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Observation 3

The document summarizes observations of two elementary schools - Watkins Elementary and Olde Orchard Elementary. At Watkins Elementary, the observer noted that the classes were well-behaved with few student distractions. The classes were also organized and calm. In one fourth grade class, the teacher, Mr. Sidders, was able to get the students to transition between activities in an orderly fashion using clapping to get their attention. While most students were on task during activities, some were distracted. At both schools, clean up after activities took longer than expected due to some students causing distractions.

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45 views2 pages

Observation 3

The document summarizes observations of two elementary schools - Watkins Elementary and Olde Orchard Elementary. At Watkins Elementary, the observer noted that the classes were well-behaved with few student distractions. The classes were also organized and calm. In one fourth grade class, the teacher, Mr. Sidders, was able to get the students to transition between activities in an orderly fashion using clapping to get their attention. While most students were on task during activities, some were distracted. At both schools, clean up after activities took longer than expected due to some students causing distractions.

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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Observation #3 - Giovanna Todd 1

Thursday, October 24th, I observed two schools. The first school I observed was Watkins

Elementary. The diversity of the school was majority black at 67%, white 16%, hispanic 8% with

other at 9% (greatschools.org). The classes overall were well behaved with few distractions

made by students. The grades I was able to observe were fourth and fifth grade. The environment

was calm and the classroom was organized and decentely spaced. The second school I observed

for the day was Olde Orchard Elementary. I have observed Olde Orchard before, but the age

group I had was different. I observed a kindergarten class rather than older elementary kids. The

demographic make-up of the school is 75% black, 10% white, 7% hispanic, 7% two or more

races, and 1% other (greatschools.org). My cooperating teacher also told me the demographics of

his class when we first met . He stated that his students were diverse with black being the

majority. There are also white kids and students from Nepal, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other

various backgrounds.

At Watkins Elementary, the students came into the room in an orderly and quiet fashion

taking their seats. Mr. Sidders does not know where some of the students so he relies on his class

to place new students. When all the students are seated, Mr. Sidders claps his hands to attract

their attention. The amount of time this class took to become organized and set up was around

55-60 seconds. This was fairly impressive to me considering the age group and the amount of

kids in the class. After Mr. Sidders clapped, he begins to run through the class project and

reminding them of their next steps. During this, he assigns students to pass out materials and

belongings to each of the students. While students are delivering materials, Mr. Sidders runs

through the students names to give them back their papers. This process takes around 5 minutes
Observation #3 - Giovanna Todd 2

total. The methods that Mr. Sidders took at Watkins was very effective because the students were

reminded of their activities and behaving in a timely fashion.

The next step for the kids was to begin the assignment. Some students were not caught up

with the rest of the class so those students traced their drawings and then began to paint. Other

students immediately began to paint their already established and outlined drawings. Walking

around the classroom, I saw that many students were on task and making headway on their

projects. While most kids were like this, other students were distracted and off task. As I was

walking around, Mr. Sidders was also trying to help students with questions and redirect some of

the kids focus. The class was able to work on their paintings/drawings for 25 minutes and then

had to clean up. Mr. Sidders again assigned students to help clean up and collect. This took about

5 minutes, which was longer than it should have been. The students who were assigned a task

caused other students to move around and mingle which distracted the students from behaving.

Mr. Sidders uses the clapping method to attract the kids attention. This method worked

for him in the class because most students clapped back and waited for his direction. Because

this method works for his class, he tends to use it multiple times in the class period. In the end,

the effect was not as large and he resulted to flickering lights. This method was not as productive

but gathered enough of the students attention to gather others attention.. Although I observed two

different classes, the students' reactions to Mr. Sidders was the same. The time intervals were

very similar and clean up seem to be the most chaotic in the class period. The clapping method

was the most successful out of all the methods he used.

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