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10 Hours of Observation

Tasia Hatcher

EDU 201: Introduction to Elementary Education

Professor Grant

CCSD School: Ulis Newton Elementary School

Cooperation Teacher: Samantha Olson, First Grade Teacher

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When I was first given the information on the Observations, I signed up for Gray Elementary due

to the school being so close to my home. However, I was assigned to Ulis Newton Elementary. I wasn’t

familiar with Newton Elementary and decided to do some research on the school. After studying the

school’s accountability report on Public School Review, I was pleased to see that the stats were for the

current school year. According to the report, fifty-three percent of the student population are White,

while the other forty-seven percent are minorities. The Hispanic students take up a little more than half

of the minority population. Twelve percent of the students are two or more races. The American Indian,

Asian, Black, and Hawaiian students are all less than ten percent of the student population. Ulis Newton

Elementary school was ranked 209th out of the 660 schools, putting the school in the top fifty percentile.

I was pleased to see that

With the pandemic taking place, the students were online virtually, so I didn’t get the

opportunity to view the school and walk down the hallways. I had to get my view of the school through

the school’s website and their Facebook page. Since the school was founded back in 1993, the campus

was still relatively new. The campus was beautiful and large.

When I reached out to the principal at Newton Elementary, I was contacted the same day within

hours from the teacher I was to observe. The teacher’s name was Samantha Olson. Ms. Olson was a

first-grade teacher. She was warm and friendly and genuinely welcomed me to her classroom. I had the

opportunity to interview Olson and get a chance to get to know her as a professional. Ms. Olson

explained how she wanted to be a teacher since she was a child. Olson enjoyed the innocence and the

charm of students. She expressed the joy she felt when a student finally understood a concept. Ms.

Olson was a kindergarten teacher the previous year at Newton Elementary. She had most of her students

the year prior except for a few students. I felt like Olson was at an advantage, already knowing the

students and their families. It gave her time to try to connect with the few students that were new to the

class. With the pandemic going on, she expressed that most of her current concerns were related to not
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being able to see her students in person and when the students didn’t attend the scheduled Google

Meets.