Summary Paper - Professional Development Needs Assessment

Classroom Observation INTRODUCTION I attended a second grade class at Smallville Elementary on February 22, 2014; the class began promptly at 0855. There are 26 children in this second grade class. There are 15 male students and 11 female students. The student diversity is 2 Hispanics, 1 African-American, 1 East Indian, and 1 New Zealander (White but with an extreme accent). Three children were left-handed.  OVERVIEW Two days a week in the morning, the children participate in a reading and writing block called “literacy and writing workshop.” The classroom is organized into five different levels with one group having one extra person; the levels are based on scoring of reading assessments. The groups are rotated so that each may spend 15 minutes cycles with either the teacher or Para-educator. The groups not with an instructor were to work on the “Daily-5” (explanation later) until their scheduled lesson. After the students finish their lesson, they are to fill the remainder of the workshop time working on “Daily-5.” This workshop is part of a regular routine. The students understand that after a reading a story with the teacher, they are verbally given a writing assignment. The assignment is usually to write a five sentence paragraph and color a picture related to the reading. READING ASSIGNMENT I observed Mrs. Rammond begin at 0915 with a group of five boys. It is a reading group that struggles with pronunciation and comprehension. The group individually takes turns reading a paragraph from a short story. The story is always 12 paragraphs long and has pictures that relate to the topic (it is designed for groups with six members). After each student reads his paragraph two questions are asked; one is to the reader of the paragraph and the second to another member of the group. During the questioning, Mrs. Rammond speaks to only one student at a time and the others are not allowed to interrupt, raise their hand or make any gestures that distract the person answering the question. The question is asked once. There is a 10 second pause and if the student does not respond or answers incorrectly, the question is re-phrased and asked a second time. Again there is a pause, if the student is unable to come up with the correct answer, Mrs. Rammond reads the paragraph and stops when she gets to the answer to the question. After the entire story is read, Mrs. Rammond verbally gives the writing prompt and dismisses the boys to their tables. WRITING ASSIGNMENT AND PROMPT Write a paragraph related to the reading topic that must contain at least 5 sentences. It can be about bees, honey, bee-keepers or the apiary. After finishing the writing assignment, a picture related to your writing assignment should be completed and attached. WRITING ACTIVITY The five boys in the first reading group returned to their tables with their reading books and began writing. Mrs. Rammond already had the assignment paper on the tables as well as a paper with only one line (the student name line) for the drawing. They began their individual writing assignments without conversation. Each boy printed block style and counted out five sentences. Some of the boys used the book as a reference and the others never opened it. They all finished in about the same time and began to talk to each other as they colored. They each talked about the story, the bees or the apiary. Each freehanded a picture of a bee doing different things, none of the pictures showed a bee flying. The bee was always sitting down and performing a task. The boys appeared to be stalling while drawing and coloring their pictures. They finished up and turned in their books and papers to the appropriate places. The total time used writing and drawing was about 20 minutes. The total time for the entire reading and writing workshop was 45-50 minutes including clean up time. LEARNING OBJECTIVES  There are five groups of readers and writers in order to have small groups take turns with the teacher. There are 4 levels of readers and writers in this second grade. The upper three groups work with the teacher within their classroom and the lowest group has special time with a tutor during the reading and writing time. Those identified as needing special assistance leave during the group time and return an hour later. Of the five groups in the classroom, the group of six does not count because they leave for tutoring and the remaining four are worked with in pairs by the teacher and para-educator in a regular routine, two groups at a time. There is one group at level 2, one group at level 3 and two groups at level 4. I am not sure if she had more competent readers or grade level readers. The objective of the reading and writing workshop is to provide the students with a new topic, provide questions to guarantee comprehension and have them immediately write about the story in order to help them retain the information. The group of boys I observed did not talk because they did not want to forget the information before they wrote it down. They were focused and intent on getting their ideas on paper before they became distracted by talking to each other. SIDEBAR The daily five is an independent literacy program designed for students with windows of free time. The posters with the guidelines are prominently posted on a wall by the classroom sink. There are 5 distinct activities to work on in order to accomplish certain levels of activity and praise. 1. Read to yourself 2. Read to someone 3. Work on writing (journal writing) 4. Listen to reading (audio books that read-along) 5. Spelling /Word work. This program allows the student to work independently, choose an activity they prefer and work quietly. RATIONALE The students were allowed freedom to interpret the topic and present the information in their own style. The students were able to work on their sentence structure and conventions through the repetition of the process. The students worked intently on their sentences without complaint in order to get to drawing and talking. The groups that have challenges go first in order for them to have the whole period to finish the writing project. The more advanced groups did not have trouble finishing the writing prompt on schedule. GRADING RUBRICS The rubrics for grading are in four parts: handwriting and neatness, spelling and grammar, content and finally, art work and completing the assignment. PETAGOGY The writing assignment and prompt are straight-forward “formal traditional” pedagogy. This exercise may also have hints of Cognitive Pedagogy because the student is building on a new learned theme or Expressive Pedagogy due to the student choice in expressing his impression on the assignment. CONCLUSIONS The writing class session I observed is a packaged program in which the students have been participating in for 5 months. They all know the routine of the reading and writing workshop and understand “the Daily 5.” The student’s movements are purposeful and there is little time wasted in transitions. The books used by students become more complicated as the students ability strengthens. At the end of the workshop, Mrs. Rammond praised those students who used their time efficiently during “the Daily 5.” She spoke directly to the students who wrote in their journals and asked them to share their entries. The students learned some new trivia about insects, practiced writing and then had some time for art. BIBLIOGRAPHY Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2006). The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers.