Classroom Observation Form CRIN L05 (ELL)

Name: Cara Hunt Date: November 9, 2009

Teacher/Peer Observed: Helda Espinal School: James River Elementary

Grade Level: 4 ELL Lesson Topic: Time setting vocabulary

Time and Duration of Observation: 9:30-10:30, 1 hour

Key Objective (Behaviorally /Stated): Students will learn about, repeat, and use time setting vocabulary in Spanish.

______

Teacher Activities:

When Mrs. Espinal entered the room, she immediately began speaking Spanish. The entire class was taught in only Spanish—her and the students. Mrs. Espinal engaged the students by tossing a plush globe around the room, asking them questions in Spanish (How are you? How is your morning? What did you do after school?). Afterwards, Mrs. Espinal wrote new vocabulary on the board in Spanish. She read the words and asked the students to repeat after her. Next, she used the words in sentences and asked the students to decide what their meanings were in English. Using previous vocabulary, Mrs. Espinal hosted a game of Jeopardy.

Student Activities:

Once Spanish started and Mrs. Espinal began instruction, the students were not permitted to speak English (not even to ask a question). When Mrs. Espinal tossed the plush globe, each student had to respond, in Spanish, to a question directed to them. The students had to pass the globe back to Mrs. Espinal, but after a round of questions the students tossed the globe to each other, asking and answering their own questions. The students repeated the new vocabulary words regarding time setting and used Mrs. Espinal’s context clues in her Spanish sentences to decipher their meanings. The students were allowed to create their own sentences using these new vocabulary words. The students were then broken into groups based on their tables and played Jeopardy. One student per table per question answered the question; however, the students quickly lost focus and did not follow directions.

Elements of Best Practice Demonstrated:

8: Mrs. Espinal engaged students in discussion and participation the use of the plush globe. When students caught the globe, they asked or answered questions in Spanish.

15: Mrs. Espinal taught using discussion, the white board, the document camera, and the computer. Mrs. Espinal used the document camera to demonstrate some writing, as she did on the white board. She used her laptop to create and implement the Jeopardy game. The game was interactive, which is a plus when using technology such as this.

Reflections/Extensions:

I was fascinated to observe a fourth grade class speak Spanish so fluently and easily understand the Spanish that flowed from Mrs. Espinal. I had a difficult time keeping up with the lesson, as everything was in Spanish, but the students followed along and participated. Classroom management seemed to be a challenge, though, as the students did not always follow directions and spoke to each other in English quite frequently. During Jeopardy, the students ignored the rules, shouting out answers and speaking out of turn. There was no differentiation, either: all students studied the same words, used the same materials, and completed the same homework. The amount of Spanish these nine and ten year olds knew was outstanding! I was very impressed with the way Mrs. Espinal expected them to speak in nothing but Spanish and I very much enjoyed observing the conversations and instruction in Spanish.

Rubric to be completed by W&M Student based on self-assessment of thoroughness of completing this form:

___ Exceeds Expectations ___ Meets Expectations ___ Below Expectations

Rubric to be completed by Dr. McEachron:

_____ Exceeds Expectations (ties in subject matter from class discussions and reading assignments)

_____ Meets expectations ______Below Expectations (redo and resubmit)