Observation 2 fun and planning

February 23rd was our second observation day. This day the students convened in the cafeteria to watch a movie to award good behavior. They also had an award ceremony for students who had shown large improvements. It was refreshing to see not only how excited the children were that won the award but also to see how excited their peers were for them. It definitely proved the importance of acknowledging students when they are doing well and they joy they can get from a small gesture such as a paper certificate or even a sticker. It made me want to go out and purchase a bunch of stickers with apples and stars on them in advance to give to the children when they performed exceptionally in my classroom in the future. I also enjoyed watching the Magic School Bus movie the teachers had picked out for the students. It reminded me a lot of my experience in elementary school reading the books and watching the movies. It was even more amusing to me now because I realized that there were a number of celebrities that did the voices for the show such as Lily Tomlin and Malcolm Jamal Warner.
Despite the fact the students were there on good behavior there was some acting up during the film, which is a reminder that constant vigilance is needed when you are a teacher.

After the students left my partner and I began to plan what we would be teaching for out unit. Mrs. S told us that we would be teaching the 5 regions of Virginia. Geography never struck me as an extremely interesting topic to learn, so I thought it would be a good challenge to find interesting ways to teach it to her students. I don't want them to sit there in boredom as they memorize facts like I had to when I was in school. Mrs. S gave us some basic materials so we would know what they are expected to know and sent us on our way.

First Observation

The first observation I did took place on Wed February 21st. It was an interesting first day for me because unlike other students who were returning to a familiar class I was starting fresh with a new class at a new school. I had previously been in a fourth grade class at Greenbrier and now I would be observing Mrs. S' fourth grade class at Greer. Though they were on the same grade level it was a much different class. The previously class I had observed was run very strictly and required the students to be in their seats at all times and allowed for little talking. This method produced order, but I felt as though it may have taken away from the fun of learning for the students. Mrs. S' class is run much more loosely. She allows the children to sit in table clusters as opposed to the rows in the previous classroom I was placed in. The students seem to enjoy being in the class and doing their work much more because they are free to talk quietly in their groups as long as they stay focused and on task. This allows the students to build their understanding through discussion of what they are learning. I was also surprised that even though the class was run much more freely than the other class there were no more discipline problems. This taught me that if you have the respect of the students and they understand what is expected of them you can give them more leeway. Overall, this first day of observation gave me a two contrasting views of the classroom and gave me a better idea of how I would like my classroom to function in the future.