West Park Elementary Observation Grade 5

I had the biggest smile on my face when I walked inside the classroom. The teacher wanted me to be involved as much as I could and I loved engaging with the students and helping with their problems.

The classroom was unlike my classes in elementary. They were seated in groups and random tables around the room. The teacher would assign a few students each day to be shadows, minions and ninjas. Shadows were kids who would help the two Syrian students in the class with work and chat with them to expose them to the English language.. Minions were the teacher's secretary and they would answer the telephone. Ninjas were students who silently handed out and collected their classmates' work. The teacher also has a theme for the year which was Just Do It! The purpose was to try to engage the students to participate in the classroom.

The day started with positive feedback to the children. After the teacher switched roles and he tried to get the students to explain fractions. Then an activity about fractions began and the kids were up and moving. The students had to make fractions using their body and other classmates to form the fraction on the board. Next the teacher used food to explain how fractions could be used in everyday life. To involve the students he asked them what chocolate bar was their favorite. During this time I noticed students were coloring, drawing or wondering around the classroom and not directly focused on the teacher. Then I realized the classroom was structured on student centered learning. To be honest this concept was difficult to be comfortable with because I was grown up with teacher centered learning. I expected the children to struggle with the worksheet but the majority of them understood everything. Another thing I noticed was the teacher never raised his voice... not even once. Even when they started to increase the chatter he spoke in a soft, low voice and said, "If you hear my voice snap twice, if you hear my voice tap your knees" and etc.

Overall my experiences was eye opening and informative. I am definitely going to consider styling my classroom in this way. I had a great time at West Park Elementary and I can't wait to indulge in the new techniques I have discovered.