(Lesson Notes)
You can watch a full video recording of this lesson through Edthena at
https://app.edthena.com/conversations/7CGQvPAhyJn8CtFKd
https://app.edthena.com/conversations/7CGQvPAhyJn8CtFKd
My Observation Notes from Edthena:
0:25 I could have asked him to expand on "people".
1:24 I referenced the people, roles, and places that we previously talked about, but I don't define "roles" at this time.
2:22 Reminder about sitting criss cross apple sauce, peanut butter hands
3:24 Matthew started talking about his dad's role in the community. Should I/Could I incorporate what each child knows about their parent/guardian's occupation into this discussion or maybe a later discussion (or earlier)? Would this take too long or detract from my ultimate point about classroom communities?
4:17 It seems like Zakaya is looking somewhere else. How could I try to re-focus her or help her want to participate?
4:53 Matthew and Jose high fived each other.
5:07 First warning for Marquois
5:17 Gave reason behind asking him to sit on his bottom = so other people can see
5:59 Told Matthew to keep his thoughts in his head. Maybe I should differentiate for myself and for my students what behavior constitutes a warning, because while I did say his name because I wanted him to know that I did not want his behavior to continue, I also didn't give him a warning.
6:20 It probably would have been better to play this video on a bigger screen, but that wasn't an option in the library.
7:02 I said that I was looking for people who were sitting quietly, which I have heard many other teachers say before, but is it really such a bad thing if students are so excited to share that they're making noise? If it was incredibly disruptive, I understand.
7:09 Gave Marquois second warning. Maybe double check with him so that he knows why he got a second warning.
7:19 I didn't expect the kids to talk about teachers who are a part of their day, but who may not be in our immediate classroom community. I wanted to get to our Powel community next, which would obviously include these teachers, but I guess it is good that the kids really think about Coach Aaron and Coach Becky, etc as a part of their classroom community!
7:32 I feel like I called on Zakaya and Layla, yet it looks like I keep calling on Marquois, Matthew and Jose. This makes me kind of sad because I know that I don't like seeing the same children getting called on over and over and it looks like I'm doing it too even though I'm pretty sure I tried to call on the other students as well.
8:32 Should I have tried to get the students to go from Marquois, Jose, Layla, etc to students in general? Should I have nipped it in the bud and not written down any individual students' name?
9:13 I think that it's nice that they wanted everyone to be included. (Again, maybe it would be best to generalize to students in case not all students hear their name)
10:28 "I see Layla thinking." Calls on Layla (I tried to get a variety of students talking)
11:03 Clarify what "role" means
11:19 Students seem disappointed that we didn't get to talk about the roles of each person they listed. Should I have tried to do less in this lesson and allowed them to expand upon different types of roles and why they're necessary?
11:31 Private talk with Marquois. "I think you're disrupting your classmates' learning."
11:52 I wasn't sure how many times/how much time i should spend insisting he move.
12:42 Marquois finally leaves (gets up and stomps off)
12:56 Matthew reminds me of the importance of trying to write down what students say verbatim or at least asking them if I'm writing down what they think they said.
13:14 I did not even notice Matthew and Jose high fiving in the back...
13:24 Wow. They knew when I was going to turn around and they went back to sitting criss cross apple sauce. If I hadn't seen this video, I would never have known that they were high fiving in the back! Make sure my back isn't turned for very long even if it means writing some and looking back at the carpet.
13:41 Why has Zakaya spent much of the time moving and stretching on the carpet? Is this too much carpet time? Should we have stretched or something?
14:09 Did not say his answer was wrong. Asked follow up question. Asked if he'd like to revise his answer after he realized it wasn't in the classroom.
14:39 Matthew "Ooh! Good one!" high fives Lucia. Cute! Like how he is proud of his classmate's answer.
16:10 Asked Marquois if he is ready to re-join the group
16:47 Should I have let them discuss if we have a library in our classroom? Or would that take up too much unnecessary time? (It seems like I ignored their conversation and tried to keep moving.)
16:52 Marquois comes back
17:13 It sounds like there is a lot of chatter by the corner with Matthew and Jose. I think Rachel may have had a good point about assigning seats. Zakaya and Layla tend to speak softly and are quieter, but they were sitting off to the right.
17:34 I let Marquois know what we are working on and invited him to participate.
17:45 I reviewed what we wrote for Marquois, but maybe it helped the rest of the group as well. (Could periodically review what we've done during the lesson.)
18:08 16 seconds of wait time after asking Marquois if he can think of a place in our classroom (although there was some talking during this wait)
18:12 "Do you want to ask someone for help?"
18: 54 Could have asked some of the other members in the group to help Mark instead of me telling him "whiteboard".
19:56 "No one raised their hands, so we're not talking right now."
20:12 I told them I was going to show them examples at the table. Do you think it would have been better to show them on the carpet? I do, because I feel like the examples sort of get thrown to the wayside when we get to the tables with the materials. (The reason why I didn't show them on the carpet was because I accidentally left them in a bag on one of the chairs at the table.)
20:41 Should have assigned seats to avoid confusion
21:36 Maybe I could have drawn one anchor place on the map for them to work from like the door. That would have helped them with the concept of a map and drawing things in relation to other things, but it would possibly have stifled their ability to be creative and make their map completely their own.
22:15 I think one reason why I was able to do individual conferences was because every student had something they were working on and something they really wanted to work on. Had the task been less interesting to them or less hands on, I think they would have gotten bored and maybe more fidgety.
22:50 Although I don't think Matthew and Marquois are being disruptive or too loud, I realize that I allowed the quieter students to sit together and the slightly louder students to sit together.
23:00 I think it's awesome that they used our poster. This is exactly why I wanted it in the front so they could see!
23:30 Marquois "Can I borrow your purple marker?"
This is what I was anticipating as a potential classroom management issue- the need to share supplies.
24:39 I encourage students to add other places on their maps.
25:40 Individual conferences so they can tell me what they included on their map.
27:13 Matthew "Everybody makes a mistake."
27:32 It looks like Jose is watching you, Rachel! :D
27:57 Why is Zakaya under the table...?
I see. She was getting the fabric that fell.
28:16 "That's okay. I said this was a work in progress. So we're not going to finish everything today."
29:06 The students are explaining their maps to the people at their table.
29:53 Mark is explaining his map.
30:30 Maybe I should have taken the materials away before asking them to explain their maps. Or reminded them that they will get a chance to finish their maps another day.
31:30 "Marquois, we walk. Thank you for correcting yourself."
31:48 Zakaya trying to clean up. Normally, I would have the students help me clean up the materials, because I think that is important, but we were under a time constraint.
32:04 Remind students to put their names on their work first!
1:24 I referenced the people, roles, and places that we previously talked about, but I don't define "roles" at this time.
2:22 Reminder about sitting criss cross apple sauce, peanut butter hands
3:24 Matthew started talking about his dad's role in the community. Should I/Could I incorporate what each child knows about their parent/guardian's occupation into this discussion or maybe a later discussion (or earlier)? Would this take too long or detract from my ultimate point about classroom communities?
4:17 It seems like Zakaya is looking somewhere else. How could I try to re-focus her or help her want to participate?
4:53 Matthew and Jose high fived each other.
5:07 First warning for Marquois
5:17 Gave reason behind asking him to sit on his bottom = so other people can see
5:59 Told Matthew to keep his thoughts in his head. Maybe I should differentiate for myself and for my students what behavior constitutes a warning, because while I did say his name because I wanted him to know that I did not want his behavior to continue, I also didn't give him a warning.
6:20 It probably would have been better to play this video on a bigger screen, but that wasn't an option in the library.
7:02 I said that I was looking for people who were sitting quietly, which I have heard many other teachers say before, but is it really such a bad thing if students are so excited to share that they're making noise? If it was incredibly disruptive, I understand.
7:09 Gave Marquois second warning. Maybe double check with him so that he knows why he got a second warning.
7:19 I didn't expect the kids to talk about teachers who are a part of their day, but who may not be in our immediate classroom community. I wanted to get to our Powel community next, which would obviously include these teachers, but I guess it is good that the kids really think about Coach Aaron and Coach Becky, etc as a part of their classroom community!
7:32 I feel like I called on Zakaya and Layla, yet it looks like I keep calling on Marquois, Matthew and Jose. This makes me kind of sad because I know that I don't like seeing the same children getting called on over and over and it looks like I'm doing it too even though I'm pretty sure I tried to call on the other students as well.
8:32 Should I have tried to get the students to go from Marquois, Jose, Layla, etc to students in general? Should I have nipped it in the bud and not written down any individual students' name?
9:13 I think that it's nice that they wanted everyone to be included. (Again, maybe it would be best to generalize to students in case not all students hear their name)
10:28 "I see Layla thinking." Calls on Layla (I tried to get a variety of students talking)
11:03 Clarify what "role" means
11:19 Students seem disappointed that we didn't get to talk about the roles of each person they listed. Should I have tried to do less in this lesson and allowed them to expand upon different types of roles and why they're necessary?
11:31 Private talk with Marquois. "I think you're disrupting your classmates' learning."
11:52 I wasn't sure how many times/how much time i should spend insisting he move.
12:42 Marquois finally leaves (gets up and stomps off)
12:56 Matthew reminds me of the importance of trying to write down what students say verbatim or at least asking them if I'm writing down what they think they said.
13:14 I did not even notice Matthew and Jose high fiving in the back...
13:24 Wow. They knew when I was going to turn around and they went back to sitting criss cross apple sauce. If I hadn't seen this video, I would never have known that they were high fiving in the back! Make sure my back isn't turned for very long even if it means writing some and looking back at the carpet.
13:41 Why has Zakaya spent much of the time moving and stretching on the carpet? Is this too much carpet time? Should we have stretched or something?
14:09 Did not say his answer was wrong. Asked follow up question. Asked if he'd like to revise his answer after he realized it wasn't in the classroom.
14:39 Matthew "Ooh! Good one!" high fives Lucia. Cute! Like how he is proud of his classmate's answer.
16:10 Asked Marquois if he is ready to re-join the group
16:47 Should I have let them discuss if we have a library in our classroom? Or would that take up too much unnecessary time? (It seems like I ignored their conversation and tried to keep moving.)
16:52 Marquois comes back
17:13 It sounds like there is a lot of chatter by the corner with Matthew and Jose. I think Rachel may have had a good point about assigning seats. Zakaya and Layla tend to speak softly and are quieter, but they were sitting off to the right.
17:34 I let Marquois know what we are working on and invited him to participate.
17:45 I reviewed what we wrote for Marquois, but maybe it helped the rest of the group as well. (Could periodically review what we've done during the lesson.)
18:08 16 seconds of wait time after asking Marquois if he can think of a place in our classroom (although there was some talking during this wait)
18:12 "Do you want to ask someone for help?"
18: 54 Could have asked some of the other members in the group to help Mark instead of me telling him "whiteboard".
19:56 "No one raised their hands, so we're not talking right now."
20:12 I told them I was going to show them examples at the table. Do you think it would have been better to show them on the carpet? I do, because I feel like the examples sort of get thrown to the wayside when we get to the tables with the materials. (The reason why I didn't show them on the carpet was because I accidentally left them in a bag on one of the chairs at the table.)
20:41 Should have assigned seats to avoid confusion
21:36 Maybe I could have drawn one anchor place on the map for them to work from like the door. That would have helped them with the concept of a map and drawing things in relation to other things, but it would possibly have stifled their ability to be creative and make their map completely their own.
22:15 I think one reason why I was able to do individual conferences was because every student had something they were working on and something they really wanted to work on. Had the task been less interesting to them or less hands on, I think they would have gotten bored and maybe more fidgety.
22:50 Although I don't think Matthew and Marquois are being disruptive or too loud, I realize that I allowed the quieter students to sit together and the slightly louder students to sit together.
23:00 I think it's awesome that they used our poster. This is exactly why I wanted it in the front so they could see!
23:30 Marquois "Can I borrow your purple marker?"
This is what I was anticipating as a potential classroom management issue- the need to share supplies.
24:39 I encourage students to add other places on their maps.
25:40 Individual conferences so they can tell me what they included on their map.
27:13 Matthew "Everybody makes a mistake."
27:32 It looks like Jose is watching you, Rachel! :D
27:57 Why is Zakaya under the table...?
I see. She was getting the fabric that fell.
28:16 "That's okay. I said this was a work in progress. So we're not going to finish everything today."
29:06 The students are explaining their maps to the people at their table.
29:53 Mark is explaining his map.
30:30 Maybe I should have taken the materials away before asking them to explain their maps. Or reminded them that they will get a chance to finish their maps another day.
31:30 "Marquois, we walk. Thank you for correcting yourself."
31:48 Zakaya trying to clean up. Normally, I would have the students help me clean up the materials, because I think that is important, but we were under a time constraint.
32:04 Remind students to put their names on their work first!
Observation Notes from my Penn Mentor: