Classroom Evaluation

Penny Harris

ECE 250

Name of Facility: Ute Perkins Elementary School

Teacher’s Name: Cheryl Sobrio

Address & Telephone #: P.O. Box 18, 1255 Patriot Way, Moapa, NV 89025, (702) 864-2444

Ages & Number of Children: 7yr olds & 8yr olds, 12 kids in Mrs. Sobrio’s class 2nd grade classroom

SECTION 1: PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Classroom:

1. Name of Learning Center: Teacher table station/Work with teacher station/Reading Station

a. Number of Children: 3

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: Desk, 4 stools-1 for the teacher, 3 for kids,

books, containers with books, drawers of books, paired texts (fiction and non-fiction books

that contain a similar topic)

 c. Types of learning experiences: Children read specialized books called “Flying Starts”, which

contain all types of subjects and stories and that they read to their particular reading level.

In this center, Mrs. Sobrio helps them with reading, understanding vocabulary words that

they may be having a hard time with, and they usually try to read a story a week. Mrs.

Sobrio also goes over the weekly spelling words, and does word sorts with the kids here.

Social interaction with the teacher and their peers. They can learn to read more efficiently,

vocabulary words and their meanings, cognitive and critical thinking, using their

imaginations, following directions, memorization, and language and literacy skills.

2. Name of Learning Center: AR Test

a. Number of children: 1

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: 1 desk, a laptop computer and mouse, a chair, a

yellow button and a pink button that make noise when you press them

c. Types of learning experiences: Children take AR tests on the computer, and get to press a

silly button when they are through. Using technology, exploring/navigating a website,

critical and analytical thinking, math skills (adding up AR points, or figuring out how many

points the child may/may not have received). Fine motor skills; typing and using a computer

mouse, self-regulation skills, executive functioning skills, memory, language and literacy

skills.
3. Name of Learning Center: Math

a. Number of children: 1 to 2

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: desk, chair, containers containing math

workbooks, math games, math supplies, pencil containers, measuring tools, clocks for telling

time, flashcards, whiteboards, yarn, number poster, shapes poster, math symbols cut-outs

c. Types of learning experiences: Children can play math games, learn a variety of math skills

(telling time with clocks, multiplication with flashcards, measurement with yarn or rulers,

just to name a few), and they can practice math skills that they have learned/are learning.

Social and cognitive learning, spatial relationships and time keeping/telling, problem solving,

turn taking, addition skills, subtraction skills, multiplication skills, division skills, sharing,

communication, planning, organization, self-regulation, memorization, executive

functioning, seriation, sequencing, and reasoning.

4. Name of Learning Center: Library/Reading

a. Number of children: 1-4

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: 2 bookshelves (left hand bookshelf: books that

equal certain AR test points, and individual containers with each student’s books they’ve

picked out) (right hand bookshelf: a variety of books), a small blue sofa, a couple of chairs,

a big pink body pillow, Spiderman comforter on the ground, the students also have access to

IPADs that they use for reading/reading games

c. Types of learning experiences: The students can read designated books to be able to take

AR tests and earn points on these tests. They have their own individual book holders

labeled with their names that contain books they are interested in reading. The children can

have personal reading experiences or read to each other in the the library/reading area.

The students also have access to Ipads that they can watch” Reading Rainbow” on, and have

interactive experiences with the MYON and EPIC programs. The MYON program reads

books to the kids at their reading level, and then has them take a test based on the book,

and EPIC reads to the child or child can read on his own. The children also read books so

they can do book reports. Social and cognitive learning, sharing, using imagination,

interactive (Ipad) learning, vocabulary, reading, self-regulation, memory, organization, and

focusing skills.
5. Name of Learning Center: Writing

a. Number of children: 1-2

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: desk, 2 chairs, alphabet bulletin board with

frequently used words under its’ corresponding letter, beginning blends and parts of speech

posters on cabinet next to desk, writing worksheets, sentence building dominos, writing

notebooks, white board, easel pad, container with random books, pencils, dice, word tiles

c. Types of learning experiences: The kids can pretty much go back to this center and write

about anything they would like. They can play games like “roll a story”. They can use words

tiles to make proper sentences. There are white boards and an easel if they want to write

on something besides paper. The kids write in their notebooks, do worksheets, and write

about things Mrs. Sobrio assigns them to do. Creativity, fine motor skills, taking turns, role
 playing, social interaction, reading, vocabulary building, language, planning, organization,

memorization, attention to detail, executive functioning skills.

6. Name of Learning Center: Word Work

a. Number of children: 1-2

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: desk, chair(s), pencils, crayons, organizers with

different word worksheets, clipboards, magnetic letters, bulletin board with 3 different

pages of reference words and pictures and directions of what to do in Word Work center,

dice, and various word games and board games

c. Types of learning experiences: The children can work on their spelling words, site words,

word sorts, word families, play games like Candyland and Uno (that incorporate words), and

rainbow write (write different letters in different colors). Fine motor skill, following

directions, taking turns creativity, sensory learning, reading, memorization, vocabulary

building, language, planning, social and cognitive learning, art, organization, executive

functioning, and self-regulation.

7. Name of Learning Center: Poems

a. Number of children: 1

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: desk, chair, letter cubes, word cards

c. Types of learning experiences: The children read poems together, learn site words and

rhyming words, learn vocabulary they don’t know yet, practice punctuation and

contractions, write sentences, and draw pictures. They can work on fine motor skills while

writing out their poems. Creativity, vocabulary, reading, organization, social interaction,

planning, organization, self-regulation, memorization, language and literacy skills.

8. Name of Learning Center: Whole group learning

a. Number of children: 12

b. List of equipment/material and furniture: 3 sets of 4 desks that make a square in the

middle of the classroom, chairs, yoga balls, stools, name tags on the desks, pencils, colored

pencils, crayons, educational posters, class rules, schedule, Chrome books, white board to

project class work on, center assignments, classroom money (children following

rules/directions receive money, children need to use restroom, other than times specified,

pay the teacher, children misbehaving, pay the teacher), and various centers of specialized

learning

c. Types of learning experiences: The children participate in whole groups learning language

arts, math, science, social studies, reading, writing, Chrome book instruction, following

directions/rules as a group and individually, participation as a group and individually, and

working together and independently at their desks. They can use social skills, such as
cooperation, team work, sharing, and problem solving, and helping/assisting each other.

Balance, self-regulation, reading, writing, fine and gross motor skills, creativity, attention to

detail, reasoning, cognitive learning, interactive learning, memorization, language, cultural.

Outdoors

1. Available equipment: playground, chalk, footballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, tether balls

2. Fixed Components: playground, tether ball polls, hopscotch, soccer goals, area to sit in with

shade, large asphalt area

3. Natural Features: large open field, trees

4. Types of learning experiences: I asked Mrs. Sobrio about this and she had a great answer. She

said that the kids learn to follow game rules, taking turns, and sharing. She also said that they

have drawn things on the asphalt with chalk before like coding (computer programming), a chalk

maze, 10 frame math, and have taken science walks. The kids have many opportunities to learn

different sports like football, soccer, and volleyball, and walk around the open field for the 100

mile club (students get t-shirts, necklaces, and pendants for walking 100 miles in a school year)

which promotes good physical activity. Fine motor skill and gross motor skills can be individually

and dually utilized in this playing environment also.

Evaluation: All in all, I think that Mrs. Sobrio’s physical environment that she has established for her

students is very fun, educational, well thought out, and meaningful. I love that her room has a super-

hero theme. The theme makes it exciting and colorful for the kids; who doesn’t want to be a

superhero!? I also think she gives her students many learning opportunities. “An intellectually engaging

learning environment provides various contexts for teaching and learning to occur, such as small groups,

individual interactions, whole group meetings, center choice time, and opportunities for play.”

(Education, p 281) Mrs. Sobrio has her classroom set up with many centers (7) with all kinds of physical,

social, educational, and cognitive experiences. “Teachers foster a learning environment that encourages

exploration, initiative, positive peer interaction, and cognitive growth.” (DAP, p 293) Examples of these

experiences would be playing a child’s board game to strengthen vocabulary, reading, and social skills;

drawing a picture to help illustrate and write a story, and using creative objects to count (rick-em rack

em, a homemade abacus made of a pipe cleaner and beads on a notecard) and yarn to measure. The

teacher also has her desks set up for whole group instruction in a way that allows social interaction and

encourages teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation. “Teacher arranges tables or flexible groupings of

desks to enable children to work alone or in small groups.” (DAP, p 293)

As far as the outside environment is considered, I think there are many learning and physical fitness

opportunities for children. They have the obvious play options of the playground, large field, and large

asphalt areas. But the kids also have opportunities to expand their options of play by using chalk,

equipment such as footballs or tether balls, and some imagination. “Play is essential to learning for

young children: it’s the main way they learn and develop ideas about the world, helps to build skills

necessary for critical thinking and leadership, encourages problem solving, encourages feeling good

about one’s ability to learn, encourage practice of skills, and helps to relieve stress.” (Week 4, Slide 26)

Examples of this would be drawing a chalk maze (critical thinking), playing hopscotch (practicing skills,

like jumping far distances), and walking around the large field (relieving stress).
 I don’t have any inappropriate practices for Mrs. Sobrio’s physical environment. I only have one

inappropriate practice that I could find for the outdoor environment, and really, it may not be one at all.

The only thing that I noticed is that for all of the space that the outdoors had to offer and all of the

different learning experiences it had to offer, I did not see any chalk, any type of ball to play with, and

the tether balls were not on the polls. I think if the school is going to offer all of these types of

possibilities, they should have the equipment readily available. “Provide materials/items that: can be

used in a variety of ways and promote active learning, support children’s interests, skills, and types of

play, are appropriate for all children’s developmental levels and individual needs.” (Week 7 Part 1, Slide

51). I just observed for a 15 minute increment of time outside, a “brain break”, maybe they do provide

more equipment when there is more time for outdoor play, or during P.E. class.

SECTION 2: CURRICULUM

1. Philosophy

a. Center/School: "THE LITTLE SCHOOL WITH A BIG HEART" and "Read to Reach Your Potential!"

(http://www.uvperkinses.com/school-motto.html)

b. Teacher: “Everybody can learn; be fun; teach to all learning styles.” (Cheryl Sobrio)

2. Goals

a. Program Goals: “Ute V. Perkins Elementary School will be a rural school named after a Nevada

pioneer and should represent the simple, old-fashioned qualities on which this nation was so

successfully founded. Excellence in the basics of education should come first, particularly

reading, spelling, and good math skill . . . with “frills” secondary. It should represent an extended

arm of the family, integrating character-building traits of honesty, integrity, dependability, and

respect for others. Patriotism and respect for the flag should be a part of the school. All those

things should be taught in an atmosphere harmoniously mingling children of various cultures

 and backgrounds which will make up the student body.” (Lenore Clay, Ute Perkins’ daughter)

(http://www.uvperkinses.com/school-namesake.html)

b. Classroom Goals: “Have a fun and safe environment to learn in: if it is fun and safe, they will

learn.” (Cheryl Sobrio)

3. Classroom Schedule: This was the classroom schedule for Monday, November 7, 2016:

9:05am to 9:30am: ELA and Math worksheets

9:30am to 9:50am: Go over math worksheets/teach math lesson

9:50am to 10:30am: Language Arts

10:35am to 11:25am: (Monday: Art), (Tues: Music), (Friday: P.E.)

11:30am to 12:05pm: Lunch

12:05pm to 12:20pm: Read Aloud (The Wizard of Oz)

12:20pm to 1:20pm: Worked on Chrome books/reading/vocabulary for book, Chocolate Touch

1:20pm to 1:45pm: Worked on Chrome books/reading/vocabulary for book, Chocolate Touch

1:45pm to 2:00pm: Brain break (go outside to playground area)

2:00pm to 2:50pm: Reading from election worksheets/held a mock election

2:50pm to 3:00pm: Clean-up

4. Lesson Plans:
5. Individualization:

a. Children With Identified Special Needs: Mrs. Sobrio has a child in her class that has special

needs. She has actually had this child in her class for the last 3 years. She has been a special

education early prevention teacher and kindergarten teacher, and this is her first year teaching

2nd grade. Mrs. Sobrio said she “works one on one with the child, and the child is also assigned a

peer helper who helps and supports the child through daily classroom/school life, and that she

also has a behavior token board for the child.” She says she communicates to his mom through

texting and phone calls, and puts comments/concerns in his daily planner that he takes home

every day. Mrs. Sobrio also said that the other children in her class are very supportive of their

classmate, and always lend their praise and guidance to him.

b. Typically Developing Children: Mrs. Sobrio attempts to meet the need of typically developing

children who have difficulty with certain aspects of the classroom with many different

approaches. She says she has stools, yoga balls, and standing tables that promote good posture,

which in turn helps her kids to focus. The children have a counselor that comes to school every

week that they spend time with, who brings books, asks questions, and always teaches a lesson

about dealing with certain social skills/situations. Mrs. Sobrio’s own motto when it comes to

the kid’s social skills is “you don’t have to be friends with everybody, but you do have to be

nice”. Mrs. Sobrio finally went on to say that her kids in her class are really good with the

current routines that she has implemented, and she has no problem changing a routine, if it

tends to give the children problems.

6. Evaluation: Ute Perkins is one of two elementary schools in Moapa Valley, NV. It is located in

Moapa, NV, and only has two second grade classes with 12 or less students, compared to the 2nd

grade classes at Grant Bowler Elementary in Logandale, NV (about 10 miles away from Moapa), that

has four second grade classes with 18 or more students. How this information fits into my
evaluation of the curriculum part of my project is to show that the students at Perkins have more

one on one and individualized learning with their teachers, Mrs. Sobrio being one of those teachers.

I really like the program goal of Ute Perkin ES. It incorporates what the child is supposed to learn,

how important family is to the learning experience, and how each child is an individual with a

different cultural background. “Each ECE program/center/facility should have a philosophy

grounded in being of maximum benefit to the children and families involved. Involves a statement

of belief about how children should be treated, how children learn, and the role of families in this

process.” (Week 9, Slide 2) I think Perkins’ philosophy fits this description to a “T”. Also it is

important that the program goals address culture because “culture shapes and influences every

child’s development and learning”. (Education, p 155)

As a second grade teacher, Mrs. Sobrio tries to include as many learning experiences into her

classroom as she can. “The curriculum which exists in written form, provides teachers with a useful,

flexible framework for planning learning experiences and materials and for seeing how these

experiences fit together to accomplish the school’s stated goals.” (DAP, p 303)

There are a couple of examples of Mrs. Sobrio’s curriculum being DAP effective. One example

was when Mrs. Sobrio was teaching a math lesson about subtraction. She brought up students to

the front of the class and interactive white board, to show her and the rest of the class how they got

their answers to the math questions on their worksheets. She asked the class if there were other

ways of solving the problem; how to subtract using borrowing and using 10s, and broke down the

problem in simpler terms; using lines and dots to rote count. “Mathematics content is taught in

ways that promote problem solving, reasoning, communication, making connections, and

designating and analyzing representations (e.g., given a two digit subtraction problem, children may

think of various ways to solve it, describe how they solved it, think of how subtraction connects to

division, make a drawing or use manapulatives to represent the solution.” (DAP, p 314)
 The second example of Mrs. Sobrio using DAP expertise in her curriculum, was when she read

aloud to her class. Mrs. Sobrio’s class was very engaged and excited. I personally remember this

being one of my favorite things my elementary teachers did. “Teachers read aloud to children each

day.” (DAP, p 310) The kids interacted with Mrs. Sobrio when they recalled what had happened

previously in the story, Mrs. Sobrio helped them with vocabulary they didn’t understand, and some

of her students even commented on what they imagined the characters to be like.

When it came to addressing children with specialized needs, I think Mrs. Sobrio could be

considered an authority on the subject. She has education and training in Early Childhood Special

Education, and has taught these specialized classes in a Special Education classroom. “Being an

Intentional teacher: the major characteristic of this type of teacher is that she knows the “why” and

can explain the “why”, of almost everything she does.” (Week 1, Slide 19) She knows has worked

with children with special needs before, and she knows what works; like having a peer helper. A

peer helper is a child that is patient, kind, and functions at a higher academic level than most of Mrs.

Sobrio’s class. The peer helper helps to guide a child with special needs that may be falling behind

in class or has trouble focusing on classroom activities. “Across grades K-12 peer tutoring has been

found to increase academic achievement and motivation, as well as cognitive and social skills. The

benefits of peer tutoring have been particularly evident among students in grade 1-3, among

children with mild disabilities, and for children from poor and less educated families.” (DAP, p 270)

I believe Mrs. Sobrio having SECE expertise, greatly influences the welfare of her students with

special needs, as well as her typically developing students.

The only aspect of Mrs. Sobrio’s curriculum that I would deem somewhat cumbersome and not

necessarily inappropriate, would be the time that was spent trying to teach her students how to use

their Chrome books to create and save documents, look up vocabulary words in a chapter book

called the Chocolate Touch, type the vocabulary words in their Chrome books, look up the
 definitions of the vocabulary words in an online dictionary, and then come up with a definition that

fit the context of the chapter book, simultaneously. Mrs. Sobrio thought this lesson would take

about an hour, and it ended up being closer to an hour and a half. She and the other second grade

teacher, which teaches next door to her room, compared stories of this experience, and were going

to come up with a different strategy and action plan to present to their principal, for the next time

they attempted to do this type of lesson. “Engaging in Intentional Teaching, explaining teaching

strategies, reflect on decisions, gather evidence of children’s development, discuss practices with

colleagues and families, modify practices to meet children’s needs.” (Week 3, Slide 9) Mrs. Sobrio

knew the Chrome book/Chocolate Touch lesson was taking up too much time and she was not sure

if her students were actually getting anything out of it academically. “Regardless of the type of

curriculum used by a program or school, teachers need to apply their professional expertise. For

this reason, all along the continuum, we acknowledge that teachers must observe and assess

children and adapt their teaching to help individuals make progress.” (Education, p 233)

SECTION 3: GUIDANCE

1. Routines:

a. One routine that I observed while in Mrs. Sobrio’s classroom was her class walking to their

Special’s classroom. I observed on a Monday, so that day’s special was music. Mrs. Sobrio

told the class that it was time for music. They all got up from their chairs, got into a straight

line with their arms folded. As they walked out of the classroom and into the corridor, Mrs.

Sobrio instructed them to go to the corner. As they reached the first corner, the class

stopped and waited for Mrs. Sobrio’s next instruction. Mrs. Sobrio said, “next corner”. So

still walking in a straight line, arms folded, they proceeded to the next corner and stopped.

Mrs. Sobrio then said, “straight across and down, please.” The kids knew exactly what to do
 and stopped where they were used to stopping. Mrs. Sobrio then told them to take “the

next corner, please”. They all arrived at the next corner, near the music room and the

restrooms. As the children started to enter the music room, Mrs. Sobrio would ask each

child “go to the bathroom?” Each child would then reply “no I don’t” or “go to the

bathroom”. The child would then enter the music room or go to the restroom.

b. Another routine I observed was Mrs. Sobrio reading aloud a chapter book to her class after

lunch. The kids came in from lunch, put away their lunch boxes, and then came up to the

front of the classroom and sat on the floor. Mrs. Sobrio sat in a chair, while the kids scooted

in around her. Mrs. Sobrio is currently reading The Wizard of Oz. Mrs. Sobrio’s class

routinely reads a chapter book and when they are finished with the book, get to watch the

movie the book is based on. Before Mrs. Sobrio starts to read the chapter of the day, she

asks what happened the last time they read the book. She picks a couple of students and

they tell us that “Dorothy had thrown water on the witch, and that a flying monkey put the

Tin Man in some sharp rocks”. As Mrs. Sobrio reads the book she asks the kids what certain

words mean, such as, “panted”. She also shows the kids the pictures in the book. One child

says, “That’s not how I imagined it, and I can’t wait to see the movie.” When Mrs. Sobrio

finishes the chapter, the kids go back to their desks.

2. Classroom Rules: Mrs. Sobrio has a couple of posters in her classroom that list the rules. Her

classroom is super hero themed, so the first list of rules comes from “How to be a Superhero”:

 Always do your best

 Follow directions

 Be kind and helpful

 Raise your hand to speak

 Dream big
  Say please and thank you

 Listen when someone else is speaking

 Be a team player

 Be responsible

Mrs. Sobrio’s other poster says, “Before you speak, THINK”

T-Is it true?

H-Is it helpful or hurtful?

I-Is it inspiring?

N-Is it necessary?

K-Is it kind?

a. 11-17-2016

Mrs. Sobrio’s class, late afternoon. Mrs. Sobrio is in the front of the class with an election

pamphlet, and the children are at their desks with the same pamphlet. The kids are reading

together with Mrs. Sobrio about the process of electing a president, candidates for

president, and how to vote.

Children: All kids are reading in unison, mostly together, but some are reading faster than

others, and it’s hard to understand what they are reading

Mrs. Sobrio: “All together, not too fast, remember what to do with commas, and periods.”

Children: Class keeps reading together, not pausing at punctuation marks, just keeps

reading
 Mrs. Sobrio: “Remember periods, you guys are blowing through them like there’s no stop

signs.”

b. 11-17-2016

Mrs. Sobrio’s classroom, late afternoon. Mrs. Sobrio is instructing her students on how to

use their Chrome books to make a new document, save it, and use the Chrome books to

look up words in an online dictionary, from the book Chocolate Touch. While Mrs. Sobrio is

explaining this, and going around the room to see who needs more explanation, a young

man approaches Mrs. Sobrio with some of his classroom money that Mrs. Sobrio uses to

reward good behavior, making right choices, and doing homework/classwork

YM: “Can you make change?” the boy asks hurriedly

Mrs. Sobrio: “Is this the time to ask for change? In the middle of teaching?” Mrs. Sobrio

asks sternly

YM: “No” boy frowns and hangs his head a little

Mrs. Sobrio: “Go sit down and follow instructions.” Says sternly

YM: “Ok”, dragging his feet, head hung low

The young man goes back to seat, puts away his money, and starts working on his Chrome

book.

3. Teacher Interactions:

a. One instance that Mrs. Sobrio interacted with her class was when she was going over their

math worksheets first thing in the morning. The kids do their worksheet by themselves for

about 15 minutes, and then Mrs. Sobrio projects the same math page on her white board

“chalkboard”. Mrs. Sobrio picks children who raise their hands to come up to the white

board and solve the math problems. If the child pronounces something wrong while reading

the problem, Mrs. Sobrio helps the child with the word. Mrs. Sobrio also would ask the kids,
 even when their answers were correct, “But how do you know?”, and they would go on to

further explain how they came up with their answers. She also showed the kids alternate

methods to solving the math problems, and would break down the problems to very basic

steps; using lines and dots in one example; to help her students that were not quite grasping

the concepts as fast, to understand.

b. Another example of Mrs. Sobrio interacting with her students was when she was helping

them with their Chrome books, while incorporating the book, Chocolate Touch. This was

the first time the students had to type in vocabulary words from the book, figure out how

what they meant by context clues in the book, and then looked up their meaning in an

online dictionary in their Chrome books. Mrs. Sobrio was very calm and collected as she

went through the steps of how to open and save documents to the Chrome book, giving

explicit instructions. She then had the kids type the vocabulary word, find its context clue in

the paperback, and then go back to the Chrome book to find the definition of the word.

Through each step, Mrs. Sobrio came around making sure the kids were pretty much “on

the same page”, literally and figuratively. She made sure they were on the right tabs in the

Chrome book, looking at the correct pages in the paperback, while still going to her white

board and writing down the answers they were collectively finding together. Mrs. Sobrio

mentioned to me that this lesson was taking way more time than it was supposed to

because of all of the steps, but she and the other second grade teacher, were going to

discuss what happened in their classes, talk to their principle about their challenges, and

hopefully come to a happy “medium”. It also should be mentioned that the kids were very

helpful with each other, and tried to keep everyone up to speed and not falling behind in

the lesson.

4. Social-Emotional Guidance Techniques:

a. 11-7-2016

Playground, 1:45ish. Mrs. Sobrio and I are standing in the playground during the students

“brain break” (15 min recess). A female student comes up to Mrs. Sobrio with her shoulders

and head down, and says very softly:

F: “I accidently hit that girl with my arm, and I told her that I was sorry, but she didn’t say

anything back.”

Mrs. Sobrio: “Just because you said sorry doesn’t mean she has to accept. As long as you

said sorry, that’s all that matters.”

The girl looks at Mrs. Sobrio likes she wants her to say something else, then goes back to the

slide area, and starts playing again.

b. 11-7-2016

Mrs. Sobrio’s classroom, late afternoon. Mrs. Sobrio is instructing the class on how to use

their Chrome books, look up vocabulary words in the book Chocolate Touch, and find the

definitions of the words in an online dictionary. Although the kids are allowed to help each

other out and explain things to each other, they are not allowed to be doing each other’s

work. Mrs. Sobrio looks to the left hand side of her room and sees a female student sitting

very close to her male classmate, typing on her desk mate’s Chrome book and giving him the

answers.

Mrs. Sobrio: in a stern voice, “Why are you doing his work?”

FS: acting surprised, “No”

Mrs. Sobrio: “I appreciate you helping him, but he needs to do his own work.”

The male student and the female student look at Mrs. Sobrio, and the female student scoots

back to her own seat and goes back to working on her Chrome book. The male student does

the same.
Evaluation: Mrs. Sobrio demonstrated guidance experiences in various situations. An example of being

DAP in her routines was when she had her students walk to their “specials” class. She guided the

students through the hallways, with direct verbal instruction, and they knew exactly what to do. I feel

these kids could have found their own way to class by themselves due to having performed this routine

since the beginning of the school year. “Teachers provide a safe environment and age appropriate

supervision as children are gradually given more responsibility. For example, second and third graders

at times are allowed to navigate the school independently, but teachers always know where children are

and what they are doing.” (DAP, p 293) Mrs. Sobrio was not at the beginning of the 2nd graders’ line,

she did not follow “SO” closely behind, or micro-manage her students in this routine. The kids knew

they had to walk in a straight line, arms folded, quietly, go to the restroom if needed, and then go to

music.

While guiding her students with classroom rules, Mrs. Sobrio used indirect and direct instructions.

She indirectly used the classroom rules while instructing her students to read together during her

elections lesson. They were following direction without Mrs. Sobrio specifically telling them to. She also

wanted them to read in unison and to use correct punctuation. As the children are reading she was

being “acknowledging-verbally notice what the child is doing”. (Week 10, Slide 2) Mrs. Sobrio directly

enforced her classroom rules, while addressing the student that wanted her to make change for his

classroom money in the middle of teaching a whole group lesson. She told him in a stern voice that “it

was not the appropriate time for this, and he needed to sit down and follow directions”.

Mrs. Sobrio was very interactive with her students. She also used a variety of teaching strategies:

“modeling, demonstrating, giving cues, hints, and offering assistance and open-ended questions”.

(Week 10, Slide 2 & 3) These strategies were put to use while she taught the math lesson of the day.

She asked lots of open ended questions, had the kids demonstrate how they got their answers, and
broke down some of the math problems in very simplistic terms. She also had the kids break into

partners and play a math game about “greater and less than”, using small while boards and dice.

“Children often solve problems or engage in activities in small groups or with partners. Even whole

group instruction is usually interactive. When possible, teachers encourage children to assist peers and

may set up situations free of pressure where peers model or scaffold skills for others.” (DAP, p 292) In

another example of Mrs. Sobrio interacting with her students, she is teaching with technology, a Chrome

book; and incorporating a chapter book, Chocolate Touch, vocabulary, and online resources. This is a lot

of stuff to tackle. But Mrs. Sobrio is an Intentional teacher; she has a very good “courage and strength

of character: a willingness to deal with problems/issues in a calm, respectful manner”. (Week 7, Slide 9)

There was some confusion and chaos with this lesson, but Mrs. Sobrio handled it tactfully and to the

best of her ability. She also observed what worked and what didn’t, and was flexible enough to know

she would need to make modifications to this approach to teaching.

Mrs. Sobrio also demonstrated social-emotional guidance techniques. When a little girl accidentally

hit another little girl on the playground, she came to Mrs. Sobrio quite upset. The girl was upset about

what she had done and she was upset that her friend did not accept her apology. Mrs. Sobrio did not

get mad, she was understanding, and let the child know that she had done the right thing by

apologizing, and that even after the apology, her friend had the right not to accept it, and that was okay.

“Children’s newly developed conscience is often excessively strict, children of 6 or 7 typically treat every

little mistake as a major crime, deserving a terrible punishment or dire consequence. Adults can help

children assess mistakes realistically and find ways to correct them.” (DAP, p 277) When Mrs. Sobrio

was guiding her two students in class who were relying too much on each other for completing their

work, she was positive, serious, understanding and assertive. She understood the girl just wanted to

help out her classmate, but also had to let her know that her classmate needed to do his own work. “If

teachers think about children’s challenging behavior as either a mistake on the path to learning or a
message they are trying to send, it is likely that their attitudes towards challenging behaviors will

change. Instead of blaming children or rejecting them, teachers are more likely to embrace these

challenges as problems to solve.” (Education, p 200) The one thing I would have to consider as a

possible inappropriate practice in this instance would be that Mrs. Sobrio did not investigate why the

male student needed so much assistance from his classmate, and if it remained a problem in the future,

to perhaps move the children away from each other.

In conclusion, I think Mrs. Sobrio used many DAP approved guidance techniques. The only other

technique I would call “inappropriate” would be the use of classroom money for rewards. “Eliminate

the use of stickers and privilege awards”. (Week 7, Slide 14) I would only say it is inappropriate if it is

causing disruptions to Mrs. Sobrio’s classroom while she is trying to teach.