Journal 3, Domain 3: Teaching and the Curriculum

How is the day planned? What is the teacher’s daily schedule? How does it relate to the age level of the group?

The daily schedule of the classroom on Tuesdays begins with homework check-in. While Mrs. Davis walks around checking and collecting the homework, the students work on their Daily Oral Language (DOL). After DOL is corrected, they move on to social studies where they have just started learning about the events that lead up to the American Revolutionary War.

Social studies and science are two subjects that are rotated in and out of the curriculum. She divides the year into four “quarters:” first quarter is science material, second quarter is social studies material, third is science again, and then back to social studies. Preceding the social studies unit on the American Revolutionary War, the students were learning about space. By rotating the subjects, the students only have five core subjects to manage during the year; I think this is an appropriate work load for fifth grade students. This rotation also permits more time to be dedicated to reading groups called SPARK.

After social studies, the class goes to their specials. The class is divided into two groups: the red group and the white group. Depending on their color, they either go to gym or art. Each half of Mrs. Davis’s class merges with half of Mrs. Trujillo’s fifth grade bilingual classroom when going to each special. I like this arrangement, because the students have the opportunity to interact with students from another culture. When the students are at specials, Mrs. Davis takes that hour to plan what she wants to accomplish for the rest of the school day.

After their specials, the class returns to work on math. After math, they have lunch and recess which together lasts for about an hour. On Tuesdays, Mrs. Davis dedicates her lunch hour to running student council. Following lunch and recess, is language arts. The lesson always begins with a whole class read aloud of the novel they are working on and then ends with a quick grammar “ad” page (reviews basic grammar and introduces some complex concepts). This week they are working on reading “The Fighting Ground.” I have had a chance to read a few times aloud to the classroom. The novel is about a boy who decides to enlist in the Revolutionary War battle without telling his parents. The content the students are currently working on in social studies is reiterated in language arts, except during language arts the students are learning more about the emotional aspects of war. In my opinion, making connections is crucial for students of this age group.

The day continues as the students wrap up language arts and go to another special. The students flip flop their activities according to what they did in the morning. Students who did gym in the morning will go to custom typing on Tuesdays, not art. Students who did art in the morning will go to gym in the afternoon. Again, the class merges with the bilingual classroom. After their afternoon specials, the class returns to finish up language arts and then later transitions into their SPARK reading groups.

During SPARK, the class divides into their appropriate reading level groups. The students at a high level of reading proficiency stay with Mrs. Davis; those students that are average with reading go with Mrs. Buoy. During SPARK, the students collaboratively read a story and answer questions while employing the newly introduced QAR (Question-Answer Relationship) technique. Currently, the SPARK time is being replaced with ISAT prep for reading since the ISAT test is rapidly approaching. To conclude the day, the student work on their spelling words for the week.

I feel the school day is scheduled in a way that keeps the age level of the students in mind. Core areas are interspersed with specials throughout the day and the activities during core instruction promote active and meaningful learning that frequently involves student to student interaction and collaboration.

How is the classroom time used?

Mrs. Davis makes great use of time during the entire school day. If a student happens to finish an activity earlier than everyone else, she always instructs them to pull out the novel they are leisurely reading on their own and silently read. While Mrs. Davis has the students working in small groups, she always is monitoring their conversations and stepping in and out when needed. She asks probing questions if the students are not on the right track. If the students are on the right track, she often asks them an open-ended question that they are to discuss with their group while they work and then they will be able to share it with the class later. Mrs. Davis uses group work time to pull students aside to work with them one on one. Time is never wasted in Mrs. Davis’s classroom. I think that her activity to activity scheduling directly influences the on task behavior of all of her students.

What preparations were made to start and conclude various activities?

To start lessons, Mrs. Davis activates the student’s prior knowledge before the unit begins or she asks the students to summarize what they remember from the previous day. She always relies on the students to run the recap conversation; if a lull occurs in the conversations she asks a probing question such as, “What did we learn about the colonists?” Mrs. Davis never lectures. To begin math and language arts, she hands out an “ad” page. The “ad” page is divided into three sections. The students complete one section per day.

The students did a really fun social studies activity the other day demonstrating how the British taxed the colonies after the French and Indian War. To prepare, Mrs. Davis had me place fifteen m&m’s in zip lock bags, one for each child. Then I made a bag of cards that either had colonist, parliament, tax collector, or king written on it for the students to pick from. During the activity, the parliament members determined how much the colonists had to pay in taxes; their money was in the form of m&m’s. Mrs. Davis was very prepared for this activity and she new step by step what she wanted to do. To conclude the activity, she had the students write a journal reflection about how they felt as the role they were playing either: a colonist, parliament, a tax collector, or the king. Mrs. Davis concludes many activities with reflections or she asks the students to summarize or paraphrase what they learning after the activity in their small groups as she walks around the room.

Can you identify the purpose or objective of each activity?

The purpose/objective of every activity is explicit. Mrs. Davis sometimes, especially during spelling, tells the students what she expects them to learn after writing their spelling words. For example, she said, “I want you all to be able to recognize the root word, identify it as requiring a double consonant ending before the suffix or not, and be able to demonstrate that you know what the word means when you write your sentences.”

I thought the taxes activity was great! It was so fun to watch the kids actually experience what it feels like to see your hard earned money taken away to be given to a land-hungry king. I could clearly identify the purpose of the activity. The purpose of the activity was to show what taxing is since students are not familiar with it due to their age. The purpose also was to have the students emotionally understand what it was like to be in the shoes of a colonist, tax collector, or parliament back then. The journal reflection served as a formative assessment for the students to inform Mrs. Davis of whether or not they understood the purpose of the lesson and the reason for taxation back in the colonial days.

How are the cultural differences considered and needs met?

Many cultures are represented in Mrs. Davis’s class such as Polish, Ukrainian, Hispanic, White, and African American. No one culture dominates the room. Mrs. Davis is aware of all of the cultures present and gives equal attention to each and every student. From what I have observed, Mrs. Davis has not conducted a lesson revolving around one specific culture in her classroom. The “warm fuzzy” each week serves as way for each child to get to know other children in their classroom including cultural traditions if the student would like to share. Two students in the classroom chose to reflect and bring their culture into the classroom while writing their narrative stories. One girl wrote about being a princess from her East Asian culture and another boy described a Ukrainian church.

Teaching and the Curriculum

According to Helen Maniates, “asking students what they already know can inform our teaching in critical ways while showing students that we respect what they bring with them into the classroom” (2001, pg.83). Prior knowledge activation enables the teacher to decide whether or not any basics have to be covered to set the groundwork for the unit. If the teacher feels that most of his/her students have the base knowledge necessary to be successful in the activity, he/she does not have to take time covering what the students already know. One technique we discussed in class was dividing the class into groups according to their level of understanding. After a teacher discovers what prior knowledge his/her students have about fractions, for example, he/she can create groups according to the feedback received during the lesson introduction. Once the groups are divided, the teacher can assign higher level tasks to those students who have a solid grasp on fractions; those students who had an average understanding will comprise the second group who could be assigned to work with manipulatives like blocks to construct a more solid understanding of fractions; finally, those students that are completely lost could meet with the teacher so he/she can introduce fractions and then provide them with manipulatives and concrete worksheets to complete. All of the groups progress would be monitored by the teacher who would them move students to and from different groups depending on their fraction comprehension progress. The teacher could occasionally pair a higher-level student with a lower-level student to work on a worksheet. Both pair members would benefit from this setup; the lower –level child will learn and be exposed to other ways of approaching fractions while the higher-level child gets to practice communicating his thoughts to others. The higher-level student also will become aware of his metacognition. I have learned that teachers need to create a curriculum that fosters higher-level learning as well as active engagement and interest for the students. Maniates discusses how the physical structure of a child’s brain is shaped by the interactions and responses they have with their immediate environment (2001, pg.84). Hands-on learning is a part of every day in Mrs. Davis’s classroom. The American Revolutionary War activity was so effective in teaching the students the basics of taxation and evoking feelings of what a colonist truly felt like during the colonial days. I have noticed that hands-on activities work best when clear instructions and expectations are given, and when students have a solid knowledge base.

Maniates, H., & Doerr B. (2000). Teach Our Children Well: Essential Strategies for the Urban Classroom. Portsmouth: Heineman, 81-84.