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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

dividers between Miss LaGuardia and Mrs. Vanmieghems space.

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
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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

with a partner to complete one poem of their choice.

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.
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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

her methods as effective and positively driven.

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