Week 5 Observation.Lauren Stuckey
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Dec 6, 2023
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Week 5 Observation
Lauren Stuckey
Grand Canyon University
ELM-210: Instructional Planning and Assessments for Elementary Teacher Candidates
Dr. Rachel Keller
May 20, 2023
I observed Mrs. Herrin from Atkinson Elementary School. She currently teaches
5
th
grade ELA and has been teaching for 6 ½ years. With it being the end of the school
year, the students have already mastered the standards for the year and accomplished
their milestones, state testing. Mrs. Herrin decided to do a play on compare and
contrasting things and had the 5
th
grade read a book called
The One and Only Ivan,
based on a true story. They had been trying to read for about a week when I came in to
observe on May 15, 2023. I came in to observe Mrs. Herrin when they were finishing up
the last half of the book. While in the room, the students listened to the remaining
chapters while raising their hands and asking questions about the chapter they just read
if needed. Then the class held a whole group discussion of what they liked and disliked
about the book along with key events that they felt were important and should be
portrayed in the movie they were going to watch. The students had to take an AR test
on the book which was a grade. AR tests are created to ensure the students are paying
attention and comprehending what they are reading or listening to. Reading the
remaining chapters and the whole group discussion took about two hours. During Mrs.
Herrin’s hour planning time, I was able to talk with her about her planning process and
what she does to ensure that all needs of the students are met.
On May 16, 2023, I returned to Mrs. Herrin’s class to watch the movie with them
and observe their questions and the activity that would be completed after the movie
was over. The movie was 1 hour and 35 minutes long, however it took about two hours
to complete due to students asking great questions about what was happening in the
movie and making comments about whether they heard about that event in the book or
if it wasn’t in the book. Once the movie was over, the class held another whole group
discussion as Mrs. Herrin wrote down similarities and differences that the students
stated between the book and the movie. Afterwards, the students had to then write a
three to four paragraph paper discussing what they liked and didn’t like about the movie
and book, along with at least two similarities and two differences between the movie
and the book. I was able to walk around the room and read the student’s papers as they
were writing. Some students even took it further and wrote about some key events that
could have been used in the movie to make it even more entertaining. The remainder of
the time between walking around and helping students as well as discussing more
about how Mrs. Herrin plans her lessons and what she is going to teach for the week
took up the last hour I needed for observation.
During the interview Mrs. Herrin stated that the pre-planning process consists of
using the district pacing guide that was created using 5
th
grade ELA standards to
determine what needs to be taught the upcoming week. The pacing guide helps
teachers to ensure that they are covering all information needed throughout the school
year. Once Mrs. Herrin determines what specific standards, she will be covering the
upcoming week, she then plans the lessons she will implement alongside the other
teams ELA teacher for 5
th
grade. Mrs. Herrin also collaborates with the Science and
Social Studies teacher on her team.
Mrs. Herrin writes the learning targets on the board for the students to see as
well as tells the students what their learning target is. The students understand the
curricular goals because they were able to participate in activities that allowed them to
practice the skill that was being taught/learned. When considering cross-curricular
connections, Mrs. Herrin tries to pick reading materials that align with Ms. Beane’s, the
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Science/Social Studies teacher, standards that she is teaching that week as well. By
doing this not only is she covering her standards, but Mrs. Herrin is incorporating more
information for the students over the standards Ms. Beane is teaching.
Before instruction, Mrs. Herrin has her students complete a short assignment
over the upcoming topic that they will be covering. This gives her an idea of the
students’ individual needs when she begins teaching. During instruction is when she
monitors students by asking questions and observing any independent work. After
instruction, she will administer some sort of assessment whether it be formative or
summative. Her formative assessments help her to determine if there are any
misconceptions or if any of her students need additional help. She can use this
information when grouping students based on their learning needs. When she uses
summative assessments, its to determine the overall learning of the students and allows
her to make adjustments for further instruction.
Mrs. Herrin uses several ways to differentiate instruction in her classroom. A few
things that she does are varying the amount of time students get to complete
assignments, uses reading buddies, and the level of support that a student receives.
Reading buddies allow students to partner up with a stronger reader which ensures the
struggling reader to feel supported and can get help when needed. Students that are
struggling receives more support from the paraprofessional and teacher in the class.
Mrs. Herrin takes into consideration the students individually and what their learning and
instructional needs are. She is able to plan and implement activities tiered to each
student because of this.
Students are able to demonstrate their knowledge of a skill in a variety of ways in
Mrs. Herrin’s room. She sometimes has the students complete a project or a
presentation in order to show their understanding of what they have learned. Mrs. Herrin
doesn’t typically use at home extension activities, but she stated that when she does its
catered to the individual student. It is activities that will help further develop their
understanding of a certain topic that they are struggling with. Mrs. Herrin stated that this
gives the student an opportunity to feel successful when they work on assignments in
class.
Through this observation I learned a lot about the planning process and what
things need to be taken into consideration when doing so. Mrs. Herrin is a great mentor
and I look forward to observing and learning from her more.