eMINTS Classroom Visit Reflections
Participant’s Name: Krissy Venosdale
Classroom Visited: Susan Evans Date of visit: 11-8-2005
Using the notes from your eMINTS classroom visit, please complete the sentence(s) under each heading. Save this form as a Word document and e-mail it to your CIS as an attachment or print it and give it to your CIS at the cluster meeting or professional development session following your visit.
1. Teacher-facilitated learning
ü I observed the following examples of teacher-facilitated learning:
ü I observed a teacher teaching math, instructing students how to add decimals. It was a teacher led learning experience.
ü The next lesson I observed was much less lecture and much more teacher facilitator.
1. Student-centered learning
As I observed students working and learning, I noticed the following:
ü I noticed that students were so engaged in their work. They were very proud to share their work with me and seemed very knowledgeable about it.
ü I noticed the way students responded to each other. They valued their own opinions and the opinions of their classmates. I observed the teacher responding in a way that was conducive to this.
3. Unique teaching pedagogy and learning strategies used to implement a standards-based curriculum
I observed the following teaching and learning strategies:
ü I noticed the teacher was presenting information on the SmartBoard.
ü Cooperative learning was in place as students were planning for a group project.
ü Online quizzes were being taken at quia.com and students were testing their knowledge in this way.
4. Community of learners
If I were a student in this classroom, I would describe the sense of community in the following way:
ü I am a valued member of this classroom. I can make my own decisions, and make my own choices. I am important in this classroom and I am needed for my group to be successful.
5. Classroom Management
I observed classroom management in the following methods:
ü Individual grades were taken on a Palm Pilot
ü Monitoring by teacher was done by roaming around the room.
ü Big6 website was used in planning the group project
ü Online quizzing was used to effectively collect scores.
ü Students were free to move about the room, yet were not chaotic.
6. Technology richness
I observed technology being used for learning in the following way:
ü Excel used for making a timeline.
ü PowerPoint used for creating stories.
ü Excel used for Oregon Trail map, notes were added in the spaces.
ü Moodle was the classroom management tool that students went to for documents, communication with teacher, and to take quizzes.
ü Spelling tests were given on Quia.
ü Students took online test called Tungsten for achievement scores.
7. Assessment of student performance
I saw the following examples of different types of assessment:
ü Teacher observation.
ü Teacher assessing with Palm Pilot grades, taken of journal entry daily.
ü Teacher collection of math journals and grading.
ü Teacher assessment through online Quia quizzes. Grades sent directly to teacher’s computer.
ü Teacher use of scoring guides for large task projects.
8. The physical classroom
What I found interesting about the classroom environment was:
I found the shape of the classroom set up interesting. It was a U shape. This was nice because it allowed every monitor to be viewed by the teacher. It created a situation where 4 students have their back to the smartboard, but this did not seem to be a problem.
9. Overall impressions
The following are the things I saw that I really might try:
Many things! I loved the use of Excel for so many different purposes. I have previously considered this program just a numbers program. I am going to try to develop more projects with Excel.
Also, I loved the way the teacher took grades on her Palm. This freed her up to assess through a walk around and make notes. This is a great way to quickly assess students and monitor them at the same time.
I also liked the seating arrangement. It is something I am going to look into for my own classroom.
The following are things I saw that I would NOT try (list items and reasons):
I will not try to give online spelling tests. I do not want to completely take paper and pencil activities away from my students and giving tests on Quia is not realistic.
I will not try to use “Moodle” this year. I have found a free site called “NiceNet.org” that I may set up next year, but I do not want to overwhelm my self with new projects this year.