Summary Paper - Professional Development Needs Assessment

Classroom Observation  Memphis Intermediate School is located in the city of Memphis, TN. It is comprised of grades 3-5 with a total enrollment of 464 students and a student/teacher ratio of 20. Memphis has been in operation for only seven years and is a public school. The ethnicity of the student body is largely White at 86%, followed by Hispanic 6%, Multi-racial 2%, Asian 2%, Native American 2%, and Black 1%, “not provided” and Pacific Islander are both less than 1%. There is prevalence of students who require free or reduced lunch, about 27%. Additionally, the students who require special education represent 14% of students. (information from www.greatschools.net) The classroom observed was Mrs. Hammond’s third grade class at 11:00 AM on Monday, the 3rd of March 2008. The class is comprised of 25 students, predominantly males. Upon meeting with Mrs. Hammond she informed me that she runs her class as a town, meaning that she is the mayor of the town and the children each have jobs and earn a wage. This information was essential because she has a town charter as you enter her classroom informing all citizens and visitors of punishable infractions that carry a penalty of fines ranging from $10 on up. After our brief discussion and my introduction to the class Mrs. Hammond wrote the words, “Procedural Writing” on the white board. She asked the class, “What do you think that is?” Three children raised their hands, one girl and two boys. Mrs. Hammond then said, “Wow, I’d like to see about ten hands.” To my amazement the children responded and about 15 hands were raised in the air. Most of the interesting behavior I observed during my observation was during the question and answer portion of the assignment to introduce the material. The students seemed eager to please their teacher and gratify her even though no reward was involved. Before she called on any of the students she repeated the question into a more simplified one, “What is a procedure?” A child answers that a procedure is like having surgery and Mrs. Hammond decides to elaborate on the subject of surgery as a procedure. She asks the students to describe what happens when someone has surgery. One student says, “You get put to sleep first.” Mrs. Hammond asks, “Then what happens?” As the students answer and talk about experiences in surgery she writes key words on the board: First, Then, and Finally. Mrs. Hammond gives the students clues to key words that are commonly used in procedural writing, “I’m hearing the word ‘then’ a lot.” A child shares a story about putting together a bicycle he got for Christmas which prompts Mrs. Hammond to ask the class where they get information for putting toys together or playing a board game. The whole class responds with, “Directions and instructions.” Mrs. Hammond then asks the class to share a story of when they used directions and the students are hesitant to raise their hands. She grabs a stack of large colorful Popsicle sticks and shuffles them behind her back. The Popsicle sticks have the children’s names on them and are drawn at random, but the student who gets called on has the chance to “pass” if they want to. Once the children start telling stories of toys they got for their birthday or Christmas other children want to be called on to be able to tell the class which toys they own. Amusingly, some children are stretching their arms out as far as they can to try and get their instructor’s attention. Mrs. Hammond gives the children their assignment of writing a letter to an alien (because it is common knowledge to everyone on Earth) directions for blowing bubbles. The children instantly have questions of how the alien speaks English and other obvious questions pertaining to aliens to the regret of Mrs. Hammond even saying the word alien. The children write in binders specifically reserved for writing which cues them to prepare to write if they are asked to have it out on their desk. Once they are done writing their letters they go outside and read their directions out loud to the rest of the class who each have a bottle of bubbles. The purpose is to see how well their directions turned out and talk about any steps that have been left out. One student does not want to read her directions because she realizes she has forgotten to include a few steps such as, twist the lid and so on. Mrs. Hammond encourages her by saying the whole class will help her fix it so it is more complete. A few children get a fine of $25 for misbehaving outside, other than that the students stay on task. Back inside, we collaborate on a master list of directions on how to blow bubbles. Shortly after we get started the lunch bell rings and the students are dismissed for lunch.  The writing assignment was creative and had many facets that were beneficial to the students. They were introduced to procedural writing by recalling stories from their life when they had to use directions, familiarizing them with the process. They had the opportunity to teach someone else by writing a letter of directions while at the same time learning and practicing writing. And they tested their writing by going outside and following their own directions on how to blow a bubble reinforcing the importance of being complete and detailed in procedural writing.  An hour total was spent on writing which, according to Mrs. Hammond, is a long time for third graders to be focused on one subject. Usually they switch subjects every half an hour to keep the children on task and to maintain order. She thought that the class did very well staying on task because she usually has a problem with short attention spans. This lesson was the introduction and first of six lessons on procedural writing for the students. Mrs. Hammond explained that some of the boys in the class were having behavioral problems, described as general misbehaving, that she had been working on and had a goal of May for getting them on track for the year. Her tactics include: fines, talking softer as the class gets louder, and taking away time from recess. Her interaction with the class is calm and controlled which comes from her 20 years of experience as a teacher. The children seem to know the consequences of their behavior and have a sense of responsibility when they receive a fine and must give up their salary from their job in the classroom. When a child is off task or drifting in attention Mrs. Hammond simply says their name and they immediately return to their work. A fourth grade class behind hers was being taught by a new teacher, a male, he raised his voice to the class and told them to “shut-up.” It seemed very unprofessional and unnecessary. Mrs. Hammond didn’t have to resort to those kinds of tactics because she had a leadership presence that seemed to come easily to her. Her style is more parental than a dictator because the children don’t want to disappoint her and even seem to want to impress her with their studies.  It was interesting how important leadership is in the classroom. I learned that students should see their teacher as an approachable organizer who they emulate and respect because they learn better and accept responsibility easier. The students in Mrs. Hammond’s third grade class know about responsibilities and consequences and learn to work together with the “classroom as a town” scenario. The students let each other know what is “illegal” and hold each other accountable for their actions. They are empowered by their jobs and earn a wage to buy items from other students in the class. It is an efficient way to teach a lot of lessons although it does seem time consuming because the “town” has many rules and regulations and at times there is a lot going on for the students to focus on. One other important lesson I learned is to give the students opportunities to lead by example by letting them act as teacher. Mrs. Hammond asked her top student, Griffin, to explain to the class what appropriate behavior was expected when we went outside to blow bubbles and what the consequences were for misbehaving. The students seemed to pay attention more intently to Griffin, their peer, and his presence could cause less attentive students to aspire to be more like him since he is put in a leadership role. I did not observe any signs of resentment from any of the students as Griffin spoke leading me to the conclusion that he was perceived positively by the students.  Overall, observing this class brought to my attention the importance of real world examples, presented to the students with the bubble demonstration and the town scenario. Learning is more effective if it is taught verbally and visually so the students have more than one opportunity to concrete the ideas and lessons in their mind. When the students are required to write another piece of procedural writing they will think back to when they blew bubbles and remember how. More importantly though are the lessons experienced teachers can pass on to the newer ones by example. It is safe to say every teacher has lost patience with their class at one point in their career but overtime learned how return order in a more positive way and not lose patience. Mrs. Hammond made teaching her class look effortless and that smooth operation is what I aspire to accomplish early in my career.