Observation Reflections

Observation 1 - My First impression

               I have never observed in an ESL classroom before but because I am so far along in my education, I was not nervous to go into the classroom. It was unlike any experience I have ever been in before and I really enjoyed it. I was in Miss.Paul's afternoon ESL classroom at Kistler Elementary. She is a young teacher so I was even more relaxed when I entered. (I felt like we had a lot more in common) She was very welcoming and I think I will enjoy my experience at Kistler even more because she is such a nice person.

              She introduced me to the class and had all of the ESL students say "Good morning Miss.Hughes." The first afternoon class I observed in consisted of nine students. These students are originally from Bangladesh, Africa, Uruguay (Twin boys) and the Dominican Republic. The students in this classroom are in fourth and fifth grade. I also observed in an afternoon classroom which consisted of four kindergarten boys. Two of these boys have only been at Kistler for one week.

              Today the first group of afternoon students worked on 'personification' to prepare them for the PSSA testing. Miss Paul made it known to the students that the material they were going over in class would most definitly appear on their PSSA's so it is extremely important for them to pay attention and learn the material. Miss. Paul read parts of the work sheet and asked for other students to volunteer to read other sections. At first the students worked by themselves to complete a few multiple choice question and finished the latter portion of the worksheet in pairs, which they loved. Students read in English and speak in English in this class unless they are having extreme difficulties with something.

            After these students completed their work packets they were able to utulize the classroom iPad's to play educational games. The students look forward to free time where they can use the classroom technology and I believe that it is a part of the reason that they stay focused during her lessons. The only issues I noticed were with one student who called out frequently and could not sit in his seat and be still.

Observation 2 - Class Environment

               In the afternoon on 3/12, I worked with the kindergarten students to complete a spelling and number packet. I worked with two students and we completed two worksheets. One sheet was recognizing the numbers 2,4,6,8 and spelling it out (ex: _i x) The next sheet was recognizing pictures and spelling them out. (ex: pic of a boat .. _oat) While I was working with the students, Miss Paul was doing DIBELS progroess monitoring with the other students.

              Miss Paul's classroom is set up very similar to other classrooms I have been in. There is a word wall along side of the chalk board that has the spanish alphabet from A-Z with pictures of words that begin with each letter. The students can interactively manipulate the pictures and remove them from the board if they choose to do so. There is a rewards and consequences systemin here classroom and they get 'earn' and 'return' cards. If they behave, they earn a card and can get a reward. The class rules are posted on the wall in the front of the classroom for all of the students to clearly see and next to the rules ia classroom noise level chart. Miss Paul moves the marker up and down depending upon the type of work they are doing. For example, if they are working independently, the marker is on quiet; if they are working in pairs, the marker is on whisper. These are good reminders of the behaviors that students are expected to follow in class. Also, there is a chart with all of the students birthdays. Months, days, weather and colors are all posted in the classroom as well in English. I kind of found this interesting because I thought the students could still use their Spanish to help them with English but everything in the classroom is written in only English.

                 Miss Paul's classroom has more technology than I have ever seen in an elementary classroom. (Actually, probably any classroom) Her room has a television, a teacher computer, a teacher iPad, an eNote board (smart board), 15 student laptops and 10 student iPads. I was very impressed with the arrangement of Miss Paul's classroom and I bet she is very thankful for the technology in her classroom as she uses it on a regular basis.

                I cannot wait to go back on Thursday!

Observation 3 – Behavior/Culture

            The culture in this classroom is extremely varied. The students are from Bangladesh, Africa, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic. Almost all of the students have only lived in the United States for 1-3 years and the majority of them came to the United States with no English proficiency.

             Students in Miss Paul’s classroom are mainly well behaved, with the exception of a few students who talk out and have a difficult time focusing. These students for the most part sit quietly and raise their hands to answer unless they are called upon. The teachers in this classroom make connections to their student’s backgrounds by asking them in-depth questions if they are studying a broad topic. Transitioning is often a difficult thing for young students to do and students in Miss Paul’s class have a very difficult time transitioning. If Miss Paul turns around to get a new worksheet or a book, her students immediately think they can get off task and do something else. However, I give Miss Paul a lot of credit. For being a second year teachers, I think she does an excellent job with these students. Although the majority of the students in this classroom are on task and sit quietly, some of them seem to not care too much about being in the classroom.

            The communication between these students is fairly good. They ask each other for help if they are confused and a lot of the assignments in class are done in groups, or pairs. Miss Paul has a way to formatively assess students in her class when they are working by themselves. Students are encouraged to turn their papers over if they are working and they get confused or stuck on a problem. Also, the classroom has two aides that I think help a lot with the communication in the class.

            The student I am observing in an ESL and Mainstream classroom is a fourth grade girl named Mastura. She came to the United States from Bangladesh two years ago and entered the second grade speaking no English at all. I was informed that Mastura is now taking all of the PSSA’s including reading, writing, science and math. Miss Paul said she is a strong math student but struggles in reading and writing. Mastura has almost no knowledge of scientific topics and Miss Paul is afraid she will struggle through the science PSSA’s; especially because she has a difficult time reading.

Observation 4 – Making content comprehensible

            Miss Paul implies a variety of strategies to make information more comprehensible for students. She asks students to sound out words that they get stuck on, always. She encourages them to correct their mistakes on their own. Student’s work alone to complete questions and Miss Paul walks around the class at all times and observes her students to formatively assess their understanding. A rule of thumb in the classroom is to skip a question if you do not know how to answer is and Miss Paul is busy, so that they do not waste time being confused.

            “Try first and raise your hand” is a statement that Miss Paul makes a lot. Her students sometimes give up instantly and she reassures them that they can complete the work on their own. She reads aloud for students and also calls on them to read paragraphs and simple things like instructions. Another way to make sure students understand content is through grouping. Miss Paul groups students according to their level of academic proficiency. She puts students who are higher achieving together so that they can work with each other to come up with strong, well-thought out responses. Struggling students get paired close to Miss Paul and she works individually with those groups. If students are speaking in casual or formal conversations, Miss Paul corrects errors in their punctuation if they make any.

            Miss Paul has many supplemental materials in the class that integrate language and content such as dictionaries, laptops where students can type stories to share with the class, iPads where they can utilize Spanish and English applications that focus on spelling and literacy activities,  (they also play math games even though Miss Paul does not teach them math), smart boards, text books as resources, two female aides that work with students one-on-one and work packets that students can take home to further practice ideas taught in class.

Observation 5 – Strategies for literacy

            Miss Paul implements many strategies to promote literacy. She gives students in her classroom choices. She asks who would like to read and she does not force any of her students to read out loud. Some of the students in the class have a difficult time reading on a fourth grade level and some can read on a sixth grade level. The major English deficiency I see in her class is that her students have a hard time pronouncing words on their own.  She passes out a lot of worksheets that entail reading, either on their own or in groups. When working on worksheets, she encourages the students to read everything on the page, from directions to name to date, everything.

            She encourages students to read alone and then they will read together. Students can choose whether they want to read aloud or silently. Miss Paul uses textbooks as a resource in her class and not as the end all be all. Sometimes, if they have free time, Miss Paul will have students open their textbooks and read aloud or silently just to practice their reading skills. She also introduces new vocabulary terms when she is starting a new topic. The students go over vocabulary for numerous days and if there is still confusion, she goes into further description and practice for struggling students.

Miss Paul includes illustrations and graphs to aid comprehension and make the information more relevant to students. All of her work is written at an appropriate reading level. She provides explicit instruction when introducing vocabulary. She asks open ended and open minded questions and they involve the students to think and further explore a text in topic. She also focuses a lot on alphabet knowledge by using her word wall and stresses the importance of phonemic awareness and stresses parts of words and syntax.

_{Observation 6 – Strategies for spelling}

           _{My student Mastura goes to spelling with Mrs.Southern after ESL with Miss Paul so I observed in her class while she was teaching spelling.  Mrs. S asks students interpretive questions like who, what and when during her spelling instruction. The lesson I observed her teaching was changing ‘y’ to ‘I’ and adding ‘es.’ She was also teaching past, present and future. One thing I noticed about both of these classrooms is the excessive use of worksheets. Both Miss Paul and Mrs. Southern use worksheet after worksheet to instruct their students.}

            _{Miss S had students answer questions in a packed on verb conjugations and then had them volunteer to come to the board to write their answer. After everyone had a chance to go to the board, they reviewed them aloud as a class. If students had confusion or questions, Mrs S was able to clarify their misunderstandings by giving them examples that related to their lives. My student, Mastura was confused with the verb ‘to dry.’ The sentence she had to change was Louis dry himself off when he gets out of the pool. Mastura changed the sentence to “Louis dryes himself off when he gets out of the pool.” Mrs. S was able to clarify the misunderstanding for Mastura by showing her on the board “dry” becomes “dries” and she used her little brother in an example and Mastura seemed to be able to relate more and understand the verb conjugation more.}

             _{One thing I really liked about Mrs. S instruction was that she did a lot of alphabet reiteration and had students read paragraphs in their textbooks and spell out important words that they had a difficult time spelling. She gave the students extra practice pages to complete and even more worksheets to complete for homework. I feel like too many worksheets do not result in actual learning. Especially when most of the worksheets given to elementary students are more wrote material and rational material.}

_{Observation 7 – Teacher Questioning}

                 

            _{Miss Paul and Mrs. S used open-ended questions a lot in their classrooms. Even if they were working on something that had multiple- choice answers, they made their students explain their rationale for choosing those answers. I think their questioning had a lot to do with their personality. They asked questions in their normal tone, which is light hearted and kind, and their voice made the students not be discouraged from answering. Also, I noticed that a lot of students that are in ESL do not like to volunteer or answer questions in their mainstream classroom. They seem a bit hesitant about responding and I am not sure if it is the language barrier or if it is something to do with their peers.}

         _{I think that the students in Miss Paul’s class are not afraid to volunteer. She makes it clear to them that they should not hesitate to volunteer, answer questions or ask for help. She walks around the room the entire day and makes sure that she is observing and checking students for comprehension and it is a type of formative assessment that also allows her to help students who need the extra assistance.}

         _{Both teachers encourage their students to respond to questions in a way that reflects their personality and their ideas. All students are able to respond and give their reasoning without being cut off or feeling as if their answer does not matter. I think the small class sixe in Miss Paul’s ESL class contributes to the way she gets to question her students. She has more time and fewer students to focus on.}

_{Observation 8 – Assessment}

                  _{I did not observe any assessment in the ESL classroom during the duration of my field experiences. All the ESL students had to take the Wiedow test to check for English language proficiency. They concluded these tests the week before I began my observations. After the Wiedow testing, the students immediately jumped into the PSSA’s for writing. Miss Paul explained to me that she was not going to give any tests or quizzes to the students during this time because it is a lot for them to focus on and often, her students are overwhelmed if they know they have multiple tests coming up.}

                  _{She did however tell me that she uses a lot of state referenced tests to assess the students when she has to, based on the fact that they are ESL students. After the writing PSSA’s, they begin the science PSSA’s so I was not able to see any type of summative assessment take place in the ESL classroom.}

                  _{As for formative assessment, the students are constantly being observed during group work and when they are working through assignments on their own. She gains feedback from students using a ‘thumbs up and thumbs down’ strategy where they put their thumbs up if they comprehend the material or put their thumbs down if they do not understand the material. I think this helps a lot and it is an easy way to formatively assess the students.}

                  _{In the afternoon on my first day of observation, the Kindergarten students were given the DIBELS tests to check for performance. I worked with students individually while Miss Paul administered the DIBELS tests individually. The test was a alphabet recognition test and word knowledge.}

                  <sub>I observed a spelling test given to the students in the mainstream classroom. The test consisted of 20 spelling words that the students had to spell. The teacher gave a packet of sentences and without a word bank, the students had to fill in the blank in the sentences by spelling the word correctly. Mastura needed help twice with this test and Mrs. S was able to help her out easily by just reading the sentences aloud to her so she was able to hear and see the sentences and use her knowledge of context clues to figure out the answer. There were other students who needed even more help than Mastura so I do not believe that she struggled with this test because she is an ESL student.

Observation 9 - ELL Teacher's role</sub>

            Miss Paul interacts with her students with her students in an up-beat, light hearted way all of the time. Her students are most engaged and excited about learning when they are utilizing the technology in the classroom. She constantly interacts with her students and asks them questions about what they are learning. She walks around the classroom the entire time the students are working in groups or individually. She is always available to answer questions and clear up and confusion her students may have. Her students understand that if they behave and listen during her lessons, they will have a chance to work with a partner to complete assignments or get a head start on their homework.
           Mastura has a good relationship with Miss. Paul and I think it is because she is a sweet girl and is a hard working student. She never talks out of line and she never has to be told to pay attention, listen or focus. The respect factor between Miss. Paul and Mastura is an obvious one. 

          Effective ESL teachers provide the cultural bridge for students between their native culture and the new cultural experience. Miss. Paul does a good job at bridging this gap and as the ESL teacher, she demonstrates the similarities and the differences between the students cultures. Although the majority of them have the same customs, beliefs and traditions, some students are from Bangladesh and Africa which is different from the students from the Dominican Republic. Students learn faster, and with less effort, when the brain has references for learning. I think Miss Paul does an excellent job at preparing her instruction techniques and understands how to use these learning bridges to combine modern culture, images, music, literature and customs between the various language groups represented in her classroom.

<sub>Observation 10 - Compare and Contrast 

       For my first observation I was nervous and I had no idea what to expect. I tutored before at Dan Flood Elementary where the students are Spanish speaking and I have tutored at the McGlynn Learning Center where the students are Spanish speaking but I did not know what to expect in this setting. I must say, I had an awesome co-op who made me feel welcome in the class and made me feel like I was instantly a part of the classroom routine and not just an observer. This made me extremely relaxed and eased when I had to return to the classroom.
           I originally thought that the students were taught to speak English through explicit alphabet knowledge instruction. I didn't realize that the language was developed through content instruction. Miss. Paul's classroom is run just like any other class with activities, textbook readings, worksheets and projects, etc, with the exception that the students have Spanish as their first language. 
          I could see the progress in her students as the year develops. Miss. Paul told me that some of her students came into her classroom speaking no English whatsoever and all of her communication with these students was non-verbal, such as hand gestures or face movements. At this current point, all of her students are speaking English; some better than others, but they all are proficiently speaking English. I find it fascinating to see how these kids have no modifications for state testing but they are accommodated in school on a regular basis. To be completely honest, my heart breaks for these ELL students sometimes because they struggle on a daily basis with simple tasks such as reading, and they shouldn't have to. 
          I was considering coming back to King's after I graduate to get my ESL certificate and then I was having doubts about it. I thought it would be too stressful and not rewarding if the students to not learn the language and I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have the ESL certification. As of now, I am interested in getting my ESL certificate because I see how rewarding it is for Miss.Paul when her students are able to learn a new word or understand a topic that was previously foreign to them, literally! 
         I enjoyed my experience at Kistler Elementary and I enjoyed getting to know the teachers, support staff and the students. I had a great experience and it helped me make my decision to get my ESL certification :)</sub>