Boulevard Elementary School in Shaker Heights is where I
spent my ten hours observing. Shaker
Heights is an IB school. Instead of
pulling gifted students from the class, an IB teacher comes into the class to
assist. I spent my time with Mrs.
Fagan's third grade class. I really
enjoyed my stay and observing just confirmed that third grade is the grade I
would like to teach. On my first day of
observation, I stayed six hours. Staying
start to finish allowed me to really see what life is like for a third grade
teacher.
The first thing that Mrs. Fagan and I did in the morning was
go outside to greet all 23 of her students.
They were standing in a single-file line. One by one, Mrs. Fagan shook each students'
hand and said hello. Some of the
students hugged her. One student in line
looked really upset. She noticed it
instantly and, concerned, pulled him to the side to talk to him.
Once Mrs. Fagan and I brought the students to the classroom,
the kids instantly knew what to do. They
put their backpacks, lunches and coats away in the coatroom, handed their
homework in, put their books away in the proper bins and sat at their desk and
read in silence until they were given the next steps. The books they read were books of their
choice. Mrs. Fagan has been teaching for
a little over ten years. Her classroom
is organized and well structured. She
times everything- each lesson, each assignment. There were countdowns for everything, especially when she wanted the
students back at their desk.
She has a poster board for class jobs, such as: line leader and ender,
book organizer, paper passer, floor cleaner, messengers and library books. Mrs. Fagan has many rules in her classroom,
but still likes to joke around with her students. She always addressed her students as, "friends." Some of the rules were putting their pencils
down when she talks. If another student
is speaking, all hands must be down. It is
obvious that she is well respected in her classroom. There are sticks with each student’s name on
it that Mrs. Fagan uses, to determine which student she will call on next.
Behavior coupons kept the students organized, quiet and on their best behavior. If Mrs. Fagan noticed this behavior, the student could put their name on a coupon, which gets thrown into a bucket. Every two weeks names are drawn to have lunch with her. The more coupons the student has, the better the chances they have at winning lunch with the teacher. While Mrs. Fagan’s students were at lunch and recess, I sat with another teacher, who was having lunch with a few of her students. This teacher also utilizes the behavior coupons in her class. There was a chapter about finding allies. Mrs. Fagan and this teacher are friends and supporters of each other.
Behavior coupons kept the students organized, quiet and on their best behavior. If Mrs. Fagan noticed this behavior, the student could put their name on a coupon, which gets thrown into a bucket. Every two weeks names are drawn to have lunch with her. The more coupons the student has, the better the chances they have at winning lunch with the teacher. While Mrs. Fagan’s students were at lunch and recess, I sat with another teacher, who was having lunch with a few of her students. This teacher also utilizes the behavior coupons in her class. There was a chapter about finding allies. Mrs. Fagan and this teacher are friends and supporters of each other.
Mrs. Fagan taught all subjects: social studies, language art
and math. All of the subjects were
integrated together. While I was there,
the students completed an eight-minute math test, with dividers to prevent
cheating. I think tests are okay to see
where a student is doing well and where a student needs more work, but I do not
think it should be graded. Mrs. Fagan
went over a lesson on addition, subtraction and multiplication. The students would solve problems with a
variety of strategies, including: writing a number sentence, using counter
chips and drawing a picture. The
students would be called on to go to the board and explain how they got the
answer they did. Whiteboards and markers
were used to solve the problems.
Next, the students worked in small groups on the
laptops. The students looked up
historical figures, such as: Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank, Albert Einstein,
Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller, Pei Lei, Cleopatra and Bill Clinton. They researched characteristics and what made
these people leaders. The students
completed a worksheet and filled out the figure’s attributes. The solar system, presidents on coins and
trees in the amazon are just some of the other topics of worksheets the
students had worked on.
The kids had recess and lunch. Later, the students had library time. Each student got to pick a couple of books to
take home and read. The librarian talked
to the students about books and an author, Candace Fleming, who will be coming
to Boulevard in April. I got to know a lot of the students by spending the entire day with them.
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