Observation

I've had the opportunity to observe Mrs. B's fourth grade classroom in Marathon, New York for the past two weeks. I have to say it has been a very rewarding experience. I was very nervous at first because I had never observed a classroom in a formal setting before. However Mrs. B and her students were extremely welcoming. Mrs. B had me help the students during their ELA block of time. I had to teach groups of students a game called "Word Pond". The game allowed them to practice using synonyms and antonyms. It was fun teaching them the game. I have to say that I was very surprised with how much technology is now present in today's classroom. Mrs. B used the SMARTboard to teach many of her lessons. She taught one lesson for science about animals with vertebrates and animals without vertebrates. She had the children come up to the board and place animals in the column that said vertebrate or invertebrate. The children really enjoyed this because they got the chance to come up to the SMARTboard and be actively engaged in the lesson. I went to a small elementary school and the only resource of technology we had was the use of the computer lab, and sometimes a TV. It is amazing the advance in technology since I was in elementary school. This is another reason I am very thankful for taking EDU315. It is helping me to learn about all the technology I never had the chance to previously learn. The children really enjoy using all the new forms of technology. Therefore it is important as a future teacher to have a strong understanding of all the different types and forms there are out there of technology.