Classroom Daily Schedule

Time

Subject Area

Content Covered

8:50-9:15

Welcome work

Review of grammar, English and

math concepts. Varies daily.
Once students have completed
their work, it will be reviewed as
class.

9:15-10:05

English

Grammar and English concepts

reviewed for the upcoming state
assessments.

10:05-10:55

Resource

Students have resource which

changes daily from PE, science,
math, art or music.

11:00-12:30

Reading

Students have one reading

strategy they are working on
each week. A whole group lesson
is taught and students are called
for guided reading groups.

12:30-1:30

Lunch and Recess

1:30-2:10

Writing

Students have word sorts that

must be completed daily and
they have either a writing prompt
for their journal or are working
on a writing project.

2:10-3:40

Math

The Teacher Work Sample Unit

was taught during this block.

3:40-3:46

Pack-up and Dismissal

Maximizing Instructional Time

Instructional time involves the time that students spend involved in academic activities.
Maximizing instructional time is crucial to improving student achievement and student learning.
During my measurement unit, I employed several strategies to maximize instructional time. My
measurement unit was taught during math which was the last subject of the day. The students had a
daily routine in math. Math would begin with movement math and then move on to math races for
three minutes. After the math races, the students would transition into the daily lesson. The procedure
for beginning the subject of math helped the students transition quickly to math and because the routine
was thoroughly established, it took very little time for the students to complete these warm-up
activities. Before beginning math, I would always have all of my instructional materials set aside and in
order of use for teaching math that day. During planning period I would arrange all of my math center
materials or copy worksheets for that day's lesson. Another strategy I used for maximizing instructional
time was keeping a high level of student engagement during math lessons. I used Popsicle sticks for
calling on students and allowed other students to respond with a thumbs up or down to show agreement
and disagreement. I frequently employed techniques such as choral responding, table talk and partner
talk to keep students talking about math and engaged in the lesson.
Instructional time is maximized when students are able to spend as much time as possible
learning. This can only happen if the classroom is well organized and established procedures are in
place. By employing strategies such as active responding, the students are constantly engaged in math
talk or active learning and each student is able to show that they are actively participating. Maximizing
instructional time to me means that each student is able to fully participate in the lesson and with the
strategies mentioned above, instructional time was maximized during each math lesson.

Reflection on Adjusting Instruction

During my unit, I encountered a few instances where I had to adjust the plans I had for that day
to better meet the needs of my students. Sometimes the length of an activity needs to be cut short or
extended based on how well and how quickly the students are grasping the concept. At the beginning of
my measurement unit I had students explore measuring specified items using different nonstandard
units of measurement. My goal of this activity was to give students more exposure to measurement and
the proper way to measure (lining up the first nonstandard measurement tool with the beginning of the
object to be measured). This was also the first activity where students were asked to make an estimate
before measuring.
This activity was set up using stations. The desks in the room were already arranged into four
L shaped teams. To begin, I had one student slide over their desk, to create a square with one extra
desk on the end. I distributed the nonstandard units and the specified items to each team. In this
activity, the students would use paper clips, pom poms, conversation hearts and beans to measure items
such as a textbook, a clipboard, a Popsicle stick and various other classroom items. The students were
to stay in their teams and rotate around the room in a clockwise manner whenever the timer went off.
When the activity began, I walked around the room to observe the students. I saw that students
were using the proper measurement procedures but had to remind several to make their estimate (in
pen) before measuring. In team two, I observed that four of the five members were working together
and not allowing the fifth member of the team to have any beans to measure with or any objects. The
four members of the team were given a consequence in accordance to the classroom management plan
set in place by the classroom teacher (losing points). I ensured that everyone at team two was able to
participate before moving on.
When the time came for the teams to rotate, the transition to the new station went smoothly.
However, when the teams began measuring, there were arguments at some stations and some students
were not working well together. Because I had observed that the students understood correct

measurement procedure I announced that we would be modifying the activity for the day because there
was unacceptable behavior going on at several teams. Half of the class (two teams) would go to two
different sets of desk and complete a worksheet where they had to measure an item with nonstandard
units by counting the units under the object and writing the number in the box. This worksheet was
already made and was a part of the student's measurement workbook. While half of the class was
working independently on worksheets, I assisted two of the teams with estimating and measuring.
When it was time to switch, the team I was working with went to work on the worksheet while the
other two teams came to measure items with me.
This small adjustment was needed to effectively manage the classroom and ensure student
safety. After this adjustment was in effect, the activity ran much more smoothly and the students met
the objective. As a result, I was also able to more closely observe students measuring and assist when
needed. I believe that the attention span of some students affected their ability to cooperate effectively
with their peers. Several of the students in this classroom are very high-level thinkers and catch on
quickly. These students are heterogeneously paired with students that are lower-level to assist them and
to be a model. Although this format works well with direct instruction and talking concepts over with
the group, this activity did not work well with this format. By having a second plan in place and
adjusting the instruction to meet the needs of the class, the students were able to effectively complete
the assignment and meet the learning objective while maintaining the positive and supportive
classroom environment.