Report 3

Kayla Moreno
10/20/2023
EDUC 2301
 Field Experience: GT/AP

Classroom
For this observation I was in Ms. Biggans classroom at Wilshire Elementary School. She teaches
GT and pulls 1st-6th grade at her school. She pulls her students from their classes and brings
them to her classroom to teach her lesson.
Her classroom has 5 groups of 4 desks pushed together. She doesn’t assign seats for her
students and lets them decide each day where they would like to sit. While you walk in you will
notice that she has fluorescent lighting for her class. In her classroom she has a theme of
exploration and adventure. Around her room she has posters that say, “Let’s go on an
adventure” or “Be brave”. She has this cute sign in her class that has many arrows on it that say
this way to Narnia or this way to Neverland. In her class she does not have a set of computers
for her students, but if they need to bring their chrome books for the day, she will ask them to
bring them. She doesn’t have the typical bulletin boards that you will find in a Gen. Ed.
Classroom, but she has a suggested book bulletin board and a bulletin board with adventure
themed posters on it. One thing that I loved in her classroom was a “How do I feel today”
poster. She has pockets where the students will put their popsicle, each of the pockets are
titled: anxious, happy, tired, sad, esc. Her desk is in the front right-hand corner of her classroom.
For multimedia she has a SMART board and projector as well as her own laptop and computer
screen.
The GT Program
For her GT class she pulls students from their classes to come to her classroom, so that she can
teach the lesson. They are focused on certain patterns in the world this year in all varieties.
Their program is very interactive, and she allows her students to move around when directed to.
For example, one of their projects is to research certain Holidays. To assign each Holiday she had
one of the students come up to the front of class and place a piece of paper and tape on their
back. The other students then worked together to answer yes or no questions from that student
to help them guess which holiday they would have. This allowed for the students to interact and
work together, but also gave each of them the chance to move and get a little more attention
than usual.
Lessons
I got to observe Ms.Biggan teach many different lessons. One thing I specifically enjoyed was
them studying the patterns of the Sun. For this lesson they had a small “project” it was more of
an interactive assignment for them to see how the sunsets and rises. They discussed the sun’s
patterns and how the lighting changes throughout the day or when a cloud is covering it. She
then had them discuss what direction (East and West) the sun rises and sets and how you can
tell where you are going by comparing where you are to the sun and its direction. I included an
example of what their project looked like. This is something that the students discussed last
year, but not specifically on the sun’s patterns.
Instructional Strategies
Her students are grouped by discussion for the classroom, she gives her students the free will to
sit where they would like when they enter her class. Although depending on the lesson or
interaction, the students may move from desk to desk or group to group. If the student decided
to work independently or in a group Ms.Biggan is okay with either decision. Again, this is all
dependent on the lesson. I have mostly observed them in group work, but I have also observed
partner and individual work. There are many attention getters needed for this class and many
transitions whether that’s from their desk to the floor, or during their work time. When she is
teaching them, she asks her students to turn their chairs towards her. If they are at the front on
the carpet, she asks them to sit in the positions: crisscross, mermaid, or mountain. This adds
structure throughout the class time. While teaching she asks many levels of questions such as:
“How can this pattern be affected?”, “How can the sun effect jobs or activities?”, and she says
things like “Remember we are not talking right now or leaving our seat without permission.”
These are the examples of Bloom’s Taxonomy that she adds to her lessons. These questions help
the students think deeper about the topics they are discussing. Her lessons vary, but she
switches from lengthier lessons to complex.
Compare and Contrast
This class differs from Gen. Ed. Classrooms through them having more projects to do. They have
some sort of project or interactive activity each week. They also go more in depth into the
topics they learn and research more on the topic than they would in their Gen Ed. classes.
Depending on the topic, they may not discuss some of the topics until the next grade level too.
This class uses their laptops often, but they don’t turn in assignments on their laptops of
Ms.Biggan. There are still assignments done in this class, but Ms.Biggan provides the grades to
the Gen. Ed. Teachers and they decide on whether they will use it for extra credit or as a regular
assignment replacement. The students in these classes are gifted but they also usually come
with ADHD or another disability, such as dyslexia or a type of autism. This brings more
challenges in the classroom where having good classroom management is most important for
the class environment and for the individual students.
Challenges
I asked Ms.Biggan what the major challenges she faces are. Her response was managing the
class. The variety of students in her classroom makes it difficult to balance behavior and
activities. I observed that she uses many attention hooks and attention getters. This allows the
students to follow along when they need to and to make sure their eyes are on the teacher. She
said that pulling the students from their regular classes makes it difficult for some of her
students, just because occasionally they must work on work outside of school or during recess.
This is all discussed with the Gen. Ed. teachers and parents beforehand. She said that she has
no issues in getting resources for her class, because she is given a budget that provides her a
wide variety of options for her classroom. If she needs something she hasn’t had any pushback
in receiving it.