that students value the content that I am

giving to them and that is only going to happen when they are able to venture on their own and

learn. I am a strong believer that students learn better through experience. This is seen in the 4th

grade observation video for the science class where students got to experiment with live crickets.

The excitement that they had learning about the anatomy of a cricket and its habitat was

something truly inspiring. I plan on teaching art in English, and hands on and visual learning is

going to be something that I incorporate into my curriculum often because it is the best way to

captivate the students and help them gain interest in the subjects they are learning.

Being able to watch these teachers before being a teacher gives me the readiness of how

someone else watching me in my class one day ensuring that I am doing the best that I can in

teaching my students all the information needed to move onto the next grade level. Since I am

starting with younger grades, I get to help these students start from literally the ground up, and if

they start off with building a strong foundation they are going to do well in future grades and
hang on to the motivation needed to do well. Keeping all of this in mind I will be able to go into

the classroom with all of the different ways a class can go, and like I have said in my Philosophy

of Education Paper, “the direction of the classroom can go in so many different ways and that is

the beauty of being a teacher because you get to learn by experience”. Experience is key in

education, being able to grow into myself and the person I am and using that to help me in being

a future educator is something that I am so beyond excited for.

1. How would you recommend a first year teacher organize their classroom?

2. What were your go to sources for help as a first year teacher?

3. How would you go about a rambunctious class when it comes to classroom

management?

4. What would you recommend as the required amount of communication between

school and parents?

5. What should be my goals going into my first year teaching?

6. What are the signs that a student truly understands the subject in your classroom?

7. How would you suggest handling a student that does not behave no matter how

many times you’ve talk to him or her?

8. Is there such thing as enough hands on learning? Should there be a balance

between bookwork and projects?

9. Do you believe that all students should have control of their education?

10. If a student is struggling in your class how do you make time to help them outside of

class?

11. How can I use my personal traits to help me in the classroom?

12. If a student does not want to work in a group would you allow them to work

independently or would you make them work in a group? Why?

13. Is it best to get to know your students before the school year to be able to help them

learn better later on?

rewarding things about teaching??

15. What are all the different ways to evaluate our students to make sure they

understand the lesson?

16. How do you bring the children’s attention back to the classroom?

17. What do you believe the biggest challenge students face today?

18. What kind of teaching style do you follow and why?

19. Do you ever think about another career path you could’ve taken other than being a

teacher?

20. What is one thing you wish you were told before you became a teacher?