9.21.2010 Reflection

Since this was my first day in the classroom, I really tried to take note of the demographics, the set up of the room, learn the student’s names, classroom management, etc.  This classroom is mostly Caucasian, including the teacher and is half 3^rd grade and half 4^th grade.  The set up of the room had the students sitting in clusters of three desks and the 3^rd graders were mixed with the 4^th graders.  I thought this was so great because the 3^rd graders would be able to get peer modeling on a regular basis from the 4^th graders.  There were bulletin boards hanging up that were displaying thinking maps, 6 + 1 traits, AZ facts and student work.  This tipped me off that the teaching strategies in this classroom were very metacognitive, authentic and that there was a lot of cross curricular literacy instruction.  

This was the first classroom that I have been in that used a smart board and I was really impressed with it and was hoping that I would get the opportunity to work with it a little bit.  At the beginning of reading groups, Mrs. K. led her class through some directions on the smart board.  She was able to circle important parts of the instructions with a smart pen and write on the board to clarify instruction.  I liked how she worked her reading groups.  It gave her a chance to do small group instruction inside her big class and it was a great way to be able to differentiate and scaffold instruction for the 3^rd and 4^th graders who read and write at significantly different levels.