Observation of a Classroom Paper

Part I. Description

A. The School

Phyllis Wheatley public school also known as P.S 328 is located in District 19 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY, preoccupying the entire block its located on; including two playgrounds and the parking lot. P.S. 328 starts from Pre-Kindergarten to Fifth grade; 3 floors; with 293 students enrolled; predominately African American and Latino students. The schools outside construction looks brand new with fresh paint. The entrance of the school is guarded by security and each person outside of staff must sign in. On the security’s desk there are table decorations, as well as decorations and flyers located on the wall behind the desk. The hallways of P.S 328 are filled with bulletin boards of students best work; as well as inspirational poems and quotes from famous philosophers or entertainers. Some of the displays were also by students. There is art work spread out through the entire school; and the larger percentage had motivational and inspirational quotes. The art work was colorful and educational at the same time. Including photos of Mother Nature or kids with their parents or children in school learning. One painting included Phyllis Wheatley herself quoting “May thy painters and poets fire fire aid thy pencil”. The office of the school was also filled with inspirational quotes and sayings; such as “When you enter this office you become part of our family” or bookmarks to take home for parents with ways to build their child self-esteem. The auditorium, gym, and cafeteria are divided by large doors; limiting the space and size of each particular room. The doors that separate these rooms are covered with colorful murals of sea animals and sports activities as well as inspirational quotes. The cafeteria displays paintings and paper cut outs of fruits and vegetables on the wall; as well as two water vending machines for students and staff. The gym displays paintings of sports activities as well as motivational quotes from successful athletics and historical figures. Such as Micheal Jordon quoting “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do it” and Zig Ziglar states “It’s not your aptitude, but your attitude that determines your altitude”. There are two playgrounds apart of P.S.328; one playground is located in the middle of the school that has a opening of the outside. While the other playground is located in the back of the school, gated from the outside street and oncoming pedestrians and has a parking lot for staff located on the side.

B. The Physical Environment

I observed a 4th grade class who were attending their STEM class period. There are 18 students present in the class; one Latino and the rest were African American. The groups are arranged by 4 large tables and 6 chairs at each table. The walls of the classroom are filled with class work and personal portraits from students. The wall displays rules and regulations; lessons; poems promoting positive self-esteem; activities completed by students; motivational and inspiration quotes throughout the walls and the classroom door; as well as decorations and art displays or projects are made by the teacher and students. The classroom door specifically is what really caught my attention. It was filled with motivational quotes from people such as Michelle Obama, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Mark Twain; all written and drawn by the students. Some students even wrote their own personal quotes or feelings. One quote I loved was “The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them” Michelle Obama; a very powerful inspirational quote for a young child to see everyday. There are no physical games in sight; but the teacher allows students to play games via iPad per student provided by the school. There are also a large amount of counting cubes present used for mathematics during class participation. There is evidence of field trips; as one trip was being discussed in class.

C. The Curriculum

In STEAM classes the teacher is focused on teaching students science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. It is very obvious throughout the classroom that these criteria’s are being met. Mr.Carney, the teacher present, states that he likes to have the students help him figure out the lesson for the day, by asking them to take turns writing random thoughts of task and goals for the day on the dry erase board. Some students wrote random thoughts such as “I wish we had free time in Stem” or “I wish on a star each and pray that all will be right when the day comes”. While other students wrote., “I wish we get free time and game day everyday” or “I wish we can do more creating”.

The class is then instructed to take out their iPads; write three sentences about what they enjoyed the most on their field trip, as well as three sentences of what they would want to do next year on their field trip. Mr. Carney has a positive attitude and displays leadership qualities to the students. He directs the students to type in the website he wrote on the board and reminds them to “type it in exactly how it’s written so it can work”; allowing students to learn on their own how to access the Internet and be computer savvy. Mr. Carney then allows students to have free time and play games on the iPad.

D. Classroom Tone

The tone of the classroom was filled with good, exciting, happy energy and positivity. The students were all comfortable and engaged with the teacher. They showed the teacher respect by raising their hand to speak, and trying their best to remain quiet as the teacher spoke. The students were encouraged to speak up and clear. There was a student present in the class and when he was asked a question, the rest of the kids answered for him; the teacher then responded by saying to the young boy “If the rest of the class can speak up for you, then you should be able to speak up for yourself”. The young boy then smiled and answered the teacher. The children were all eager to know what Mr.Carney was going to decide the lesson of the day would be. The children were all engaged in completing their three sentences online as well as playing their online game. Their relationship with the teacher is that of a healthy family/parental dynamic. There may have been a few indications of no parental involvement and unhealthy parental involvement. One or two students were very anti-social; while others were very outspoken and used bad language comfortably amongst one another; and displayed some minor form of bullying. There also weren’t indicators of parental involvement on field days. A specific quote displayed on the classroom wall that displayed the tone of the classroom I received was “At the end of the day, it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back” Denzel Washington.

Part II. Analysis and Reflection

1. The teacher showed many qualities of that of John Dewey as well as Lucy Sprague Mitchell. In comparison to John Dewey theory, the teacher allowed the students to be hands on when doing activities and projects. The classroom displayed many artistic devices engineered by the students. In comparison to Lucy Sprague Mitchell the teacher focus is on all of the topics she believed a student shoulda learn in a classroom. Lucy Sprague Mitchell believed students should get a proper education through learning art, science, and geography. All subjects that are emphasized in this classroom. I believe both philosophers would be pleased at what they saw; although Lucy Sprague Mitchell may encourage more personal interaction with the students to better understand them to help them improve their education.
2. This classroom is a moderate example of culturally responsive teaching. Cultural responsive teaching emphasizes on the importance of of including students cultural differences in all aspects of learning. The classroom displayed this by having art work of different students testimony’s about themselves and their culture. The classroom displayed cultural influences as as a painting of a map and specifically of Africa. The teacher also presented to me a magazine that the school now publishes; over 30 pages of students artistic, cultural, intellectual, and social differences.
3. In reference and comparison to the article “Want to Get Your Kids in College? Let them play?”, I believe this classroom implemented both skill and play based criteria’s. The usage of hands on activities and creation of art, mathematics, science and technology all combined in one class lesson helps strengthen both skill based learning as well as play based learning.
4. I choose this school because I previously attended when I was a young girl. From when I attended and now; the school has made a lot of upgrades. The playground in the back of the school is brand new with bonded rubber on the ground for children’s protection; as well as the added playground in the middle of the school. The classroom I attended were filled with outspoken, vibrant, intelligent young fourth graders. Some which I can concur had no idea of their potential. The teacher was very engaged and hands on with all of the students. Which is something I would do the same and I believe every teacher should do. He treated each child equally and although being able to have fun with them; he also knew when he needed to be stern with the students. Although I enjoyed watching the relations between the teacher and students. There is two things that disturbed me; the minor bullying that occurred amongst the students is one. These incidents seemed to be abstruse to the teacher. I believe in order for the classroom to fully reach its academic and social potential; its very important to have healthy relationships amongst the students themselves. It’s very understandable for certain things to slip by when caught up in a lesson but I think it’s also important to pay close attention to those issues and address them. I personally try my best to explain to any student of mines why bullying is not expectable. So the only thing I would do differently is actually talk to the children as a group or one on one to see what really happened and give them advice; with this being done students can learn how to emphasize more with one another as well as have a more positive and happy environment that will help promote their learning abilities. This was also an issue the school faced when I attended as a child. Overall, this experience made me realize why I have a passion in working with kids. It allowed me to see the most important core of a healthy education for a child and even adult. And that is a child’s overall emotional and mental state must be on a positive level in order for them to experience and receive their best education. The second thing that stood out to me was that the school did not have an visual arts curriculum. I believe art is a very important part of human development. Like most education philosophers, back dating to Plato, l also believe it’s very important to emphasize arts in the education system. Art has a major impact overall on a child’s brain development especially those children who have difficulty in other areas in school. Although some fine arts are implemented in the school; such as music; visual arts is not, limiting the child usage of their creativity, imagination, development of a possible passion and gaining knowledge through their receptive skills. This disturbed me more then anything because I love art and as a parent and child care provider I have always tried my best to implement art; whether it‘s allowing children to use their creativity to sketch, paint or color; to making sure book selections and lessons are filled with colors and artistic attributes.