Missy Sainz

FLT 807 Temples

October 12, 2015
Classroom Observation Reflection
I observed a small group English Language Learner class. The group was comprised of
four second grade students. All of the students are performing below grade level, according to
both the NWEA MAP assessment and the WIDA assessment. These students were all pulled out
of the same general education classroom for a thirty minute lesson with the ELL teacher. These
students are pulled out two to three times each week.
The lesson plan for the day was derived from an intervention curriculum that pairs with
the general ELA curriculum for the school. The intervention curriculum is Sidewalk and it pairs
with the Reading Street curriculum from Pearson. The lesson for the day comes from day four of
the fifth week in the first unit. The teachers lesson plans were vague, but followed what was laid
out in the curriculum. The teacher did include both a content and a language student objective in
her lesson plans.
The teacher did a lot with the amount of space she was provided for her small group. She
shares her space with a book room/storage space for supplemental Title 1 materials. She has a
kidney shaped table in front of a white board, with just enough space for students to get to their
seats and for her to stand in between the table and the board. She has posted two maps above the
board, one of the United States and the other of the continents of the world. On the board, she
has written the full date, the I can statements (objective) for both content and language, and a
happy birthday message to another student that was not in the group. There was a space on the
board to post the objective (content standard), but it was blank for this lesson. The teacher also
included self-made anchor charts above and below the board.

There were several different activities that were included in this short lesson. First, the
teacher continued a discussion on the topic of exploring. She utilized a poster of a man riding a
horse in the desert. Students were asked questions and were given assistance in answering them
in complete sentences. Next, the group reviewed their vocabulary words. They did this in two
ways. First, they read the words as a group, and performed motions to go along with the words,
from an anchor chart that was posted on the board while the teacher pointed to the words. Then
the teacher used flash cards and had each individual student read one word at a time, two times
through. Finally, the teacher transitioned to their core lesson regarding main idea. She referred to
an anchor chart and did a couple examples with the whole group before giving them an
independent activity.
The pacing of the activities went well. The students were mostly engaged, but the teacher
did utilize strategies to engage or reengage students such as: asking questions, acting out
elements of the text, redirecting behavior and affirming students. The teacher scaffolded material
in order for students to successfully meet the expectations of the lesson. For example when
students were required to answer in complete sentences, the teacher would phrase the sentence in
chunks for the student to repeat. Also, the teacher gave a sentence starter for the written response
and provided phrases for students to choose from when completing their answer.
Overall, I think this lesson went well. I was surprised by how engaged the students were
in each activity, so much so that the teacher had to redirect their behavior for too much
participation. The students were also very interested in what the correct answer was and why,
which tells me that they were motivated to learn. I loved the teachers use of affirmations
embedded throughout her lesson. The students were continuously affirmed for the correct
answer, and in some cases even just good thinking. The teacher gave many positive

affirmations to students about their participation, their ideas, and their accuracy. This seemed to
help to engage students throughout the lesson. I also liked how the teacher allowed each student
the opportunity to answer her questions, even if they repeated the same or similar answers. This
gave each child a chance to practice the skill and the language. Although, a majority of the
interactions were between the teacher and the student. There was hardly any interaction among
students. I would have liked to see the teacher facilitate more discussion between students, but I
can see how this could be difficult considering the age and academic level of the students in this
group.
I would classify the method used for this lesson as content based instruction (CBI) for
many reasons. The main principal for CBI is that both the content and the language are targets
for learning (Larsen-Freeman and Anderson, 2011, pg. 138) I can see this as a goal in this class
because the teacher gives students both a content objective and a language objective. The
students in this small group were not just working on identifying the main idea, but the ability to
verbally answer in complete sentences, as well as write complete sentences including both
correct capitalization and punctuation. Also in CBI, the teacher must scaffold the language in
order for the students to successfully access the content. This was evident in the teachers
planning and preparation. She gave the students a sentence starter and a list of phrases to choose
from, in order to complete their task. In CBI, teachers make meaning clear through the use of
visuals, realia, repeating, and by giving a lot of examples, building on students previous
experiences (Larsen-Freeman and Anderson, 2011, pg. 139) This was clearly evident in this
classroom not only through the use of poster and charts, but also by the actions that the teacher
associated with the vocabulary words. I believe that the actions, both in regards to the vocabulary
words and during the read alouds, helped students to better access the language.

This observation was very motivating for me. I worried that my courses were not
preparing me for work in the field, but this helped me to see the connection between the theory I
am learning in the classroom and how it is put in to practice in the classroom.