Megan Leonard

Tomorrow’s Teachers

Ms. Mason

1 April 2020

Formal Cooperating Teacher Observation

For my field experience, I got to be with Ms. Nelson, who teaches fourth grade at Birches

Elementary school, and specializes with math. The lesson that I observed which she taught was a

lesson about long division. The objectives of the lesson were for students to observe, practice,

and complete a worksheet with long division on it, by breaking the problem down into steps. The

materials needed for the lesson and activities this day include a pencil, the provided worksheet,

carpet squares, clipboards, the big whiteboard at the front of the classroom, and laptops.

The students first practiced a few problems on the board with Ms. Nelson. Ms. Nelson

provided the students with the acronym “Drink Milk Slowly Charlie Brown” to help them

organize their problems and make sure they are on the right track. The students loved this and

laughed at the acronym. None of the students seemed to forget it.

The students were then broken up into small groups of about 4 students to a group. They

were given a worksheet to complete involving practice with long division. Each group would get

called up to meet with Ms. Nelson, who was on the floor with carpet squares. They would go

over some of the problems together, she would answer any questions, and she would check to

make sure that the were on the right track. She called up every group one at a time and repeated

this process. The students paid very close attention while with Ms. Nelson, and although some

students got a little discouraged by the difficulty of the new task, most of the students were

determined to complete the challenging new concept they were being given. While the students
were at their seats, they were all continuing the worksheet, and using their acronym to complete

it. When Ms. Nelson was done meeting with the groups, she went around to check the answers of

the rest of the student’s problems.

Once they got them all correct, they were able to move on to another activity. They got

the laptops from the back of the room and were allowed to play on a website called First and

Math. This website gives the students games to play, all of which are math related. Once the

students complete a game, they were awarded on the website with a sticker. The students who

had the most stickers would get medal like necklaces to wear for the day. The school also had a

First and Math March madness competition happening at the time, so the students were eager to

finish their worksheet and to get online to earn as many stickers for their class as possible. The

students would talk about how many stickers they earned each day and their hopes of winning

the title of the First and Math champions.

At the end of class, which was 2:10 exactly, the students had to pack up their things, put

the laptops back on the carts, and line up by the door. Because they are in fourth grade, they

switch classrooms for certain subjects, including math. The class just taught was not Ms.

Nelson’s homeroom, just her afternoon math class, so they had to switch back to their homeroom

teacher down the hall. Before leaving, Ms. Nelson passed out the homework for the night, which

was a worksheet very similar to the one they did in class. She informed the students that she

knew that long division is a more challenging topic, so to just try their best on the worksheet for

that night and they would go over it the next day in class. She then called up the students by their

classroom number in different multiples. As the students were heading out of the door, Ms.

Nelson stopped each student, and asked them a multiplication fact. Once the student got the fact

correct, Ms. Nelson let them join their classmates who already answered their fact in the hallway.