Serenity Martinie

EDU 201
Dr. Celia Isbell
Field Observation Packet

Assignment #1

Observation 1:

My first impression of the teacher’s 1st grade classroom is very warm, friendly, and

accepting. The classroom seems a bit cramped because of the number of students and the mass of

materials and stations.The classroom is extremely colorful and organized. Everything in the

room appears to have a designated labeled spot. I have come across a significant amount of

unique teaching tools such as a Mr. Potato Head being used as a behavior scoring system.The

science section has six old computers, multiple safety rules clearly posted, the materials are

scarce but seem to be used sufficiently. The math station has a ton of activities; money boards,

dino math, dice games,and an array of other learning materials for every station. Ms. Jones’s

desk is very personalized, walking into the room I could tell exactly what kind of person she was

and I felt more comfortable. Overall the classroom was very welcoming and I feel positive about

my observation.

Observation 2:

The students are very diverse, not so much in their ethnicity but some are noticeably

more or less privileged, comprehensive, and alert than others. A majority of the students appear

to be of Hispanic descent or Hispanic combined with caucasian, all have dark hair. There are six

girls and eleven boys, small compared to most public class sizes in Nevada. One student does not

speak any English and his eyes are two different colors which is pretty unique. Overall the

students are extremely similar in some aspects and extremely diverse in others.

Observation 3:
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The set of classroom rules are concurrent in all the classrooms in Lincoln Elementary,

they are:

1. Keep your hands and feet to yourself

2. Take care of our school

3. Speak respectfully

4. Listen and follow directions

Observation 4:

The teacher enforces rules strictly, firmly, and can be slightly intimidating to students.

However, she does not come off as rude, condescending, or mean. She offers a significant

amount of rewards and consequences including a clip chart where students move their assigned

clip up or down on a ladder depending on their behavior, a Mr. Potato Head assigned to each

table team and they get to add or take off pieces as a reward or consequence, an assortment of

candies and snacks she gives to individual students, and various others.
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Assignment #2

Classroom Layout Question 1:

Space is used very efficiently and nicely, everything is organized and the space is utilized

to it’s fullest extent. Everything is very accessible and there isn't really anything that can be

removed because it is all used by the students.

Classroom Layout Question 2:

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In my opinion the table teams could be spread out a bit more, but that would limit the

space of the classroom.

Classroom Layout Question 3:

In my opinion the desks are a little close together but the students seem to move around

them with ease, my only concern is how efficiently they can get out of the classroom in a drill.

Assignment #3

Instruction Question 1:

The posted schedule is; 1.Friday Sight Words, 2. Fast Track Phonics, 3. Shared Story, 4.

STAR. That is the only posted schedule in the classroom.

Instruction Question 2:

Instruction is done in small table teams or as a whole class, she gives individual

instruction time to struggling students during team table activities.

Instruction Question 3:

The teacher is very strict and assertive, but also very kind and genuinely cares for her

students.

Instruction Question 4:

The teacher uses a lot of hand movements, sometimes it’s a signal and other times she

uses it to count or demonstrate, she also uses quite a bit of repetition and a surplus of

consequence and reward systems.

Instruction Question 5:

A small portion of students are completely unresponsive and often require admonishment

from the teacher, and she provides frequent individual instruction for them. However, a majority

of the students, including the non English speaking student, are very interactive and engaged.
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The teacher has about a 90% participation rate which is phenomenal in my opinion. Every

student responds as she asks and seems to really understand what he or she is being presented.

Instruction Question 6:

None of the students are isolated because the teacher is very adamant about partnerships

and table teams. The teacher also makes sure to go from table to table during various group

activities to make sure everyone is involved and comprehending the material.

Instruction Question 7:

The teacher frequently looks at the clock and has every activity planned out to the

second. Every moment is used productively, I have yet to see time wasted. She even saves time

by pre planning and organizing the materials they will need for each subject and activity.

Instruction Question 8:

The teacher handles transitions by simply telling them to change subjects and having the

students pull out the corresponding folder, either that or they are dismissed by music over the

intercom. She then instructs them to pull out the required materials from the prepared table

baskets.

Instruction Question 9:

The teacher projects her voice quite loudly and often uses the phrase “capeesh” to

confirm her students acknowledgement of what she instructed. Students have labels on their

desks that say, “peanut butter” or “jelly” and she uses that as a way to divide up various tasks

and orders of student operation. Finally, I have seen her occasionally use “high five” to grab

students attention.

Instruction Question 10:

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The teacher seems to deal with students neglecting their homework, and they always

make the excuse of no one wanted to help, they didn’t hear her, or they didn’t know which part

to do. When this issue occurs the teacher will be noticeably annoyed but will tell them to finish it

and not to give it to her but put it in the late basket. Another issue the teacher faces is keeping the

attention of the 10% of students who refuse to be engaged. The teacher prefers to address the

student's bad behavior as it occurs so sometimes that is in the middle of class and causes

embarrassment to the student but he or she is less prone to repeat the behavior in the future.

Instruction Question 11:

The teacher has several methods of conserving and helping instruction time. For morning

homework check she has the ones who completed their paper hold it in the air, she walks around

quickly and checks. By doing this she records scores and is able to see who hasn’t completed

their work. Every desk has a name and a peanut butter or jelly label, the students know where to

go and what they are when it comes time for instruction. The teacher is very thorough and

repetitive when teaching so the review is swift and easy. One thing I really admired was how

prepared she was with materials. Each table team has a designated NFL basket so in the morning

one student from each table will automatically go to the shelf and grab their assigned football

team basket. The baskets include pencils, sharpeners, number lines, letter charts, coloring tools,

and any extra materials needed for the day. This works really well for students who forget or

can’t afford supplies and it saves so much time.

Assignment #4

Physical Characteristics:
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1.) The school property is very small, everything is fenced and looks like it has the potential

to be extremely locked down. The Elementary school sits in the middle of a

neighborhood. Rather than one whole building, it is numerous small rectangular buildings

divided into classrooms all fenced within the property. There is lots of green grass and

the playground is a huge grass lot with a small jungle gym and all together it’s almost as

big as the rest of the school. There are no crosswalks because right across the road is

someones house and the parents and drivers are very cautious. There really aren't many

signs around but everyone seems to know what to do. All together it creates a very nice

and warm picture.

2.) There really isn't an interior of the school because it is all outside, there are cement

sidewalks between each classroom and some trees, but overall the only interior is the

small classrooms. The main office is blue and white with a large brown desk right up

front and the staff pictures on the wall. All the administrators offices are here and this is

pretty much where I am first formally welcomed to the school. The lighting isn’t super

bright but it’s not too dim either, there aren't many windows except the huge one on the

front of the office but it's double sided so it's a mirror from the outside and a window

from the inside. There are about two teachers standing in front of the cafeteria but

otherwise there is no formal security.

Culture of School:

1.) Mascot: lion. School colors: black and gold. Motto: “Learners today, learners tomorrow!”

Mission statement: “We believe all students can learn! We are committed to Operation
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Respect.” The approach of Operation Respect and Welcoming Schools is to create a safe

and respectful learning environment inclusive of race, ethnicity, culture, sexual

orientation, gender, non-conforming gender students, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender,

economic status, country of origin, learning/ physical abilities, etc. Lincoln’s Mission for

2015-16: The dedicated students, staff, parents, and community members of Lincoln

Elementary School are committed to meeting the needs of its diverse learners.

2.) Staff and visitors are all very welcoming, seemingly happy and very interactive with

students. The teacher was telling me how parents sometimes just want to stay on the

playground with their kids and the faculty just because the environment is so nice.

3.) -Recess in morning, Success For All (SFA) and announcements, school time, lunch,

recess, school.

-Students seem to range from 5-12 years old.

-School is fairly small but has a large quantity of students.

-Students are grouped by grade (except when doing SFA, then they are grouped by their

reading comprehension level.)

4.) Students seem to interact as a large family would; they all laugh together, play together,

and seem to care about one another. If they were in a more rural setting, they would all

possibly grow up lifelong friends. Students gather most frequently in the lunchroom and

playground.

5.) School is organized by grade and classrooms and labeled by number, doors are also

always locked. Most of school is outside, so no labels in hallways.

6.) They do not have an award case or display but they do give individual attendance

trophies to students. They don’t have any clubs or activities.

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Culture of Classroom:

1) The teacher expects students to comprehend information after three periods of repetition.

If not, she gets slightly agitated, but still helps them. She is very kind to her students and

lets them know she cares, however can be a little harsh in tone. Her personality is

organized but creative and upbeat while being efficient and a good amount of

assertiveness.

2) 90% of the class participates fully; the other 10% participate but not as much and it

probably has to do with them sitting in the far back corners.

3) Teacher controls the classroom, her students don’t try to instigate or challenge her. She

uses a firm tone and is frequent with her level of expectations so student know how they

are to behave. When students do not listen, she reminds them of her expectations and

they usually do as they are told.

● SFA:

-attendance

-check homework (day 1/2/3)

-alphabet chant

-hear sounds

-say it fast

-break it down

-read letter sounds

-partner practice

-quick erase

-key picture
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-animated alphabet

-stretch and read

-sound it out

-green words

-red words

-partner words

-sentence reading

-guided reading

-homework

-smartboard:

-fast track phonics

-shared story

-star

Assignment #5

● Interviewer: Serenity Martinie

● Interviewee: Ms. Jones

Interview Question 1:What is the primary reason you became a teacher?

Jones: “ I really like kids and I have always liked them, so I thought it would be a really good

environment to be able to spend my days with, with young kids.”

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Interview Question 2: What is the main challenge(s) you face as a teacher?

Jones: “ Time, there is never enough time in the day to get everything done, that would probably

be my biggest. There is a lot of work, there is a lot more work than I thought there was going to

be. I have to stay late at least an hour every day to get stuff done so I don't have to bring it home

on the weekends. So it’s just a lot more than they tell you.”

Interview Question 3: What is the best part(s) of being a teacher?

Jones:” Watching the kids lightbulb go off when they finally get it, and they are like ah! I get it!

Their ‘ah ha’ moments.”

Interview Question 4:How do you determine where students sit in class?

Jones: “When they first come in I don’t know them yet so after they do all their testing I try to

put at least one high kid at every table and then kind of stagger it low, medium, high. I found out

last year though when I put all my low kids together during math that it helped a lot because

then I didn't have to walk around the room and try to help them, I could do it all at once. So

there is a plus side to it and a bad side to it because they don't have peer support, but then it

helps me. I haven't decided which one I like the best.”

Interview Question 5: How do you determine the members of any flexible groups?

Jones: “ Based off their testing, like my high kids may get to move more often than my low ones.

So I think just based of their level of ability. My high ones get to do more because they

understand. They can go off and do different activities while I pull my low ones to do the easier

things.”

Interview Question 6: Beyond standardized testing, what assessments do you use regularly?

Jones: “We use our AMES testing, theres fall benchmark, winter benchmark, and spring

benchmark. They get tested three times a year for reading and math, so that kind of gives us an
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idea of where they are at, it tracks their growth. We use something called Core Phonics for our

lower kids and it kind of gives you an idea on what specific area of reading your kids are

struggling with. Then different math assessments and work like math tests. Everybody uses

AMES, it’s a district wide thing. It’s up to the teacher if they want to use the Core Phonics. I

used it more in 7th grade more than I do now in 1st. “

Interview Question 7: What requirements are placed on you for reporting progress to parents?

Jones: “Grades, we use Infinite Campus now and parents can log on and use it. So we have to

have grades updated on a regular basis. I’m kind of bad at it here, it’s not a big deal here

because a lot of our parents don’t use computers. I try and put them in but it's a pretty daunting

task to do every week. I usually let them build up, I used to be better at that. Then there is

grading period and we send out unsats to the students who have D’s and F’s, so that’s every 9

weeks. If a kid is really really struggling, I get in touch with their parents. If they are able to see

that they have been getting F’s on every assignment, so that kind of thing you know. “

Interview Question 8: How often do you interact with a student’s parents in person?

Jones: “I see all my parents for the most part when I drop them off. So if there is something I

really need to say, I’ll say ‘hey go grab your mom I need to talk to them. I’m not very good at

positive interactions, like when their kid is doing good I should be better at that but it’s like 9

million things going on so it’s like ‘oh your kid is doing really good.’ At conferences I definitely

let them know. If there is anything going on that I need to talk to the parents about I will talk to

them at the gate. If I don’t see them at the gate I will try and make a phone call. “

Interview Question 9: What type of discussions do you typically have with parents?
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Jones: “Homework, behavior, and where they are at in class. If they are really low I might have

to say, ‘this is where they are at, I’m really concerned, they haven't been turning in their

homework,’ that kind of thing.”

Interview Question 10: How much grading do you complete on a daily/weekly basis?

Jones: Daily, not every day. I have to have two writing grades a week, two math grades a week,

and one social studies a week. We do 9 weeks of social studies and then 9 weeks of science so

when it’s social studies, one social studies. When it’s science, one science. So I’m grading two

things of writing every week and two things of math every week, Then with SFA is three days, so

every three days I have to fill this (grading document) out and it just goes over writing, their oral

reading, and their partner reading. So can they read accurately, can they read smoothly, are

they using their word strategies, are they helping their partner, are they able to retell and do

they take turns when they are reading? That’s every three days, so every three days I’m

supposed to put these in, sometimes I don't do it. So this goes in every three days, then every

three weeks, Ms. Calvary, she is the reading specialist, she’ll print off like your class CAS,

basically class grades and then I have to enter them into the grade book.”

Interview Question 11: How long does it take to prepare lessons for the day/week?

Jones: “ Forever, I split my lesson plans with Ms. Tyson next door, so I write social studies, she

writes math. We kind of switch with math. SFA we have to do our own because we aren't on the

same book. Then RTI which is Response to Intervention there are small groups. So I could spend

at least 3 hours if not more to do all my lesson plans for the week.

Interview Question 12:What procedures or strategies do you use to maximise instructional time?

Jones:” I think instantly your behavior management plan in that first month is important and just

what your expectations are. ‘This is when you’re supposed to be quiet, this is how you're
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supposed to be quiet. This is what a whisper sounds like, when I say talk quietly, this is what talk

quietly sounds like, this is what you're supposed to so in your centers.’ Especially with these

ones, just go over it and over it and over it and over it. I have little different things to reinforce

it.”

Interview Question 13:

Jones: “They have their potato heads for their groups so they can get individual group and

whole group incentives. The potato heads are for the groups are for each group so they each

have a different color. When they fill the potato head they get a prize, they pull a stick from the

cup and that selects a random prize. They get three gold tickets, that’s their individual system.

They have to have 10 during the week, if they have 10 during the week they get a treasure chest

prize and they have to work to earn those. I also have pillows in here so they get to sit with

pillow for a day or with a stuffed animal for a day. It just gets them excited and reinforces them

to have good behavior. and then I have my pebble jar for the whole group. I try and use positive

reinforcement. There are those times that I have to use negative reinforcement. That’s when they

move their clip (ladder scale that ranges from really good to really bad that students move their

clip up or down on), and I have a couple that frequently move their clips.”

Interview Question 14: What behavioral consequences seem most effective with this age group?

Jones: “ Some of them, it doesn't matter, nothing works, nothing, I could take away everything

she didn't care. So that stems from home but I notice the ones who are really well behaved, when

they have to move their clip, they are just like, ‘ugh,’ if they lose a ticket it's a bummer for them.

I'm going to start something here if they are constantly moving their clip I’m going to start

sending home behavior slips. If I see the whole class is doing a really great job except for like
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one group I might tell them to go give me a Mr. Potato head piece. Or if the whole class isn’t

listening I will take a scoop of pebbles and they get really bummed about it.”

Interview Question 15: How are specialists teachers involved in the instructional planning

process?

Jones: “ If something is going on they will let us know but for the most part it’s their thing, we

just say ‘here you go.’

Interview Question 16: How often are you evaluated, and what measurement tool(s) is used by

the administration for determining your own performance?

Jones: “ I just got one observation, I think she observes me for a brief period of time, she

observes me like three times a year but they are brief, about 10-20 minutes. She just kind of takes

notes and then she leaves me reviews, she writes down what I was doing, how I was doing it. She

gives me some like feedback, what I did good, what I could work on, that kind of thing. She does

that a few times a week. We do one where I write a lesson and then I go sit and talk with her, and

we kind of dissect my lesson and say what's really good about it and what needs to like be

worked on. Then she will come and observe that entire lesson from start to finish. Then we have

a reflection about it. What I did right, where my weakness are, what I could have done better, we

do that once a year too. But I am post probationary because this is my 6th year, the teacher next

door, this is only her 2nd year so she gets observed much more frequently.”

Interview Question 17: What consequences are there if your evaluation is not favorable?

Jones: “My job, it's based on 1,2,3, and 4. 3 and 4 are good, 2 is not and 1 can be your license

or your job. They are pretty strict about it.”

Interview Question 18: What types of support do you receive instructionally, financially, or

professionally from the school, parent organization or school district to enhance instruction?
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Jones: “ Well the school district forze our pay so that's ‘super cool’, so like we usually get

increments every year but I didn't get any this year.There is like steps you go down for years of

service and steps you go over for educational increments, nobody moved down in years so

nobody got a raise for years of service.The woman who just walked in here just took 30 credits

over the summer but she won’t get any pay raise increments because it wasn't a masters.Right

now there isn’t any support, I’m not going into that. Professionally my principal is super

supportive because she was a teacher, it’s really easy to go to her because she knows strategies.

Financially, there isn't really any support anymore. They used to give teachers $300-$400 at the

beginning of the year but that was gone before I started. We don’t really have a parent

organization here. Some parents are really involved, and some are not, that’s always the case,

we don’t have a lot of parent funding because our demographic doesn't allow for it.”

Interview Question 19: What surprised you most about teaching as a profession?

● We didn’t have time for question, however when she spoke it seemed as if it was the

amount of work they give her, how much time it takes every day, and the conditions for

teachers.

Assignment #6

Teacher Exchange Directed to Boys Teacher Exchange Directed to Girls

17 12

Both girls and boys were about even in the amount of direct exchange received by

the teacher. The boys received slightly more attention because of the table with the non English

speaking boy. Otherwise she would draw sticks to call on students, so most of it was by chance.

The teacher did a nice job in my opinion of spreading her attention between the boys and girls,
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As the teacher was checking homework it was also by chance that the boys needed more help

than the girls. Overall the results show that the teacher favors boys but in my opinion that is just

because the needed more help.

Assignment #7

● Interviewer: Serenity Martinie

● Interviewee: Jennifer Newton-Principal

CSN Student Created Open Ended Question #1 for Administrator:

What is the most important criteria for a teacher to meet in order to acquire a job in your school?

Newton: “The most important criteria we look for is someone who is self reflective,so that they

are always willing to learn and grow and become better at teaching.”

What happens when a previously hired teacher stops meeting that criteria?

Newton: “We provide a lot of coaching and support, not only from the administrator that

coaches the teacher, but we have learning strategists and curriculum leads who can also provide

support. Sometimes we end up having a very critical conversation with that teacher and letting

them know that maybe this isn’t the best fit and they might want to find another place to work

that fis the needs if it's a matter of they don't believe in the philosophy of what we’re doing, or

maybe they are burned out. Sometimes we do have to have that conversation.”

CSN Student Created Open Ended Question #2 for Administrator:

What is your biggest challenge working with both diverse teachers and students?

Newton:”I would say the biggest challenge is having the time that we need to provide the

training and support. There are two administrators here and many things on our plate each day

and each day brings new challenges. So you get here in the morning and you don't alway know

what's going to happen. Behavior incidences happen during the day which we have to address,
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sometimes that means we aren't able to get into classrooms observed teachers, so it's really a

matter of balancing our time. Working with diverse children, I don’t see it as challenge I see it as

fun. For the most part, our students are second language learners and they are very eager to

learn and they are like little sponges. As long as we are able to provide engaging lessons, we see

them make a lot of growth.

What is the easiest thing about working with diverse teachers and students?

Newton: “They want to be here, they like school, and their parents are supportive of that. We

have some students with chronic attendance issues but it’s not a majority of our kids so we just

have a small group of kids that we need to focus on for attendance. They are very eager to learn,

they are little kids, they love to be at school.”

Do you think that it is based more on age than their culture?(pertaining toward the proclivity of

learning that Newton expressed)

Newton: “I would say both, I think the parents value education and part of it is due to age. I

think as kids get older if they don’t see the purpose of going to school because they can’t connect

with what they are learning it makes it harder for them to be interested in attending school.

However I do see a lot of middle and high schools that provide very engaging curriculum and

activities that make kids want to attend school.”

CSN Student Created Open Ended Question #3 for Administrator:

How do you handle conflicts between students, parents, faculty, etc.?

Newton: “ With students we handle conflicts in interviewing both sides, sometimes by bringing

them together as students we can find out or abou howw can make this work. We use the core

value of respect as our main way to filter everything. So we talk about bin respectful to yourself,

to others, to the property. The students probably get that the easiest because we have them and
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we do lessons and we can talk about it during the day. They really do know what’s appropriate

and not appropriate. We try to get them to solve their own problems unless it's something we

really do need an adult to attend to. Parents the same way, we have a parent concern form, if

there is an issue they can report it. We talk to whoever is involved we meet with her parents, we

try to resolve it. We always want it to be a win-win situation and sometimes that doesn't happen

We have policies and regulations that we have to follow and unfortunately it doesn't always met

the needs of every parent and what they feel should happen. They are not always happy but in

the end we try to make the parent feel comfortable with sending their child to school, that their

child is safe, whatever the issue was.”

What happens when you don't have a parent that is satisfied with whatever solution was

presented?

Newton:”Well they have options. They can contact the constituent services to voice their

concern, they can file a public complaint form which we have to respond to but honestly most of

the time we are able to come to some sort of an agreement. Usually they just want to be heard, so

if we schedule a meeting and just listen to them or ask them to schedule a meeting with the

teacher first and try to resolve the issue with the teacher. It's kind of a chain of command. We

want them to go directly to the child teacher if it's a teacher issue first.”

CSN Student Created Open Ended Question #4 for Administrator:

What are the strengths that you see in your school community?

Newton: “ I would say the strengths in the school community are that you know the teachers

want to be here, they drive in. We typically don’t have vacancies. This year is a little bit different

due to the teacher shortage. But we have teachers who basically are recruiting their friends to

com here because they like the environment of the school abn like what we do here. We have
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professional learning tim every day for the staff so they are able to grow their profession

automatically for 40 minutes everyday, there is some sort of training they participate in. The

parents, we have a lot of students whose parents attended here. We have grandparents who say

you know, that their kids went here. A lot of generations of families come here so they are proud

of the school and just the community that we serve.”

What are some of the weaknesses that you would change if you could?

Newton: “ Right now the building is old, we will be getting a new building in two years so that's

exciting, Right now the architects are in development of the site plan with the district and we

have been able to be a part of that as well so I would say that's one of our weaknesses,just that

the building is old and the infrastructure is failing so with a new building and a new property is

going to generate alto new excitement and new enthusiasm for both the staff and the students

and just the community.”

CSN Student Created Open Ended Question #5 for Administrator:

How did you achieve this position?

Newton: “ Well in order to be a principal you first have to be an assistant principal and in order

to be an assistant principal you have to have a masters or a doctorate in educational leadership.

So to get there I had to obtain my masters degree during my teaching career. I was teaching

during the day and attending classes at night for a year and a half.

What are some of the challenges and possible sacrifices that went with it?

Newton: “Sacrifices, would say you do sacrifice some time with your friends and family because

days can get long, There is a lot of work you have to do, some of the work you have to do once

everyone leaves because you didn't get to it during the day.”

What gains made it worth it?

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Newton: “It’s worth it because in the end if you always frame everything about what's best for

kids that's why you're here, because that’s what it's all about and that's why teachers go into

teaching is because they love kids. So I look at it as I’m still a teacher, I just get to have more of

a global impact over an entire school rather than just one classroom of kids.I still visualize

myself as a teacher in the end.”

Assignment #8

● Couldn’t arrange an observation.

Assignment #9

The children are asked to take out their SFA (Success For All) folders. The student listens

and takes his out without any issue. Student seems content, comfortable, confident in what he is

doing. Music for dividing up into proper SFA class starts and he knows exactly what to do. He

retrieves his proper basket and moves to the correct table and pulls out homework before teacher

even directs him to. He is enthused to hear that the class is starting a new story. He raises his

homework to be checked but did not do it correctly and seems slightly disappointed after the

teacher admonishes him for his mistake. The student gets on his knees and raises his homework

high to be collected. As the alphabet chant starts, he is very attentive and knows what every letter

stood for in the song. The student is very alert and aware of his surroundings, constantly being

curious. The lesson comes easily to him as they practice hearing sounds, he is also very

interactive but doesn’t raise his hand to be called on very often.

When “say-it-fast” comes up, he counts sounds with his fingers as the teacher does, he

even does it without the class, and sometimes even without the teacher. The student moves
 Serenity Martinie
EDU 201
Dr. Celia Isbell
positions frequently like he is bored or restless but still keeps his focus on the teacher. “Break-it-

down” comes just as easily but he sounds it out slower. The whole class seems to have an issue

with sounding out “lunch: and the student unfortunately follows their lead. The student seems

slightly impatient when the “V-Video” is played but regains attention when the “Letter Sounds

Review” comes up. The student knows all of his letter sounds pretty fluently and doesn’t need

help from other students like some of his classmates do. He begins to get a little more restless as

the “Stretch and Read” portion is played but in my opinion I think it’s because the program is

repetitive.

Now, during partner practice, he struggles slightly because they only have one minute to

complete their reading tasks, but still moves along at a steady pace. He seems to procrastinate

until the timer goes off. He becomes more enthused once “Quick Erase” is introduced and they

get to use their “Finger-Detective.” During this practice he starts to go more off topic and be

distracted by his table partner. During the preview of the book, The Costume Party, he is

extremely enthused and very interested in the preview video. As the lesson progress he seems to

have a shorter attention span but is determined to stay on task. He moves his body constantly but

keeps his eyes glued on the board. As the “Sound-It-Out” video plays, he writes the word in the

air while sounding it out. He starts playing with his shoe and fiddling with his desk and starts to

lose attention because of the racket outside. At this point he has grown extremely restless, but

still manages to stay involved with the lesson when it’s time for “Green words.” He stands up in

his chair, sticks out his tongue, fiddles with his hands and moves his chair with his feet all while

staying active in the lesson during “Red words.” The teacher has them do some waking up

exercises and he is energetic in the room. Now he is really excited and starts raising his hand for

almost every question. Teacher asks them to give her a thumbs up for comprehension
 Serenity Martinie
EDU 201
Dr. Celia Isbell
confirmation during “Readies” and he shoots his thumb up consistently and is usually the first

one. When the teacher asks for “high five,” he listens and follows directions immediately.

When the teacher sets the book of the day on their desk, two people at his desk fight to

get theirs first while he waits patiently and receives two incentive chips towards a prize. When

partner reading starts, he has no interest in his partner at all and really doesn’t pay attention to

him, but when it is his turn to read, he is attentive once again. During “Guided Reading,” he acts

about the same but seems to pay a little more attention to his partner because the teacher is

watching him. He went to his partner because the teacher is watching him. He went ahead in the

back to page two even though the teacher said to stop on one, but he corrects his mistake once

she points it out to him. The teacher comes over to individually instruct him and he accepts the

help and isn’t nervous at all like other students. As the lesson comes to a close he is excited to

move onto a new topic and seems to have regained his stamina. It was a very unique process

observing the student step by step and having to follow the lesson as he does. It made me realize

how thorough and repetitive this SFA program is, but also lets me see the productivity in this

system. Finally, it really helped me understand why the students behave as they do.

Assignment #10

Overall my experience at Lincoln Elementary School was one I will thoroughly cherish

as I move on in my teaching career. I even considered applying there to be an educator once I

obtain my degree because I love the culture and the environment so much. I really got first hand

experience on how elementary school kids function and learn.

It was especially helpful that Lincoln is a Title I school and I want to start in a lower

economic school. The teacher I was observing really knew exactly how to handle her students

and inspire them to learn. She was very time efficient and utilized everything about her students
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EDU 201
Dr. Celia Isbell
and classroom to enhance her instruction time. I was able to learn so many techniques when it

comes to motivating students to learn and behave. Another aspect that I found helpful was

watching SFA (Success for All) because I got to see what a school implemented program looks

like and possibly how to incorporate one into my own classroom. The teacher showed me that it

is okay to be strict and firm with students. I found the faculty very nice and welcoming, I was so

relieved the first day when I walked in and every person in the office already knew my name and

the principal herself escorted me to the classroom. The children at the school are all very diverse

and supportive of each other and the parents seem to really care about how their students are

educated. There was never a day I came into Lincoln ES and felt unwelcome and I never left

feeling my time was wasted. The teacher was so helpful when it came to answering all of my

questions and she always set time aside to explain the different tools and technique she used. It

was slightly discomforting to hear about their pay conditions and value that the district has for its

teachers, however I wasn’t discouraged from becoming a teacher at all. This experience truly

enhanced my drive and passion for becoming an educator. My very last day brought tears to my

eye because of the little boy I had previously observed. He had become my favorite student in

the classroom and right when I turned to walk out the door he reached out his hand and said, “

Serenity! Please don’t leave!” That is something I will always remember. I was able to witness

young lives being impacted and changed on a moment to moment basis and that’s a unique

experience you won't find anywhere else.

Serenity Martinie
EDU 201
Dr. Celia Isbell