Brittany Deal

1. Use the HM 3.1 handout to observe the characteristics of effective schools. Look
for at least four of the characteristics listed on the sheet. In several paragraphs
answer the questions under at least four of the characteristics of effective schools
contained on the handout. (10 pts.)
Strong Leadership: In the letters to the parents they are informed
about what they kids are going to be learning for the week and what
they should be working on at home. Administrators would describe
their school as a food clean school that takes learning very seriously.
They try to make learning easy for everyone and to get the help they
need. Members of the leadership team are visible throughout the
building. People are also popping in and out of the classroom and are
at all school events. The principal has a clear vision of the school to be
a great learning environment for young children. A place where they
feel safe and can express themselves.
Orderly School Environment: My first expression on entering the school
was that it was really clean and bright. Everyone was very friendly and
smiling. The children in the hallways were using teamwork to help each
other out by pushing carts or walking to the classrooms together. They
were smiling and they would say hi politely and were very friendly.
Frequent Systematic Evaluation of Student Learning: Students work is
displayed on the bulletin boards outside of their classrooms and they
are also displayed on a website with the parents permission. The
students learning is monitored by paper work completed in class and
applications on their IPads. When students arent preforming well they
get pulled out of the class and get special one on one time with an aid
that works on their weaknesses of learning.
Collegiality and a Sense of Community: I could definitely tell that
teachers and colleagues want to help each other out, because they are
always coming in and out of the classrooms asking questions and
borrowing materials. In the teachers lounge they talked about what
they were teaching and working on for the week and how they were
going about teaching it.
2. Use the tables distributed in class that allowed you to compare five philosophies
of education and three psychological orientations to teaching that underlie teaching
and learning as explained in Chapter 4. After observing your classroom for two
days, decide what type(s) of philosophies of education and/or psychological
orientations best describe the situation in the classroom you observed. Construct a
rationale for your choice by citing examples that demonstrate the particular
orientation(s). (10 pts.)

The philosophy of education that best describes the classroom I

observed would be perennialism. The teachers were trying to educate
the students as best they could and to learn all they needed to learn to
move on to the next level. Education has been unchanged for so many
centuries it is established to teach the children the basics to get a good
education. In this classroom they focused on friendships and had
everyone participating in each activity, including special needs kids.
The children really enjoyed and could not tell the difference between
each other. They all seen each other as one.
3. Map one of the classrooms of your second placement using the guidelines on
handout HM 10.1. Explain the strengths and weakness of the room arrangement.
Determine whether or not this room arrangement is optimal for learning and if not
what would need to be changed to be more conducive to learning. Turn in the map
of the room with your typed responses. (10 pts.)
This classroom is optimal for learning by the way it is set up. The desks are set up to
where all the students can see the board and learn affectively. The area with the carpets
makes enough room for all the kids to sit and participate in all the activities. The
weaknesses of the classroom would be how many tables there actually are in the
classroom, because the tables take up a lot of space.
4. How is the school organized to accommodate exceptional students? Does the
classroom represent diversity? Provide examples to support your answer. (10 pts.)
The classroom does have a great representation of diversity. There are several races
among the students and there are special needs kids coming in and out of the classrooms
throughout the whole day. This one little boy will go to a special needs teacher in the
morning then come into the regular classroom for a little bit. Then at the end of the day
he will go back to the special needs teacher. Another little girl does the same thing the
little boy does, but she stays in the regular classroom most of the time.
5. Arrange to interview one of your cooperating teachers. You may use the
following questions to guide your interview. You may also add some other questions
that you would like your teacher to answer. (10 pts.)
What do you enjoy about teaching this curriculum? - I really like the variety of ways the
curriculum can be taught. The children are like sponges and can soak up a lot of material
quite well.
What do you enjoy the least? There is just not enough attention for each individual
student to learn affectively.
When do you plan-yearly, monthly, weekly, daily? I try to plan weekly, but sometimes
it turns into a daily planner when other things happen to change.

Can you make your own decisions as to what to teach or is it already determined? We
are scheduled a letter every week, but its up to me how I plan to teach about that letter.
Do parents participate in curriculum decisions? No.
Are selections for materials made by you or a committee of teachers? Its made by a
committee. A teacher from each grade is selected to attend a meeting to look over the
material and determine if its the right plan to go with. And actually a couple parents are
also called in to look over it, too. So I guess they do participate in some curricular
decisions.