Emily Blazo
Instructor: Al Lindau
Norda 10Sped
605 #4
June 2, 2015
Classroom Observation
It was a pleasure to observe Miss LaGuardias special education room at Keller Elementary in
Green Bay, WI. Miss LaGuardia shares a classroom with Mrs. Vanmieghem and together they
assist 25 students with specific needs that require specialized learning strategies. With the help of
two special education paraprofessionals, Miss LaGuardia is able to work with up to ten students.
I spent the first few minutes walking around the classroom and understanding the expectations of
the children that enter the room. The room was set up with a few small tables and a reading area
for students to work independently or in small groups with the classroom teachers. There were
The afternoon started off with a visit to the fifth grade classroom. The students were learning
poetry and Miss LaGuardias task at hand was making sure six of her students were meeting the
expectation to stay in their seat during the lesson. Another expectation was to listen to the poetry
and understand how a story can be told through rhyme. One of the students was repeatedly
interrupting the class during the teachers lesson. I observed the student rummaging through his
desk and throwing his pencil up in the air. The student was redirected once; however, for the
most part, the teacher kept on teaching. The class was instructed to work independently on
writing poetry that they had been listening to that week. Miss LaGuardia and I took a group of
students out into the hallway to work with them on their writing. Some of the students were
BLAZO |2
distracted fairly easily but most students were on task and completed their poems. While the goal
in the classroom was to complete two to three poems, the group I worked with was able to work
Two students went back to Miss LaGuardias classroom and performed a reading assessment.
The assessment was first taken by the students at the beginning of February and they were being
scored based on their improvement. The reading assessment focused on vowel teams and reading
practice. Both students improved their reading score and were awarded a piece of gum.
Each student that works with Miss LaGuardia and Mrs. Vanmieghem, works with a point sheet.
The point sheet has a score of a 1, 2 or 3 in all areas they encounter throughout the school day.
They are tallied up at the end of the day and if a student receives a 90% or higher, they are
rewarded with a piece of gum or a handful of jellybeans. Mrs. Vanmiegham currently works with
two students that use a different point system. One student has a notebook that he brings with
him every day to school. Teachers focus on positive comments throughout the school day, due to
the fact that the parent expects perfect 3s or the child is given very harsh punishments. These
punishments were affecting the childs performance at school, which in turn was causing the
child to lose confidence in himself. The other student was harming himself if he was given any
low scores throughout the school day. Paper beans are also used as an incentive for work
completed and good behavior. These beans can be traded in every Friday for a prize on the prize
cart, or can be saved for a larger prize. Most students are saving up for items worth 100 paper
beans.
BLAZO |3
Through my observation, I witnessed a teacher bond with her students and set expectations that
were challenging, but were within the scope of each students abilities. Miss LaGuardias
teaching philosophy is very much focused on specific outcomes for each individual child. I saw