Abstract

The following report will examine all of the elements of a Kindergarten classroom that I observed will in Mrs. Weinrich’s class. I will discuss the environment, the school, the student’s participation, and the teacher’s overall effectiveness. I will then talk about how much the experience had an impact on my aspiration to teach.

Teacher Observation Report

Part I: Observation

            For my teacher observation, I chose to go back to my roots and observe in a classroom at my former elementary school, Tropic Isles Elementary in North Fort Myers, Florida. The school as a whole is rather large and has around 600 kids and over 30 teachers thus creating a stable student-to-teacher ratio. Since my area of interest is elementary education, I chose to observe a Kindergarten classroom.

            All of my observation hours were spent observing Mrs. Amanda Weinrich’s Kindergarten classroom. After walking into the classroom, you immediately feel welcome. On the floor is a doormat full of color. The rug says welcome and makes you feel just that. On the walls there are tons and tons of pictures encouraging learning. There are pictures of colors, shapes, letters, animals, numbers, objects and much more. There are pictures of animals at desks and animals writing and reading. This is supposed to provide a fun twist on learning for the students. I also noticed that there was a schedule on the board showing the allocated time for each subject (Sadker, 2008) and a calendar with the current and previous days dates flipped over. Also on the board is a “discipline tracker” as she calls it. It consisted of 3 plates; one red, one yellow, and one green. This will be explained later. The room was also divided into 5 spaces: the teacher’s desk, the student’s desks, the computer station, the “imagination station”, and the reading corner. Overall, the classroom environment was very homey.

            I have chosen to discuss two of Mrs. Weinrich’s lessons that combined, covered a two hour interval. She started the class every morning with her reading lesson. Mrs. Weinrich walked over to her rocking chair, sat down and called the kids over and told them to all sit “crisscross-applesauce” or what was referred to as “Indian Style” in my day. After every child was seated with their hands in their lap, Mrs. Weinrich began explaining what story she would be reading to the class that morning. As she read, she used group alerting (Sadker, 2008) by periodically asking the students questions pertaining to the character or words in the story. Such as “which words rhyme in this sentence?” or  “what is the feeling word?” This made the engaged time (Sadker, 2008) with the students last longer since they knew they would be asked to answer.

 After the reading lesson, she would then tell the kids to disperse into their groups and tell them what stations to go to. Mrs. Weinrich later explained that the kids were ability grouped (Sadker, 2008) based on their scores from a test given at the beginning of the year. This way, she knew she would have to work longer with a certain group or not as long with another based on how much they previously knew. The kids then either went to the computer station, the teacher’s aide, the leap-pad station, or to work with Mrs. Weinrich. At each station the children worked on word identification, reading, phonics and spelling. The children who needed help more worked with Mrs. Weinrich longer on worksheets and activities while the others worked at their various stations.

While Mrs. Weinrich was teaching the individual groups, I noticed how often she would have to take time away from her teaching to discipline the other kids. It seemed almost ridiculous how often she would have to stop to make sure nobody was talking, being disruptive, or not doing their work. I felt sad upset for those kids who wanted to learn but couldn’t because Mrs. Weinrich was playing policeman. This showed me how much time really goes into non-instructional activities (Sadker, 2008).  If any of the disruptions ever got out of control beyond a warning, then she would use the “discipline tracker”. She would move a clothespin with the students name from green to yellow. This meant that that student didn’t get a sticker at the end of the day. Although this seems petty to an adult, that sticker meant the world to the child and the student’s behavior automatically improved. I had to praise Mrs. Weinrich on this. I thought it was an innovative way of teaching the student’s good behavior through a reward system.

The school environment was very clean and well maintained. When I left the Fifth grade in 2000, the school was newly built and in pristine condition. Eight years later, it is still in excellent shape and has no signs of vandalism, gum on the ground, or stains on the carpet. The bathrooms both in the hallways and in the classrooms were also spotless. Any visitor would feel comfortable using the facilities and would not be reminded of how many 5-10 year olds use them as well. Every room and sidewalk was handicap accessible and everything was quite easy to get into for the students. From what I saw just by walking by, it appeared that there were at least five computers in every classroom. There was also a computer lab that had twenty to thirty computers and a few computers in the library. The school as a whole and each individual classroom seemed technologically up to date and made sure to incorporate the use of a computer in their learning. The school seems to be quickly expanding to accommodate incoming students as there as just been a new two story building added in the back for additional classrooms. The staff and students alike seem to really enjoy the school and the environment around them. There is no better place to learn than somewhere you are comfortable.

Part II: Reflection

            I believe that overall, this was a great experience. I honestly could not have been happier with how well my observation of Mrs. Weinrich’s classroom went. I would strongly recommend her to any interested student looking for somewhere to learn the ways of teaching. Not only was she strong academically, but you could tell she had an intense passion for making sure each and every one of her students learned at least something in class every day. Not only was she strong, but patient as well. Having fifteen kids running around a room cannot be easy for anyone, yet she handled it with grace and poise.

            I picked up so many teaching methods while observing Mrs. Weinrich. I loved how she had little note cards with each student’s name and would flip from card to card after each question, giving every student a chance to participate and ensuring participation. She also had a different student every morning lead the morning exercise. She later explained that this was to wake the kids up and get their blood going in preparation for learning. I thought this was a unique and clever way to get the kids active and ready for their day ahead. So many of the things Mrs. Weinrich did in her classroom showed her enthusiasm to teach.

            I loved the environment of Tropic Isles. As I walked down the hallways, whether coming or leaving, a member of the staff always smiled or said good morning, and meant it. The students had smiles on their faces and it was clear that they loved coming to school every morning. I hope to one day teach in a school very similar to Tropic Isles.

            This experience has truly opened my eyes and made me realize that teaching really is what I would like to do for the rest of my life. To see children finally have something click in their heads or smile when you tell them they answered the question correctly makes all the hard times worth it. Although I’m sure it will be a lot of work, I have no doubt in my mind that molding young minds is the right path for me.