Field Visit 1

For my field experience, I had the opportunity to be in a 4th grade classroom of 24 students. During this first observation, we were able to sketch a map of the classroom, as well as watch the teacher and students interact during their morning lesson. The class meets for an hour to do math from 8am to 9am, in ability groups - so many of the students in the morning session are not in the teacher's homeroom class. Because there are three math teachers, there are only 16 students per group for math. Today, they were learning about estimation and manipulating variables with addition and subtraction.

The teacher seemed very energetic and connected with her students; she was constantly moving around the classroom and engaging every single student with her questions. Likewise, the students responded positively and seemed genuinely excited when they got the right answer, and very determined to learn to apply the material. The setup of the classroom seemed conducive to a group learning environment - desks were set up in groups of 6; and during the time that we observed there was definitely an emphasis on group collaboration and cooperation. Bookshelves line the walls, with different genres represented - non-fiction, biography, poetry, chapter books, and reference books. There seems to be an organized system of folders and bins on one side of the room - students know to get and return their math folder, and where to turn things in. This seems to eliminate clutter and improve the organization of the classroom. I imagine that it must be very difficult to manage different groups of students cycling in and out of the classroom (this teacher has a different math group, homeroom group, and language block group) - so it is definitely necessary to have a mechanism in place to ensure smooth transitions and overall efficiency.

At this point in the year, students already seem comfortable with the schedule. They know when math ends, when PE begins, when they need to be ready for snack and problem-solving. This eliminates a lot of transition time, as students are moving smoothly from one task to another. Towards the end of their math time, the teachers had the students work on a measurement and geography project, where they apply what they have learned about scales and maps by planning a trip under 10,000 miles. Although the teacher was clear in her instructions, she said that she would assign the partners - but she ended up asking many students to choose their own partner. I felt that although she was giving the students ownership of their own learning, it was hard for some students who did not have friends in the class - these students asked the teacher to assign them a partner, which may have been socially awkward.

The general classroom environment was one of openness, where students were not afraid to take risks and ask questions or share their answers. During the problem solving, even though most of the students arrived at the incorrect answer at first, the teacher had students come up and engage in an interactive demonstration to push them towards the correct answer. This way, students could feel mastery and fulfillment at finding the answer themselves, with appropriate teacher scaffolding. The teacher was also very sensitive to differences in learning styles and readiness, and repeated important points several different ways to ensure that all students got the point. I look forward to continuing my work and observation in this classroom.