Linda Tavares

Classroom Observation Assignment

by Linda Lavinder Tavares April 9, 2009

Lesson #1 Teacher: Karen Ferruzza, Media Specialist School: Arthur Middleton Elementary Date: March 19, 2009 Objective: The students will conduct a research experiment on the internet in order to determine the safeness and reliability of internet resources. Technology: Student desktop computer in a media-lab setting and Smart Board

Lesson #2 Teacher: Shirley Turner, 1st grade School: Arthur Middleton Date: April 1, 2009 Objective: The students will utilize Smart Board technology in order to practice the grammar skill of recognizing pronouns. Technology: Smart Board

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The use of technology is highly motivational to students and is an effective tool for the advancement of student learning. Using computers encourages teachers to provide lessons that are both stimulating and engaging. Students can see and hear information while actively taking part in constructing knowledge. For this assignment, I visited the classrooms of two teachers in my elementary school, Mrs. Karen Ferruzza and Mrs. Shirley Turner. I chose to observe these two teachers because they are known throughout my school for using technology consistently with their students and I wanted to gauge how effective I felt their lessons were in relation to student learning. I used certain criteria and checked them off as I observed each lesson. These are the four indicators: a) student engagement in the lesson, b) evidence of student understanding and learning, c) student interaction with technology, d) the extent to which I felt the objectives were met. Lesson #1 Mrs. Ferruzza assigned each student a computer in the schools mini-lab. Three students were asked to partner together and share one computer. I believe having access to technology in this way fosters student interest. The students were reminded that the computer is not only used for playing fun games but people conduct solid research using the internet. She also explained the code of conduct booklet that parents signed guaranteeing they would use the computer in a safe way. This means they are not to surf the internet but to follow along with the teacher. The Smart Board was set up in view of the students and computers were on and ready when they arrived. The students were asked to focus their attention on the teacher while she was using the Smart Board. Mrs. Ferruzza introduced the lesson by asking students how many different ways they could gather information about a person if we wanted to conduct research in order to write a biography or to learn more about them. Ideas were brainstormed, for instance, reading a book or
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using a computer and a website like Google Search or Wikipedia. Mrs. Ferruzza explained that they always need to be sure they are using reliable resources. She asked, In order to find information about someone should you use a biography written by a third grader last year? The students replied that this was not a reliable source of information because a third grader might not write all the facts. The students were told they were going to conduct research on Christopher Columbus. They were asked to use their computers and click on the Media start page on their desktops and then on Library Links which was previously organized to display choices such as Groliers Encyclopedia, United Streaming, Tumble Books, Culture Grams, and more. Because Mrs. Ferruzza used the Smart Board, this gave students the opportunity to make sure they were in the right place on their computers. The students were asked to click on Groliers Encyclopedia (Grolier.com). It was explained that this is a trustworthy site where they can find reliable information about Christopher Columbus. They were asked to search Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia only and not to surf the internet. Mrs. Ferrruzza reminded them when we surf the internet we might come across some information that is not appropriate for a third grade student and may not be safe. The teachers Smart board had the same Groliers website displayed. Students were asked to follow the teachers Smart Board display in conjunction with using their own computer. Having the same image on the Smart Board was very helpful to the students and provided a sense of security because they knew they were performing correct operations. They typed Christopher Columbus in the search window and clicked go. The teacher walked around to make sure each typed in the correct information. The students were reminded to refer to the Smart Board, to stay with the teacher and follow her directions.

Linda Tavares

When a student complained that she could not read the small type, the teacher showed her how to enlarge the type size on her screen. This is an example of differentiation because a far sighted student could have her needs accommodated in this manner. The students were asked to read about Christopher Columbus. After a reasonable amount of reading time, the students were asked various questions about Christopher Columbus and they were able to answer them from the reading. Mrs. Ferruzza created a short list of information and saved it on the Smart Board to use for comparison later in the lesson. Questions were answered and listed about when and where he was born, his wifes name, his sons name and the name of his three ships. Next, they were asked again to conduct research on Christopher Columbus but this time using a website that Mrs. Feruzza found using a Google search (allaboutexplorers.com). Back on the Media Start page they clicked the button that said All About Explorers. They followed her example shown on the Smart Board and were successful finding Christopher Columbus under the title Everything you ever wanted to know about explorers. This site was filled with unreliable information. The students were asked to read and answer the same questions about Christopher Columbus. The information was deemed unrealistic and events impossible and the students realized this immediately. For instance, Mrs. Ferruzza asked, When does it say he was born? A student answered, He was born in 1951 and he set sail in 1942. Many students giggled out loud, recognizing the absurdity of the statement. Mrs. Ferruzza added, If this were true, he would still be alive today, and the information doesnt make sense. Then she asked, Where was he born? A student answered, Sydney, Australia. Is this information correct? A student answered, No, he was born in Spain. We know he was born in Spain. The teacher pulled up the list of information created earlier. Students were asked to underline information on the Smart board that is not correct by comparing the reliable source of information to the
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unreliable one. Students were asked to find and underline more incorrect information and record the correct information on the Smart Board. As they approached the Smart Board, the students seemed confident, even empowered. Some examples of what they found and changed were: Columbus used a desktop computer and watched info-mercials. She asked, Was this website reliable? The students decided the website all about explorers was not reliable. Mrs. Ferruzza explained, It is best not to go to Google to begin research because you never know if the information you might find is safe and reliable and this website was found using a Google search. The students were given a book mark that contained reliable, safe websites they may use for research. They were also shown a list of databases they may use on the school computers for conducting research. In this way, Mrs. Ferruzza provided additional support for her lesson. The students were asked to write ideas on the Smart board inside magnifying glasses template, about how to stay safe on the computer while finding reliable information. The teacher used animated dice found in the Smart Board tools. She clicked on the dice which had the students names instead of numbers. She rolled the dice to choose who would write next on the magnifying glasses. This animation seemed thrilling to the students and they couldnt wait until it was their turn to add an idea to the board. All students had a chance to contribute an idea. Some examples of their ideas to stay safe on the internet and find reliable information were:
No web surfing, No you tube, No My Space, dont give any personal information like phone numbers or addresses, use only the school list of databases to conduct research, use only reliable resources, dont use Google to find information, do not give your I.D. or username or password, dont give your email address online, if you see something icky tell a parent or trusted adult, dont click on pop up ads, dont download, and dont chat with others.

I feel this activity displayed proof of learning. As they finished writing, they were asked to choose a library book to check out. I found Mrs. Ferruzzas lesson to be most informative. She provided wonderful concrete examples of how the information found on websites can be unreliable and unsafe. She
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demonstrated to the students the importance of using reliable resources when conducting research and how important it is to remain safe when using the internet. The students were fully engaged throughout the lesson and were eager to write their ideas and demonstrate their understanding on the Smart board and the objectives were fully met. The students enjoyed researching on the internet and seemed genuinely surprised to learn that not all information was factual and reliable. One student even thanked Mrs. Ferruzza for giving him the book mark because, as he said, Now I can be safe. Lesson #2 The students were gathered to sit on the floor in front of the Smart board as Mrs. Turner explained that pronouns are words that take the place of a noun. The teacher began her lesson by showing a Power Point presentation on pronouns (pppst.com). She paused during the presentation to underline subject nouns and pronouns. Next, she showed a video segment on pronouns. The students watched a video from the animated series School House Rock that was imbedded as a flash file on the power point presentation (Youtube.com). Then they were

shown a Power Point presentation on pronouns using the Smart Board (pppst.com). Mrs. Turner paused during the presentation to explain that other pronouns take the place of naming words and she said, Raise your hand if you know what pronoun could be used to take the place of this noun in this sentence. A sentence was displayed on the board and the subject noun was underlined. The sentence was: Mrs. Turner said to raise your hand. One student said you could change Mrs. Turner to she. Mrs. Turner asked, Whos talking? Mrs. Turner is talking and student answered. What is the pronoun I can use when I am talking about myself? She writes on the board as a student answers, You could say I instead of Mrs. Turner said raise your hand.

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It would be: I said raise your hand. This is one example where I saw proof of understanding in her lesson. While slides are displayed, Mrs. Turner wrote on the smart board over top of the slide presentation. She wrote, Give your paper to Mrs. Turner. She then asked a student to come to the board and replace the subject noun with a pronoun. She wrote Give your paper to me. She repeated this activity with this sentence: Give your paper to Rachel. A student changed the sentence to: Give your paper to her and said, It wouldnt make sense if you said she, give you paper to she. Mrs. Turner asked, What if I said: give your paper to Rachel and Justin. How would I replace the noun? A student answered, You would say: give your paper to them. While working with the students, I noticed the teacher had a row of icons placed along the left side of the Smart board. By dragging them to the center of the board, she could interchange her resources. So during the lesson, she was able to access a rich variety of tools to use for her lesson. Mrs. Turner then displayed a video on the Smart board which was a classroom about pronouns from United Streaming called The Royal Principality of Pronouns (United Learning). The video taught about the seven pronouns that take the place of nouns. The teacher asked, Why do we have pronouns? A student answered, So we dont have to say the persons name over and over again. Mrs. Turner paused to explain how to write pronouns. In your writing you need to use your noun first, then you can use your pronoun. Mrs. Turner then displayed a practice book sheet concerning pronouns. The students were asked to come up to the Smart Board and fill in the blank in the sentences using a pronoun. They did so successfully. As they wrote, the teacher explained, The first sentence has the noun to show who we are talking about. Then, the noun is replaced with pronouns to make our writing less boring and more interesting.

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Using the Smart board, the nouns were highlighted on the practice page and the students correctly replaced them with pronouns. Lastly, Mrs. Turner used a graphic organizer she had created using the Smart board tools feature. Using the Smart board, the students were invited to move pronouns to take the place of a noun. They took turns categorizing subject nouns and pronouns on a graphic organizer by moving the words from the bottom of the page to the correct column. Mrs. Turners use of technology with this pronouns lesson left me inspired and with a sense of awe. I was amazed at how she switched from one medium to another using the Smart Board. She used a Power Point presentation, a United Streaming video, a video from Schoolhouse Rock, a scanned practice book page and a Smart Board interactive graphic organizerall within the context of one lesson. In my own classroom, I have been using one resource or another but never all of them during the same lesson. I learned valuable information from her about how to better use my own Smart Board. She shared with me how I could access the Smart Board notebook on my home computer in order to create lessons from home. Mrs.Turners lesson was rich and inviting for the students and throughout the lesson I witnessed examples of proof of learning. I feel the high level of student interaction with the Smart Board left the students with a thorough understanding of pronouns and allowed Mrs. Turner to meet the objectives. The use of technology in both lessons was instrumental in the advancement of student learning. The students were intrinsically motivated and engaged and it is my belief that using technology can play a prominent role in the advancement of student learning.

Linda Tavares

References_____________________________________________________________________ Aungst, G. (2009). All about explorers. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www.allaboutexplorers.com/ Burgess, J. (2009) Petes power point station: pick a pronoun. Retrieved April 1, 2009 from http://languagearts.pppst.com/pronouns.html Grolier. (2009) Retrieved March 19, 2009 from http://go.grolier.com

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The royal principality of pronouns. (n.d.) Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.unitedlearning.com You tube: Schoolhouse Rock, Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOaty7FpwMI

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