Gian Harris

9/18/07

When I walked into the room, the first thing I noticed is that the kids were quiet and listening to the teacher reviewing a story. The second thing I noticed was another woman evaluating the teacher. The kids seem to be well behaved when a person of authority is in the classroom and opposed to the teacher, myself and an aide. I did notice that the teacher was not allowing them to talk without raising their hand and was more aware of their restlessness. She was making eye contact with the students and moving to stand near their desk whenever it appeared that they may cause a distraction.

She was reviewing the story in the reading book and asking some very good critical thinking questions. The story was about families and they did a little picture analysis before reading. They discussed the pictures in the book, with her asking some critical thinking questions such as, What do you see? What do you think is happening? and What do you think might happen next. She gave the kids positive reinforcement when they participated in a respectful manner.

The person who was evaluating the teacher left the room and things began to deteriorate.
Then it was time for Reading groups. The kids become very disruptive and student J starting setting the pace for the class once again. After Monday's class and Dr. Murray pointing some things out, I did notice that J was in control. Everyone went into their groups (sort of) but not J. He crawled on the floor, ate paper, and did pretty much what he wanted to do. He yelled out, "This is stupid, I hate everybody, and this is boring." I sat with him, well I sat and he rolled, and read Shel Silverstein poems to him. He acted like he didn't care and kept saying it was boring, but stayed in area and wasn't disruptive to the rest of the class. He would look up at the book every once in a while and I know he was listening. I am inexperienced and do not know how to deal with a student like J. It would be a full time job giving him all the attention he needs. I'm puzzled as to what the teacher, parents, or administrators should do. Despite the craziness, I am learning quite a bit about how things could be in a classroom and I hope to see a way to make it better.