Field Visit #5 - 11/2/06

Today was an interesting day in first grade. I saw a change in behaviors among a few of the students, as it appears there is a new romance beginning in the class. It seemed to just add an extra challenge for the teacher. She tried to keep the students a little bit further apart from each other as they worked on the rug to help avoid distraction. It seemed that the little girl involved couldn't resist trying to get closer and closer to the little boy, who seemed mildly interested, but not quite as publicly affectionate. To make things even more interesting, the girl's friend seems to be getting very close to the same boy. This caused a few distractions throughout calendar time, but it did give us a chance to see how the teacher handled the issue. She occassionally would ask someone to get up to do one of the calendar activities and then encourage them to sit elsewhere when they were finished. The teaching assistant also took a part from the back of the room of asking a student to get up and do something and then sit near her or in a spot with more space.

We also had the chance to talk to the teacher about the children who leave for pullouts throughout the day. I asked how she handles them coming back in to the middle of a lesson. She explained that for the most part they know what they should be doing, but that it took a few weeks to get that down. She also mentioned that the students are not afraid to ask a friend or the teacher if they are confused. They do not come in and sit, staring blankly, but are very vocal when they are not sure what to do.

We were also able to talk about differentiation in the classroom, as there is a wide range of abilities within the group. This came up while discussing our lessons for the next two weeks that we'll be teaching. We talked about different ways to address the ability level differences during lessons. It sounds like there is often a group of 4-6 students who work on a slightly different version of the lesson, as they are a little bit behind the rest of the class. We asked if this bothered them or the other students, and it seems that it really doesn't bother them. The teacher said she had the same reservations at first, but explained that the children just got used to it and it doesn't bother them anymore. At first there were some questions about why one group was doing something different, but they now understand that some people are stronger in some areas than others, so it will be better for everyone to have various versions of the project or assignment. It made me feel better and more comfortable that the children handle this well, but I do wonder how this would work without a teaching assistant to help another group. I also wonder if this is the case with older children as well.

We had the opportunity to discuss our lesson plans with our teacher that we will be teaching over the next two weeks. We will be teaching on the 9th, 14th, and 16th at around 9:30 am after calendar time is done. We will be teaching two science lessons, one on nocturnal/diurnal animals and one on force and motion (push and pull), and one writing lesson working on procedure or step writing. Differentiation for this last lesson will be the most difficult, and we are still deciding exactly how our small group will be completing the lesson. We may have one of us work with the small group and do an interactive or shared writing while the other works with the rest of the class as they write individually or in small groups as well. I am starting to feel like I know the kids better and better, but am still nervous about our first lesson! More to come on how it goes....