WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TL330 1

Classroom Observation (for your Final Integrated Social Justice Lesson Plan)
To help prepare you for your group Final Integrated Social Justice Lesson Plan, please engage in
a targeted observation of the classroom, and engage in discussions with your teacher around the
following areas. Remember, these are things for you to consider so that you can ensure, to the
best of your ability, that your lesson plan is culturally responsive and accessible to all of the
students in your classroom. Some of these questions can be answered via your observations, but
many will require some discussions with your teacher. Please remember, each individual in
your group needs to submit a classroom observation sheet on Blackboard.
1. What is the general layout of the classroom and resources available for you to use for
your lesson and stations? Whiteboard, projector, laptop, document camera, smartboard,
Chromebooks, etc.? What supplies do the children generally have in their desks that they
can use?

-Whiteboard -Classroom schedule

-Projector -There is a “cave” that they can do work in
-Chromebooks (not a class set) -There is a cooldown corner
-Document camera -Huge classroom library
-There are no windows
-Desks have folders, binders, spiral notebooks, cursive book, scissors, reading book,
colored pencils, and pencils

2. What are some of the classroom dynamics to consider? Number of boys and girls in the
class? What grouping strategies might you consider for your stations?

-Classroom jobs -Wind chime to signal transitions

-Class signals -13 boys and 12 girls
-Attention grabbers
-“Hands on top… everybody stop”

3. What are some of the general mathematics concepts that all of the students in your grade
level can understand/use, regardless of their math grouping? Are there particular
mathematical concepts that the teacher thinks would be useful for your lesson to use?

-Order of operations
-Exponents of 10 (10^2)
-Whole number operations (x and /)

4. What are some of the main themes in the social studies curriculum for your grade level
that might be a good tie in for your lesson?

-They go from early explorers all the way to the American Revolution
-4th grade studied WA State history (Native Americans)
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TL330 2

5. What social studies resources do you observe in the classroom (maps, texts, books, etc)?

-Globe
-World map out in the hall
-Textbooks
-Will be mostly project based learning

6. Regarding ELL students, what is the first/home language? Are they receiving services in
the school? How many years? What strategies have teachers used that were helpful?

-1 student from Brazil that speaks Portuguese

-Small ELL group 2x a week for 40 minutes
-Mandarin Chinese
-Small ELL group 2x a week for 40 minutes
-Native American who is able to speak their language
-Small group reading support
-Qualifies Title 1 support
-Sentence stems
-Option to write in their first language
-Able to use Google Translate

7. Regarding students with special needs, what accommodations do you need to consider for
reading, math, language arts, social studies? Think about students with documented IEPs
and 504 plans as well as those that do not have official plans on file. What strategies have
been successful?
-Text sets that are at their level
-Manipulatives
-Some paraeducator help
-Online book program that reads to them
-For a student with Dyslexia
-Audio books
-Preferential seating
-Testing accommodations