Gretchen Mathews

2.15.15
Observation and Reflection on Learning Environment and Schedule
My Student Teaching placement is within a first grade general education classroom at a
school located on the Upper Westside of Manhattan. The class consists of 26 students, all six to
seven years old, and one head teacher. Students arrive to school at 8:30am each morning, and are
dismissed at 2:50pm Monday through Friday. Though they spend most of the time within the
homeroom classroom, engaging in reading, writing, word work, math, science and social studies
instruction with the head teacher, they travel to other rooms one period a day (a 45-minute block)
for specials (i.e., gym, music, art, movement, library), and attend lunch/recess in the
cafeteria/yard from 11:40am-12:30pm. Overall, the school has the resources to afford and
incorporate technology like SmartBoards and Elmos in each classroom, and also ensures that
students have opportunities to take frequent field trips around the city (e.g., first grade students
have travelled to the Historical Museum and Tenement Museum since I began my Student
Teaching in the beginning of January).
When it comes to curriculum, the school utilizes the Common Core Standards to guide
lesson and unit planning. While they use Every Day Math to assist such planning for math
instruction, science and social studies plans are developed by the first grade teaching team in its
entirety (5 teachers in total). For literacy, the school uses the Teachers College Reading and
Writing Workshop Model. Having been a Reading and Writing Project School for quite some
time, teachers are familiar with reading and writing workshop practices, but attend professional
development meetings with a staff worker on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to address concerns or
needs within each classroom. Though I have only observed reading and writing workshops
within two other first grade classrooms, it seems that all teachers diligently adhere to the
suggested mini-lesson structure.
Within my specific classroom, reading and writing workshop typically take place within
the morning each day. Both incorporate a 10-minute mini-lesson in which the head teacher
models the teaching point she in introducing to the class, before asking students to participate in
active engagement activities. Once its clear that students are familiar with the teaching
objective, the teacher sends students off to work independently for about 30-minutes at their
tables or on the rug, before closing the lesson with a 5-minute share. Though the head teacher
typically pulls 2-3 students to work in guided reading or writing groups on the rug, she also
utilizes independent reading time to assess students reading levels with running records.
During reading workshop, students also have the opportunity to begin independent
reading time by book shopping once a week. With charts reminding them which day they shop,
they seem to have no trouble heading to the class library to navigate and choose new books to
keep in their reading baggies. All leveled books are organized by sticker color and there is also a
chart that hangs near the library outlining how many books students should be shopping for
based on their sticker color. Though much of the library is leveled reading, organized in buckets
with leveled sticker colors, there are multiple read aloud and category buckets that students can
use during choice time. While students are not allowed to take these books home, they do have
the opportunity to take a new leveled book home each night to read.
Within her reading and writing lessons, the head teacher also scaffolds learning with
charts. After introducing charts, she hangs them around the room for students to easily access
while they are working independently. For example, there are currently multiple charts hanging

1!

in the room that reference how to read and make sense of poetry (we just started our poetry unit),
as well as charts that assist students in their persuasive writing pieces (e.g., we have charts with
convincing sentence starters, the structure of persuasive pieces, and words to replace good and
bad in order to make persuasive pieces more compelling).
In addition to charts hanging, the classroom also has a large word wall on the back wall.
Each week, the head teacher introduces five new words to add to the word wall and models how
to write the words as students copy them into their word work journals. Students are encouraged
to practice writing and spelling of their word wall words at home each night, and also have the
opportunity to search for word wall words during word work stations that typically occur twice a
week. The stations, that rotate each time word work occurs, include a teacher-led group (specific
to the needs of the group the teacher is meeting with), a word sort group, and a word search
group. Lasting about 20-25 minutes, students seem engaged and excited for word work.
Beyond reading and writing workshop, and word work periods, the head teacher tries to
incorporate literacy practices throughout the school day. Each morning, she leads a morning
meeting in which students help update the date, weather, attendance, and number of school days
students have attended in a running Smart Board document. As a part of this ritual, the head
teacher also introduces a sweet word of the day (i.e., typically a word that students have asked
about previously, that is used less frequently than word wall words), discusses its meaning and
asks a student to illustrate it, before hanging it on the sweet word of the day wall at the back of
the classroom. In addition, during morning meeting the head teacher incorporates a sentence that
needs to be edited. With assistance from the class, they work to revise punctuation, spelling, and
capitalization to the original sentence, keeping revising and editing techniques top of mind.
Further, after lunch each day the head teacher also does an interactive read aloud. She makes
certain that the books coincide with writing units to further solidify students knowledge. For
example, most recently all read aloud books were persuasively written in order to scaffold the
current writing unit of study.
While the head teacher pays close attention to the routines and environment within the
classroom to ensure students are immersed in literacy, she also pays close attention to the walls
right outside of the classroom. Serving as a literacy museum, the walls right outside the
classroom have individual baggies labeled for each student. Each baggie contains the students
name and all published pieces they have produced thus far in the year. On adjoining walls, the
head teacher also hangs student work from other subjects. Students seem proud to have their
work on display, and continually reference how their parents will admire their work when they
attend the school for their monthly publishing celebration.
As I reflect on the routines and environment of my placements classroom, I am
impressed with the organization and the attention that my head teacher pays to each detail to
ensure that students are continually immersed in literacy, and have the scaffolds to help assist
their learning even when theyre not receiving direct instruction. Given students are familiar with
the structure and routines of literacy practices throughout the day, they seem to feel confident
taking risks in their reading and writing, and look forward to sharing their work with peers,
teachers, families, and community members. Further, my head teacher continually tries to
evolve her practice by discussing challenges with the professional development Teachers
College Reading and Writing Project Staffer. As I consider my own future classroom, I look
forward to incorporating many of the current practices my head teacher utilizes, and learning
more about additional beneficial routines and practices in our current course.

2!

Word&Wall&

Sweet&Word&Wall&

Wri=ng&Buckets&&Contain&folders&with&all&wri=ng&materials&organized&by&table.&

Sink&/&Snack&
Bucket&Area&

Table&4&

Table&5&&

Table&6&

Table&3&

C
h
a
r&
t&
s&&

Table&2&

Table&1&&Table&
assignments&change&
on&a&monthly&basis.&
Each&chair&at&each&
table&has&a&baggie&with&
student&materials.&

D
o
o
r&
Student&Mailboxes&

Rug&-&
&Students&are&assigned&a&specic&spot&on&the&rug.&Rug&spots&change&on&a&
weekly&basis.&During&reading&and&wri=ng&workshop,&students&are&allowed&
to&work&wherever&on&the&rug.&&

Read&Aloud&/&Category&Reading&Buckets&
Smart&Board&

Teacher&Chair&-&
Loca=on&where&
she&sits&during&
most&lessons.&

Teachers&
Desk&

Wri=ng&
Materials&-&
Includes&5page&
booklets,&
correc=on&
tape,&pens&
and&caddies&
for&
illustra=ng.&
&
&
& Reading&
& Baggie&
& Buckets&
&
&
&
&
Leveled&
Library&

C
h
a
r&
t&
s&