Environmental
My demonstration teaching is at an Elementary Theme School; “A” Elementary School. Located on one of the busiest street in Pink County, this school is placed surprising inside (not next to) the “A” subdivision. Its address is 123 Orange Way, Purple City, Georgia.
According to the Pink County’s website, “A”Theme Schoolis an elementary school within a community, which attracts students from neighboring schools by offering a comprehensive, interdisciplinary educational program in a highly structured setting. The Theme school receives students from schools that may have space constraints. Elementary schools in the immediate community with greatest need of such relief will be feeder schools to the elementary Theme schools.” This Theme School is different from regular public schools because firstly school uniforms are mandatory which eliminates the fashion fest and dress-up attitudes and more focus on learning. Secondly parents have to sign a contract to volunteer for sixteen hours in a school year. Because parents are so involved, behavioral problems are minimal and a teacher can quickly get a student back on task and learning with one phone call to parents whom are very supportive.
From the first introductions of the students, I can tell that my host teacher is very involved with the students after school activities. I was very impressed when she asked many of the boys what team they were playing on this year whether it was basketball, baseball or football. It was the same for the girls as she asked what softball or cheerleading team they were on. This showed she was keeping up with their activities, not to mention the boost that question gave the students to show off and talk about their sports abilities.
The school has 53 classrooms in 95,022 square feet of space. It has a computer lab, a library media center, an art room, music room, a cafeteria, stage and two outdoor learning areas. These facilities make for great learning as students expand their knowledge in various areas.
The demographics of the school population is representative of the community in which it is domiciled; 97% Blacks. The school statistics below shows a staggering 51% of people living in this zip code (00000) 25 years and over has a college degree. With the GA state average of only 21% shows me that the citizens in this Pink County district care about education. With this kind of educational care comes parents who want to see their kids succeed therefore the value is passed on and students are focused on learning. This focus could be seen in this district fantastic GreatSchools Ratings of 9 out of 10. GreatSchools Ratings are based on a comparison of test results for all schools in the state. This rating shows that both teachers and students are portraying an excellent learning environment.
Classroom Characteristics
This 3rd grade class has 11 boys and 13 girls all of which are black students; zero documented learning disabilities. Initially the students are seated into two groups; each student facing another student. Students are placed into further smaller groups for reading and regrouping will be necessary based on student improvement. There are many leveled books, a listening area, reading carpet, computer corner and math corner with many games and manipulatives.
In math groups students are placed in groups of four usually two high, one medium and one low learner. In this way the weak student can have ample peer tutoring and other students to look up and to follow their example.
Sometimes students are placed in two groups (boys against girls) and compete against each other in a variety of objective related games. Students are made aware of sportsmanlike behavior and must encourage and not discourage all students at all times.
There are a total of six (undocumented) low students. These students are given special attention such as making sure they are always on task and not way on a limb being frustrated, giving more time to finish their assignment and also more thinking time to answer questions.
My host teacher uses many songs and chants as instructional techniques such as:
These songs and chants help all students especially the LDs because they participate and not sit in class not knowing and scared they might give an incorrect answer.
“A” Theme School is very parent involved. I took the opportunity to go the curriculum night/open house and I was absolutely amazed at the volume of parents that attended. Parents came into the classrooms looking for their children’s work while asking how they were doing and to volunteer their time to the school.
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) organization is very vigilant and has many fund raising activities. Some of these funds are distributed to teachers to purchase much needed supplies for their classrooms. During the first week of school there was an assembly to get the students geared up for their first fund raising activity; selling cookies, chocolate and gift wraps. Students will receive prizes based on the amount of items they sell. When I entered the cafeteria with the 3rd grade class and my host teacher, I could not believe my eyes as there were over 900 students singing (Who Let the Dogs Out) at the top of their voices and dancing in their seats. I was equally amazed when the School’s Principal took the stage and raised her hand and counted 5, 4, 3, she did not even get to 2 and there was total silence. My host teacher told me that this is one of the major ways PTA raises money for classroom development for teachers.
The classroom has a Promethean board along with three computers for students use. The walls contain many manipulatives such as a cursive alphabet with upper and lower case letters, types of writing; Autobiography, Biography, Informational etc, Geometric Shapes. There are many cupboards and cubbies for book bags and books. The students’ daily schedule below is placed on each student desk for easy access and so they can follow along with the day’s procedures.
The students were tested during the first week of school to determine reading levels. There are 6 students that are not reading at the intended level. Because of their development needs, these students are put into a special small group for guided reading and comprehension.
All the students (100%) in this classroom are black, two of which are new to the school. One student came from a small city in Georgia and the other came from New York. Because the classroom are all Americans there is no need for ESL involvement and therefore all students are present for all day scheduled instruction.
Although learning requires individual cognitive and emotional development, it is necessary for teachers to keep students motivationally upbeat. One way to do this is by evaluating students’ interests as this will give better understanding of how to design instruction.
Some students in the class behave more maturely than others, although they are all about the same age (eight year olds), and even though some are challenged in reading comprehension because of development rate they all seem to retain information when instruction is given through singing and dancing.
Students come into the classroom with different experiences. These issues can arise from physical (hunger and fatigue), psychological (different ways in which students learn), social (communication with others), or socioeconomic (low-income families, different culture etc.). An effective teacher needs to know her students various backgrounds in order to use the best possible strategies to make a student learn.
Students must develop mastery at the necessary learning goals for their levels. They learn this by comprehension and acquiring the skills in order to apply what they have learned.
This 3rd grade class responds well to a routine and rigid schedule. A miniature schedule has been placed on each student’s desk which helps them to be on task and ready for the next lesson.
With the limitless technology integration in this school these students are used to learning this way and are motivated with its use. I would definitely plan my lessons and instructional goals by including some form of technology. For example I would gather games to include into my lesson plans from sites such as brain pop, mathmagician and wartgames.com that would define and hit a specific goal or objective. Lessons would begin by reviewing so as to build on previous classes with specific attention being placed on LD students to avoid frustration and provide clarity.
The Promethean Board provides the A avenue for this 3rd grade class’s maximum learning potential and most importantly they enjoy and look forward for these types of learning activities. Students will listen to various short stories, explanations and questions and answers and be called upon individually or with a partner (peer sharing) to answer on the Promethean Board. This will provide adequate assessment during the week with a graded paper/pencil multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank questions worksheet at the end the week. After, graded papers will be checked thoroughly and grave errors will be corrected with each student to clear misunderstandings and for clarity.
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