Classroom Observation Essay

In the classroom I am observing in I have watched how the teacher and the students start and end their day by following different procedures for ex: attendance, portfolios, grades, and class rituals like morning meeting, transitions and end of the day procedures. All of these procedures and rituals contribute to the classroom culture and are parts of instructional practices. So when the students come first in, in the morning they have morning circle where they do attendance, weather, lunch choices, how I feel today chart and much more. Each student has a job during morning circle which rotates every day so not every student has the same job. So attendance is kept and done at morning meeting everyday which is important for the teacher to keep

Another ritual that is done is the sharing of space in the classroom. This is important because by learning to share space with the teacher and students it teaches them social and behavioral skills. There have been incidents where students don’t share their playing space with others or class materials. It is so important to discipline students who have issues with sharing because in life you need to share with others and learn to be nice and respectful about it. One other ritual that is important for the flow of the class is transitions that occur throughout the day. The students have a set schedule every day where they transition say from lunch then to library time then to math center time etc. By having transitions happening in the classroom this gives students the opportunity to learn their schedule and lets them know what comes next in the day. One more ritual that I think is important for the flow of the class is the end of the day procedures that is followed by the teacher. What happens in the classroom that I noticed is that the teacher first asks the students to wipe down their desks. Then they are asked to put their chairs up on their desks and after that they are given their homework for the night which they put in their folders to take home. After that they wait for the announcement to go outside for recess and then after that they are

In all my classes my professor keeps track of attendance by going around the room and calling our names and making sure we say here. With grades they keep track of them by posting them online on Plato and giving back tests or assignments in class. For literacy assessments we have assigned dates where we take these which can involve reading or writing. For shared space we make sure during class to share our tables for group work and the way we transition through the day here is when we change classes and go to the next