ASSIGNMENT 6 (Observing a student): Discretely observe one student in your assigned

classroom during an extended period of direct instruction.

Detail what was going on in the environment, and what you observed the student doing while
the lesson was being given. Make sure to document ALL behavior in relationship to what was
being presented by the classroom teacher. Please describe the setting, the lesson that was
given, if the student was on task and engaged in the lesson, and what you uncovered about
putting yourself in a lesson from the student’s point of view. >>>

The student I observed was Grace. She is a cute little girl with a big personality. Ms. Robinson
was doing a math lesson on measuring objects. She was using her projector and the students
were using their math books to follow along. She was teaching them how to measure objects
using base blocks, string, and paper clips. Grace is very smart, but can get distracted easily.
Before the materials to measure were handed out, Grace was distracted playing with something
she grabbed from her backpack. It was a pink bracelet she brought from home. When Ms.
Robinson noticed she was distracted, she asked Grace to please put that away and keep her
eyes on her. Grace put her bracelet away and gave her attention back to the teacher. Ms.
Robinson proceeded to show the class how to measure the items properly. Students learned
that they should measure the items from the beginning point to the end and not start from the
middle or their measurement will not be accurate. I helped her pass out the string, base blocks
and paper clips. Grace was eager to touch them. As soon as the paper clips were near her, she
took them and started hooking them together. Ms. Robinson reminded the class that her
instructions were to leave them in the center until told otherwise. The teacher continued to teach
and gave them the green light to use the paper clips to measure the pencil that was drawn on
their math books. I was curious to see if Grace would know what to do as she was a little
distracted. To my surprise Grace measured the pencil correctly. She did not play with the paper
clips and did what she was supposed to. Once the class was done placing the paper clips on
the math book, Ms. Robinson asked if someone wanted to share how many paper clips they
used to cover the pencil. Grace was excited to answer and waved her hand in the air. Ms.
Robinson called on Grace and she said it took four large paper clips to cover the pencil from
one end to the other. Ms. Robinson praised Grace for having the correct answer and being able
to explain how she got that answer. She told Grace to “kiss her brain” and that she did a great
job. Grace was very happy and continued to do her work. I think she gets a little bored and
wants to start playing. She has a little bit of trouble sitting still, but not too bad. She does engage
in the lessons even though she can get distracted at times.