Sarah Moore
The classroom I observed was the first grade class of Mrs. Wunderlin at Winchell Elementary School. The student’s desks were arranged into groups of six. I believe that the student’s desks were arranged into groups to promote social interaction, which builds a community for the students. When the students sit in groups it is easier for them to work as a team. The classroom also consisted of a reading area, which had a variety of books. There were picture books and chapter books that covered low, average and advanced reading levels. In the back corner of the room there was a math area. The math area had several containers of manipulative objects that students could use to solve mathematical problems such as rods and cubes. Along the back wall of the classroom were two computers. Above the computers were photographs of the students and above each photograph were a drawing of a self-portrait created by that student. This is a great activity to use at the beginning of the year that helps students get to know the names and faces of their classmates. I really enjoyed looking at them and will do this activity in the future.
At the front of the classroom was the teacher’s desk next to the board. Beside the teacher’s desk was a word wall. Word walls are excellent tools to use in the classroom. On the board Mrs. Wunderlin had the daily schedule which was reading, spelling, lunch/activity, story time, math, music, social studies, and ending with science. Also on the board were a class number grid and a clock to learn how to tell time. Next to the board was a bulletin board that had a calendar on it. All these items are essential to have in a first grade classroom.
It did seem that students shared ownership in the classroom. They are allowed to have water bottles on their desks and a “toolbox” as the teacher referred to it, which was a small plastic container that the students put their writing utensils in. Besides from allowing students to have items on their desks during class time, students didn’t have to ask to use the restroom, they just get up even when the teacher is talking. The students also had a “respect” guide that was located on the wall so they can always refer to it. The “respect” guide is, for every letter in the word respect stood for a word that students should follow in the classroom. The letter “R” for responsibility, “E” for effort, “S” for solving problems, “P” for perseverance, “E” for empathy, “C” for confidence, and “T” for teamwork. I loved this idea and will add it to my list of things to have in my classroom.
When observing Mrs. Wunderlin, I could tell that she has been teaching for many years because she is really good at what she does. It was clear that she set up a very strong community because students seemed to be pretty obedient to her commands for being so early into the year and students seemed very comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. The role of Mrs. Wunderlin was to guide students, ask them questions, and have them repeat her motions and words. She also told students to sit tall in their desks with “feet on floor and hands on wood” before they started their reading activities. She pointed out and used other students as examples of how they should be sitting. The student’s role was to follow the teacher’s instruction. They seemed to have respect for one another and were eager to answer questions and express their ideas. Overall I believe that the teacher input is about equal to the student input because it is a very give and take relationship in the classroom.
When I walked into the classroom Mrs. Wunderlin was busy taking attendance, but it wasn’t the normal way for taking attendance. When students arrive to the classroom first thing in the morning they were responsible to put their name card, which is in the shape of a bus under “hot lunch” or “cold lunch” that lets the teacher know what they are eating for lunch. Also, it is how Mrs. Wunderlin takes attendance. This is a very time effective tool to use in the classroom. While Mrs. Wunderlin was getting things ready for the day, students were working at their desks. Students prepared for class by doing relaxing activities such as working with blocks or coloring pictures in their take home journal. On the board was a list entitled “Our Workshop” that listed different projects students could work on if they finished their assignments early or to basically keep them busy.
The reading lesson started with the review of letter sounds. Mrs. Wunderlin showed cards with the letters of the alphabet on them to the students and would say the sound that letter makes. Then she would ask the students as a class to repeat the sound. Some of the letters sounded different from when I learned them because they are teaching letter sounds to students with just the consonant sound. There is no vowel carrying. Isolating the consonant prevents excess sound, which is easier for students that are learning to read words, and the sounds of words. The scientific reasoning behind this way of teaching phonics is the backbone of the program “Mastery Reading” which is used in this first grade classroom.
The lesson continued by sounding out words that when put together make up a new work for example, hamburger. Mrs. Wunderlin would say the words separately and then ask the students as a class to put the words together and say it fast. This activity helps with word development. She persisted by reading a poem that involved hand motions. The poem integrated some math. Integrating subjects into reading and writing is an effect way for teaching students as we have learned during the semester. After the poem Mrs. Wunderlin began an activity that focused on the letter “A.” She wrote six words on the board that all had the letter “E” as their second letter.
The students were then asked to go to the board and change the letter “E” to an “A” and say the word as a class. The students were selected to go to the board by a student that had the job to draw names from a basket. Mrs. Wunderlin said that she uses this system for mostly every activity where students participate. The only problem that I saw with this activity was it only engages the number of students with the number of examples. Since there were only six examples not everyone got to partake. I believe that each student needs to have the opportunity to participate or they will feel less important and become unmotivated to learn.
Mrs. Wunderlin said that this is a problem so that is why she uses other instructional material not required in the curriculum. The next activity she continued with departed from the “Harcourt” program that is used in the classroom. She handed out a picture book to every student entitled “The Chick and the Duckling.” The students first read the book independently then had the opportunity to read in partners using one of three methods. The three methods were dual logging, alternating every page, or echoing each other. When the students were finished reading in partners Mrs. Wunderlin asked questions about the story eventually calling on each student making them find and reread the answer to their question. This technique is an assessment tool for the teacher to understand the student’s comprehension of the story. The lesson ended with Mrs. Wunderlin calling on three students, one to be the reader and the other two to use puppets to reenact the story.
The conclusions that I have reached from my observation is that it’s extremely important to establish a strong community at the beginning of the year so students are willing to share ideas and feel comfortable in their learning environment. Also, students must have a respect for the teacher and each other. You can have this in your classroom by creating classroom rules and setting certain goals or expectations for your students. My expectations from this observation were fulfilled which were to learn more to better me as a teacher. I love being in the classroom and Mrs. Wunderlin’s class was very welcoming. She even allowed me to be a partner for a student during the reading lesson. The only thing that surprised me was how she allowed students to use the restroom without asking even when she was talking. I would allow my students to use the restroom without asking but not when I am teaching. It was also good to see how Mrs. Wunderlin took things into her own hands by adding to the curriculum because she felt it didn’t cover all the things that students need academically. It was also interesting to see some of the tools in the reading and writing workshop that I have learned about being used in the classroom such as the word wall. The only thing that concerned me was she had one autistic student in her classroom that seemed to disrupt students a lot. As a future educator, I feel it is important for special education students to be part of a normal classroom environment, but when students with special needs tend to distract others in the classroom which can effect their learning that is when it is a problem and they need to be in a special education program for at least half of the day. Overall, I got a lot of good ideas as I stated that I plan to use in the future in my classroom.