Marie+Bourgeois

Jones Elementary- 1st observation Wed the 14th of Feb. I had the privilege to sit in and observe Ms. Mitchner's third grade class at Jones Elementary. I would say there were about twenty kids, mostly minority students, I only counted around three white children, who were segregated into all different groups. The classroom was a nice size equipped with computers. I would have to say there were literally hundreds of books everywhere, which is great because they're so accessible but it seemed to make the room extremely cluttered. While I was in there the students were having their Valentine Party. Up on the board the agenda was written in a chronological order, and they have reached their last event which was in fact the party. All the kids were excited sharing the bags that they made or handing out various cards and candy they had prepared the night before. In the class there was not only Ms. Mitchner, but also a teachers aid, and another lady who I believe might have been a parent volunteer. In matter of minutes they began playing bingo with necco valentine hearts. The game went well, until some of the students found that none of their numbers were corresponding to what the lady was calling out. Some students jeered and were being poor sports, but it was relieved when Ms. Mitchner said to continue. After several rounds, food was handed out and students were then allowed to talk to their neighbors. For some of the kids I felt were semi rude to their peers, were actually __very__ polite and respected their teacher's well.


 * Marie- That sounds like a lot of fun. We used to have V-day parties at school. Writing the agenda on the board sounds like a great idea so that the students know what will be going on during the day and to help them be organized.**

Jones Elementary - Observation #2 2-19-07 Today I returned back to Ms. Mitchners third grade class. The students at this time were in music, so for the first 15 minutes I just wandered through the halls looking at artwork done by students, as well as murals that covered the wall. I find the school very appeasing, I remember at my school all the walls were the same color and it was so drowning. In Jones each hallway tends to be a different color, and in foyer like areas, murals are painted. The artwork done by the students were great. One section of the wall they had interpretations of a painting done by Van Gogh and I mean for k-1st grade they were prime works of art. When reuniting with the students, they walked or at least attempted a single file line back to the classroom. By the time we reached the class Ms. Mitchner was in a meeting so she asked the TA to take them to practice walking, and then out to the playground. From what I was looking at their line seemed very acceptable for their age, but the assistance wanted better so she made them walk back and forth through two points until she like what she saw. After the 2nd lap the boys were getting antsy. She almost sounded like the mother in terms of the way she presented her voice and by remarks she had made. I found it kind of unnecessary. One boy had an asthma inhaler and was using it and she took it away because it was against policy for him to use it with out adult supervision. After a few laps she dismissed a few kids at a time out onto the field. The boys played football, and the girls conjugated by the monkey bars and another climbing structure. It was weird in a way to see how the girls split up by race, while the boys all stuck together. I was able to talk to some of the girls about what they like about school, and one girl said she just really liked to learn because it was fun, and that she also liked gym because it was healthy for her body. Then like any groups of girls they discussed to me how the boys get away with everything, and barely get in trouble, where as they always get the blame. They told me yesterday one of the boys called one of the girls "gay" quite a few times, and she must of been pretty hurt because all the girls were asking how she was feeling this morning.

Jones Elementary- Observation # 3 My class today was in Art for half of the duration of my observation. When i got into the art room it felt very cluttered, I mean there were art supplies everywhere, and it was hard to move about. As I sat in the circle lay out of the desk, the students all had a personal drawing board, pencil and eraser. In the middle of the classroom there was a stand with 3 or 4 ceramic pots and vases. Students were asked to draw one or all and make their own background. As the students drew they listened to classical music. They were all quiet, as they were asked to, yet some boys acted up in the corner. These were boys who've I've seen acting rowdy before. The teacher just sat in front of them and asked them quietly to draw or they would have to move, and one boy repeated to talk back, and the teacher and him got in a small dispute. The teacher then asked if he would like if she called his grand daddy and he said he didn't have one, and it just went on, and she finally took his paper away from him. As for the other children they kept to themselves. One girl sitting next to me was very self conscious of her drawing because it didn't look exactly like the actual item. The teacher told her it was her own interpretation and that she was doing good, when the girl finally felt comfortable with it she showed it to her teacher and the teacher told her she could to better than that and it looked like she was scribbling. I found the teacher to be very irritable towards everything. And she told me that its so different teaching these days, she almost sounded frustrated. Returning back to Ms. Mitchners class the students were asked to think of ideas that corresponded with a prompt she chose. Monday being president day she decided they should write what they would change if they were president. The students were full of ideas, both decent and un realistic. After this exercise they went out for recess.

This sounds like a really good school. In your first observation you talked about the agenda being written up on the board in chronological order. Asheville Christian did the same thing starting all the way in first grade. Interesting system I'd say. It sounds like a nice school to go to with all the artwork on the walls and the colorfulness. I like the art class, it sounds like the teacher knew how to handle the class pretty well. -Rachel

Hey Marie, I love your description of this school. It sounds like there was a lot of interaction and really good meshing of different scenarios going on within the school, such as the two teachers you met and got to observe. I also love the art everywhere! ~ Sara Methven

Francine Delaney- Observation #1 We arrived at a series of portables. I had a feeling the school was going to be distinctively different, and that feeling was right. Today I observed Debbie Newton's class. It was a composite of both first and second grade. The body of students was very diverse in terms of race. I've never felt so cluttered in my life inside a classroom. Again there were so many books everywhere. I just can not remember any of my classes being filled to the brim with books, and i look at that as very positive and negative. The students, which for there age group i found weird, called their teacher by her first name. I mean I would never oppose it but I've never seen that before in such young grades. During class they were making decorations for the Chinese New Year. They were to color and fold a sheet of paper that featured a story and a picture of a dragon. I sat with a group of girls who were very silent at first but then they just opened up. Two of the girls were second grade and the others were in first. The two girls form opposite grades were partnered together and one of the little girls told me that was because the younger one needed a lot of help. Although she might of been a little advanced opposed to the other girls, the girl in terms of who she made reference too was in fact very quiet, and didn't understand how to fold, and colored very messy. She seemed almost frustrated. For instance she cut her paper in the wrong place, so she had to glue it back together, and in doing that she saw the number 5 and said this only takes 5 minutes to dry then counted 5 seconds and said thats it. When the other girls told her it was only five seconds and not minutes she got upset and she told another girl she wanted to put glue in her hair. After that she was just throwing her colored pencils and one of the aids came over and asked her politely to stop and she made a rude remark and was asked to meet her in the hallway.

Francine Delaney- Observation # 2 I missed this observation due to my health.

Francine Delaney Observation # 3 Today I went back to Debbie Newton's class. When I arrived students were working with buddies reading kid's time magazines and other stories. The objective of the activity is to have these children read to each other aloud to learn interesting things and hopefully help each other on different words they might be stuck on. Well this was happening Debbie was having personal conferences with students. I sat down and worked with this one little girl who was in first grade and her partner was in second grade. When I had her read to me she really struggled. I almost either felt that she either didn't know how to read or that she didn't want to try at all. It was if she were only looking at the first letter of the word and then saying a word which started with that first same letter.I tried to break up words with sounds but she just didn't know or try to make the sounds. Another thing she was doing was looking at pictures on the page that might give the word away. After working with her students took out their poetry anthologies which is a big book on songs and poems that they color. I sat with a new group of girls this time, again they were really shy but once they started talking they didn't stop. I read with one girl Sophia. She told me she spells her name two different ways but likes the way with the p and the h because it is longer than her friends name. The teacher's aid in the room drew a bookmark for one of the girls, and saw that I could draw and asked me to make one, so with in seconds I was swarmed with a whole groups of kids telling me what they wanted on their bookmark. They all had a fascination with angels which I found kind of odd.

Oakley Observation #1 By far this is has been my favorite visitation. The only thing i had doubts about was their entrance to the building. By all means locking every door is safe but it also can be scary i think, especially for younger kids. When I got into the class the teacher had to tell the kids that it was okay to speak with me and that although they don't know me, that I'm not a bad stranger. I feel instilling all this fear in a kid at an early age will not allow them to really to live, or explore, or want to go outside and ride a bike, because they are so afraid, but I see where the school can be right too because we do have crazies out there. The class I was observing was Mrs.Severes kidnegarden class. It was so great, the children were all smiling, and enthusiastic, very friendly, and very quiet when the teacher spoke. She had a very loving and caring aurora. The classroom was very spacious which I found to be a relief after all my other observations. When I arrived they had just returned from lunch, and they had been in activities prior. So all the kids went back into their groups of painting, writing, reading, blocks, and the kitchen. Other students who wished not to be in their designated groups could do a puzzle or go on the computer, or listen to an audio book. This seemed to work very well. I during the class period was working with two little girls writing. They decided they wanted to write everyone's name in the class, they had very nice penmanship, I was surprised. Then one girl wanted to read me a book, which I knew she had actually memorized because she would skip over words and then I'd ask her what it said and she didn't know. I just had a really fun time after the activity period because we then just sat on the ground and listened to the teacher read. The book had been about birds, and that was good because they have been learning about animals who lay eggs. The students actually sounded quite knowledgeable on the lesson. I can't wait to go back.

Marie, I just added this line with no problem. Maybe it was just a glitch in the system that you couldn't scroll down?

Oakley Observation#2

As they returned from lunch we had story time once again. Before this the teacher informed the children of their home work. They were working withe sentences that had a question mark at the end of it. She went around to every child and they made one. Some were confused but for the most part they all understood the assignment.The children were very well mannered as they were the last time I saw them. Today on the board Ms. Severe had written a sentence, it said " this morning there was a lot of fog, but then the sun came out, today is going to be a good day". I really liked that i think it lets the children be observant of the environment around them. I found this to be a practice in the Waldorf schools. The two books we read were about eggs again. I like how the children were able to ask questions through out the book, because before she would answer she'd ask other students what they comprehended or would pose questions her self. It was funny how students situated themselves on the rug today the boys were all integrated but the girls tended to sit with their own race.Many of the students today latched on to me which was fine, I was just afraid I didn't have enough limbs to hold everyones hand. After story time students who hadn't finished their work sat done and did work, and the others were given certain things to do during quiet time, I helped the kids color and cut out bunnies.

Dear Marie, Observing a kindergarten class seems like it would be very entertaining Marie. I have not spent much time around children of that age and it think it would be fun for me to listen to their questions and try to answer them in a way that makes sense to them. I feel like I am not very good at understanding cognitive development of children, which is something I would love to learn to do. -Claire

Oakley Observation # 3 Today I was surprised the students seemed to be a little rowdy, but not overwhelming. Ms. Severe had explained their homework and then gave them almost a pretest on their asscesment they would be having soon. They did things such as creating sentences with different punctuation at the end,and pronounciation of words by each letter. Today when reading books about eggs it was if they forgotten their lessons. One girl kept saying that she never seen a pig or a horse, or an elephant lay an egg, and Ms. Severe said it was because they were mammals. But it was awkward because prior to this visit she was telling me all about egg layers. After the two books it was quiet time, some kids finished work, others were in time out, and the rest were free to chose an activity, Katie and I helped students make bunnies out of milk cartons, pipe cleaners, and construction paper. They turned out really cute. I worked with this one kid Dawson, he was the youngest in the class, and before hand the teacher told us how the second semester they eliminated nap times, yet some kids who felt it necessary to do so could, so breaking his routine at a younger age for him was difficult. I thought he was very bright, and extremely polite, he said yes mam, no mam, thank you mam. He was very independent too, I liked that I think it should that he had a lot of creativity.

Marie! hey friend! It was really interesting how much you loved Oakley elementary, i also visited oakley and i had a horrible experience. I was in a fifth grade class however, and the teacher was completly nuts. It was really great reading your observations, it sounds like they were really pushing theswe kindergardeners to do some really difficult stuff. As i would be reading about them being tested or talking about egg layers, i would forget that i was reading about kindergardeners and think i was reading about first or second graders at least. I love this age, they are so enthusiastic and curious, and it really takes special people to work with them and bring out the best in them at this age, i think you would be perfect for this. I love you friend, sara rubin.

LT 4/16

Rainbow Mountain Observation #1 Well lets just say we enjoyed a nice ride. The directions lacked an exit so we drove on and on, and well on. I can't complain though we had a great music selection. I can't wait until next time.

Rainbow Mountain Observation #2 Today arriving at Rainbow Mountain, we encountered what is called community afternoon. It is something new to the school, and talking with a teacher this was their 5th time doing it this year. Omega students, which are fifth graders are responsible for creating an activity, under the supervision of one or more teachers or staff. The participants were k-4th. I was in the multi-purpose room and the children had prepared musical chairs, but with a twist of kindness. If the music stopped, older students were urged to give up their chair to someone younger, or if any two students at the same age level were left with one chair one should give it up to the other student. Once they were out they brought their chairs over to a desk and drew pictures of kindness. The space was nice, it wasn't cluttered at all so it seem like a lot of activites may partake in the room. The students were predominantly white, actually the group I observed were completley white. I felt some of the boys had the tendency of teasing or bullying. One boy pulled a chair right out from under a young girl and she hit her head on the wall, and cried. The teacher brought her over some where and like a mother rocked her in her arms, and calmed her down. What I felt was odd is that they never approached the young boy who had done this to her. Returning to the kidnegardedn class who is dismissed earlier then the res tof the school, we sat in a cirlce on the rug and did a special goodbye song with spirtitual and growth references and children were dismissed by winking and each hugged the teacher and the aid goodbye.

Marie: I think it's so funny we observed such different behaviors in the same school. It was a special day where everything was different, but I did not observe any bullying, or any spiritual or growth references to anything. I didn't see any hugging either. I guess age really makes a difference when it comes to behavior sometimes though. ~Katie

Rainbow Mountain Observation #3 Today I was with Kidnergarnders and we were in a highly decorated module and the classroom did not require shoes. I really enjoyed the space, this was the least cluttlered classroom that I have observed. I also liked it because it was very organized in terms of subjects. They also had a mini alter of some sort that embraced many religious traditions, more on the spirituality side though. We talked about buddha day and how children can make choices in a non discreet way to avoid fights or arguments. One girl was praised for an act that she did earlier in the day.The kids to day seemed a little restless but not out of control. From what I feel from the school students have a particular freedom of expression. In the class the teacher was able to keep control by using questions of we could either sit here talking about injuries( an off the subject topic) or do this exercise, and this worked real well. First the Teacher aid shared a song with all different language and we danced in our own spots. Everyone was fully engaged except one boy who stood perfectly still and would not crack a smile or move his body what so ever. And that was fine, they just let him be and in the next activity he joined in. The next activity was simon says with water. It was an activity to premote movement, and levels, and explaining a verb with out speaking. And all the movements involved or related to water.

LT 5/15