Thomas Matthew SChnoor

RJCAT99@aol.com

Frank O’Bannon

Nancy Denny

10/17/07 10/22/07 10/29/07

9:35-11:05 8:30-12:00 8:45-11:45

 In my observation class the students are in the third grade so the class is

more structured than a kindergarten or first grade class. My teacher is a white

teacher in her late 40’s, and the students are split half and half between black

students and Hispanic students, with the exception of one white student. . She was

suppose to have about 18 students but because some students moved and got put

into different classes during my observation time she was left with 15 students,

which would include 8 girls and 7 boys. She has a total of three students that are

label “special needs” these needs range from reading and math impediments to a

case of A.D.D.

I have observed them learn math, reading, diagram sentences and stories,

and perform drama. When they have a math lesson I noticed that the majority of

the students have a very sound idea of what the rules of addition, subtraction,

multiplication and division are. And when the students participate in diagramming

and dissecting the parts of a sentences and story’s they seem to understand the

rubrics that were required of them to apply to their readings. Some things that

were required of them to do were identify the key words in each sentence, and write

a line that summarized what the main idea of the paragraph was that they just

read. The drama portion that I observed was a class play they were putting on, it

consisted of the students delivering a short one line statement when it was their

time to deliver their part. It was mainly just a fun activity.

There are two students that I feel are not benefitting from class. They are the

ones that are labeled special needs. As far as I can tell one student seems to do

nothing but copy down what the Mrs. Denny writes on the board, with no thinking as

to why he is copying down what he is copying. Him not benifiting might be a result

of Mrs. Dennys teaching style. Her stlye seems to be more of a review of what they
should know. If the student doesn’t ketch up or ketch on to whats being presented

they are left in the dust. She doesn’t stop for a question and answer time which I

belive is very beneficial to make sure your students know what your talking about if

its new and that your students still remember if its a review of something old.

Since my classroom I am observing is so diverse in race Mrs. Denny would

have to be a teacher who is very wise in the way she treats her students or other

races. Having observed the way Mrs. Denny treats her students of other colors than

her I have to say that color doesn’t have an effect on how she treats them. She likes

and shows affection for students of a different color than her. Three of her top

students are black, and some of them are going to be leaving her due to various

reasons, which consequently is making her slightly upset. Unlike Mrs. Johnson the

teacher in “Diversity and Teaching” Case 2, Mrs. Denny seems to understand her

students. Mrs. Johnson was a very good teacher; she was organized and had great

standards for her students and herself. One flaw Mrs. Johnson demonstrated, was a

lack of understanding of diversity that all teachers are now taught. Mrs. Denny

doesn’t strike me as a teacher who lacks essential understanding of how students

from all different kinds of homes that receive various amounts of income, can

express themselves, and see the world differently than she would.

Another issue that I noticed in my observation classroom that might not

actually be that much of an issue is the relationship among the sexes. In one of our

readings that we read during our time of covering masculinity we read an article in

“Gender & teaching” that talked about a class where there was a lot of tension

among the sexes. I don’t sense that at all in Mrs. Denny’s class. The story might

have been dramatized to add up the tension but Mrs. Denny’s class seems like

angels compared to the boys in “Gender & Teaching” that were saying girls can’t do
anything, and girls defiantly can’t be the hero of a story. Perhaps the way Mrs.

Denny gives out the tasks helps with the tension. In the reading there were “boy

jobs” and there were “girls jobs”. In Mrs. Denny’s class there are just “student jobs”.

She has everyone’s name on a small poster on the wall and she has close pins with

the different classroom jobs on them. Mrs. Denny clips a job onto the students name

and that is their job for a while. I believe that the community that the kids in

“Diversity in education” were from was a community that really belittled women.

Whereas kids in Mrs. Denny’s room come from homes where men and woman are

very closely equal. I think it’s quite possible that some of Denny’s kids might go

home and look up to their single mom who is working X number of jobs to keep

things going at home. So they would grow up knowing that “my mom is a woman

and my mom provides for my needs. Compared to a dad my mom does just as good

of a job, so she is strong”. With an up bringing like that I would say that would help

kids in viewing men and women more equal.

The school is located in Hammond in a part that is low income and project

homes. And for being in a low income neighborhood the school is very well off. It

has top notch technology in the classrooms; the facilities are very new, clean and

kept in good condition. It doesn’t look misused at all. The teachers all seem to be

equipped with a lot of resources and equipment that allow them to be very effective

and technology savvy teachers. On a side note, I was captivated with amazement

my first half hour/ forty minutes at how the “smart Board” works. I had never seen

one before, and watching how Mrs. Denny just wrote on her board, switched the

pages and brought up a new lesson just by the touch of her screen was such an

interesting observation. Considering that I would have to say that Mrs. Denny is

meeting the Fifth EDPS285 standard; Technology. Not only is the school very up to
date with technology, but Mrs. Denny know how to operate a computer and utilize

things like emails to stay in contact with her co workers and people like me very

quickly, so she is up to date as well.

Looking at the connection between the school and the community it is in, I

can see a few ways they help out each other. I know that the school provides free

breakfast and lunch to 71% of its students. I don’t know what the community gives

to the school besides homework help for their students. Which I know a few of the

parents do, because I had the opportunity of grading some homework and the Mrs.

Denny told me some parents check their child’s homework. I know the school is so

well off because it is getting a lot of government funding and financial assistance of

that sort so that might be a way the community is helping the school. Without that

financial help I honestly don’t know the quality of education the students would

receive but I am certain it would be very poor.

Although I have had experience with children from the urban culture I am not

sure what is the best way to teach them or instruct them. The school has taken

steps in reaching out to understand where these kids are coming from and how the

kids view the world around them. My teacher Mrs. Denny told me that these kids

literally view the world different than I do, because they come from a different home

life and basically culture than I do. These steps consist of the school formulating a

diagramming strategy that should help the kids see different parts of speech,

sentences, and a story. When I see and think about the efforts that the school has

put out in the specific area of trying to make a learning environment that is

equitable to a diverse population it seems the school is trying to meet the seventh

EDPS285 standard Diversity standard. I haven’t observed Mrs. Denny being

prejudice against any of her own students on basis of race. I have only seen her
jump to conclusions when reprimanding when the child has a history with her and

she knows what kind of behavior to expect from the student.