Teacher Observations- Donalyn

On Tuesday, December 8th, I observed two other teachers' classes for ideas and tips to help me in the classroom.

First, I visited Miss Donalyn's class. One of the biggest strategies that she uses is repetition. As they walked in the room, she didn't just say once to come in and get in ready position, she repeated it over and over again until everyone was in the classroom and in their seats. Also, when a student walked up to her when they weren't supposed to, she told them to return to the seat, and when they complained, she didn't stand for it, but continued to repeat go back to your seats.

I was also impressed with how well she has trained them for certain class activities. During her phonics lesson, she did a few different games, but all of them she did not give directions for... because it wasn't necessary. She had obviously done these activities with the class many times before and everyone knew what they had to do, and did it. I was thinking to myself that she saved a bunch of time not having to explain the activity, but having them so well trained they already knew what to do.

In addition, I liked how she responded to most of the students when she was doing work on their whiteboards. I tend to correct those who make a mistake, but she made a point of also telling those who got the answer right that they did write the correct responses before she tells the class the answer.

Other things of note while observing her:
-Her kids are all in rows.
-She praises those who lose in her games to keep their spirits up.
-She ignores some of the wiggles and kids out of the correct position to focus on her lesson
-When kids do misbehave, she reminds of team points or charges dollars.

What I want to implement:
-Praising losing students
-Giving feedback to all students during whiteboard activities
-Ignoring some wiggles
-Repeating general behavior guidelines as needed
-Not explaining games that they already know how to play.

Unfortunately, I don't feel like many of those are particularly behavior things, but they are useful things to add to my class.