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Mary Kate Bosson

Sherrell

Teaching as a Profession

8 May 2017

Elementary School Observation

For my elementary school observation, I observed Ms. Churchs kindergarten class at

Hardin Valley Elementary. An important factor in her teaching was how she interacted with the

students. Ms. Church was very patient with the students as well as encouraging when they

answered questions incorrectly. She also encouraged creativity in the students by accepting

multiple correct answers to certain questions. I found it important that as the students began

answering questions without raising their hands, Ms. Church reminded the students to be

respectful and didnt accept their answers until they raised their hands. It is important that she

was teaching them respect from a young age.

Ms. Churchs teaching style ranged from teaching the entire class to small groups. For

major things that were of equal importance to each student, such as reading books, writing in

their personal calendars, watching videos, or playing group games, Ms. Church taught the

school all together as a class. However, for both reading and math, Ms. Church taught in small

groups that were each at different difficulty levels. While each group of about six students were

being taught, the rest of the class had stations to go to that related to math or reading as well.

By giving the students tasks to accomplish on their own, Ms. Church was teaching them

responsibility and time management.

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The students of Ms. Churchs class also interacted with each other very respectfully.

Since they were attempting to accomplish tasks without teacher aid at their stations, they

sometimes had questions about the task. However, this confusion did not last long because other

students were eager to help and explain it to them. Therefore, these students had a strong sense of

teamwork when it came to accomplishing their work. The children were also very competitive.

Though they still helped each other when playing games, it was obvious that they enjoyed the

competition aspect of it and wanted to win. However, this competitiveness never caused them to

be disrespectful to each other, which was a very good quality in the students.

Cognitively, the students were very good at reasoning. When the students answered

questions, they were always able to explain why they answered that way and what justified it.

Often, their justification related to something already learned. Therefore, the students were good

at connecting previous learning to current topics. An example of this is when Ms. Church taught

them coin values and they began connecting the coins to the presidents that they had already

learned about. In addition, nearly all of the students understood their work. One child in

particular, however, fully understood the work yet wouldnt write down her answers. It was

interesting to see how an inability to focus can make a student be perceived as unintelligent,

when really they simply struggle to convey their answers to the paper.

Physically, the students had memorized many dances. To signal the start or end of

different activities, Ms. Church would begin a specific dance and the students instantly knew

what it meant. They would repeat the dance and then change what they were working on. In one

instance, Ms. Church let the students freely dance for a minute even when it didnt signal a

change in their work. These dance breaks greatly helped clear the students heads and prevent

restlessness while working.

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Ms. Churchs classroom is a very positive learning environment. It is quite vibrant, with

tons of bear related items and colorful posters on the walls. It is also incredibly engaging. There

were papers related to station activities all over the walls. An example of one of these activities

was when a student was given numbers that matched up to numbers somewhere on the wall.

When they found the number, it had a picture under it. Once the student determined what the

picture was, they would write it down to practice spelling. There were three similar stations that

practiced different skills. Other than these, there were educational posters and bulletin boards on

the walls. At any given time, a student could look up and learn something new.

I could make multiple inferences about the students themselves. It was clear that though

some students were attentive and focused, some fell behind. One student in particular yelled

often, sometimes hit the table with his fists, and couldnt focus on the task at hand. I could infer

that he would need extra help to calm down and focus, so I knew to talk him down when he got

frustrated and explain his tasks clearer to him. Another student was intelligent, but unable to

focus. She would start singing songs or talking about unrelated activities while in her stations, so

I had to infer that she needed help focusing. So, I sat with her and talked her through multiple

questions on her work until she refocused.

Overall, I feel that the most effective characteristic of Ms. Churchs classroom was that

she taught in a way that benefitted every level of learner in the class. Through working in small

groups, the students were able to learn with people of their same ability level. Therefore, less

advanced students did not feel unintelligent and the more advanced were not being held back

from learning beyond some of the other students. Ms. Churchs understanding that students are at

different stages of learning greatly aided the effectiveness of her teaching.