Expression: Week 9 at the Learning Academy

I began this week by working with Johnny on his fluency, specifically expression. I used the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and voice cards I found online to create a game for us to play. Johnny and I each read one page of the book in a voice we drew from the deck of cards.

Observations of Student

Morning Work (7:55-8:15 AM)

• We read a book together. I first modeled how to read in a "voice" while reading the text.

• Baby Voice

• Vampire Voice

• Angry Voice

• Sad Voice

• Slow Voice

• Alien Voice

• Etc.

• Johnny read all the pages with the voices used. He had a hard time with the Alien Voice.

• When not focusing on accuracy, Johnny had trouble reading words with automaticity. Overall, he read about 95% of the words accurately.

• The book had been read to him previously.

• He often laughed when I did my voices.

• Asked to do the activity again repeatedly.

Handwriting (8:15-8:30 AM)

• Letters outside of lines

• Forgot to cross "t"s

• He goes through the entire word before going back to erase a particular letter.

• I questioned him on this practice and he replied that it was his way of doing it.

• Ms. Jameson told him not to argue with me

• Rushed through work to complete it since he came in late due to working with me

• Wrote an "l" too small

• Teacher points this out

• Johnny tries to defend that it looks like an "l"

Partner's Lesson (8:35-9:05 AM; 10:05-10:35 AM)

• Stays quiet during the video portion on the carpet

• Partner calls on him randomly & he gets the answer correct

• Partially sitting under a table when on the carpet

• Works quietly at desk during activity

• Asks several questions about activity during individual practice work

Snack (9:05-9:25 AM)

• Played with classmates on carpet today

Interpretation (Student)

Johnny was so excited to work with me today. He was overjoyed when he saw that we got to play a game for our activity. He took to it immediately, too, and was constantly expressing his enthusiasm about the lesson. His accuracy suffered under the pressure of different expression, but he still read the book with the appropriate self-corrections. If this had been a Running Record, I would have said he came out to about a 98% correct accuracy, not including his self-corrections. I was disappointed when he felt rushed during the handwriting and shocked when he became snarky in light of my questioning. I feel that he is highly insecure about his schoolwork; therefore, any probing of his technique sends him into the defensive. Next week, I would like to work with him on his spelling and writing while developing his confidence in his work. This will give him the confidence to describe what he is doing without feeling like he's going to be in trouble.

Observations of Class

Handwriting (8:15-8:30 AM)

• Students work on writing words with same rime or rhyme. (Ex: fate/late, through/thre)

• Must read aloud the letter as they are tracing and writing

• Read aloud whole word after they finish writing the word

• Go to teacher after completion of full page

• Review with teacher any errors or mistakes

Partner's Lesson (8:35-9:05 AM; 10:05-10:35 AM)

• Topic: Main idea

• Quickly move to carpet to watch video on Brain Pop

• Students crawl under table

• Partner must arrange students to see the board

• Three students constantly raise hands to answer questions when prompted

• Partner pauses video to ask students' questions with prompts from video

• Partner pulls sticks to call on students

• Students get answers correct

• Activity: Flip book with main idea and key details

• Students require constant help to understand the activity

• Johnny doesn't understand how to gain main idea or what to write under the flip book

• Partner helps him for a few minutes

Snack (9:05-9:25 AM)

• Students immediately come and tell me what they did for Halloween once snack starts

• Still need constant reminders during snack to keep voices down

• When getting in line, students are loud and have to be reminded to be silent

Interpretation (Class)

The class works hard during their work. They know that they are expected to do their best and nothing else will be tolerated. However, I believe that their dedication to excellent work leaves little focus towards their attitude in the classroom. The class can be scatterbrained and needs constant reminders throughout the day to keep themselves in check. They don't seem to enjoy when my partner or I teach lessons in the classroom because it's different than what they are used to. The flip book is something they have likely not encountered before and had to learn today along with learnng a new lesson. It drained them. In my observation, I saw a few students who were shutting down because they weren't getting, but a few students were also getting it in a snap. This shows the differention within the classroom even within the students considered struggling in the mainstream classroom.

Observations of Teacher

• I didn't notice her using the "How's My Day Going" consequence system a lot except for today.

• Two students lost "minutes" during snack

• Whole class lost two minutes during line-up for specials

• Sits behind desk to work on papers while students do morning work and during Partner's lesson

• When students bring their work to her, she looks it over to give critiques.

• Gives a student specific praise about the improvement in his handwriting

• Shows me the difference between the beginning of the year and the current day's work

• During partner's lesson, Ms. Jameson would stop the lesson to correct a student's response if it was impolite or incorrect.

• She addressed the whole class about me and my partner helping the class after Johnny becomes upset when I question his technique.

• Students respond with "Yes, ma'am" immediately after Ms. Jameson asking them if they understand

Interpretation (Teacher)

Ms. Jameson expects a lot from her students; that has never changed. She wants them to strive to be professional and polite within the classroom. However, I feel that she can become distracted and students will take advantage of her distraction. Her classroom management could use a little work, but her atmosphere within the classroom is one of constant growth. I love the way she encourages the students to push their limits during their schoolwork. This is a feeling I hope to replicate in my own classroom one day.

#observation #week9 #DRI #LA2