Delany

My first visit to Francine Delany I observed the fourth grade class. The teacher was going through respect issues with the class and giving them examples of interactions that they might see in school and had them talk about whether each interaction could be bullying, joking, or whether it depened on the situation. As they talked, she wrote their feedback up on a paper so that they could then write journal entries on their feelings of bullying. This was the social studies portion of the day. The second visit it was the same class, but this time they were studying history. The teacher was going through the Declaration of Independence and when they came to a word that someone did not understand, the teacher would have them use their dictionaries to read the defination and put it into their own words. After this they went through and did the same exercise with their vocabulary for the week. The last visit at Francine Delany the students were working on journal entries about the books that they have been reading. During this visit I was able to walk around the classroom and read what some students were working on. I also got to look at how the room was set up. I like the way that they teacher kept things organized by having a scheldule of the times and the topics that they were covering that day. The teacher also went out of her way to keep a running list on the white board of things that the class was doing very well, like reading quietly, keeping the room clean, etc. And things that they needed to work on, such as listening while other people are talking, and respecting eachother. I felt like in doing this and having the visual she was encouraging the student to act like adults and take on their own responsiblities in the classroom. She didn't talk down to them and encouraged open communication and giving everyone in the class time to share their own opinions and experiences. Katie Blankenship