Jenna Sorsen

ELED 454
Prof. Anderson
26 October 2016
Observation Report of Ms. Deelstras Colony Classroom
As stated in my first observation for ELED 459, this classroom is somewhat of a blank
slate for me. I have encountered English-speaking students and ELL students before in the
classroom but that was in a public and also a private school. I have never encountered ELL
students in, not to put it lightly, a completely different society. In my first initial observations, I
am sure that I appeared just as wide-eyed and curious as they were we were both experiencing
someone that lives so close, yet someone who is from an entirely different culture. My goal for
next time is to engage with the students more. Behind that engaging, however, I will be widely
soaking in all that the children will lend to me about their culture.
Bringing the focus back to my initial observation, the standard Ms. Deelstra taught
around was once again CC.6.R.I.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. The same objective would be, I can find
evidence in the text that supports my inferences.
The teacher first had the students read through and answer their Scholastic Reader
comprehension questions independently. To gauge their understanding, she placed the questions
throughout the room as well, to which below, the students would place their answers. Those who
got the answers right were drawn from a cup at random to win a piece of candy. She would then
ask all of them what page and where they found the answers in the text.

Ms. Deelstra has very high expectations of her students, especially in regards to their
behavior in the classroom. Even though she manages her classroom closely, student interaction is
highly prevalent and encouraged in her classroom the older students often help the younger
ones. Even though this takes place, Ms. Deelstra steers the classroom as the ultimate facilitator of
learning in her classroom.
There are primarily transitional and fluent readers in Ms. Deelstras classroom. One 3rd
grade student did not know what a certain word meant in his independent reading book. When
the student came up to Ms. Deelstras desk, she asked the student to see if he could figure out
what it means by reading the sentences around the word. I noticed that this is a strategy when
working on vocabulary with transitional students. (page 154, Guided Reading, Jan Richardson).
One thing I noticed during this lesson that I want to take back to my future classroom is
the use of kinesthetic learning its as simple as placing questions around the room to allow the
students to at least get up, walk around and interact with each other.
In conclusion, I am terrible at condensing things into one page.