On my first visit to
Mercer Elementary I was assigned to Ms. Rashid’s 4th grade class. I
was cordially greeted by the school principal, the teacher and the students. I
honestly feel that, (and this was probably the main factor that made me want to
choose Mercer Elementary to conduct my observations) the professionalism and willingness
of the staff here is detrimental to the success of the students. From the first
moment I contacted the school, and asked to visit in order to observe, they
were more than willing to assist me, especially Ms. Rashid. Upon my arrival in
the classroom, the students were doing 4th grade mathematics
exercises. The class environment is very well set up and I am sure enhances the
students’ interest in learning. It is a very colorful classroom, with posters
and artwork of the students hanging from the walls. They also have their own
small “library”, a couple of bookshelves with numerous books, that the students
will either be using in class, for projects like book reports or allowed to
take out in order to read at home for leisure or practice. The students sit in
a U-shaped desk setting, so that they are always facing each other, but also
the teacher at the front of the room who is easily able to move around,
checking the students’ work, and constantly be able to maintain a visual of
them. From my previous experiences, and observations this semester from
different schools, I feel that this is the perfect setting for a classroom, as
there is no interference between teachers/students, as long as the teacher is
constantly moving around, like Ms. Rashid was. The other thing I thought was
excellent was the teacher’s assistance. For the duration of my two hour
observation, Ms. Rashid had two assistants in class, who, from what I was told,
help her with students who face learning disabilities and require individual attention.
There are two students in Ms. Rashid’s class who have learning disabilities,
and each one has his own personal support. I think that is excellent and should
be implemented in every school possible.
As previously
mentioned, the first hour of my observation was a math class, which Ms. Rashid
taught with a combination of notes from the board, but also worksheets that
that students were working on. I actually had the chance to help some students.
It was interesting as the students seemed to know exactly what they needed to
do, and the teacher was not constantly being bombarded with questions as in
other cases I witnessed. They were talking about the different types of
measurements: feet vs. meters, kilos vs. pounds, miles vs kilometers etc. The
teacher was bringing in every day examples to help the students understand the
differences, but also used visual examples, like posters on the wall or
pictures from the internet in order to show them for example what the
difference is between a liter of water and a gallon of water. There is a lot of
communication in the class. At the end of the first period the students were
able to enjoy a five minute snack break and then they headed out to music
class. The music teacher, Ms. Kaiser, had the students sit on the carpet, and
together they practiced their songs for their upcoming closing school ceremony
in May. They have to learn a total of four songs, which they must have been
practicing for a good amount of time, as they weren’t struggling with them. The
teacher was either singing along with the students, or playing the piano while
the students were singing their songs. Both teachers seemed to be thoroughly
enjoying what they do and the students seem to love their enthusiasm! Overall a
wonderful first observation of Mercer Elementary!
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