EDS 205A ~ Sewall OBSERVATION REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Name: Date: School Site: Grade Level: Focus Subgroup:

Kara Holtzman Jan. 14-18, 2013 Fay Elementary 3 Girls (group of 10 girls out of class of 24)
EVIDENCE Sample Evidence from Notes to Support My Claim 1/15- 10:50am: BL, KH, PN, HM walk around at recess together and sit under the structure to talk and play. LP, BD, LD, MB, SB, and AS were scattered. BD, MB, and AS were playing tether ball, and the others were just walking around. 1/17-10:00am: all the students on the rug for math instruction- HM, PN, and KH sat in the back together. BL, AS, MB sat together in the front row, BD and LD sat together, and LP and SB sat alone. 1/17- 1pm-Library story time- LP, MB, AS, BD, LD, and SB sat together in the front row while PN, HM, KH, and BL sat in the back row. Then when it was time to pick out books, KH, PN, HM, LP, and SB walked together looking at books. REFLECTIONS Thoughts, Questions, Insights About What I Noticed/Learned I noticed that the central group is PN, HM, and KH. Then the other girls rotate in and out of that group. Also there is no specific other clique among the other girls. They either are with the three girls or randomly with some of the other girls. It is not like it is those three girls, and then the other eight are always together too. I am not sure why this is, I know that those three girls are the higher academic performers, so I am not sure if they feel more on the same level, or if they just really get along. They are exclusive in that they are always together, however they do not exclude others from joining in their group. There are usually one or two other girls from the class with them too. I wonder if the other girls notice this clique and are trying to be part of it so that is why they all rotate through, or if it is not really seen by the others as a popular clique and they just happen to wander in when there is something they want to work on together. As noted in the previous finding, HM, KH, and PN usually sit in the back when the students are on the rug. So I dont know if this is a factor in their not commenting, because maybe they do not feel a part of the class. Also as noted in this observation and several others, HM and KH talk to each other a lot during the lessons on the rug, so they may not be paying enough attention to be able to comment. Another observation is that a lot of the boys seem to call out without raising their hands, so this may be intimidating to KH and HM. My first thought as to the reason that KH and HM are not as vocal in class is because they seem to be talking to

FINDINGS What I Noticed and/or Learned about My Focus Students There seems to be one central girl clique of three girls and then the other eight girls rotate in and out of this clique.

The clique of the three girls: KH, HM, and PN seem to raise their hand to answer the least out of the other girls, however out of those three PN answers the most. The other answer very rarely.

1/15- 10:00am- everyone on the rug for math instruction. Out of four questions asked, HM and KH did not raise their hand, and PN raised her hand twice. During those same questions 10 boys, MB, and BL raised their hands for all the questions, and BD and LD also raised their hands three times. 1/17- 11:30am- Social Studies instruction on the rug. BL, MB, BD raise their hands for all questions. LD, AS, and LP raise their hands for three questions. PN raised her hand once, and KH and HM did not raise their hands at all. HM and KH were talking quietly to each other during this lesson.

EDS 205A ~ Sewall each other during lessons, but afer observation I could see that the boys do take over the group sharing, so that might be intimidating. This phenomenon could be for several reasons. The girls might like standing more than sitting when they work. Another reason may be that when partnered with the boys, they feel less intimidated if they are standing. Or it might have been a coincidence those two days that most of the girls were standing. I would have to complete more observations over a longer period of time to see if it is a true pattern. However I tend to think it does have something to do with working with the boys. In both observations LD and BD sat, and they are partners together, but the other girls that stood have boy partners, so maybe they are trying to have a larger presence since they are normally smaller. Also like I noted above, in whole group settings, the boys talk out without raising their hands and take over. So in partner work maybe this is the girls way of making a stand and showing their power so that the boys wont take over the partnership.

Students are always partnered with the same person for shared work, and most are girl/boy partnerships. When working in partner groups the majority of the 10 girls work standing up whereas only a few of the 14 boys worked standing up.

1/15- 11:20am- working on a math worksheet. PN, SB, BL, AS, HM, LP, MB all standing while LD, BD, and KH sat to work. Only 3 boys stood during their work. 1/17- 12:20pm- playing leftovers a math division game- PN, SB, AS, HM, LP, MB all standing while LD, BD, KH, and BL sat with their partners. Again 3 boys stood to work.