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Johanna Hernandez

ECE 251 Section 3001

Prof. Gray

Observation: Group Time Evaluation

1. Name of school: Somerset Academy Losee Campus Telephone

number: 702-826-4373 Name of Teacher: Ms. Jensen Age/Grade Level: 5-6

years old/ 1st grade

2. Beginning and ending time of group time: Begin: 11:53am End: 12:21pm

3. Number of adults: 1 Number of children: 6

4. Nature of group time: During group time, the teacher echo reads with the children as they

read each word in the books given to them by the teacher and then read the entire

sentence. Then sounds out each word to know what sounds each word does. Children

then point to each word as they read in their books and read/echo what the teacher reads.

The teacher then gave highlighters to the children in the group to highlight certain words

in their given books. The teacher then asked the children to write out words that had the

“ch” in words they could come up with on a white board they were given along with dry

erase markers.

5. How appropriate are these activity(ies)? These activities are appropriate as the group of

children learn how certain words sounds and to learn new words with the letters “ch” in

them.
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6. How long was the group time? Is this appropriate for the age of the children? Group time

was approximately 32 minutes long. This was an appropriate time for the children as they

learned different words that had the “ch” letters in them and asked the teacher questions

when they were having trouble on certain pages in their books.

7. How appropriate was the space used for group time? The space used for group time was

well spaced out. The group were at the back of the class at a half round table as it gave

them a bit more space to work separately from the rest of the class as they were at their

centers.

8. How did they teacher bring the children together and begin group time? The teacher told

everyone to get to their centers and the group as they returned from lunch/recess time,

then waited for everyone to have settled in their places and proceeded to tell the group

that they will begin echo reading. As they all were handed books and “witch fingers” so

they could point at each word in their books as the teacher read each word then sentence

with them.

9. What percentage of the time were the children actively vs passively involved in the group

time? The children were half active and half passive in learning while in group time as

they read, listened, asked, repeated and thought while working in their books with the

teacher.

10. How did the children react to the group time? The children reacted calmly and paid

attention to everything said from the teacher. There were no negative behaviors from the

children in the group.

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11. What evidence of flexibility, on the part of the teacher, did you observe while she was

conducting the group time? The teacher was focused on her group while also

watching/keeping an eye on the rest of the class (and also taking away “house point” if

some of the children were not doing their work at their centers).

12. Was there any individualization to accommodate special needs of children during the

group time? This addresses both children with special needs and the typically developing

child who is exhibiting a need that the other children are not. The children in group time

were treated as a group and individual when needed help or asked questions about a word

in their books. The children repeated each word pronounced by the teacher first.

13. Did one gender tend to engage in inappropriate behaviors more than another gender

during group time? None of the children in group time engaged in any inappropriate

behavior during group time.

14. Describe inappropriate behaviors that occurred during group time and the behavior

management techniques the teacher uses. No inappropriate behavior was present during

group time with any of the children.

15. Describe how the teacher ended group time. The teacher ended group time by asking the

children to clean up their space where they sat at the group table, then proceeded to ask

everyone to go ahead and stand in front of the class on the learning mat so they could do

their daily sing along to an educational video about counting math as that was a transition

to math.

16. What activity followed group time? Is this appropriate? The activity that followed group

time was a math counting sing along video on the mat. The children would be standing
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all scattered at the front of the class as they moved around and sang along to the

educational math counting video the teacher had set up via projector that was pointing at

the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

Evaluation: An overall evaluation of this group time was that the teacher developed fine

social and an emotional environment for the children during group time. The teacher would

interact with the children as if they were her friends. Talking with the children than about them.

“Teachers who are tuned in to children’s needs, moods, interests, and abilities.” (DAP, pg. 265)

Reading, repeating(echo reading), pronouncing, and writing are ways of authentic activities that

the teacher used when in group time with the children. A process of learning while in group time

would be that the teacher took her time with each child as they repeated every word she would

say to them and asked them if they could find another word with the similar letters in them. The

teacher was patient with all six children when in group time as she waited for them to finish

writing their words on their white boards. An appropriate interaction with children would be how

the teacher would look at each child and asked them the same question and wait for each of them

to answer her back as she made eye contact with all of them and praised them afterwards with a

“good job!” and “that’s right!” Some routines and pace of activity of the group time was that the

teacher would wait until all of the children in the group had been seated in their chairs and had

everything they needed to start group time and waited for the rest of the class to have had gone to

their centers and to be working quietly. The routine was daily except for Friday’s as it is mostly

for testing days. The pace of the activity was at a regular not fast or slow paced for the children

to understand and to learn about the letters “ch” in words they were to learn that day.
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Observation: Powerful Interaction

Date: 11-7-17 School: Somerset Academy Losee Campus Teacher: Ms. Jensen Age of

Child: 6-7 years old

Time: Begin: 12:48pm End: 12:50pm

Setting: In the classroom, a little ways off so the other children won’t listen on to their

conversation. Male, 6-7 years old, 1 adult present, 1 child present as the rest were at their seats

doing math book work. The classroom bustled with children counting and working at their

assigned tables as they lightly talked to each other.

Interaction: The teacher asked the child why they won’t listen/pay attention to her when

everyone is at the learning mat doing math equations together. And why he didn’t answer with

the rest of the class when asked what the answer might be on the board. This child mumbled out

words to the teacher because he didn’t want the rest of the class to hear him as the teacher then

asked him to please pay attention and to participate next time as she sent him off to his table to

work on the pages they were given to work on at their tables.

PI Characteristics: Some PI Characteristics that were present within the interaction were how the

teacher showed interest and how the child would then after speaking with the teacher would put

the energy to actually participate in class along with the other children in class. The teacher

would adjust her tone of voice towards the class vs one child alone from the rest. The teacher

would talk with the child instead of talking about him. The teacher would listen attentively to the

child along with talking to them in private, off to the side from the rest of the class.

Improvement: An improvement for the powerful interaction between the teacher and the child is

for the teacher to have taken the child outside of the classroom to speak so that the child wouldn't
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of felt shy or embarrassed when talking to the teacher when the other children were near and

could possibly hear their conversation. Other than that, the teacher handled the interaction well,

talked to the child in a stern, but calm voice and listened to everything the child said and kept eye

contact with him during the interaction.