Observation
Instructional Lesson
Classroom: Anonymous
Grade: 3rd
Curriculum Area: ELA
What I notice
March 16th was the first day I was able
to observe a ELA lesson. This day
happened to be St. Patricks Day and
my cooperating teacher had various St.
Patrick day activities ready for the class
for all subject areas. There was a
student in the class from Ireland who
(previous to this day) expressed
wanting to read one of his books from
Ireland which included a story about St.
Patrick. My cooperating teacher took
this opportunity and allowed the
students to read the story on St. Patrick
aloud to the class. The rest of the
students listened and asked questions
while they were following along. For the
rest of the ELA class my cooperating
teacher had stations set up for the
students to take turns rotating to in
groups of 4 or 5. The stations set up
were:
1. Scan a URL to watch a video about
St. Patricks Day and answer follow up
questions.
2. If I found a pot of gold I would
Write 4-5 complete sentences on what
you would do if you found a pot of gold.
3. St. Patricks Day article and
questions
4. Color a St. Patricks Day picture
For the rest of my time at the
elementary school, my cooperating
teacher focused on main idea. My
cooperating teacher would often pull
struggling students aside to work on
the classroom as a team while the rest
Observer: Natalia Jaramillo
Date: March 13th- 24th
Time: 11:00-12:00
Thoughts, Questions, Connections to
Methods Classes
I loved that my cooperating teacher
was able to use St. Patricks Day to
allow the student from Ireland to share
with the class his culture and his
background knowledge on the holiday
and what he knew about St. Patrick. The
student felt appreciated and had a very
special day because of it and moments
like that are the reason I look forward to
teaching. I later realized that my
cooperating teacher does a lot of center
work but it was interesting seeing it.
This was my first time seeing students
work in centers and they all did so well.
Students were able to quietly talk to
their group about the activity they were
doing, what they learned, what they
would do if they found a pot of gold,
etc. This open communication allows
students to see other point of views and
reflect. This is something I would do
with my future class, I really enjoyed
this lesson.
It was nice being able to see how
teaching can be individualized based on
students needs. I like how the students
were able to spend one on one time
with the teacher and ask questions.
One question I have is... I saw a lot of
time being spent on students that need
extra help but what can be done with
students that already excel in the topic
being taught so they dont get bored of
the same work being taught over and
over?
of the classroom worked independently.
My CTs small groups never had more
than 5 students and she made sure to
focus on each students Individual
needs. The students were given a
Main Idea Boot Camp Training
Manual. My cooperating teacher
noticed that a lot of students were
confusing main idea and topic so she
included passages where students
would find the main idea of the
passage, the topic, and they were
asked to underline 3 evidences in the
passage to support the main idea.
Other worksheets in the packet
included: sorting the topic vs main idea
sentences, Who and What Main
Idea, Boxes and Bullets (strategy to
summarizing the paragraph)Box the
main idea and put bullets next to the
supporting details. Tracking information,
Create a Summary of main idea/topic
sentence, details, conclusion, and
Synthesizing (using the information you
read and using it to grow new ideas
or add to what you already know.