Wednesday, May 8

Today I focused on instructional strategies.  The teacher started with an intro slip and a turn and talk.  This was a good way to get the kids focused, and they seemed engaged.  The math lesson continued with direct instruction.  Students started out engaged and on task.  As I took notes and watched the lesson, students began to get more fidgety.  It was a longer math day (we have three full math days a week and two are cut short), and I could tell that the students were getting antsy and needed a change of pace.  Part of the lesson was pouring water into different sized containers to show the relationship between different unit of measurement.  This was exciting for them and the teacher let them call out a bit more, but they were still moving around quite a bit.  Start to finish, the teacher was using direct instruction for about an hour.  I liked that the students had an engaging experiment to watch, but I felt that kids should have been able to get up or talk to each other at some point instead of trying to focus for so long.  One way that I thought this could be done was by adding some checking for understanding.  Having students take a break in their focus to reflect either verbally, in writing, or perhaps with some body movement would be a great way to integrate these two things. 

This was of course not the case for the whole day.  During reading, the teacher started with the students on the carpet.  They then split into groups based on how they voted on candy bars.  They usually only work in groups at their table spots with the same four people, so this was a nice way to switch it up.  There were some small issues with the groups-one group had six people, but they all worked well together and typically stay on task.  Another group consisted of four boys who are notorious for messing around during class.  I sat with this group, and although there was some difficulty staying on task, I think switching the groups was good for them.  Students gain a lot from working with people they are not used to. 

Using my checklist at the end of my observation sheet, one additional thing I think could be stronger is ‘make directions and expectations clear’.  Often there are added pieces to directions or an unclear expectation going along with them.  In my next focus on instructional strategies, I would like to switch things up and focus on either questioning or directions (how they are given, how students react, how the teacher reacts to students). 

Questions of the day: How much contact do you have with caregivers? Do most come to conferences?  Do you see them outside of conferences frequently?

At the first set of conferences, all caregivers came.  At the second set, all but two came and one of those did a phone conference.  There was only one student whose caregivers the teacher did not have contact with.  She said that outside of conferences, she doesn’t really see them unless they come to events that she also happens to be at.  She also said she used to do newsletters but hasn’t in a while.  The first week I was there, I did see one parent come in and chat with her child and the teacher.  At a music concert last week, a couple of parents came in and the teacher conversed comfortably with them.  She seemed to know what was happening in the family (new baby, a mom got a haircut, mom is pregnant).  It was nice to see her naturally keep up to date with the goings on of the families.  Other than that, she also converses with parents of certain students about behavior.  There are two or three students she has weekly contact with, and one who she has had daily contact with until just recently.  She also said she tries to contact for positives, although that doesn’t happen as often as she’d like.