Ansley+Thomas

Visit #1 2/14/07 My first visit to Oakley Elementary was very exciting and I was to observe Mrs. Kannup’s second grade class. It was Valentine’s Day so everyone was a bit off, yet the teacher had an excellent handle on her students and everything that was going on in her classroom. One o’clock is story time for this class so the first thing I observed was her reading a special Valentine’s Day story. I noticed that she had a very stimulating teaching style; asking lots of questions about the book in a “picking-up-the-speed” fashion, she moved quickly from one child to the next, building up suspense (and giving everyone a chance to throw their two cents in). She praised every child after her question-asking session by saying, “I love your brains!” and then told them all to “kiss their brains” (which means put a kiss in your hand deliver it to the top of your head). Some of the questions she asked showed off their knowledge of non-fiction/fiction literature, symmetry and other complex ideas. Likely because most of my experience is with preschoolers and younger, but I was impressed by these second graders. Upon entering observations I was mostly interested in classroom management techniques. I noticed at Oakley a disciplinary system in which there are six colored squares with things like “I am setting a good example to others” or “I am responsible” as well as “Oops!” and “I need to think about my choices”. The last option is “Conference with Mrs. Kanupp.” The majority of the student’s names rested on “I am responsible” and only one child was all the way down to “oops.” It looked like it had been a good day for the class. My fellow observers reported the same system in their classrooms so I assume it is school wide. A few questions I had while observing: What did they refer to discipline board as and how effective is it? How often did they rearrange desks?
 * Oakley Elementary**

Visit #2 2/19/07 On this visit to Mrs. Kanupp’s class there was a substitute teacher, which created a great chance for me to observe some ineffective classroom control methods. I again walked in during story time, but it was not the lively yet controlled class I had witnessed last Wednesday. The teacher was despondent and unenthusiastic and the children were bored and restless. She tried to control their restlessness by saying things like, “Quit being disruptive and I mean it!” (come on, we all know that doesn’t work) and I noticed that more students’ names were at the bottom of the discipline chart. After the story she put in a video about Abraham Lincoln and I took the opportunity to poke around the classroom. The students appeared to have a journal for each subject. I looked at reading, math, and spelling journals, as well as journal-journals. They also had home/school folders that contained homework assignments and information on the class. This seemed like a great way to keep parents involved. In their reading journals they documented time spent reading and what books for the SSR reading program. In the spelling journals the students cut out letters from magazines and newspapers to create words and in the math journals you had your average run of addition/subtraction problems. In their regular journals I found a variety of things including complaints about sisters, Mrs. Kanupp and one fabulous story about a dinosaur. Questions: I wanted to ask Mrs. Kanupp how she went about grading the journals and what spelling/grammar mistakes did she correct and which ones did she let slide.

--Adrienne I'd never even though about preparation for note taking. That’s a really interesting idea, thanks Adrienne.
 * I feel like 2nd Grade is the best and most common time for teachers to start their kids on journals. It definitely gets you into the habit of note taking and they're really fun to look back on.

Visit #3 2/21/07 My final visit to Mrs. Kanupp’s class was the least informative observation because there was again a substitute. They were taking recess instead of story time on this visit so I followed them outside. It was great to be outside on such a nice day and the kids were cheerful. It is a school wide requirement at Oakley that each class walk two complete laps around the playground before playing. I asked why this was and the sub (who was also a teaching assistant in another classroom) told me that some of the children will immediately sit down and do nothing for the entire recess, and the requirement of laps at least assures that they get some exercise. I found this a really upsetting example of modern-American culture. It was unfortunate that I left Oakley without having a chance to talk with Mrs. Kanupp and ask her any of my questions.

Observation #1 2/28/07 On our first visit to the Montessori preschool (ages 18 months to pre-k) we arrived at nap time. Nap time is an unfortunate time to visit a preschool because there is not much going on. For the majority of this visit we spent time talking with the director and being shown around the building. We looked at the classrooms and learned about Montessori’s system. It seems to be that a big part of Montessori is creating life skills and practical skills. They work on table setting, shoe polishing, buttoning, and teeth brushing. They have porcelain cups and pitchers to work on pouring, metal sets for tracing letters and shapes, wooden blocks to gain concept of size, and letter boxes containing various items that start with a letter of the alphabet (ex. a tiger and a top in the box for the letter “T”) The director of this center spent a lot of time telling us about how North Carolina’s state mandates for daycare centers but a damper on her way of doing things. For example, she would not, were it not mandated, have a housekeeping center or a free-play blocks center. Personally, I see nothing wrong with imaginative play. In fact, I LOVE imaginative play and think kids need a lot of it. The two main things that struck me on this first visit were the attractiveness of this center and the homey atmosphere. They had the most beautiful toys and learning materials. Having worked in several daycare centers over the past three years I’ve become very familiar with the “standard” toys (they all come from pretty much the same catalog) but I didn’t see any of those toys here. Everything was high quality and unique. They also had plants, posters, and photos of the children up everywhere. Daycares/preschools tend to be more like a family than schools do. You learn each and every child on a much more intimate level. I could tell that the coworkers got along well and knew each child – even the children that were not in their class. I really love that. It made me homesick for my own daycare center and the children that I work with there.
 * Montessori**

Observation #2 3/7/07 On our second visit to the school we woke up early (!!) and arrived there at around 8:30 in the morning. We were told that it was picture day and that things were going to be hectic. I’ve lived through multiple picture days and was expecting the worst. However, her definition of hectic and mine seemed to be very different. This was the most diligent and focused group of five year olds I have ever seen, and the “picture day crazies” were practically non-existent. We were just in time for circle time and show and tell. Each child waited patiently for their turn to show. One child brought in a book about butterflies because they had been studying them, another just wanted to show off his new shirt. After show and tell they did the calendar and weather. One child ran to the window to see what the weather was like outside and another spent quit a bit of time looking for the number seven. He was allowed as much time as he needed to look for the number. They read a Dr. Suess book to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday that week and then it was time to get busy with their “work.” When a child wanted to go into the housekeeping center the teacher said, “These people have come to watch us do our work, why don’t you show them what work you can do?” so the child choose a different activity. Their work consisted of a variety of learning materials. A one hundred board with blue squares in rows of ten and square pieces with numbers on them. The child was to place the pieces in order to one hundred. There was a telephone, not for pretending, but just for practicing dialing. The children used the letter boxes a lot, too. One little girl brought a tower of blocks over to my table and said, “I have to play with these carefully or else the paint will come off.” She removed the blocks to make stairs and then put them back together again. She was completely content with this simple activity. Though their teacher seemed a little stressed out, the class was quite, focused, and very precise in their work.

Observation #3 3/14/07 This visit was much like the previous one. Circle time again, show and tell, and then time to get busy with their work. Circle time for this group seems to be mostly weather and calendar. It was missing a lot of the games and learning activities that I'm accustomed to. On this visit I noticed that they had been learning Cherokee and had their names written and displayed on a wall. I also observed that they were allowed to wash their hands and eat snack (brought in by parents) any time they’d like throughout the morning. I was interested in the way they were learning to read: instead of learning the //name// of the letter they were working with //sound//. Instead of saying ‘J’ the teacher said ‘Juh’ when instructing a child. Most of the same activities were pulled off the shelves as last time and the teacher focused on working with one child at a time. I have trouble articulating and verbalizing the exact distinctions in the Montessori system. I saw a lot of things I liked, as well as some things that I didn’t. I think that to gain a full perspective I’d like to work in a Montessori school for a while. As for classroom management techniques I saw no real examples of behavior correction in my three visits because these children were the most well behaved and calm children I’ve ever seen.

Visit # 1 3/28/07 Our first visit to Art Space was canceled.
 * Art Space**

4/2/07 Observation #2 I was in one of the first grade classrooms at Art Space. They had a relaxed classroom environment: there was a couch to sit on during story time and the shelved supplies didn’t seem to be in too particular of an order. This has its positive and negative points. The clutter in the classroom was very distracting, and though I liked the couch, I saw how it could be distracting as well. There was lots of the students art work everywhere as well as art related posters (especially Monet prints) and there was even a “Babar’s Art Museum” parody. The time that I was there was read-aloud time. They were reading fairy tales because they were doing a trip around the world and were currently studying Europe. They were also writing a play and using the stories to collect ideas. All of the children were very restless and seemed to have a hard time staying focused on the story. Afterwards they worked on silent reading. Some kids were actually doing the work, but most were talking and drawing all over their reading folders (used to document what books they read). The class became very loud and hectic, which I though might be very distracting for the class next door – seeing as there was no wall separating the two rooms, only a halfway divider. To get their attention the teacher would say, “1, 2, 3, eyes on me!” and the children would reply. “1, 2, eyes on you!" I asked some children what their favorite art activity was and they told me things like “clay” and “painting” which was neat.

4/4/07 Observation #3 When I entered the classroom on this visit all of the children we finishing up making Easter baskets. They were all very excited about the Easter bunny coming and the candy they would get. I had forgotten that Easter was so exciting for children. The kids, much like last visit, were a very excitable bunch and eager to talk to me. After they had cleaned up from making baskets it was time for another story. Their teacher tried to use a calming exercise with hand motions and slow breathing, unfortunately this only seemed to rile them up more. They read “The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Egg” which was a delightful old story from the 50’s. They spent some time talking about what makes this book look like an old book. They children pointed out the obvious things like using an old stove, sewing by hand and washing dishes by hand, as well as that the illustrations looked different than modern books. The noise from the classroom next door was very distracting and I wondered how everyone adapted to that so well. The most surprising thing to was their computer class. The schools librarian came into our classroom with mobile computer lab to give a lesson. What I witnessed was a classroom of first graders each with their very own Mac computer in front of them! I thought this was very interesting and definitely different from the dinosaur computers I remember using in elementary school.

LT 4/16


 * That's really interesting about the calming exercise the teacher attempted to use. I remember similar experiences in elementary school, but I can' quite recall how they went. I feel like those types of exercises are generally effective for brining down the energy level, but I suppose not always. It must have been frustrating for the teacher to have the kids respond to her efforts like that. I'm not sure what I would have done had that happened to me. That's an cool interaction to have witnessed. Good response. - Jamie Hart**

4/23/07 Observation #1 We go lost.
 * Rainbow Mountain**

4/30/07 Observation#2 After acquiring some proper directions to Rainbow Mountain we found it quite easily on our second visit. Our arrival was met with surprise (they had not been expecting us) and we were told that today was a pretty crazy day to be observing (a field day of sorts). They were preparing for their 30th anniversary and spring carnival celebration on the following days. Things were indeed hectic. The children were dived up into groups of similar ages, with one or two middle schoolers to each group of younger kids. The rotated to different stations set up all over the school. The stations were things like: capture the flag, making a kindness banner, making May Day fairies and fairy dust, musical chairs, etc. The teachers were dressed very causally - I saw one teacher with a nose ring. The students definitely looked like they came from "alternative" homes - wearing Pink Floyd t-shirts paired with unkempt haircuts. The middle schoolers that I saw were the utmost in fashion (fashion for their age group, you understand) and talked a lot about a freshman camping trip and their final papers and projects. Each group of students that I saw was entirely white, as well as the teachers. Because of the "May Day Crazies" I'm not really sure exactly //what// I observed at Rainbow Mountain on this day. It was a beautiful school, with the air of creativity everywhere. It was a very laid back, comfortable and homey environment. I looked forward to going back to Rainbow Mountain again.

5/2/07 Observation #3 On this second visit I had a little trouble finding a elementary aged class that was not in a specials (music, art, etc) at the time of our visit. And I wanted to see a little bit more of a structured classroom, so I opted not to sit in on an art class and went, instead, into a kindergarten class that one of my classmates was already in. This classroom was a close second favorite to all the classes I observed (Montessori being the first). It a very cool, calm environment with hardwood floors and mellow blues and purples. The class was sitting in circle talking. The teacher brought up an act of kindness on girl had done earlier in the day for two friends who were arguing. The teacher asked her what she was thinking about when she did that kind thing and she replied that she was thinking about Buddha Day. They spent some time talking about what Buddha day was and what that means. They decided that every day should be Buddha Day and tomorrow at the end of the day they would share their acts of secret kindness done throughout the day. After that they played a themed game of Simon Says. I was delighted at this because I love themed Simon Says (you can get at least a good 45 minutes of entertainment out of this most of the time). This theme was water and they acted out all kinds of water themes. For example: taking a shower, being a shark, doing the dishes or the laundry. In watching the kids act out these different things you could really tell which ones had actually helped with doing the dishes or the laundry and those who hadn't. She challenged the children to think of different ideas and not do the same thing they saw their neighbor doing, and to not use any sounds. After Simon Says they read a story. The teacher refused to show them the pictures in the book because "the pictures in your head are so much better" and encouraged them to act out what they were hearing if they felt the need to. It was a very interactive and interesting way to read a story, though I thought acting out the story probably would have distracted me from listening.

Good work. LT 5/15