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Rosario Hernandez

Professor Christensen

EDU 201 – fall 2015

03 December 2015

Assignment One: Observation

1. My first impression of the classroom was welcoming. The students were the best part.

They all welcomed me and wanted my attention and help. The classroom was not too big

but there were several items and it was very organized. I could see where everything was

and I am sure if I asked the teacher to find something, she would definitely be able to tell

me where it would be.

2. The physical environment within the classroom was color coordinated. There were three

tables. They were red, yellow and blue. Everything had a place and I was able to identify

everything. There was also student work around the classroom which gave it a personal

touch. Student names were displayed on the wall, in a sense I felt as if I knew exactly

who everyone was since I already knew their names, except I did not know what name

belonged to what face. Also everything was so small since it was a kindergarten class.

The chairs and tables were as low as can be. There was a big colorful carpet with shapes

and letters in the back surrounded by the whiteboards and a couple bookshelves.

3. Considering the location of the school, the classroom was accurately diverse; although

there were more Hispanic students than Blacks or Caucasians. The classroom consisted

of fifteen students the first week I was observing. Most students in this classroom had
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never been in school before, since most of them were Hispanic there was a language

barrier for them. I noticed a couple of times some of the students would get pulled aside

by an additional teacher which would help them with letter recognition and

pronunciation. There were more girls than boys. As of the last time I observed there was

a total of twenty two students, the additional students that became a part of the class were

black. Also they boy/girl ratio was evened out with the additional students.

4. My classroom did not have an actual rules poster hung on the walls. Most of the rules

were mentioned and repeated by the teacher throughout the day or when they were

needed.

5. I noticed that she allowed students to make a decision themselves. However some of the

students abused the power of making their own decisions, which resulted to the behavior

chart. There was a behavior chart in the front of the classroom with four colors, green,

blue, yellow and red. All students started off on blue which was the average. Green meant

they were beyond amazing, on task, helpful and respectful. Yellow meant the teacher had

to talk to them a couple of times. Red was the worst meaning the student was not being

kind or not listening to instructions throughout the entire day. The students would receive

a little behavior calendar booklet at the end of the day with a small comment to the

parents on how they were during the day. Ms. Ruffener had a star of the day. Which was

her helper for the day, that student would help her with paper passing or any small

delivery she had to have made. The star of the day also had a special stool that they were
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allowed to sit in during group instruction. The star of the day was chosen by weekly

behavior, so there was not a star of the day on a daily basis.

Assignment Two: Instruction

1. The daily schedule is posted on the board. They start their morning with calendar and

math, then they work on math centers. After that they go to specials, recess and lunch.

After lunch they have a group lesson on the carpet and practice phonics, vocabulary

and read a story. After the group lesson they have literacy centers, which have

different activities to practice what they have learned as a group. After centers they

have writing which is basically practicing their name and sight words. Finally 3

o’clock comes around and the kindergartner's prepare for dismissal by getting the

papers from their cubies and getting their backpacks from their assigned baskets.

2. Instruction is delivered in all forms during the day. At first they start their day in

whole groups, then transition to centers to practice what they have learned. They

work individually when they practice their names and when they have small projects.

Since they sit in tables rather than desks, they help each other out often since they are

already in groups.

3. The teacher was a very “laid back” teacher. Even though she was a kindergarten

teacher she let the students do a great amount of work independently. She would
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explain what they were expected to do and set them free. The students seemed to

follow along and comply with the objectives given to them in a reasonable manner.

4. The teacher definitely incorporated the sensory modalities during her centers. There

were a couple centers which were games that incorporated the subject they were

learning, then other centers were more visual and less hands on. While she was

introducing new letters, numbers or sight words during whole group lessons she used

cheers, songs, rhymes, slinks to count syllables, hand gestures to follow along with

phonics and finger counting also for counting and counting syllables. She also

provided the students with word necklaces which had their sight words written on

them, the students were able to physically constantly see the word.

5. The students were engaged a majority of the time, even the students who did not

understand everything that was going on would join in and make an effort to

participate. All the students seemed to enjoy the hand gestures that followed the

sound of the letters. As a class they had favorite songs; once they came around there

was a rush of excitement that filled the entire room and the whole class changed their

attitude from kind of engaged almost ninety nine percent engaged in the lesson.

6. When the class was expected to transition from one place to the next, they were very

organized. For example, when the class was sitting together on the floor the teacher

would divide them and set them into groups that would be assigned to a certain table

with a certain activity to do in their centers. Then the majority of the time was spent

doing centers, and when it was time to switch they waited for a timer to go off. Once
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the timer went off the kindergartners knew it was time to clean off. Then she would

instruct them on when and where to switch. The longer they were in school they

would get use to the routine. When it came time to leave the classroom the students

were expected and instructed to line up quietly and wait patiently until they had to

leave the class.

7. My teachers attention getters were simple. They were the same throughout the entire

time I was observing, when the class would get too noisy she would raise her hand

and say I’ll wait until everyone can hear me. Eventually the whole class noticed her

hand was raised and they all did the same. Another way she would get the

kindergartner's attention was counting down from five, the whole class would hear

her and would settle down in time before she reached one.

8. The behaviors I observed were the same for almost all the students. At such an early

age, it is common for the students to squirm around and want to touch each other. The

students would constantly touch other students, girls would play with other girls’ hair.

After lunch for some reason every ones’ shoes would be untied and their classmates

who did not know how to tie shoes would still try. Then during centers, the students

would play around with materials and would get sidetracked easily. This group was

also quite talkative, they would always have something to gossip about, it was cute

how the ELL students would talk to each other and they would understand their

conversations within themselves.

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Assignment Three: Classroom Layout

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Assignment Four: School/Classroom Culture

Physical Characteristics

1. The school was a basic school design. There were homes to the right of it and a dessert

lot in the front, in the back and to the far left. The parking lot was small, it was mainly for

staff and reserved spots for visitors near the main office. The school itself was not too

big.

2. The school was clean, there was an area behind the office, like a quad area, that had a

very nice landscape. It looked welcoming and relaxing to have such a beautiful scenery in

front of the classrooms that surrounded it. The entrances were closed off by fences and

sliding doors that were locked during school hours. The only way into the school was

through the main office, everyone was required to check in before they were allowed into

the school. The flooring and lighting was consistent throughout the school. The school

was blue and white which were their school colors.

Culture of the school

1. This school had a lot of school pride. Their colors and signs around the school were

strictly school related. Every hall had a name, the name had something to do with their

school mascot. Lois Craig Lions. Some of the hall way names were; Pride Ave or Maine

Office Drive. Their motto was posted in their main office; every minute matters. They

had a school wide after school program named Leo Club. Here students had a two hour
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sessions, the first hour was usually an academic choice and the second more of a free

play class.

2. I frequently visit the school because my nephew attends the school and it was my

elementary school. The staff in the office recognize me and great me well every single

time. The staff in the office is the staffing that is also in charge of recess duty; they spend

a good amount of time with the students on a day to day biases.

3. Students at the elementary level spend a great amount of time in their classroom with

their one teacher. They are limited to the areas to where they meet, I noticed that some

students would hang out by the restroom when they were supposed to be in class. During

recess children are able to run freely in though the playground, blacktop and a small grass

area towards the back.

4. The school was organized by grades, the pre-k and kindergarten were all in the same

area, they were kind of isolated form the rest, and they had their own playground and

fence to block them out from the other playground that was for the older aged kids. Then

there was the first and second grade hall ways. The third, fourth and fifth graders were

mostly in the portables. The remaining buildings were the multipurpose room-the

cafeteria- and the other was the specials building which consisted of the art room and

music room. The library had its own building all together with restrooms to surround it.

There were hallway names which were cute that had references to lions or pride in their

school.
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Culture of the classroom

1. My cooperating teacher was a kindergarten teacher. Her classroom was simple yet

welcoming. She had many random themes, it was not an elaborated theme, and I noticed

it was sub divided by colors. She had giant crayons on the ceiling and her tables were

color coded. That was a simple way to help students learn their colors since they are

starting school and are required to learn them.

2. The student involvement was grand. Majority of the students would participate, during

the first week that I went, they had just gotten back from track brake. Most of the

students were coming back to their fourth week of school. It was interesting to see the

change week to week. Towards the last weeks of my observation more students started

participating in classroom singing and games. My teacher used many songs and hand

jesters that would seem silly but it called the students attention which was a great way to

keep such small minds focused for a while. Usually it was the same students who would

wonder off and begin to talk in the back. They would try to be sneaky and whisper but

they were not too good at it. She would constantly ask the class what they were expected

to be doing, that was an interesting thing to witness. Most students would stop and do

what they were expected to do, one or two of them would continue what they were doing

without caring, eventually their classmates would help them out and encourage them to

pay attention instead of begin disruptive.

Assignment five: Cooperating Teacher Interview

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1. The primary reason I became a teacher was because I was a kindergarten aid in

between jobs and for my next door neighbor, and I was like I can do this and besides

it’s really fun.

2. The main challenge I face as a teacher is meeting the needs of every single student,

because as you have seen there are some really need children. and then there are some

children who are really quite and need you, or there are those who are really loud and

don’t need you, but they get more of the attention because they are louder, so you

have to really balance who needs what and when.

3. The best part of being a teacher is watching their growth. Especially in Kindergarten

and in first grade. At the beginning of the year when they have never had to listen to

another adult giving them instructions, like walking on a line, behaving in specials,

holding a pencil, knowing their colors. And then like I just showed you, a child who

didn’t know how to hold a pencil a couple weeks ago is now writing her name, and

she draws really accurate pictures, once they get those simple things that we take for

granted that we don’t remember learning, then they just start taking off. And you’re

like they didn’t know any letter at the beginning of the year, and now they’re reading!

Its just amazing. it just gives you chills when you’re watching them grow like that.

4. At the beginning of the year it’s very random, they get to choose where they sit. Then

like every four weeks I change them around. And it depends on who’s getting along

with who, who is helpful and can sit next to a child who can use help or may need

translation, but usually, it depends on personality and if they’re paying attention or

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not. Sometimes if they’re being really disruptive, and they sit aside for a while, and

some of them actually like that they concentrate more, but then there are others who

just feel rejected and don’t like that. Some days I just let them choose where they

want to sit, and its interesting to see the choices they make, usually they do very good

choices, and I have to make one or two adjustments because it’s just like no this is not

going to work.

5. I interact with most parents every day because they get picked up at my door, or in

the morning when they get dropped off. As far as a meeting about a child or a specific

issue regarding a child, is just when I need to. I also have the behavior chart I send

home every day and I make comments on them, and some of the parents actually

write back and we interact that way.

6. Grading is done differently in Kindergarten, usually everyday I do very little grading.

We have to put grades into Infinite Campus every Wednesday. Most of the grading is

observation as the improvement I see. Occasionally I keep one of their papers and

base it off of that. Then sometimes when i have them sit with me I notice what the

difference is and if their is any change. Kindergartens grades are either they know it

or they don’t, so a one or a two. Which is unfortunate because even though there are

students who have improved there will still be a one even though the student is

meeting standards but is still not meeting all of the standards.

7. Planning lessons for the whole week takes me about three to six hours, but its not just

as at one siting, I have my lesson plan book with lesson plans that are already
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completed and I base it off of that as well. I also have a notebook with short notes on

the lesson plan and I pretty much follow off of that instead. But I do have to input it

into curriculum engine which is where the districts has us into it into, that lesson plan

is more detailed and more teacher talk because I have to do that.

8. The most effective consequences for this groups is definitely removing them from

their peers. If they ever get recess they are usually better behaved since they have

already been able to yell and scream for a while, then they are here and they are better

behaved. I tend to ask them if they are making a good choice, and once they have the

responsibility to take allows some of them will be able to make the right choice and

others will continue to make the wrong choice until I bring up that I am going to see

their parents after school, then that settles them.

9. We have the NEPF this year. The Nevada Educators Performance Framework is used

to evaluate teachers in the district. It is very different from any evaluation I have ever

had before. It’s based on points and the more points that are accumulated the better

because it is sort of like a check list and administration comes in for different amount

of times at a time or during a period of time. They have these things called artifacts

which are samples of work that are able to represent the amount of progress that has

been done during the school year. I have been evaluated about four times. The older

teachers do not get evaluated as much, it is more for the newer teacher to evaluate

their teaching abilities.

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10. I have been a teacher for eighteen years, I taught first grade for eight and kindergarten

for ten. Also I was an aid for about five or six years before I decided to go back to

school and become a teacher. And honestly there is not anything else I would rather

be doing.

Assignment six: Observing a student

Picking one student to observe was challenging. I picked the most outgoing boy in

the class. He was quite talkative and smart. When I first went into the class he

approached me during centers, he introduced himself and asked me if I wanted to read

with him. After he approached me other students started to come to me. I saw that

although he was talkative he was very smart. When it came time to do independent work

he would work well by himself and after he was finished he would help the rest of the

students in his group. I could tell he was a kinesthetic learner right off the bat. He was

constantly moving around and looking for something to hold. When it was group

instruction time he would be able to sit still for a about ten minutes, then he would switch

positions until he ended up exactly how he was before. One time during a Halloween

story he was very interested, and he was able to sit still during the entire story, he would

actually be bothered when a student would interrupt the teacher with questions. Also, the

teacher taught them phonics with corresponding hand gestures and he was able to tell me

what letter I was doing better when I did the gestures than when I just showed him the

letter.

Assignment seven: Reflection

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Over all during the ten hours of my observation I realized that becoming a teacher

was indeed the career path I want to take. I completely fell in love; being in a

Kindergarten classroom only made me anxious to be in a classroom of my own. I

observed that it is a stressful job, and there comes many responsibilities when being in

charge of at least twenty other people. It seemed like a handful, but at the end of the day

it is completely worth it. Being the adult they spend the majority of their time with, being

a good role model is important. I learned that motivating them though out the simplest

things can have an enormous effect on them. The teacher I was with had a different

approach to teaching, she was very laid back, and did not really have any rules expected

of the children, which was interesting because it gave the students the liberty to do what

they felt was the right choice. It was also interesting to see the change with their actions

for later events. The students had their own personalities and were of course all different,

yet their age group shared several interests that made them all one group.

Although I chose the elementary school I went to as a kid, it has changed in

various ways, but at the same time it was the same. Let me explain, the school colors and

spirit was still there, except with small changes like the expectations they had for the

students. There was more of a liberal ruling, students were very structured but free at the

same time. The information from the book and classroom activities were almost all

included everyday; even though it was only ten hours there was a lot of things I

experienced. I enjoyed the instruction my teacher provided, I hope to one day be able to

try some of the activities she had during the time I was there. I personally enjoyed all the
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games she had the students play, learning is fun, and these games were great examples of

it. The games were educational and challenging as well as fun; which is pretty cool! I am

thrilled to be proceeding with my passion of teaching, I certainly cannot wait until I am

able to set up a classroom and have all my students participate in the never ending fun of

learning and growing.