Abstract

The young teacher had her classroom very well structured.  She has the rules on the board and she goes over them and reads them out loud with the students every morning.  This teacher also has the daily schedule written on the board.  I believe structure is extremely important for this age group.  If there is no strict, daily structure then control can be lost very easily.

     She was very motivating and encouraging to the students.  She tried to make sure the students were doing what they should be and tried to get them to behave respectfully.  She is not only motivating but nurturing and caring, which at a young age is immensely important.  In Pre-school you are not just preparing the students for school but for life and the general manners and knowledge that they need to not only be good students but good people.

     She had plenty of discussion time with the students (obviously not much because they would get off topic) and she let them answer some of her questions.   It was also really interesting to me to see how long she waited for her students to respond to her questions.  She did not pressure them to answer quickly or cut them off.  She gave them as much time as they needed to reply.

     She did use her classroom time effectively.  She tried to keep her students on task as best she could and I felt she did a really good job of it, especially considering the age of the children.  She mostly stayed on schedule.  Usually she was slightly late getting done with an activity but I think that is to be expected. 

     I felt she managed her classroom very well.  She has a punishment and reward system.  If the students act out she will tell them to “take a break” which is a time-out in the corner. If they do not have to “take a break” all day then before they go home they get a reward.  She also has a teacher that assists her.  One day the assistant was late so things were a little out of order but she still handled it quite well. 

     I chose to observe Tanglewood Riverside Elementary School.  I know two teachers at that school personally.  I knew that their classrooms to would be a good choice because I know that they are great teachers and I could learn a lot from them.  The first classroom that I observed was a pre-school class and the other classroom was a music class with all grade levels.  I really wanted to observe the pre-school class because it is the grade level I am most interested in but I also thought it would be wise to observe the other class just to see if I like any of the other grade levels.  I spent most of my time in the pre-school room so I will mainly discuss what I observed in that class.

     The school itself was an inside school for the most part.  The classes that had outside hallways were the pre-school classrooms, extracurricular classrooms, and a multi-purpose room.  I also personally know the principal and I think she makes the school a safe environment.  All the entrance doors are locked making you enter through the office.  The school is very colorful and has encouraging posters on the walls of the hallways.

     The pre-school classroom itself was very warm, inviting, and colorful.  When you first walk in there are cubbies for the students to put their book bags away in.  Then in the center of the room there is a colorful rug with different symbols and pictures on it where the students sit during class time.  On the board are the class rules, daily schedule, calendar, weather chart, and pictures of the topic that week.

      The class was made up of three girls and ten boys.  The three girls are regular education students and the ten boys are special needs students.  The class is growing and the teachers look to one of the well behaved regular education students to set an example for the rest of the students. 

She did have effective and well organized planning.  As I mentioned before she has a daily schedule but every week she has a different topic they are talking about.  In the morning when the students come into the classroom they sit down on the carpet where most of the class is held.  The students pick out a book to read or about ten or fifteen minutes.  Usually the teacher will try to read with each student.  Then the students move on to breakfast, centers, and other activities.  The teacher also had rules posted on the board and went over them everyday with the students.  She only had four rules: help other, good listening ears, keep your hands and feet to yourself, and no put downs.  I feel these rules were very appropriate for the age level of the students and I thought that I was good that she only had a few rules.

     I am very grateful for the opportunity to be able to observe.  It is has been very helpful to me so I can make a decision on what grade level I am interesting in teaching.  I really think that I enjoyed the pre-school class the most.  I also was grateful for the opportunity to observe the other class so I could see different grade levels.  When I was in the pre-school class though I just felt comfortable and like I would not mind being with those kids everyday.  I think I would really enjoy teaching pre-school.