Johana Valladolid

CSN Course: EDU 203

Assignment: Field Observation and Reflection- Artifact #2

Professor: Constantina Pappas M.Ed., BCBA

Part 1 (Instruction):

Video Selected: SPE 551 Observation 2

1. Is instruction delivered in small groups, centers, whole groups, individually?

The instruction is delivered in a whole group.

2. Describe your teacher's teaching style.

The teacher’s teaching style is “The Facilitator Style”.

3. How does the teacher incorporate the sensory modalities (learning styles)? Give

examples.

The teacher incorporated 4 different learning styles. The 4 learning styles were visual, aural.

verbal, and physical. The teacher used visuals because she had a drawing that went with the

lesson on the board and the words they were practicing were also on the board and the

notecards. She also used aural because she explained the directions well and read the words

to the students. Verbal was used because each student also needed to day the words to the

teacher and individually to their group. The teacher also used physical because the note cards

were something physical that they needed to build the word sentence. This gave the students

something to grab and place in the sentence.

 4. Do the students seem engaged in the lesson(s) presented? Please explain.

The students do seem engaged in the lesson. All of the students were sitting politely and

listening. There were no side conversations which let me know that the students were

genuinely engaged. All students also participated and answered questions that were asked.

5. Are there any students isolated or not present/participating in the class? Explain?

No students were isolated. All students were actively participating in the whole group and in

their small groups.

6. Did you see any accommodations or modifications made to the lesson for the student?

If so, what were they?

I did not see any modifications being made to the lesson for any students. I did see the

teacher helping the students who needed help sounding out words or any other part of the

lesson.

7. How does the teacher handle transitions from subject to subject or activity to activity?

Are the transitions efficient?

The teacher explained what they were going to do next and the directions to do so. The

teacher then dismissed them by groups to the tables or back up to the whole group. The

teacher’s transitions were efficient.

8. List ways the teacher uses “attention getting” commands, word phrases, signals, etc.

Are they effective?

One way the teacher got their attention is by calling on tables. To dismiss them back to their

seats, she called the tables to say the vocabulary words they learned.
 9. What specific behavior issues does the teacher have to deal with? How does the

teacher handle the behavior issues? Be specific.

There were a couple of times where some students kept clapping and interrupting the lesson.

The teacher went on to te;ll them to stop. There were also times where the students would get

up from their spot. The teacher would stop the lesson and say “I'm waiting for ______ to sit

on their bottoms”. After the student did so, she would continue the lesson.

10. What positive reinforcements were used, if any?

There were no physical positive reinforcements being used. There were phrases the teacher

would use. Some phrases included “good job”, “great”, “you are doing awesome”.

11. Are there any policies or procedures that help or hinder instructional time? Please

explain them and how they help or hinder instructional time.

Some instructions that helped during instructional time were “raising your hand” and “staying

on your bottoms”. The students for the most part did a wonderful job at paying attention to

these instructions. One procedure I felt hindered instructional time was clapping. Some

students would continue clapping after they were supposed to stop and it interrupted the

teacher’s instruction time.

12. What could the teacher have done better to assist the student(s) with learning the

material?

I think the teacher could have gone over the notecard words a little more with the student’s.

This would have allowed the students to understand and read the words better. I also think the

teacher assisting could have been a part of the whole group instruction a little more.
Part 2 (Observing a student):

Video Selected: Small Group Rotations with Moderate/Severe Special Education Students

1. What drove you to choose this student?

I chose this student because he was non verbal. I work in a SPED position at an Elementary

School and find non verbal students to be a little difficult to work with as I don’t have much

experience.

2. Explain what the student did during the observation.

During the observation the student worked on ELA & math. During the ELA group, the

student was given flashcards with pictures. The teacher asked the student “Which one is the

______?” and the student gave them the card that correlated. For the math section, the student

counted the amount of papers given to him.

3. Summarize the lesson given and the student’s responses to the lesson.

The teacher gave each student 3 flashcards. The teacher would then ask each individual

student “Which one is the ______?”. The student would need to hand the teacher the card she

asked for. The student’s did a really good job at recognizing the cards.

4. Please describe what you discovered about the student’s learning styles, involvement

in class, and his/her educational needs.

The student seemed to be a visual learner. The student was able to recognize the work by

looking at the picture flashcard. The student was also able to visually count the paper cards.
 5. What positive reinforcements were used successfully? What behavioral consequences

were used?

Some positive reinforcements that were being used was after certain minutes of work, they

were able to use the iPad or have a snack. If students didn’t do so they were not awarded with

the positive reinforcements.

Part 3 (Summary):

Classroom observations are there for students that want to become a teacher.

Observations really do teach you many things. One of the most important things I learned is

that there is no right way to teach. Each teacher is different and has different things they like

to do. Everything I observed will have a purpose when I start teaching. You also notice the

environment the teacher maintains in the classroom. If the students are engaged and

participating then it is a positive environment. A teacher should hold respect in a classroom,

however that respect is also earned.

All the videos taught me the importance of maintaining a schedule, especially for

SPED students. I learned new activities to try and new ways to teach materials. I would not

have thought to show hand out flashcards and ask for the name of them to be effective in

teaching ELA. I now understand that it can help them expand their vocabulary and put

pictures/words together. I also have also agreed that positive reinforcement was good to have

in a classroom setting. Some teachers don’t like it because they see it as bribing the students

to do their work. However, it is a good way to help the students stay on task and motivated.

One thing I learned from observing in my EDU 201 class was working with a student from 5

mins with a break time up until they are able to work with no breaks for 30-60 mins.

I enjoyed this experience and this part of this course. Although it was online, I feel

like I still learned so much that will benefit me in the future. I never close my mind to any

advice or information other teachers give me. You never know what helps you in your

classroom in the future. I have met so many teachers in the 2 years I have been working with

CCSD. I can only imagine the veteran teachers. All the teaching styles, tricks, techniques

help whether it is your first year teaching or 40th year teaching.