Caitlyn Ashby

11/19/2014
ELED 3111
Dr. Danny Smith

Observation summery
Windsor Park elementary school is a title one school located about twenty
minutes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus in the CharlotteMecklenburg County. In a suburban area a majority of the population consists of
Hispanics with a minority of Caucasians, Asians, African Americans and other.
From the 2010-2011 school report ninety-three percent of students fell under the
category of economically disadvantaged students. Staff consists of 47 classroom
teachers, one principal, one assistant principal, 5.5 English as a second language
teacher, one speech pathologist, 1.5 exceptional children teachers, three academic
facilitators, one counselor, and thirty-two other support staff. The school teaches
students from pre-k to fifth grade. (CMS)
There are approximately 940 students attending Windsor Park. They use
inclusive practices in their classrooms to meet the needs of the ESL students.
Classrooms are equipped with three computers, as well as monitored internet access.
The second through fifth grade classrooms have smart boards. There are also 32
Internet accessible computers in our lab, and ten computers in our media center Is
what is stated on their website and seems to be true. But what you dont know is
that one of the three computers in the room is the teachers or at least it is for the
classroom I observed.
My observation classroom consisted of 19 first grade students, one teacher,
and one aid that helped out in other classrooms as well. The technology that was
present in the classroom consisted of a projector and three computers. With
minimal technology the teacher strived in using all of the components given to her
to their full potential. Everyday she has a power point that lays out the days
instruction and includes lessons for the day. In the morning she has a slide up that
reminds students of the date and the morning procedure, which consists of: come in,
put backpack away, glue spelling test in homework journal, and their morning
activity. Of course this is just the Friday schedule because that was the only day I
was able to observe however everyday she changes the instruction to fit the needs
of the day.
During math the slide show consisted of a slide that had a number equation
on it for example four plus three equals seven. The students would look at the
equation and use their strategies to figure out if the statement was true or false.
Another thing they do in math is take a double-digit number for example sixty-four
and they have to write it in extended form. There are six groups of tens and four
ones left over would be written in the next column. Then six tens is sixty plus four
ones equals sixty-four.
The next step in the day is math centers with two or three children in each
center. Center one is the computers where they play an educational math program
called Starfall dream box that reminded me of reader rabbit from when I was
growing up. Each student has their own profile and they can customize their
character. Then the character goes from place to place doing math activities such as

putting numbers in order from least to greatest in order to get points. With points
you unlock new activities and can buy things at the store.
Center two is grab a handful the instructions are to grab a handful of cubes
and put them on the ground in front of you then group them in groups of ten by
placing ten single cubes in a plastic cup provided. Each set of ten gets its own cup.
Then on a whiteboard you write down the number of groups of tens and next to it
you write the number of left overs and it gives you the total number of cues you
grabbed in a handful. This works on being able to make large numbers without
counting all the way from one up to the number they have.
Center three consists of cards with pictures on them. Each picture has a
number of dots on it grouped in different ways. The objective of this center is to
place the card under one of the numbers zero through six without counting each
individual dot. So a group of two and a group of two would go under four. The
students help each other by taking turns and making sure the other doesnt just
count the dots but actually challenges their math skills. This works on visually
recognizing groups of numbers.
Center four is like grab a handful from center one but instead of cubes there
are buttons of different colors and sizes. A student is instructed to grab a handful of
buttons and place them on the ground in front of them. Then they must sort the
buttons into groups by size and color then on a white board they record their data
and start again. This works on their sorting and pairing skills.
There are more centers but they all basically work on the same skill sets.
Building number recognition, being able to add and subtract, and sorting. These are
great for kinesthetic students who need to touch things to learn. All of the
instructions on how to do the games are in print, but are also accompanied by a
picture of a student in their classroom participating in the activity. This is very
helpful for ELL students. Also makes it personal and gives the student a sense of
pride thinking, look thats me doing showing people how to do this center.
Then it is readers workshop time. Each student has their book basket filled
with books that are at their level. When they meet on the carpet the teacher talks
about something that will end up being their objective. For example once she talked
about asking questions before, during, and after reading. We discussed I wonder
questions and then the class was given a small work sheet that they were to
complete while they were reading the book. They had to write three questions
before they started reading, one question every two pages, and then three questions
after they were done reading.
After reading they do specials, lunch and recess. When all of that is over they
come back and work on writing. This is when I taught my lesson on adjectives for
the class. They learn about different kinds of writings and how to write. Often ELL
students write the way they talk and because they dont completely understand
English they dont see what is wrong with the way they talk. They tend to use
prepositions wrong. Instead of saying in they might say on or the opposite they
might mean put your coat on the chair but instead they write put the coat in the
chair. The teacher showed them the mistake they were making by illustrating what
they were writing versus what they wanted to say and I could tell by looking at them
some of them really understood the difference being made.

Once they are done sitting on the carpet the students become writers and
they work on writing books. One week I was in there they were writing how to
books. First the teacher reads an example to them next she shows them how to
come up with an idea by writing down the steps on a separate paper. Then the
students write their first draft and illustrate it. She helps them revise it twice. Then
they are ready to publish which is done with no help or scaffolding. They have to do
this in pen, which means they cannot erase mistakes and they have to take their
time. When a mistake does happen they are told to cross it out with one line and not
to scribble it out. Each process is done on a separate day so that they can take their
time and do a good job with a lesson taught to help remind them every day of things
that good writers do.
The last thing they do for the day is mix with other classrooms to work on
science or social studies. One week I was in there and they were learning about
forces and they read the story of the three little pigs. Their project was to take a
classroom product and make a house out of it. Some students were assigned things
such as pencils, tin foil, Popsicle sticks and other random materials. They then took a
blow dryer and tested to see it the house they made was a balanced force. If it was
the wind wouldnt be able to knock it over but if it was not it would be blown
down. Most of the students had created a pretty sound structure that held up
against the wind. One of the students who made his house out of toilet paper rolls
even commented that his stayed up because of the way he positioned the tubes so
that the wind would blow through them not against them. This was a great hands-on
activity that taught the children about forces of gravity and wind. It also taught them
about balanced and unbalanced forces in a way that they could understand and it
was higher up on blooms taxonomy because they were not just applying their
knowledge but they were also analyzing it.
Transitions are done very well in my opinion. She sets a timer for every
activity so as to stay on task. When the timer goes off and time is up she sings a song
that all of the students know means we are about to be given instructions on the
next thing hands up hands up way up high listen and ill tell you why. Then
students put their hands in the air and become quiet so as to listen to the teacher.
One thing I really liked that the teacher did was her behavior chart. All of the
clips start in the middle at the beginning of the day. Throughout the day the
students are given the chance to move up not once but twice. Also they are able to
fall three spaces. The top tier says role model and I really like that not only is she
saying a student is being good but also the student is showing others how to act.
When walking through the hallways before and after lunch and for specials for
example students who are quiet and showing a good example with lips and hips
are able to move their clip up. It is their responsibility to move the clip the teacher
does not remind them when they go back into the classroom.
When you look around the classroom there are many visual cues. Reminders
are posted on the walls of strategies for how to write and be good writers. There are
also large post its on the wall showing math strategies and reading strategies for the
students. This to me is a little much. They are too clustered together for me and they
are not as organized as I would like for it to be. The same is with the students
binders and notebooks. They are simply composition books that the students have

glued papers in. This also bothers me because it is so messy and looks very thrown
together.
The organization of the classroom I would change entirely if it were possible.
There are computer cords and wires everywhere and there is so much more space
that could be utilized if only the teacher were able to get rid of some of the things
she has. Her desk for example she doesnt use it she uses the center table where the
computer is or the back table where students meet for small reading groups. When
she teaches at the board there is hardly any room to stand or move.
Positives of the room include that she has all of the students desks placed in
pods of four or five which is a good idea for the grade level being taught. The carpet
in the center of the front is a perfect position to see the board. The word wall it
towards the front next to the board and the computer is behind the children so that
it is not distracting.
Things about the technology in general in the classroom were minimal. There
was no remote control for the PowerPoint or the projector in general. So every time
the teacher or I went to change a slide you had to walk through the students in
order to hit the button on the computer. Or you could teach behind the students but
I prefer to teach in front of the students so I can judge by their faces if they are
understanding or not. They need to put in a grant to get the younger grades smart
boards just like they have for second through fifth grade. I believe that it would be
more beneficial for the younger grades to have a smart board in every classroom.
There is so much technology to be utilized the teachers need to be able to use.
Overall the clinical experience was an eye opening one. I have never worked
with so many English language learners in one classroom before. My clinical teacher
is a phenomenal teacher and I took many great notes from her. One in particular is
the way she scaffolds for an autistic child who was added into the class late. She
made him visual cues for everything. Including a schedule where he flips the picture
when he is complete and a paper with pictures on it to communicate with him that
she wears around her neck. She is patient and fortunately has a very well behaved
class.