The focus of the observation is behavior management. Have a opening paragraph. These questions have to be answered within the paper. Summarize experience in closing paragraph
How was the classroom set up? The children had 5 tables in center of room teacher desk on wall facing tables computer station on one wall with 4 computers and interactive white board, reading station with books on adjacent wall. Opposite teacher desk was dry erase board with rugs in front for children to sit.
Where in the classroom are the students during observation time? Since observation was done in an 8 hr increment I saw the children in various locations through the course of observation. While doing lessons on dry erase board or interactive white board children were sitting on the rugs, during lunch they sit at the tables center of room and ate lunch at their assigned tables, during reading they did a rotation with some children at the teacher desk reading, some children with the student teacher reading, some children working at the computers on reading games, and the remainder of the children on the rugs playing games. In addition to the classroom I also got to observe them in PE where the children worked in groups of 4 to 5 with throwing and catching a ball, and observed them in music class where they sung different songs about Halloween and individually took turns singing just a small part of something.
Where is the teacher? The teacher when instructing children while sitting on rugs either stood in front of dry erase board or sit in a rocking chair in front of the rugs, she was always near the children.
Are the students actively engaged, working silently, working in groups? The children were very actively engaged, during observation I was able to see them actively engaged in the curriculum while working in groups.
Is there a behavior management plan in place? If so, can you tell by observation what it is? The teacher had a clothespin behavior management plan each child started out on a clear day with clothespin, if the student did something wrong they would have to move their clothespin on the line but did have the opportunity to move it off the line throughout the course of the day, but if the clothespin was on the line when it was recess time each child whose clothespin was on the line had to sit out for a few minutes and the teacher talked with them about the particular behavior that had caused this and why the student should not do this and would ask for feedback from each student while tying in the school rules motto when explaining to them why this behavior is inappropriate behavior. Then after discussing with them the reason why and getting feedback from the child on the behavior they were allowed to go play with the rest of the class. The clothespin if it stayed on clear day they got a sticker if they got a sticker each day at the end of week they could get a treasure out of the treasure box. The teacher also has a smiley face and frown face on dry erase board throughout the course of the day she would reward the class by putting a line underneath smiley face or frown face for example if the class was engaged and following rules during math, or reading, or show in tell she would say class I like how you responded and were respectful to others during that assignment and put on mark under smiley face. With this system at the end of week on Friday if class had more marks under smiley face they got extra recess time.
Are their rules posted? If so how many? Yes the class and school have 3 rules which are also their motto. Be respectful, be responsible and be ready.
Describe any non-compliant behaviors. How did teacher respond? With the clothespin system she would discuss with each child why they should not do the behavior and reinforce what she was saying by discussing the school rules and motto while asking for feedback from the child. The teacher addressed any non-compliant behavior immediately and was very structured and kind with her responses to the student. If she were in the middle of a lesson she would quietly bend down and address a particular student individually and whisper or talk very silently to the student about the behavior. There was only one non-compliant boy in entire class and teacher explained to me he really didn’t disrupt the class but wanted to sit away from the children. So while I observed the class if they were on the rugs this student would sit in the very back of class away from everyone. He would engage and answer questions but he would sometimes do odd movements with hands and arms for example twist his arms in awkward positions and shake one hand very fast. The student would also do the same when put in small groups would sit back and distance himself from the others in his group.