What? So What? Now What?

Reflective Journaling

This well-used and successful model for reflection will help you make connections and deeper meanings
from your observations. When it comes to making journal entries following your field observations,
please be sure to include a section answering each reflective question, using the descriptions below to
guide your writing.

FIELD OBSERVATION NOTES

Grade/Subject: 4th Grade/ Math

Lesson Topic: Face cards and multiplication

What?
The students engage and are very willing to answer questions.
During this time of year the students are really working on their multiplication facts.
They are trying to be the most accurate as well as complete the problems in a short amount of
time.
The students get into groups of two and each of the groups get a deck of cards.
They divide the cards into two even piles.
The students then flip over one card each at the same time and multiply the two cards.
Whoever says the answer right first receives the two cards.
At the end the student with the most cards wins.

Each of the following questions must be answered:

What happened? What events are taking place throughout the lesson? How did class begin? What are students
doing? What did the teacher do? What behaviors do you see from the students? Describe the room (if it is your first
time).
The students are engaging with one another and are laughing as well as leaning as they play this game. As I walk
around I listened to some of the students encourage their partner as they compete for the cards.

The events taking place are students are in groups flipping cards over and as quickly as they can saying the answer
to try to beat their partner. Those who are more slow are starting to catch on from memory of two numbers
answering quickly and learning without even realizing. The class began quietly and it began to become noisier and
more enthusiastic. Instead of falling asleep and day dreaming while learning multiplication the students are helping
one another learn. They are so excited when they get the answer right and say the answer fast. The students are
interacting with one another and challenging their minds to think fast. The behaviors are laughing and excited
students. The pairs are not getting bored at all because if one of them losses they want to play immediately again to
try to win the next time. The room is scattered with students in pairs. Some are across from one another sitting
across at their desks while others are sitting on the ground sitting with their partner. The white board has the agenda
for the day and there is a calendar of the month. There are words around the classroom stapled onto the walls that
the students are learning. The students are quickly getting faster and faster spitting out correct answers of 9 x 6 and
12 x 5. It is so fun to see how smart these 4th graders are and how they learn so fast.

So What? (What did you learn from the observation? What important ideas immerged from observation?). In
this section, you should describe your feelings, ideas, and analysis of what you observed in the classroom. This
usually should happen quite a while after the observation, so that the events have time to resonate more with you for
reflection.

I learned a lot with observing in the classroom of Mrs. Han and her 4th grade students. I always thought I wanted to
do kindergarten or 1st grade but working with 4th grace has been so fun! After observing and being able to help in
the classroom and interact with the 4th grade students I have a greater desire to work with older grades such as 4th
grade. It was amazing to see how quickly students catch on. I also noticed how easy it is for some students to really
lose focus. The ones that had a hard time when working with them one on one they were so incredibly smart but in
the entire classroom setting they had no idea what was going on. I learned how important it is to understand each
individual students learning techniques and the way they best comprehend. It is important to continuously engage
the student in the classroom and to recognize when one is day dreaming and bring them back to the classroom. I saw
when you did not catch this the student would have no idea what they were doing when it was time for them to work
by themselves and they were the students who also had poor grades. I saw these students perform one on one
exceptionally and when engaged or interested in a lesson they could do all the work on their own. It made me sad
when they got left behind because of their wandering minds or distracting minds because they were so smart! I hope
when I have a classroom of my own I recognize who these students are and make sure that I am doing everything I
can to keep their attention.

Each of the following questions must be answered:

 The Classroom Environment: How was the room set up for the lesson? What was
different this time or from your own past classroom environments? Did the set up play a part in the success
of the lesson? What might have been changed to make it better?

The lesson was set up very casually. The desks were in their normal arrangements and there was no special
things written on the white boards. One thing that is different from this classroom that I had never really seen
previously was the way the desks were set up. Instead of perfectly set rows or quads, the set up of the desks was a
little messy. There was no exact pattern or order to the desks which i found a little distracting and especially
extracting for the student. Some of the students were set up facing each other with around 7 or 8 desks on each side.
There was a random set up of 4 desks side by side. In the middle of the classroom there was 5 random desks sitting
alone with nobody next to them or facing them. On the side furthest from the door entrance there was a few desks set
facing the opposite way of the rests of the class. The way that all the desks were set up made it extremely difficult for
students because they were always having to turn their chairs while others had to get out of their desks to see the
white board from so far away. I feel like this created a lot of distractions for the students and it also was very easy
for students to not pay attention. For the lesson the students who sat across from each other at the few desks that
were set up like this made it easy for these students to stay in their desks and not have to move around. The two rows
of students facing different directions and the single desks in the middle of the classroom, these students had to sit
on the floor wherever they could find a small area to play the game, As a supervisor it was hard to see the students
sitting around the classroom on the floor because they were hidden by the desk set up and could easily do other
things besides the game if you were not constantly walking around and reminding the students to stay on track. If i
were to change the set up to help the lesson go more smoothly I would in general change the layout of the classroom
to a more orderly look for the desks. I would set up in rows all facing the same direction and then have all the
students gently push their desks forward so it would leave a big space in the back for all the students to have a spot
to play the game. This would make it easier to monitor as well as keep control of the classroom.

The Students: Do you think they learned what they were trying to learn? Did the lesson
reach each student individually? What were some of the differences among the students and how could they
have been addressed differently, perhaps?

I do believe the students learned what they were trying to learn because the entrainment was not a pressured
environment and the students were able to learn from one another. I say pressured environment because i believe
that sometimes when a classroom lesson is so structured and quiet such as a test, students do not perform as well.
Especially students who are easily distracted in lessons that are simply listening and then handing over a worksheet
and asking the students to do it quietly. I believe the lesson did reach each student individually because the students
that were not doing so well on their math facts were catching on and recognizing numbers easier to say correct
answers. Those who already were good at multiplication facts were able to increase their speed of recognition and
answering more quickly. I think next time pairing students who are on the same level of each other may be a little
better so they would have a better chance of winning the game. Most of the students ended up being paired with
someone on their level but the exceeding students who were paired with average or below average students may
have felt discouraged when their opponent continually got the answers right. It did help them though catch on really
quick because it made them step up their game which I thought was a good thing!

The Teacher: What methods did the teacher use and were they effective? What things did
he/she do to help students learn? Do you agree with his/her approach? Why or why not? How did they use
their voice/body language? Did they manage the class well in your opinion?
The teacher gives the students a lot of independence which I find to be a positive as well as negative thing. She gives
the assignments and then lets them work while she goes to her desk to get other things done. I find this good because
it is forcing the students to be accountable. The teacher will not go around and make sure the students are working
on whatever they are supposed to be doing. When it is time to turn things in if they do not have anything to to turn in
she gives them a zero. I have noticed that a lot of the students are doing very poorly on their grades and a lot of
parents are concerned with grades. During this lesson along with others when she does this I like to go around and
help those students who are not understanding or just help and remind students to stay on track. I had an amazing
experience the other day while at service learning that helped me see that I want to be a teacher who walks around
and helps students who need extra help. While walking around I noticed a boy who struggles a lot just staring at his
paper. I went over to him and asked him if he understood and he replied no so I sat down with him and explained
one on one the first problem and then had him do the second problem on his own while helping him when he made a
mistake. I then watched him do the third problem which he did perfectly. It was the happiest feeling watch him learn
and understand something.When he was done he came running up to me because he had finished the entire paper,
something that rarely happened. I exclaimed how proud I was of him and told him how smart he was. Later that day
I got to grade those papers and this boy got the highest score out of anyone in the class! It was an amazing moment
because it was usually the opposite of him having the lowest scores in the class. He just needed a little extra help
and it made the world of a difference. The teacher is very good at making the students be adults and accountable but
i do not agree with this approach. She is stern with them but also respects each student. Once she explains
something if a student needs extra help she explains that she already explained and that they need to figure it out.
This leaves students like the boy I helped just guessing, staring at the paper like he did, or on to something that they
do know how to do like drawing or doodling. For students who are very focused this helps them mature and prepare
for future grades. The teacher is very good at managing noise but not so much students day dreaming or not
working on what they are supposed to. The students are very mature for their age because the teacher manages the
classroom very professional and reminds me like a class you would see in high school or college.

The Lesson: Were the different components of the lesson complement and build on one
another? Did the methods help or hinder the learning of the objective, do you think? What parts of the
lesson worked? Didnt work?

The lesson was very simple and the students caught on. For the lesson and game to be successful though it took
previous lessons of learning multiplication as well as times tables for this lesson to work. The objective and goal, to
help student recognize multiplication factors as well as helping their speed of recognition, was successful. The
simplicity of the lesson and the environment of the game was a perfect contribution of reaching the goal of the
objective. The continuous and consistency of the game helped the students speed and recognition. I think that if
there was other games to play besides the one it may of helped the students continually stay focused. I feel like after
the students played the same game over and over again for 20 minutes, the students started to get bored.

Now What?
(How does this impact you in your future activities as a teacher? What do you need to learn more about? What
would you like to change?). In this part, you should consider how this information and observation impacts your
future as a potential teacher. What things do you need to learn or would like to know more about? What will it take
to accomplish this?
This impacts me as a future teacher in activities because it helped me see how important it is that students help each
other and that they get the chance to interact with one another. Also I have realized I definitely want to be a teacher
who walks around and helps students who may need a little extra help. I need to learn more about different activities
for students to do as well as lesson planing tips. There are so many days and each day needs a lot of different lessons
or activities I feel like after the first week of teaching I will be out of ideas! This observation impacted me because it
was a simple lesson and game but it really helped the students a lot. I also learned how things you would least expect
could contribute to a lesson. For example, a deck of cards who knew you could create an entire lesson and activity
with them. I need to open my mind more to ideas and ways of helping students learn subjects and objectives. I think
it will take a lot of brain storming and googling ideas or activities for students to do. Also it will take time to create
lessons and activities that will be beneficial for students as well as ones that students enjoy. Talking with other
teachers and constantly getting ideas of lesson plans is important as well.

Each of the following questions must be answered:

How did this experience impact your views about education, teaching, or learning? What did you learn about
yourself as a teacher from this experience? What things changed/stayed the same? What things would you like to
learn more about as a possible professional in this field? What ways would you go about learning these things or
finding this information?

The experience impacted me because it made me so excited to become an actual teacher! I also learned that I am
more open to teaching older grades. I found that I want to be a teacher who is more approachable and a teacher
who finds ways for students who get distracted easier to learn and stay on top of it. I learned a lot about how to help
students stay organized and accountable.The teacher I observed took the time to show me how she responds as well
as communicates with parents which I think was very beneficial to hear. She taught me how to be the most
professional when it comes to parents and how to respond to any type of problems you may have with them. I
learned that I really am intimidated by parents as well as staff members but I cannot let that show. I learned I must
be professional in everything I say and especially be professional to parents or they start to treat you as a friend
relationship which can create problems. I sometimes have a hard time because I am so friendly and a people
pleaser that I may run into this problem with parents but it is important for me to stay very professional. It stayed
the same for me that I want to be a very loving teacher and really work with students who are struggling. I changed
though for the fact I realized how much time and thought goes into each lesson plan and activity. I realized how
important it is to stay organized and save each lesson for the following year. The teacher I observed was really good
at this. She had folders for every subject and in order each lesson. This made it easy for planning the day and what
resources to use. Although I did learn a lot about this, I would definitely like to continue to learn more ideas and
tips for lesson planning and ways to help students who struggle. I would also like to learn how to manage a
classroom with students on all different levels. How to keep students intrigued and continually learning who are
exceeding while making sure the students who are struggling do not get left behind. I feel like this is difficult to do
when there are students who are on all different levels as well as students who get help from home while there are
others who get none. If there are students who are not getting help at home they will need extra help and I would
like to know bow to balance this with students who do not need extra help. I think ways to learn how to master this is
continually talking with other members of the staff and finding ways of teaching that are beneficial for all types of
learners. I think also talking to students who are struggling and talking to them one on one to see and come up with
plans and ways for them to stay up to speed with the exceeding learners. I also think as a teacher it is important to
stay patient and not get discouraged.