ASSIGNMENT # 3

Instruction Question 1: What is the posted schedule for different subjects or periods?

After students arrival according to the daily schedule, they need to have breakfast at 8:50 am.

After they enter the classroom with a teacher and teacher assistant. In the classroom at 9:15 am

students need to refresh their knowledge about letters, numbers, sign language, days of the week

and etc. At 10 o'clock students go outside to play together at the playground and after 30 minutes

they need to go back to the classroom and to complete the “calendar” task with teacher’s help,

Activity includes the day of the week, the month, the weather, and how they should dress with

certain weather. Later, the teacher needs to decide when the students need the break. It can be

around 11 am. Breaks are very entertaining and helpful for students, usually, it can be dance

break, which students love and enjoy. Next, students learn new words and create short sentences

by using them, the teacher makes small group activities by using manipulatives and technology.

12 am is the lunchtime until 12:20, children get very excited for lunchtime and they always enjoy

their meals. After lunch students go to the different classroom for the art class. They do some fun

activities with teacher's directions., for example, close to the Halloween season, they were

creating pumpkins from decorative papers. At 2:20 o'clock children finish their day at school.

Instruction Question 2: Is instruction done in small groups, centers, whole groups, individual?

The instruction was done in small groups from 2 to 4 children. Some groups were working

independently on tasks, the others with teacher’s help.

Instruction Question 3: How would you describe your cooperating teacher’s teaching style?
 In my opinion, my cooperating teacher was using the “one teach one support” teaching style.

She was taking the instructional lead while her assistant was providing support.

Instruction Question 4: Does the teacher incorporate the sensory modalities (learning styles)? If

so, give examples.

Mrs. Garcia was using a lot of positive feedback, she constantly teaches to multiple learning

styles. In her classroom, it was lots of engaging tasks and her lessons were full of interactive

components, a lot of movement was incorporated as well.

Instruction Question 5: Do the students seem engaged in the lesson(s) that are being presented?

Please explain.

The students were engaged in the presented lesson, the teacher was trying to get each

student’s attention and she was very good at it. She was asking questions related to the topic to

keep students engaged in the lesson which was being presented. But as I was a “stranger” for the

classroom children were a little distracted by me, so it got challenging for Mrs. Garcia to keep

them engaged all the time.

Instruction Question 6: Are there any students isolated from the rest of the class for any

reason? Why?

During my observation, I noticed an 8 years old girl who was getting isolated from her

classmates during different class activities. Her name was Star, she had a Down Syndrom. As for

me, her disorder’s level was quite higher to compare with other students with the same

syndrome. For Mrs. Garcia, it was very difficult to get her involved in the activities and get her

attention. Star wasn’t responding to her commands. Once she was acting aggressive and she hit

Stevan on his head. The reason why she was acting aggressive and not respectful to the other
students and also to the teacher it was because of the toy she brought to the class. Mrs. Garcia

was kind of irritated because one of the school rules were broken. Toys are not acceptable at

school. Star was crying, she didn’t want to participate, she wanted to play with her toy. The

teacher made notes for Star’s parents so they will not let her bring a toy to school.

Instruction Question 7: Is instructional time managed efficiently? Please explain.

Yes, the instructional time was managed efficiently. Mrs. Garcia was very good at giving clear

directions to complete a certain task, students were ready to start to work on the assignment

immediately. None of the students were late for the class during my observation hours, it also

helped to manage time efficiently. The teacher also knew what she needed to do at a certain time

period.

Instruction Question 8: How does the cooperating teacher handle transitions from one

subject or period to another, and are these transitions efficient.

As Mrs. Garcia built a strong report with her students from the get-go, behaviors typically

occur outside of the classroom or towards other staff. She was allowed to pick and choose what

to implement based off her student’s abilities as well as what support progress towards their IEP

goals. Transitions from one subject to another were easy because students were used to the

lesson plans. In my opinion, positive feedbacks from Mrs. Garcia help transitions to be efficient.

Instruction Question 9: List ways that the teacher attempts any “ attention-getting”

commands? (Ex: Countdown, Light flicker, Heads on Desk) How effective are they?

The cooperating teacher was always making an individual connection with each student. If the

student was getting distracted for some reason she was using commands like “sit down” (usually

with help of sign language), “thank you for your manners” was the most effective for students, I
was impressed how fast they were reacting to those commands. She has also reminded her

students about the class rules every day, which she had on the wall with big shift “ Looking

Eyes; Quiet Mouth; Helping Hands; Walking feet; Listening Ears; With Electronics on the

table”. Students knew the rules very well, but for following them every day she had to remind

her students periodically. The teacher was encouraging students with good comments such as,

“good job!” and “ give me a high 5!”.

Instruction Question 10: What specific behavior issues does the teacher have to deal with?

How does the teacher deal with these behavior issues? Be specific.

During my observation hours, I noticed behavior issues only twice with the same student with

down syndrome. His name was Steven. It occurred on Monday, according to teacher Mondays

are the most difficult days for children and for her also, and especially for Steven. All day it was

very difficult for Mrs. Garcia to get Steven’s attention, he would not react to any of her

commands. He didn’t want to participate in the classroom activities, he was laying on the floor

and not following to the class rules all morning. Mrs. Garcia decided to punish Steven for his

misbehavior by directing him to say at the classroom for 15 minutes during a playtime at the

playground. So he missed 15 minutes out of 30 of playing time with his classmates.

Instruction Question 11: Are they any policies or procedures in place that help or hinder

instructional time? If so, explain them and how they help or hinder the use of instructional time.

They are not any policies or procedures in place that help or hinder instructional time.

Instruction Question 4b: What modifications, accommodations, and/or inclusion techniques

were observed?
 One of the accommodations that teacher used for a student with bad vision was providing

them a special plastic stand or holder to make writing, reading, and completing assignments

easier for them. For students with behavioral issues, Mrs. Garcia could change the place where a

particular student was seating, for example next to a good role model or closer to her.
 I feel very grateful that I had an opportunity to be in the actual classroom setting with

children with learning disabilities. It was an unforgettable experience I have ever had in my life.

It made me feel more confident about my future profession and made me even more motivated to

continue my learning process. I was very excited to start my observation at the Aggie Robert’s

elementary school with the cooperating teacher Mrs.Garcia.

Mrs. Garcia and her students greeted me warmly, the environment of the classroom was nice

and friendly. Students thought that I was going to be a new teacher for them, most of them were

distracted by me, it was challenging for Mrs.Garcia to get their attention.

The classroom consisted of 10 to 12 children with different kinds of learning disabilities, most

of them had down syndrome. Students were with different cultural backgrounds such as

Hispanic, White and etc. Only one of the students in this classroom was on the wheelchair and

needed additional help to move, to use a restroom and to eat. For me, it was heartbreaking to

observe her at the playground where other students were able to move around, run, to claim the

stairs to slide and to do some other fun activities without her, she could only watch them, it was

sad that she couldn't participate.

The classroom itself wasn’t as big as I thought, it was a little room with two small square and

one big half-rounded table with small chairs, it wasn’t enough space for children to feel free to

do some activities. Mrs.Garcia decorated her classroom with different kinds of colorful ocean

dwellers, on the walls she had posters with classroom rules like; “Do not leave a classroom

without asking your teacher”; “Be safe, be responsible, be respectful”; “Looking eyes, quiet

mouth, helping hands, walking feet, listening ears”; “With electronics on the table”. One of the

rules that student knew very well it was “ No hugs, high fives only!”. Students were following

the rules, but if they would forget about them and break one of the rules Mrs.Garcia would

remind about them. On the top of the board were written the main focuses for the current
academic year: “Reading, vocabulary, math, writing, social skills, behavior, numbers,

sentences”. The classroom activities were done in small groups from two to four children, some

students were able to work on their tasks independently. Mrs.Garcia was always making an

individual connection with each student which was an effective way to keep them engaged.

But in the different classrooms with different teachers students could misbehave. During my

observation in the art classroom, which was a dissimilar environment for students, it was difficult

to stay focused on the task, they weren't able to do it independently. The art class contained 3 to

4 classes, the classroom was very noisy and the students weren't responding to the art teacher’s

commands. Only after Mrs.Garcia came to the classroom children were able to calm down and

respond to her commands. She used a lot of positive feedback and in her teaching style, there

were lots of engaging tasks and interactive components to her lessons.

I asked Mrs.Garcia: “What is the best part of being a teacher?”, she responded: “ The best part

of being a teacher is by far the students I work with. They are the most rewarding part of my job

and the main reason I teach”. She loves her job and all her students also. After I finished my ten

hours observation I realized how much I got used to those wonderful children and how much I

was going to miss them. Luckily, Mrs.Garcia said that she will be very happy if I’ll be back to

her classroom as a volunteer.

One of the websites about children with down syndrome I read that when children with

special needs come into our lives and leave footprints on our hearts we are never the same. I felt

that footprint on my heart after I was done with my observation at the Aggie Robert’s elementary

school. I really hope that in the future I will have more opportunities like this, it was the most

rewarding experience I have ever had.