Fall 2019

This semester I was lucky enough to observe a bright, energetic fifth grade classroom. The teacher, Ms. “Jazz”, has been teaching at this school for almost eleven years, six of those being in a fifth grade class. Some facts about the school is that 97% of all the students attending are hispanic, 96% of all students are low-income, and 95% are considered English language learners.

Looking at just Ms. Jazz’s classroom, I could easily point out the active participators, jokesters, and the ones who are more on the shy/quiet side. On my first day, I got the chance to work with a student who needed accommodations. While the rest of the class used small chapter books to read Sign of the Beaver, he used a book with enlarged text. I could tell he wasn’t connecting with the text in the same way as the rest of the class. It got to the point where he didn’t even want to open his book. Unfortunately, the class was almost done with the book so it would have been quite a challenge to get him back on track. Luckily, the class is accepting of his learning differences and help catch him up, especially his table group.

I started noticing that the disconnection between him and the material leads to him being a distraction to others when it was time to focus. I understand that students will space out and can get side tracked but he often pulls in other people with him. Perhaps he felt insecure but it was clear to me that because he can’t interact with other students through the material, he’ll try to use jokes or side conversations to connect with his classmates. Although his behaviour can be quite normal, it is important to address it early. Emphasizing that everybody learns differently even though it might not be obvious can really boost a child’s confidence and it can help avoid any behavioural issues. From personal experience, I would have wanted someone to tell me that everyday in the classroom setting so I felt more comfortable to learn in my own way.

Overall, working in a fifth grade classroom this semester was both challenging and a great learning experience. Because the students were much older than what I’m used to, it got overwhelming at times. Although it took me a couple of days to feel comfortable, I’m glad that I finally got there. I would often catch myself comparing teaching styles from teachers I’ve had when I was younger and teachers I’ve observed during lesson studies. One of the main themes that overlaps with all of them is building a sense of community. This looks different in each classroom which is what makes observations so meaningful. Working with one of Ms. Jazz’s students really helped me see how important it is to embrace differences in the classroom every single day so the students don’t forget that no matter how they learn, even if it’s different than everyone else, they deserve to be there.

Fall 2020

For the fall semester, I had the privilege of observing a 4th grade teacher at Coleman Elementary School. At only a couple blocks down the street of Dominican, their students come from many different backgrounds. The school serves around 400 students from grades K-5. Around 50% of their students are on free/reduced lunch and 31% are English Learners.

The class I observed was made up of 22 4th grade students. I would be there from 8:30 am to noon. The day mostly consisted of math time, writing, and social studies, along with many movement breaks that the teacher encouraged her students to take. The opportunities for me to participate and work one on one with students was very limited, but I tried to make the best of my time there.

Remote learning has not been easy for anyone, especially for elementary students. Their learning is best done in person so they get opportunities to get their hands dirty. Unfortunately due to the global pandemic, it is better for their hands to stay extra clean. The teacher I observed "translated" in person learning to remote learning very well. Her students were always engaged and respected the fact that there were many limitations imposed on their learning. One of the teachers main rules was that if a student had technical difficulties, they should immediately leave the meeting and join again. This was a good habit to practice with the students because it would reduce the amount of class time trying to address techical issues.

One issue I saw was the distraction among students to stay focused despite the many movement breaks they had. They were reading "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and I noticed many students begin to slowly slouch, fidget, and stop reading. I'm sure reading a chapter book for a long period of time can be energy-consuming enouch so trying to keep up with the rest of their classmates via Zoom is extra challenging. Another activity they did to compliment "Island of the Blue Dolphins" was color in a map of where different tribes were located. I could not see their final draft of this map, but they were very engaged in sharing their ideas.

Luckily for me, I was given the opportunity to lead a science activity and a math lesson to a small group of students. It was my first time teaching in a real classroom setting and it definitely made me analyze my preparation skills prior to leading a lesson. I learned that there was more that just preparing the lesson but practicing it beforehand as well. I also learned that you really do need to "fake it until you make it" when you're caught in tricky situations. Those skills will come in handy during student teaching.

This semester was different, to say the least. The relationships I created with the students was not the same as past semesters. Learning was clearly limited to all of the students, but adapting became a habit we all had to practice. I learned to communicate more with the teacher in order to make my observation experience better and forced myself to talk to students if they needed help since it didn't happen natrually.