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Ashlyn Salvador-Dutcher

Intro to Teaching

Professor Cable

February-May 2022

Observation Hours Journal

7 April, 2022

Today was my eighteenth da helping out in Mrs. Berdans class. I observed for a total of

four hours today. Today’s lesson focus was counting and adding numbers. Mrs. Berdan has the

students go to the back table and she shows them how to write the numbers on a white board.

Then they take their turn practicing writing the numbers. This is a really good way to teach the

kids how to do something. They all seem to pick up on it very well. Then Mrs. Berdan hands out

worksheets for more practice.

6 April, 2022

Today was my seventeenth day helping in Mrs. Berdans kindergarten class. I was able to

observe for a total of two hours today. I went to the cafeteria to get the students from breakfast

and took them to their classroom. All the students were here today! They continued to do their

usual morning routine. Then I took Dave to a separate room to complete the homework he

missed when he was absent. Dave did a great job staying on task and he managed to finish all of

his work! I noticed today that all of the students have a short attention span.

5 April, 2022

Today was my sixteenth day helping in Mrs. Berdans class. I got a total of two hours in

today. The students did their normal morning routine. Then Mrs. Berdan took all the students to

a table and had a lesson on writing numbers. I took that time to organize Mrs. Berdans books and
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toy center. Today went by really fast. Something I was thinking about today was what methods

can I use to get the students interested during a lesson?

4 April, 2022

Today was my fifteenth day helping in the Kindergarten class. I managed to observe for

two hours today. When I got to the classroom the students were working one on one with Mrs.

Berdan, so I took Adalynn and Hunter to a separate classroom to complete some make-up work.

Adalynn did really well, Hunter was only able to finish three papers. I struggle trying to get

Hunter to do work. Mrs. Berdan is still trying to find what works best for him.

1 April, 2022

Today was my fourteenth day helping out the Kindergarten class. I was only able to help

out for two hours today. They did their usual morning routine. What I focused mainly on today

was helping Hunter complete his work. He did not get much done today. This is giving me a

really good experience on how it feels to be a teacher. There are some days where my patience is

tested, but I just got to take a deep breath and not give up on any of the students.

31 March 2022

Today was my thirteenth day helping out in Mrs. Berdans class. I observed a total of four

hours today. I helped out all morning. The first thing the students did was write their name on a

white board. Then Mrs. Berdan played an alphabet and counting video. Then the students were

handed out a letter packet to complete. Then we took them to recess for twenty minutes, then we

had snack and Mrs. Berdan played a short movie for them to watch. Then they were given a

packet in addition. Today went really well!

28 March 2022
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Today was my twelfth day helping out in Mrs. Berdans class. It went really well today. I

helped Lucca and Hunter finish their morning work. They did their usual morning work,

including watching the alphabet and number video. Today Mrs. Berdan handed out a packet to

the students focusing on counting and adding. I came back after lunch and the students worked

more on counting. Then Mrs. Berdan put on a movie for them to watch. I observed for four hours

today.

18 March 2022

Today was my eleventh day in Mrs. Berdans class, and I got four hours in. Today there

was a substitute, Ms Sheerwood. The students wrote their names on th white board, then we just

skipped to the letter packets today. Then Mrs. Sherwood handed out four math papers, it took the

students about forty minutes to complete. Then Mrs. Sherwood read them a few chapters of a

Junie B. Jones books. Then we read them other books for a while. Then they had recess and

snacks. Today went pretty well for the substitute.

17 March 2022

Today was my tenth day of helping in the Kindergarten classroom. I only got two hours

in today. The first thing the kids do when they get into the classroom is write their name on a

white board. All of the children know how to write their name! Then Mrs Berdan plays a video

about the alphabet and a video about counting to ten. Then they do a letter packet. The letter

packets usually take them a half an hour to complete. The packets are eight pages long. Then the

teacher has them come up with words that start with the assigned letter. Then we both read books

to the students. Today was a pretty good day1

16 March 2022
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Today was my ninth day helping out in Mrs. Berdan's kindergarten class. I helped out in

the classroom for four hours. What I did today was help the two autistic children get their work

done. When I come into the classroom, Mrs. Berdan usually has me work with the autistic

children so she can focus on the other students. The two students have a hard time staying on

task, and intrerupt the other students from learning. Even though it can be a struggle sometimes,

I love helping out in the classroom. The students have gotten used to me. The work we did today

was a letter packet, a counting sheet for math, and a paper in addition. The majority of the

students understood what they were doing. We also had recess and snacks.

15 March 2022

Today was my eight day helping out in Mrs. Berdans class. I was able to get two hours in

today. I didn’t do much observation today, instead Mrs. Berdan had me organize her books.

Today I didn’t get to work with the students, but I still did something productive, which is

organizing books for the students is a part of the job.

14 March 2022

Today was my seventh day of helping in Mrs. Berdans Kindergarten classroom. What I

did today was help the students finish their morning work, which was a letter packet about y.

Then Mrs. Berdan had the students come up with words that started with the letters y, x, j, and w.

After that, the students watched a video to stretch their body out. Then they go to the back table

and practice pronouncing words. I only got one hour in today.

9 March 2022

Today was my sixth hour of observing Mrs. Berdans class. Today I helped Hunter do his

work. It is definitely a struggle to get Hunter to do work. He was having a hard time focusing on
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his work. I was also focusing on getting Luca to do work. They are both autistic, they don’t do

work like the other children. It can be difficult sometimes, but it’s worth the challenge.

8 March 2022

Today was my fifth day of helping in Mrs.Berdans classroom. Today I helped the kids

catch up on their missing work. There are only six students in the Kindergarten class and they all

miss a lot of days. It's hard for Mrs. Berdan to move on when they missed out on a lot. I only

helped out for an hour. Today went fairly smoothly though.

7 March 2022

Today was my fourth day helping in Mrs. Berdans Kindergarten class. Today I helped

Hunter do his morning work, which was the letter J packet. Hunter was very frustrated today and

it was hard getting him to stay on task. I now understand how teachers feel when their students

refuse to do their work. I find it frustrating and a bit irritating. But then I think to myself how I

was the same way. Most kids don’t like school, so it is a struggle to get them to do it. Hunter got

his packet done. By the time he finished, I had to leave. Today was a struggle, but I did pretty

good staying chill and I finally got him to finish, and that was my goal.

4 March 2022

Today was my third day helping with Mrs. Berdans class. Today the entire class was

there, with only six students. Today I observed the class when another adult came into the

classroom today and they did a circle. In the circle they discussed feelings and that's it's okay to

talk to people when something is bothering them. Then I read the children's stories they picked

out. Then Mrs. Berdan played a video teaching the kids how to pronounce and write their

ABC’s. Today was a bit rough because the kids were not in good moods today. I like the fact

Mrs. Berdan is understanding and does her best to keep the kids focused, even though it’s hard.
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3 March 2022

Today was my second day helping Mrs. Berdan’s class out. What I did today was help a

kid named Dave catch up on some homework. We worked on two letter packets. The packets

were pretty big. Dave and I completed both packets. I like that I actually get the opportunity to

get the experience of teaching. Since there are students who miss a lot of days or doesn’t finish

work, when I’m in the classroom Mrs. Berdan has me work with the kids one on one. Something

I’ve noticed when I’m helping in the classroom is that Mrs. Berdan cares so much about her

students and tries to find the best methods that help each student learn more. I really enjoy

helping with the Kindergarteners.

28 February 2022

Today was my first day helping in Mrs. Berdan’s Kindergarten class. I was only in the

classroom for an hour today. When I got there Mrs. Berdan was taking the kids to recess. There

were three of the students who had to sit out and finish homework. I helped Hunter finish a

packet about the letter B. Hunter has autism, so it’s hard to get him to do work. He did eventually

finish the packet. When recess was over the class had snack time for thirty minutes and watched

a short video while eating. Then Mrs. Berdan played a video teaching the kids numbers one to

ten. That was it for the day. Mrs. Berdan is new to teaching, so she struggles with getting the

children to follow procedures. My first day was fun and I’m looking forward to coming back.