Day 2 in Elementary School

Friday, October 17, was my last observation at the elementary school. I arrived at 7:30 and left at 2:30... what a loonng day! I observed a third grade class at a different school all day in the spring semester and wondered where the time went when the day was done. Friday, however, was not that way. At 10:00 I could not believe that the day was not already 1/2 gone! :) Oh well. I have a theory about why I was exhausted on Friday, but I will not put that on here...ask me in class, if you care to know.

I got to see some new things today. During advanced math in my teacher's class, they went over two worksheets that had been assigned for homework. The sheets covered various things and it was covered in a very fast pace, but the students really seemed to respond well to this. Of course, they had done the assignment already, so most of them were quick and correct with answers. The fast pace - and the lack of criticism for wrong answers - seemed to embolden them to put their answers out there. When a wrong answer was given, the teacher quickly talked them through the process and the student ultimately saw their error. I was very impressed by the respect that was shown to the students during this process. Even though she was covering the lesson at a quick pace, she didn't just skip over someone who gave the wrong answer. As a student, that would have encouraged me to take a chance at being wrong. It was truly a win-win situation.

After that was completed, the students were able to hear from a German teacher that has been in the states for a little while speaking to different classes. Today, she brought in currency from Germany. Now I love a good show and tell as much as the next person, but this turned out to be more than that. While the German teacher was explaining the different coins and bills, the classroom teacher was able to use the Smartboard to display a much larger version of it. While the students were able to touch and feel most of the different denominations eventually as they moved around the room, they didn't have to wait for it to arrive at their desk to see what she was discussing. She also was able to line up the different denominations and help the students realize the association between one euro cent and one euro, etc. The Smartboard added a competely different dimension to the opportunity.

Before math ended for the day, the classroom teacher let them play a game (that practices one of the standards for third grade) on the Smartboard. She had set up coins at the bottom of the screen: Quarters, dimes, pennies, nickels, and Half Dollars - and was able to make them infinite. She then put an amount in the upper right hand corner. She went around the room and let the students go to the board. She gave them 30 seconds to give her the amount shown using the fewest amount of coins possible. The students were able drag coins from the bottom of the screen to the middle to collect the coins needed to come up with the correct amount. This seemed very effective. Some students would come up with the right amount but having used 8 coins instead of 7, for instance, they would be incorrect. She never told them specifically that they were incorrect, but challenged the next student in line to see if they could do it with fewer coins. The students LOVED this game.

My teacher also has a CD player in the room. She used it on both days that I observed, but this day was more 'significant'. Wednesday, she simply used it for background music (played VERY lightly) as they students worked on an assignment. On Friday though, she put a specific song on and I watched as the students silently gathered on the rug at the front of the room. They did a few things that seemed a little like a meditation of sorts, but it was geared toward getting them focused and working as a team. I know that this is not anything 'high tech' but I thought it was definitely worth noting because it was very effective and I would never have thought about introducing classical music as a peaceful background for my class.

My time spent observing has been very beneficial. It has been encouraging to see different things being used in the classroom. In light of the types of things that we are learning about in our class (EDU 201), I know that there are more things to be used. I believe that one main thing that limited what I was able to observe was the fact that I was not able to get into the classroom until this week. I am hoping to be able to spread out my time in the middle school a little bit more, just to have the opportunity to be there during different lessons and such.