PRACTICUM

JOURNAL
Eagle Rock Middle School
8th Grade Foods
Mrs. Thompson

Harrison, Brooke
Week 1
Day 1
Question:
What classroom procedures do you notice are in place for things like, turning in papers, hall

passes, sharpening pencils, or obtaining a writing utensil, participating in class discussions,

taking attendance, etc.  Which of these procedures do you like enough to use in your own

classroom? Was there a procedure you felt was missing from that class that would have made

things go more smoothly? How would you rate the teacher on Danielson Framework 2c?

Journal:
Mrs. Thompson is a pretty young teacher, and it is fun to see how she interacts with her

students. Even though today was the first day, I could tell how much her students love her

because many of them have had her before. Since today was the first day of the trimester, she

mostly went over her syllabus and procedures. She started out by taking role. She would call out

each student’s name and they would say “here.” Afterwards, she went over information about the

class. The school has a rule that students have to get a C or better in all of there classes in order

to be able to participate in labs so she warned them about that. She also told them they will be

working in groups a lot. She has tables that fit about six people around them and those people are

a group. There is a number hanging above the table that indicates the group number. She told the

students that she doesn’t believe in homework and so they won’t have any for the class.

She then went on to explain some of her rules/procedures. Only one person can use the

bathroom at a time, and they have to sign a sign out sheet and take a hall pass to do so. Paper that

they do in class should not leave the classroom. She has buckets in a cabinet in the classroom.

She will put the bucket on the tables and then the students will be responsible to put their papers
in the bucket and put the buckets back in the cabinet. If a student misses class, there are files up

front where you can pick up missing work and turn in late assignments. She does not allow

students to use phones during class, and they need to follow the schools dress code policy. She

expects honest and told students to own up to things (for example, if they didn’t turn a paper in).

I really like her bucket system and think that it runs smoothly. If I have the room to store

buckets like this, I think I will steal this idea from her. Students ask her for a pencil a lot so I

think she could have a better policy in place for bringing classroom materials. She could maybe

tell them she expects them to have a pencil and have them borrow one form a neighbor if they

can’t have one. She could also have a pencil they could use that has a piece of duct tape on it or

something so that students remember to give it back. I would give rate her as proficient in the

Danielson rubric. I think her procedures run efficiently and smoothly for the most part.

Day 2
Question:
How does the teacher assess the students for mastery of the standards being taught?  Do you

have any ideas that could work for assessing those specific standards?

Journal:
Today the class learned about classroom equipment. She had a power point with different

pictures of equipment on it. The students had to guess what the equipment was called and write it

down on their piece of paper. Afterwards, she well though each of the pictures and talked about

what they were really called and what they really do. It was fun to hear the students talk about

the different equipment and to hear the misconceptions they had about them. To assess the

mastery of what was being taught, she had them take a pretest and see what they already knew.

That way they’re brains were interested and ready to learn the real name. I plan on doing a card
game (similar to heads up or headbandz) with the student tomorrow to test their knowledge

further. I also plan on doing a game in the kitchens to see who can find certain pieces of

equipment the fastest.

Day 3
I didn’t focus on any of the questions today, because I taught the class. I did some

activities with the class about kitchen equipment. We played a card game similar to heads up but

with kitchen tools. Then, we went to the kitchens and played a game to see which group could

find the tool the fastest. I think the kids had fun and the lesson went pretty well. However, I had

the kids act out and describe the tools on the cards for the game. If I could do this lesson again, I

would paly it more like headbandz and have them ask yes or no questions about the tool to figure

out what it is. I would also slow down a lot and try to be more personal. I was really nervous, so

I was flying through activities quickly. I think they liked the activities though because some

groups wanted to play longer.

Day 4
Questions:
1. Watch the students.  What do their faces tell you about how they feel about various

activities?  Do they understand what’s being taught? What body language indicates this?

How can you use student body language to guide instruction?

2. Pay attention to the interactions between the teacher and students. Does the teacher

respect the students?  Do the students respect the teacher? How do you know? What

evidence supports your claim? What can you do to gain respect from your students? 

How would you rate your teacher on the Danielson framework component 2a? Collect

evidence to defend your answer.

 Today the teacher taught about contamination and it was so fun to observe! Before class,

she had some kids help her put glow germ all of the desks. Then she turned off the lights during

class and shone the light on the glow germ. Afterwards she put glow germ on the kids hands and

had them wash it. She checked how well they washed their hands with the light. Lastly, she

showed them how dirty the kitchen had gotten with the glow germ (she had her last class dirty it

up when they were done) she had the kids clean it and then checked it with the flashlight. The

kids loved this lesson!

I would definitely say that she respects the kids and that they respect her. She is good at

being kind yet firm with them and they listen to her. For example, she will say something like

“Charles, headphones out please” and they will do it. I think part of this is because the kids just

really love her personally and teaching style. They laugh with her in class a lot. They think of her

as a friend of sorts and want to keep their relationship with her. One of the students today said

“Mrs. Thompson, guess what happened!” and told her a story about their life. Another student

was walking though the hallway between class and ducked her head in and said “That is my best

friend!” (referring to Mrs. Thompson). I think growing relationships is really a key to good

classroom management. I would rate her as proficient in the Danielson Rubric because her

classroom is caring and respectful for the most part. She has connections with each individual

student and knows about them. I would also rate her as proficient in establishing a culture of

learning. Her kids feel comfortable in the class and are not scared to participate. She has high

standards for her class and expects certain things from them without damaging relationships.

Day 5
Journal:
 I taught again today so I didn’t focus on a certain question. I was proud of myself today

because I was a LOT calmer and interacted more with student more. There was a lot of great

class discussions that happened. I was really sad that I placed my camera where I did during the

observation though. Most of the class was engaged except for one table and that table happened

to be the only one in the shot (there is only one table in the classroom where I can really put my

laptop on to record). I think I could have done some things to keep the classroom quieter when I

was talking today. However, this is difficult because Mrs. Thompson lets them talk a lot so they

are use to being able to talk. I will work on making sure I bring the class bac in before I talk in

the future. I also think I could have been a little bit firmer with some students that weren’t

focused on the assignment and spent more time helping their group. If I could do it again, I

would also make sure to include a creative activity because I feel like the class got a little bored

even though there was a lot of discussion and technology involved. I am really learning how

hands-on lessons can be a lot more effective for this age group.

Week 2
Day 1
Questions:

What behavior management strategies do you notice?  How would you rate your teacher on the

Danielson Framework component 2d?  Collect evidence to defend your answer.

Journal:

One behavior management strategy I noticed was that the class was talking a lot so she gave the

students a seating chart today. She also said “David, that better not be your phone that I see”

when he had his phone out (real name wasn’t David). It was hard to grade her on the Danielson

framework today because today was a really weird and hard day for teachers at the school. She
had this week-long group project planned out that she needed chromebooks for. However,

because of the coronavirus student were not able to use them. They also had to wash their hands

and tables when they came in and eat lunch in their home rooms. The teacher showed a video

that went over many cooking techniques so that she could make a new plan of what to do in all

of her classes.

Day 2
Journal
I got a notification last night that school will no longer be held to try to avoid spreading the
coronavirus. I am sad to say this is the end of my practicum for now. I hope I will be able to
observe more before I student teach.