Class Overview based on observations and data

Use readings from the past to describe your class of students:

Taylor & Whittaker; Bridging Multiple Worlds; Delpit; Nieto; Understanding Culture Brief; Hoeksema; Petersen & Hittie; Pearson
202 book; Woolfolk Chap 2, 3, 5; Levine
Most of them seemed to be grown up in the United States. However, they seemed not having the same
first language. Some students seemed to be comfortable with English while some students seemed
very uncomfortable with it. I could understand why there is a big difference in the proficiency level of
Culture
the students in one classroom because language barrier affects the learning outcomes. As some
students know Spanish very well, some of them might be familiar with the Hispanic culture that came
through their parents.
My classroom is consisted of Hispanic, African-American, and a few White. Hispanic students
dominate the classroom; they occupy one-third of the total population in this classroom.
Race & Ethnicity

Social SystemsPeers & Family

Moral, Spiritual, and

Faith Development

Attention & Memory

Language

Motor &
Spatial/Sequential
Ordering

Higher Order Thinking

Ability & Disability

Students came to school with their family (either Mom or dad). In the classroom, I could see some
students helped their peers when they needed. They seemed to have a good and close relationship each
other. They seemed to know well about each other. When I asked the favorite color of one student, I
heard other two students said at the same time, She likes purple.
Moral-Some children seemed truly caring about his/her friends while others did just for own benefits.
Spiritual-Dont know
Faith-Dont know. I didnt see any faith development from them because it is a public school.

Since they are young, they have a short attention span. Some students well focused on what their
teacher said while some could not be able to focus on teachers saying. Some were easily distracted
while some were not. When I saw two students played a memory game, this game seemed hard for
them to do. It was a game that player has to match one card to another similar card. I realized that they
just kept flipping over the cards and waited for cards to be matched by chance. They seemed to be not
able to remember the cards that they just saw.
They pretty much use English. I have heard some Spanish words. But I havent heard that the students
spoke in Spanish each other. Some students came to me and tried to teach me some Spanish words.
They said they use Spanish at home because one of their parents is Hispanic.
Students use a lot of fine motor skills. They do writing and coloring for many activities. When they do
math games by using the laptops, most of the students used their fingers to count the number. I
realized that they need visual representations to work well in a sequential ordering system.
The class seems to have conceptual thinking as a higher order thinking strength. While they were
doing group activities, I observed that they are good at building on the previous ideas and putting
ideas together.
Classroom teacher showed me the reading proficiency level of each student. I saw big difference
levels of the students. Students have different difficulties; some students have difficulties in reading,
writing or speaking. In my classroom, there is one special need student. But I have no opportunity to
observe him because he has to go to another class every day.