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Running head: INSTRUCTION

Education Field Experience: Instruction Observation


Samantha Hess
Raritan Valley Community College
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I. Observation 5:
Instruction

II. Grade Level and Subject Area:


2nd grade

III. Setting:
Rural private school, in the elementary building. 1 head teacher, 8 students.

IV. Pre-Observation:
When a teacher introduces a lesson, they need to consider their students as
individuals and instruct in a way that will fit their learners needs. The manner
in which a teacher instructs a lesson plays into effective learning for the
students. The teacher needs to provide knowledgeable information, as well as
keeping their students interested in the lesson (Barberos, Gozalo, &
Padayogdog, n.d.). Students become more involved in the lesson when it
includes hands on activities. From working in a preschool room, I have seen
first-hand that when students get to be involved in the lesson, they stay more
interested and involved throughout the lesson. The teacher should get the
students excited about learning. Students may look to the teacher to inspire
them. Lessons should be stimulating and exciting, but also appropriately
challenging (Barberos, Gozalo, & Padayogdog, n.d.). My cooperating teacher
at the private school has previously told me about his lesson planning
methods. He has told me that he makes sure his lessons involve manipulatives
and more hands-on learning experiences for his students.

V. Data:
My cooperating teacher plans out lessons based on major themes. His lessons
expand for weeks, sometimes months. Right now, the class is learning about
maps. On school days that I was not present, the class read books and learned
that there are different types of maps. You can make a map of your bedroom, a
treasure map, etc. Then they learned about bird’s eye view. They had to find
items around the classroom, then draw them first from ground view, then
bird’s eye view. My cooperating teacher showed me their drawings for
reference of what they have been learning. One of their homework
assignments from a few days prior was to find items at home and draw them
from a ground level view, and then a bird’s eye view. A few days ago, the class
had to draw their own type of map. The students’ maps are on display on an
easel in the classroom. They all drew a map of different rooms in their houses.
The day before my visit, each student had to make a bird’s eye view map of
the classroom using small colored tiles. My cooperating teacher was kind
enough to share this with me that way I was caught up on what the class has
been learning.
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The morning I went to the school, my cooperating teacher showed me each


student’s tile maps. When it was time for social studies, the teacher had all the
students gather at the back carpet by their tile maps. He asked the students if
they notice any differences between everyone’s maps. When no one
responded, he explained that each student’s map was a different size. This was
because the tiles did not represent any measurements. The teacher explained
that the students were going to get meter sticks and measure the classrooms
length and width. Some parts of the classroom are different sizes because of
walls. The teacher asked his students how they should break the room up. The
kids walked around the room and explained why these areas should be
separated into different areas, and they were correct. The room was now split
into five sections. The teacher wrote each room on the easel, that way the
students made sure they measured each room, also they see the spelling of
each room that they can copy down onto their papers to record the
measurements. They broke the classroom down into the back-carpet area,
library area, main area, cubby area and bathroom. Next to the list of rooms on
the easel the teacher drew a rectangle, representing a room. He made a line
with arrows along the bottom of the rectangle showing the length, and another
one up and down showing the width. He emphasized to the students that they
need to measure both and record the numbers. He also went over rounding. If
the measurement went more than half of the meter stick, round up. If it was
less than half of the stick, round down. The teacher demonstrated how to
measure with the meter stick, showing the students that the meter stick must
touch from wall to wall, and they might need to hold it up to get over a shelf
to the wall. He showed them this as a visual. He also told them that they may
want to use something as a marking point to where the meter stick ended. The
teacher told the class that the students can measure in partners or alone. He
handed each student a meter stick and sent them off. The students began
partnering up. Only two students were left, but one of them wanted to work
alone. The other student was upset because he wanted a partner. I offered to
work with him, and he agreed. My cooperating teacher thanked me for helping
the student out. All the students were spread out around the room with their
partners and got to work. The students got creative, finding different items to
use as place holders at the end of their meter sticks. The student I worked with
used his pencil. The teacher walked around and helped any students out that
needed it. In the middle of measuring, the students had to go to wellness class.
My cooperating teacher told the students to leave everything where it was, and
that after wellness they will finish measuring. After wellness, everyone picked
up right where they left off. After everyone finished, the teacher asked
everyone to meet up at the back carpet again. He began talking about how
they need to come up with a measurement for the tiles to represent, then fix
their maps to match up with the measurements they just took around the room.
As he was going over this, it was time for lunch. He told the class that after
lunch they will all fix their maps. I leave for the day when they go to lunch.
VI. Analysis:
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Getting students excited for a lesson is a challenge for many teachers. It is the
teacher’s job to get students eager, and keep them involved throughout the
lesson (Frondeville, 2009). My cooperating teacher builds on to lessons for
weeks. This keeps the information relevant, but he has to keep them
interested. My cooperating teacher added in a hands-on activity to add to their
map lesson. It was fun for the students, and it also had them work to get more
information to incorporate it to their own maps.

VII. Recommendations:
My cooperating teacher really knows his students and incorporates activities
that will help the students understand the lesson better, while still being fun
for them. The only recommendation I have would be to pace the lesson
accordingly. The teacher created the schedule, excluding their specials. He
should plan accordingly to the lesson. If it is a longer lesson or has an activity,
the block of time for that certain subject should be able to be extended. The
activity felt rushed once the students came back from wellness. After they
finished measuring and went to the back carpet to look at their maps again, I
felt that the teacher was rushing to get the rest of the information out before
the students had to go to lunch. Even though they were going to finish the
lesson in the afternoon, it is easier to be able to complete a lesson at the time
you have been working on it. This helps the overall lesson flow. Ways to cut
down lesson time would be to have all the materials ready beforehand (Alber,
2012). The teacher had to look for yard sticks for his students which wasted a
few minutes. Another way to save some time would be to check for
understanding right after the teacher has given the instructions. This saves
time during the lesson when students are confused and asking a bunch of
questions (Alber, 2012). Some of the students were confused as to where one
section of the room ended and another began, since they broke the room up
into five different areas. Other than the timing of the lesson, I have no other
recommendations.

VIII. Post-observation:
Overall, this lesson went very well. My cooperating teacher started off on the
back carpet, going over their maps that they made. This got the students
recalling what they have been going over. When the teacher introduced the
measuring activity, the kids were so excited to use the meter sticks. Whenever
they have activities within the lesson where they get to move around the room,
they focus and put their mind to the activity. All the students worked so well
together moving around the room and using tools such as the meter sticks and
different items that they thought of to use as markers where the meter sticks
ended. I really enjoyed seeing this lesson in action. My cooperating teacher
was able to bring the map lesson to life. He has been getting the students to
see things in their daily lives as a map such as their houses, their school, etc.
This was another fun way to break down another map, and to make an
accurate presentation of their classroom.
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IX. Citations:
Alber, R. (2012, December 17). Instructional Pacing: How Do Your Lessons
Flow? Retrieved April 3, 2019, from
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/instructional-pacing-tips-rebecca-alber

Barberos, M. T., Gozalo, A., & Padayogdog, E. (n.d.). The Effect of the
Teacher's Teaching Style on Students' Motivation Action Research -
Research. Retrieved April 3, 2019, from
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/teachlearn/research/action/motivation

Frondeville, T. (2009, August 3). How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class.


Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-
participation-tips

X. Appendix:

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