Lesson Observation

The lesson I observed today in my second grade class in Galway, Ireland was certainly different than anything I ever observed student teaching or experienced in my elementary school career. Since our class is full of 7 and 8-year olds, they are practicing for their First Communion (I never went to or taught at a Catholic school). The students have been practicing their prayers at home, but occasionally the teacher will go over them in class to make sure the students are on track, which was what today's lesson consisted of.

My CT began the lesson by having the students open their religion books, in which they had copies of the prayers for First Communion, with their parts highlighted. She pointed out specifically which two prayers she wanted the students to recite, and then they all read it aloud together. She helped them to practice repetition, which clearly helped some students to solidify the phrases. Then, she had each of the students look at the books silently for about 5 minutes. That way, she gave the students explicit instructions on what to look at, and then encouraged them to work on it individually. Although the students will eventually be saying the prayers altogether at First Communion, she told the students that after the 5 minutes, she would be testing each person. She also made it clear, before they started to study the prayers on their own, how important this knowledge would be for their future, their parents, and their community. By emphasizing that learning these prayers would make them an important part of the church and community, the teacher helped some students understand that the learning was practical.

After the individual reading period, the teacher went around one-by-one and had each student read the two prayers aloud. Many of the students struggled, although some more than others. Since Emmy and I have been in the class for many weeks now, we have a general gauge of what level of achievement most students are at. For many of the students that struggle, the teacher prompted them more than other students when they would get stuck or say a wrong word. For some students, this prompting was just the little push they needed, and then they were able to finish the prayer. For others, they just kept repeating each guiding word as it was given to them.

As kind of a reinforcement of the importance of the prayers and First Communion, a priest came in at the end of the lesson and gave the ashes to the students (since today is Ash Wednesday). This excited many of the students, and it helped prove how important these prayers are going to be. Overall, I think this lesson worked to show the students the importance of the prayers, and hopefully encouraged them to go home and practice.

The Reflection of Irish Culture at Scoil Bhride

The culture of Ireland can be seen in the school environment of Scoil Bhride in several ways. Firstly, the friendly and welcoming school community is very much a representation of the people of Ireland. There is a very close sense of community within the school, particularly between the staff, as they collaborate often and share break times all together in the staff room. The staff and students were also very welcoming and friendly towards us, as we began working with the school. They appeared to be genuinely interested in getting to know us and making us feel a part of the community.

In addition to this close community, the school is laid back in many senses, as I have found many things in Ireland to be. There is not much of a rigid schedule that teachers follow in their classroom, but rather the lessons tend to flow from one subject to another following a general pattern and timeline. Several times different students have had to leave class to go to various appointments. The school seems to be very flexible in terms of this allowing students to come and go throughout the day. They also seem lenient on tardiness, as students often continue to arrive 10 or 15 minutes past the school start time.

Beyond the structure and community of the school, the Irish culture is reflected in several of the subjects taught. Firstly, all students take Irish as a second language. Irish is taught as any other second language would be taught, teaching students to read, write and speak the language. The study of this language is valuable in many senses as it helps to keep the language and culture alive. In addition it provides the students with skills and practice in learning a new language, exercising an important part of the brain. By starting to teach Irish at a young age, it helps students to develop a foundation of Irish during the time when it has been argued the brain is most suited to learn a new language.

In addition to Irish being taught as a subject, religion is also taught on a daily basis. I was very surprised initially to see the role religion played in the school considering that it is not a Catholic school, but rather a public school. This is very different from the strong emphasis in America on separation of church and state, where such religious education would not be accepted. It surprised me the first day to walk in to the school and see so many pictures and statues portraying religious figures, throughout the halls. Because I am in a second grade class, the majority of the students are preparing for their First Communion, which places an even greater emphasis on the religion class period of the day. While not all students are required to take part in these religious activities and practices, the instruction occurs within the classroom by the classroom teacher, therefore there are limited ways to avoid this instruction. On the days when Kelsey and I are in the classroom, we are at least able to pull out the students who do not practice Catholicism to work one-on-one in areas that they are struggling in, however, the other days the students have no such option. I would be interested to know how these children and families that are not practicing Catholicism feel about the emphasis placed on this religion within the classroom. I was also curious as to what age this religious education continues until. I wonder if it is just until the students make their Confirmation, or throughout high school as well.

Maristas

When I chose to come to Granada, Spain, I never imagined I would have the experience I am currently having. I opted to do a practicum abroad in order to enhance my teaching and benefit from further experiences within the classroom, especially by being within a Spanish high school. My name is Erin McGovern and I am studying to be a spanish teacher by majoring in Secondary Education and Hispanic Studies. Prior to receiving my placement at Maristas, I was convinced that I would be entirely in English classes though I requested a combination of both Spanish and English classes to heighten my experience. Before my first official day in the classroom, I met with the on-site coordinator who asked my preference and accommodated me well by placing me in Spanish Language and Literature classes initially.

I spend 7 hours a week at the school, which serves as both a primary and secondary school divided between two buildings that are connected by the patio outside. My 4 hours at the school on Tuesdays was initially split between two teachers, though now I am with 3 teachers in order to have an experience in an English class as well. The system in Spain is different, as the levels in the "middle/high school" is split up into 1-4 ESO and 1-2 Bachillerato. As I am in two 3 ESO classes with Juan, the students are between 14-15 years old, our equivalent of ninth grade. On Tuesdays, I spend one period with Miguel in a 1 ESO English class, so the students are about 11-12 years old- our equivalent of sixth/seventh grade. For the final period, I am in a 2 Bachillerato Lengua y Literatura (language and literature) class with Paco. The wide range of classes that I observe gives me a variety of opportunities to see different teaching techniques in addition to interacting with many students.

For the students, it is an interesting experience to have me within their school. From the moment I walked in, I observed that their are no lockers as I have been accustomed to seeing in the typical high school in addition to the fact that there were no students in the hall. As it turns out, the teachers move classrooms instead of the students. The students are grouped together and spend the entire day together rather than having different classes with different groups. Upon entering the classroom for the first time, I was greeted with smiles and an abundance of "Hellos" which I responded to with "Hola" in order to acclimate to the Spanish classroom. After briefly introducing myself in Spanish, I was directed to sit at the teacher's desk to observe for the period. It was strange to be doing observations from the front of the class for once rather than the back as I am used to when I am not moving around the classroom.

I was told that a large part of practicums here, especially with the higher levels, consists of observation, since it is largely instruction from the teacher and individual work on the part of the student. Juan, however, has taken advantage of having me within his classroom and asked if I could present to the students about the US school system in order for the students to get to know me better and to interact with the class. After three weeks of observations, I stood in front of the 3 ESO class to deliver an hour-long interactive presentation in Spanish. I asked for the students to feel free to interject with any comments and questions to make it more of a conversation rather than a lecture, which I also began by asking the students what they thought of when they hear United States. Responses varied from Obama to skyscrapers (rascacielos in Spanish) to hamburgers (hamburgesas in Spanish...that one's easier), all of which they said they have gathered from the portrayal in movies and television shows. My presentation allowed for the students to get to know me better and see that I can communicate with them in Spanish, and allowed for them to get a more realistic image of that which is shown in the movies. Since my first presentation last Thursday (February 24), I had another this past Thursday (March 3) with the 1 Bachillerato students.

While I delivered the presentation in the same manner with the guidance of the same PowerPoint that had different points and pictures to go with them, I had more confidence to present in Spanish. Though there is not a vast age difference between the two levels, the 1 Bachillerato students were less participative, though there are more of them- about 40 students compared to 28 in ESO. After finishing two presentations, I look forward to interacting with other classes by delivering the presentation three more times between other ESO and Bachillerato classes.

This practicum experience has allowed for me to observe difference classroom environments in addition to see how English is taught as a foreign language. While I have only been in the English class once, I look forward to seeing more methods for teaching language in order to contrast it with what I have implemented in my past practicum experiences. I look to be more involved in that classroom since it is more feasible, compared to the Spanish language and literature classes, though I have the ultimate goal of teaching a lesson with the aid of my cooperating teacher. The American cultural experience that I have offered the students thus far has made this practicum a valuable experience for both me and the students since we have a cultural exchange though I interact with them in their language. This is a further opportunity to build upon both my teaching and my Spanish skills.

Lesson Planning

Lessons in my classroom are less formal than in other schools I have been in. My CT flows seamlessly between subjects and does not spend too long on each, which holds the attention of the class. The students switch classes for their reading groups, but they all know the expectations. When she says it is time for reading, they put away whatever they are doing, go get their folders and move to their spots. Reading is all done in group works. There is a reading specialist that works with the lowest group, my CT works with the next group, and I work with the top group. Even reading time switches quickly to hold the attention of the students since they are so young. They alternate reading pages, talk briefly about the book, do a quick writing assignment, then do workbook pages. All of this is done in an hour. This is different from every other classroom I have been in, where the teachers teach a lesson (such as modeling a reading strategy) where the students just listen, then the students do an activity based on it. Math is also very interactive. There is a support specialist who comes in. She does activities where the students count out loud, add based on pictures, or sing a song. Then, they break up into groups where the activities continue. For spelling, they sing songs and spell out loud. The lessons are never teacher-centered.

This picture is an example of my teacher's style. This lesson was to develop sound manipulation skills. The students heard a word and had to change the letter. For example, this word says "set" then the computer might say "wet" or "sat" and the students replaced the letter. My CT only spent a second or two going over the lesson. Then, she let the students do it themselves. When they were stuck or made a mistake, she would stop and reiterate the concept. I think this is particularly important because the students are so young. If she spent longer than a few

minutes talking at them, they would have a really hard time listening.

I also had the opportunity to meet with the principal this week for a project for a class. One of the questions for my project involved feedback and evaluation of teacher's teaching strategies. He said they are measured three ways: general school performance, grade level team performance, and individually. Individually, they are reviewed by peers and the support teams. I asked a specific question about standardized testing because this is a particularly important issue in the U.S. Teachers at Scoil Bhride are not judged based on their student's performance. When evaluated, review teams take into account who the students are, how the students performed in other classes, and teacher performance. I think this is extremely important to the atmosphere in the classroom. They are not teaching toward a test, so they make sure their class is interesting and every student is learning to their best ability. This is definitely a distinction in teaching style between Scoil Bhride and the schools I have been in for previous placements.

Classroom Management

One of the things I am always most interesting in observing during my student teaching experience is how the classrooms are managed. I believe that classroom management is the key to educational success in any given classroom. If the students understand what is expected of them both intellectually and behaviorally, they will have a better rate of success.

The CT I have been observing teaches 5^th grade. Prior to this year, she taught the junior infants, which would be equivalent to pre-school. When she told me this on my first day, I was very interested to see how she ran a classroom of ten and eleven year olds after teaching four and five year olds for a number of years. My CT is extremely calm, but that’s not to say I haven’t seen her raise her voice to her students. She expects her students to do their homework, pay attention, and take an active role in each lesson.

The classroom consists of twenty children. The students’ desks are now set up in a “U” shape, and they sit in boy-girl order which was created to avoid any temptations for friends to sit next to each other and get distracted by side conversations. My CT will rearrange the seating order at any time if she feels that there is a bad match of students next to each other.

One thing I admire most about her is that she does not go back on her word in regard to discipline. She gives the students one, maybe two warnings depending on the rule broken. If she threatens them with “indoor” recess, or other punishments, she follows up on it if the students try to test her. I believe that is extremely important for managing a classroom successfully so the students will know exactly what is expected of the, and what the reciprocations will be if they choose to disobey.

My CT has a lot of authority in the classroom, and that is why I believe the classroom is run so smoothly and a successful learning environment for all of the students. Many students are pulled out throughout the day for different academic and behavioral reasons, so my CT is able to focus on specific groups of children who are all relatively on the same academic level. Because the class is relatively on the same level, my CT is able to create lessons that fit the level of the majority of students in the classroom. While I have been in the classroom, my CT has even created smaller groups within the class that allows me to not only work with the students, but allows them to get more individualized attention.

Although the students came into 5^th grade at a lower academic level than they should have, my CT has created an environment that can cater to their needs and lead to a lot of academic success!