Classroom ObservationProjectBy Jaclyn Johnson-CrossENG 514

Observation

Illini Elementary School

Kindergarten Classroom

ELL Student is Tanisha

Her home country is India

Presentation Overview

1. Demographic Information 2. Lesson Plan Outline 3. Lesson Objectives 4. lesson Content 5. Teacher Adaptations 6. Recommendations

Demographics

Student Ethnicity 54.4% White 33.8% Black 4.6% Hispanic 1.0% Asian 6.2% Multiracial

Student SES & Language Proficient 0.3% Limited English Proficient 33.6% Low-Income

Lesson Outline

1. Circle time - Introduction2. Math Activity3. Story Time4. Good Morning Song5. Recess6. Circle Time – Calendar7. Writer’s Workshop

End of Observation

Lesson Objectives Number recognition and sequential order Listening Comprehension, understanding concepts of

emotions Creating safe environment for social interaction Learn concepts of time

Yesterday, today, tomorrow Days of the week counting the number of school days, predicting sequential

order current month

Lesson Objectives Continued

Recognize themselves as authors and writers Recognize sequence of events within stories Apply sequences of events in writing Understand that print has meaning Develop ability to express ideas and practice oral

communication Social interaction to promote interest in subject

Lesson Content: Circle Time – Intro.

The students begin their class meeting collectivity at the front of the room. They are greeted by the teacher and she reviews the day’s agenda with them. She informs them of any school announcements before explaining the first task.

The teacher presents an example of the worksheet to the students and explains how to complete it. She points with her finger where to cut and paste the numbers.

Lesson Content: Math Activity

Students are released to sit at their desks which are in small group arrangements. They are to cut the boxes of numbers at the bottom of the page off and paste them to the corresponding number of spiders in the picture boxes below. The spider images are relevant to a story read previously in class.

Students are free to help one another complete the task, even though they are encouraged to try it independently first.

Math Activity Continued

Tanisha can verbally recall numbers in their correct sequence, but she has trouble recognizing them. The students assigned to her group are identified as nurturing. They are friendly and periodically look over each others’ papers and point-out corrections.Tanisha is the only student whom the teach checks for accuracy and helps her make corrections.

Lesson Content: Story Time

This is a whole group activity where students listen to a read aloud on the carpet. The name of the book is “Fill a Bucket.” She reviews the cover and reads the author and illustrator to them. The teacher discusses what a physical bucket is with the children to preface the explanation of an emotional bucket. She reads the story and the students respond with ways they can fill “buckets” at school. Tanisha does not volunteer to answer, nor is she called upon.

Lesson Content: Good Morning Song

The good morning song incorporates technology. The teacher plays a catchy tune with lyrics that walks the students through the custom of new introductions. Hand gestures go along with the verse and chorus which is sung three times. The students shake hands with peers during the chorus and must change partners continuously.

Lesson Content: Circle Time – Calendar

Students return from recess to circle time on the carpet. Their routine is to review concepts of time through songs that the students sing. One student is selected to point to various calendars on the wall during the sing-a-longs. There is a “day of the week” song, a “yesterday, today, tomorrow” song, and a “month” song.

Lesson Content: Writer’s Workshop

While the students are sitting together at the end of circle time. The teacher reviews with her students what they have accomplished so far in the writer’s workshop. She grabs her story book and describes the happy memory when she and her daughter went to the movies as the frame of her story. Students have illustrated their story books by creating crayon drawings of their happy memory. There is a drawing for each sequence of event. She flips through her story book to show her drawings and the details . . .

Writer’s Workshop - Modeling

written at the bottom that describe the illustration. Students have already added their details but their first objective is to finish any page that was left incomplete. Next, the teacher grabs a couple of children’s books previously read in class. She points to the cover to give special attention to the title and authorship. She draws specific attention to their locations and models how to write it on the dry-erase white board. She points to herself to explain that she is the author of her book and asks the students to point to the author of their books. Most students know . . .

Writer’s Workshop – Writing Strategy

to point to themselves, including Tanisha. Once students have finished adding their details to each page, their second objective is to write a title and put “By Child’s Name” on the cover. Before they leave, the students participate in a “think-pair-share” strategy. Students think about the story they are writing and one or two words that would describe it for 30 seconds. Then they find a partner to share their stories and possible descriptive words to be their book titles. Students are then released to work independently while the teacher hosts one-on-one conferences with students.

Teacher Adaptations

The adaptations for teaching an ESL student is not present in

this lesson; however, the proficiency of language for native

and non-native students are still in the developmental

stages. The ESL student, as well as, the native students

showed weaknesses in the same areas. What I did observe,

was teacher instruction that incorporated best practices that

help the language acquisition of English Language Learners.

Best Practices for ELL Students

Modeling Math activity (cut and paste numbers) Book cover (authorship)

Tactile Learning Cut and paste numbers (math activity) Calendars posted on wall (counting and pointing)

Social Interaction/Oral Practice Small group (with identified nurturing peers) Think-pair-share strategy Singing (good morning and calendar songs)

Best Practices for ELL students Contin.

Repetitive Practice Daily singing Daily Circle time Daily Read Aloud

Assessment Project based learning (story book) One – on – one conferences

Review student work with feed back Individualized attention and tutoring

My Recommendations

1. Label objects My first recommendation is to further develop the use of

labeling. The classroom has the standard colors and numbers labeled throughout the room, but other objects in daily use should be labeled too, like the desk, door, sink, carpet, and table.

Review concrete and abstract concepts My second recommendation is to add modeling or visual

supports for book talks. The teacher described a physical and emotional bucket, but visual examples or modeling would reinforce the oral explanation such as, a bucket with a label and pictures of abstract ideas like hugging, love, happy, sad, and etc.