WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TL330 1

Classroom Observation (for your Final Integrated Social Justice Lesson Plan)
To help prepare you for your group Final Integrated Social Justice Lesson Plan, please engage in
a targeted observation of the classroom, and engage in discussions with your teacher around the
following areas. Remember, these are things for you to consider so that you can ensure, to the
best of your ability, that your lesson plan is culturally responsive and accessible to all of the
students in your classroom. Some of these questions can be answered via your observations, but
many will require some discussions with your teacher. Please remember, each individual in
your group needs to submit a classroom observation sheet on Blackboard.
1. What is the general layout of the classroom and resources available for you to use for
your lesson and stations? Whiteboard, projector, laptop, document camera, smartboard,
Chromebooks, etc.? What supplies do the children generally have in their desks that they
can use?

The desks are arranged in 3 long rows throughout the classroom. There is a table in the
back of the room with a couple of chairs that are used for conferences and as a meeting
area for small groups. There are whiteboards along one side of the room, a document
camera and a projector on another wall, the teacher’s desk is in the back corner so that
she can monitor students while they are working.

2. What are some of the classroom dynamics to consider? Number of boys and girls in the
class? What grouping strategies might you consider for your stations?

There are 7 girls and 14 boys in the class for a total of 21. I think that the stations might
benefit from groups of about 5 along 4 different stations. That way they have plenty of
people in each group while keeping the size even and small enough to conduct an
effective workspace.

3. What are some of the general mathematics concepts that all of the students in your grade
level can understand/use, regardless of their math grouping? Are there particular
mathematical concepts that the teacher thinks would be useful for your lesson to use?

They are proficient in addition and subtraction, they are working currently on
multiplication of single digit numbers. Division is a little bit of a reach at the moment for
these students. They are currently working on basic algebra like expressions, equations,
and variables. I think that their knowledge of place value will help with any sort of
statistics like dates, populations, and other statistics. They also will be able to quantify
sizes and image the importance of those various statistics.

4. What are some of the main themes in the social studies curriculum for your grade level
that might be a good tie in for your lesson?

Tribal sovereignty, state symbols, regions of the state of Washington. We could use the
sovereignty aspect in our lesson to connect with the student about how our state has so
many different Native American tribes and indigenous people. How these people all
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TL330 2

share different cultures and that is why they are unique. It will give us an opportunity to
discuss culture and acceptance of all people and differences.

5. What social studies resources do you observe in the classroom (maps, texts, books, etc)?

They have a lot of maps and globes around the classroom. They also have their social
studies class set of textbooks that are used occasionally. I think that as a class they have a
good representation of maps of many different places like states, countries, and the world
as a whole.

6. Regarding ELL students, what is the first/home language? Are they receiving services in
the school? How many years? What strategies have teachers used that were helpful?

There are 2 students who are ELL. They are new to Pullman this year and both have a
home language of Chinese. Sometimes they are pulled out of the class. They also have
some modified activities, they work on an ELL computer program to help them gain
some language proficiency.

7. Regarding students with special needs, what accommodations do you need to consider for
reading, math, language arts, social studies? Think about students with documented IEPs
and 504 plans as well as those that do not have official plans on file. What strategies have
been successful?
There are 3 IEP’s and 5 Title students in the class. No high capability students, but there
are small groups that meet in class and students are pulled out for para and title time
throughout the day.