Melissa Abshire
Education 100

A. Student Observation

11-08-02
Team Teachers:
Lorie Lowers and Denise Deuley
Jefferson Elementary
3rd Grade
5 1/2 Hours of Observation

B. Sequence of Events

08:50 -- Arrived during planning period and watched both teachers plan for the day (students were in 'specials')
09:00 – While waiting for the students, I graded their
        test papers from earlier that morning.
09:15 – The students return and are grouped to do stations.  I am designated a station (Time-Telling Bingo) and the groups rotate through each of the four stations until lunch.
12:00 -- Lunch
1:00 – The students worked on accelerated reader and I stapled test papers together for Monday's class.
1:20 – Math Mountain.
2:15 – Game (Similar to Pictionary)
 

C. Episode(s)

When I arrived, the students were in their "specials" class and the team teachers were planning for the day.  They were originally planning on doing Math Mountain that morning, but decided to switch that to after lunch and do the stations in the hours before lunch.  Mrs. Lowers prepared the numbers on the poster for Math Mountain and Mrs. Deuley gave me the test papers from earlier that morning, so that I could work on those until the students arrived.  Mrs. Lowers was trying to group numbers that wouldn't be too hard but slightly challenging.
Once there, they were divided into groups of three or four and each group designated a station.  There were several groups and each teacher had a station.  My station was Time-Telling Bingo.  When it was announced that they would be playing this game, they all cheered (definitely a hit!)  For the next few hours before lunch, the groups rotated through the stations.   I had a deck of cards with different times and their bingo cards pictures of clocks, each with a different time.  The rest was played just like the original version of Bingo.  They really enjoyed this game and we had time for each group to play at least three games.  The winner was allowed to pick out a piece of candy from a basket.  Those that didn't win were awarded a piece at the end of the game.  They were very competitive, but on several occasions, they helped each other with times they weren't sure of.
They worked through each station until lunch time.
I left for lunch and when I arrived back in the office to sign in, one of Mrs. Deuley's students was on the office couch, apparently in trouble, and waiting to have a paper signed by the principle.  Once back to the classroom I learned that he had done something during lunch or recess and both teachers were upset with him.  Another teacher came to speak with Mrs. Deuley about the situation and Mrs. Deuely was gone for more than an hour.  I learned later that Mrs. Deuley had called the student's mother and had a conference with her as well.
During this time, Mrs. Lowers started Math Mountain and I prepared the papers for the following Monday's test.  After the students finished their assignments from Math Mountain, Mrs. Lowers and I both graded their papers and marked the ones they were to go back and correct.  We both helped them work through the ones they didn't understand until all of their papers had been corrected.
By this time, Mrs. Deuley had returned and was having yet another conference, this time with the student in question.  Once finished, she played a game similar to Pictionary, where the students were given a card and they had to act out what action the card stated and then call on someone to guess what they were doing.  They played this game until it was time to leave.  I filed their report cards (it was report card day) into their mailboxes while they played.

D. Analysis of Episode

The students REALLY enjoyed group stations, especially the Bingo station.  I enjoyed playing Bingo with them as well.  The time-telling activity was a great way to help them learn and I noticed a definite improvement on their time-telling answers from their Math Mountain papers.  (The Math Mountain has all sorts of mathematical questions regarding several different numbers.  It also includes several times where they have to tell what time it would have been 20 minutes before and 15 minutes after the designated times.)   The bingo game was a perfect way to deliver extra help with time telling.
Teaching Skills were observed, along with Professional Commitment.  The variety of strategies for the delivery of instructions were noted for both the Math Mountain and Time-telling Bingo.  Both lessons captured the students' attention but the Bingo game really reinforced the Math Mountain exercise.

Professional Commitment was observed in both teachers during the after-lunch fiasco with the student in trouble.  Both teachers seemed to handle the situation professionally.  Mrs. Deuley seemed genuinely concerned about her student and the situation.  She also seemed determined to find a suitable outcome for the situation, not only having a conference with the other teachers but also in that she contacted the student's mother.
I have to add that while playing Bingo in the adjoining room, I observed another classroom where I'm pretty sure the teacher was having a mental meltdown of sorts.  At one point (what I am assuming was her melting point), she yelled so loudly that for the next thirty minutes, you could have heard a pin drop.  I'm really grateful I've had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Deuley and Mrs. Lowers!  I think the team teaching idea is a great idea, even though there twice the students, it really seems to be helpful to have two teachers at the same time.  They can really keep the students alternating between projects, helping to ensure good classroom management.  (I couldn't help but think that the "melting" teacher next door would have benefited from having a partner!)

I never did find out what the student in trouble had done, twice Mrs. Deuley tried to explain to me what had happened but both times she was interrupted by visitors, and by then, it was nearly 2:30p.