Field Visit 2

This teacher has fairly clear routines for her classroom - they know when to switch tasks, where to find their folders and turn in their work, and where to find reference materials around the classroom. Students rotate through different groups for language block, math and homeroom (between 3 different teachers and classrooms) but by this point they seem to know where they need to be for each subject and time of the day. During the time we observed (from 8:00am to 10:00am), the posted schedule is as follows:

8:00-9:00 Math
9:05-9:35 PE
9:35-10:00 Snack/Problem Solving

The actual schedule came pretty close to this, and is recorded below:

8:00-8:06 settle in, get materials, pass out math folders
8:06 - 8:08 "mad minute" math drill
8:08-8:15 transition - surveying students' favorite pizza toppings, pass out and finish math tests, set up study carrels
8:15-9:02 students work individually on finishing math tests, as they finish they work in small group with teacher on array cards, then bring a worksheet back to their desk to work on individually.
9:02-9:05 transition - collect tests, array worksheets, pack up folders and math worksheets, get in line for PE
9:05-9:35 PE
9:35-9:39 (switch back to homeroom class) students settle in and get their snack and problem solving materials
9:40-10:00 snack and problem solving

The teacher seemed to stay fairly on task throughout the instruction, there were minimal disruptions or behavior problems among the students. Everyone seemed to know the schedule and where to go at what times, so there was no need to spend time explaining every transition. Sometimes the transitions between classes and activities took a little longer than anticipated, but this was very minimal and expected in a classroom of 20 students. In terms of allocated time, the teacher allocated 60 minutes for math, during which 49 minutes were actually used on instruction and math-related activities. The rest of the time was spent taking care of odds and ends, such as finding out what topping to get for a class pizza party, setting up study carrels for the tests, and passing out and collecting materials. During the test, as students finished, they knew to report to the teacher to work on the array problem, so there was no need for additional instructions or transition time there. Overall, this teacher seems to have a very efficient and effective system of time management in place in her classroom.