The Learning Academy is a private elementary school that provides students (grades second to sixth) the opportunity to learn techniques, by way of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach, that will better assist them through their lifelong journey with their reading disability. Dyslexia is very hard to diagnose, but many of the students at this school are assumed to have this reading hindrance. Reading difficulties begin to arise and become recognizable in the first grade, which is why this outstanding school does not start until grade two.

Classroom Observation

I arrived at The Learning Academy at 7:50am. Mrs. William immediately informed me that the daily schedule was going to be altered. “This afternoon is our music concert for our parents to come and see. The students must go to their dress rehearsal at 9:15am, but first they need to take a science quiz in Mrs. Spencer’s class.” Mrs. Spencer is another third grade teacher at The Learning Academy whom Mrs. William trades off with for science and social studies. For example, Mrs. William teaches social studies and Mrs. Spencer teaches science. Around 8:10am, after the lunch count and pledge of allegiance, all of the students piled into Mrs. Spencer’s classroom (including her own students), and Mrs. William took her break. The students took a science quiz on energy forms. Before the students took the quiz, Mrs. Spencer reviewed the energy forms. She randomly called on students to answer questions- every time the students got an answer correct, Mrs. Spencer threw them a piece of candy. After a brief review, the students were given the quiz and their textbook which they could refer to while they took their quiz. As the students took their quiz, I walked around the room and assisted students who did not understand the directions or needed help reading the directions. Mrs. Spencer also assisted students, and I often heard her differentiate the quiz. For instance, she once said, “Just tell me the two forms of heat energy and I will write it down for you.” The students that finished the quiz drew a picture on the back of their quiz while the rest of the class finished answering the problems.  

The science review and quiz lasted until 8:50am. When Mrs. William’s students returned to the classroom and she did a read aloud. Mrs. William said, “While you all were in the other classroom, I went to the book fair and purchased some books.” The book she read to the class was, “Pass It On,” written by, Marilyn Sadler. This book reminded me of the game, telephone. In short, a cow told a frog to get her help because she was stuck in a fence. The frog went and told the other farm animals, and at the end the frog said, “Pass it on.” In the end, the help call was miscommunicated. Mrs. William sat on one of the center tables in the back of the room and said, “Gather around students, bring a chair, and put on your listening ears.” The students all gathered around the table with the exception of Micha and Josh. “Is what you are doing over there really more important than me? That is a loss of two blocks,” she informed them.

Mrs. William finished the book in less than ten minutes. Along the way, she stopped and asked simple comprehension questions, “Who told the pig that? Now where is the pig going?” When she finished, she said, “Do you all see how important it is to listen? You all need to put on your listening ears when you go into music. This is a dress rehearsal and the last chance to practice before you show your parents this afternoon.” After her pep-talk, she came up to my peer-teacher and me and said, “Is that not the cutest book you have ever seen?” We both readily agreed. My partner and I both discussed the book, and Mrs. William quickly approached with money in her hand. She said, “You can keep this one. Miss Harvey, I want you to take this money and go and get yourself a copy! Go! Go!” I quickly denied and backed away, but she shoved the money in my hand and pushed me out the door. I went to the book fair and picked up a copy, brought the change back, and said, “Oh my goodness! You did not have to do that- thank you, thank you so much!”

At 9:05am, the class headed to music; however, we went ahead of Mrs. Spencer’s class. “We need to waste time. Tell me something you see in the sky,” Mrs. William told the class as we all stood outside the music building. Every student discussed something they saw- whether it was a bird or the clouds. Soon, the other class joined and my partner and I stayed behind to help the music instructor as the two teachers went back to the classroom.

The music instructor, Mrs. Beasley, needed us to organize the classroom before the students walked in. “The room is a mess from the fifth graders, and I need the chairs stacked.” We quickly stacked the extra chairs and the students walked in. Mrs. Beasley reminded the students of where their assigned spot was and how they were supposed to stand (window-formation). Then, they took it from the top. She said, “I have four readers that start the introduction- one from Mrs. Spencer’s and one from Mrs. William’s. It looks like Mrs. William never picked her students to read- we still love her!” Then she asked my partner and me to do the reading parts for Mrs. William’s students. As soon as that ended, the students began singing, “Thirty Days Has September.” They had dances to go along with it. Then they played a type of clarinet to the beat of the music. Next, they sang, “Push it to the Top!” which is when Mrs. William and Mrs. Spencer came in. Just like with the first song, they had hand movements and dances to go along with the lyrics. “Mrs. William,” Mrs. Beasley said, “I need you to pick two students to read the introduction for this afternoon.” “I will do that right when we get into the classroom,” Mrs. William responded.

As soon as we got settled in the classroom, Mrs. William had the students raise their hands if they wanted to try out for the first part while they ate their snacks. Most of the students did, and they all took turns coming up to the front of the room and practicing in front of the class. “Look for expression, accuracy and rate,” Mrs. William reminded the class. After each student went, the class voted on who they wanted to read that part. Cody was choses; thus, Cody could not participate in the second round which followed the same format as the first. Jeremy was elected as the second reader.

As soon as the parts were determined, my partner and I took the students and had them practice with us in a quiet corner of the room. I took Jeremy and my partner took Cody. We practiced with them for about five minutes and had them read without looking at the paper so that they could “capture” the audience.

After we practiced, it was time for recess and my day at The Learning Academy came to an end. As we left, Mrs. William blew us a kiss and said, "Love you! See you next week!"

Classroom Reflection

I cannot get over what a great day I had! I am absolutely stunned, but filled with so much joy over the fact that Mrs. William bought me a book! My first book I am going to use in my very own classroom! That meant so much to me, and I wanted to cry tears of happiness as I walked to the book fair. Mrs. William is such a great mentor, and she goes above and beyond in everything she does. Mrs. Spencer is truly so lucky to have her as a mentor.

Over the past couple of weeks, I was beginning to get bored with consistent schedule that was presented to me at The Learning Academy. All I did was work with Hannah, my case study student, and either sit through OG (the same thing every day) or teach a lesson. However, today was a different story and it was so much fun getting to experience something different. Watching Mrs. Spencer teach science was a wondrous experience- she is so captivating and speaks to the students in such a fun way. She raises her voice and uses appropriate sarcasm. The students all drew her pictures on the back of their quiz. This must be a typical thing that is enforced in the classroom since they all knew what to do after they finished. The students either drew Mrs. Spencer or wrote why she is the best teacher. As they did their artwork, Mrs. Spencer either helped other students or made comments on what was good about the artwork or what she wanted added. Despite the wonderful classroom management style presented by Mrs. Spencer, I am unsure as to whether or not an open book quiz is beneficial- I can see both sides to the argument. Having an assigned as “open book” is considered, to myself, as a guided practice assignment rather than a summative assessment. The students were able to gather the correct information from the text- what they actually know cannot be determined (comprehension of what they learned) because they were basically given the answers.

Music class was also a joy to see; though a little crazy. I am not one for constant chattering or disorganization, but it seems to work with Mrs. Beasley. When given the clarinets, the students immediately starting blowing through them and making noise. However, Mrs. Beasley said nothing and continued with her directions.

I think that it is a great idea that Mrs. William had her students try out for reading parts. However, I started noticing some friendship-bias. For example, friends voted for other friends despite how well they read (accuracy, expression and rate). I understand that Mrs. William was implementing a form of democracy, however, there comes a point when she should have made the final decision based on who she thought would best represent the class in front of a large audience.

Having a unique schedule at The Learning Academy was a novel experience and I cannot wait to see what the last few weeks here has in store for me! Mrs. William truly made my week and I am going to gloat all of the days to come.  

Case Study Observations

I first began making note of Hannah during the science quiz in Mrs. Spencer’s room during the first quarter of the day. Hannah raised her hand for all of the questions (five in total) that Mrs. Spencer orally asked the entire class. Hannah was called upon to define the term “thermal energy.” Hannah gave an example of what thermal energy was, and Mrs. Spencer accepted the response. Thus, Hannah was given a starburst. When Mrs. Spencer had the students read various paragraphs from the text, I noticed that Hannah underlined the vocabulary terms, definitions, and key details. For instance, Mrs. Spencer often said, “You might want to remember this for your quiz,” and Hannah immediately underlined the upcoming sentence(s). During the quiz, Hannah raised her hand and I went over to assist her. She asked, “Can you read the directions to me,” and “What do the directions mean?” I read the directions and explained the next set of questions in detail without giving her the answers. I would often show her the correct page/paragraph the answer could be found in. I asked Mrs. Spencer if she typicallyh as to help Hannah with directions on assignments and she said, "Yes. I accomodate to Hannah's needs." Hannah finished her quiz in roughly fifteen minutes, and when she finished she drew a picture of flowers on the back of her paper.

During music class, Hannah was placed in the center of the first row. She would often look my way and smile; so, I gave her a thumbs up and smiled every time she did so. Hannah followed Mrs. Beasley’s directions and did not blow into her clarinet or talk at the inappropriate times. Whenever Mrs. Beasley spoke and gave directions, Hannah’s eyes diverted straight to her.

Hannah never raised her hand to try-out for the speaking parts. Instead, she colored in her adult coloring book (an assignment that is encouraged by Mrs. William during downtime because, according to Mrs. William, “it helps them improve their fine motor skills, thus, improve their handwriting”).

I never had the chance to work with Hannah one-on-one with the assignment I had planned to do the following week as well. I will have to ensure that I do the case study intervention the following week as the time for my presentation is quickly approaching.

Case Study Reflection

The day was so much different at The Learning Academy that there was little to no time for me to work with Hannah individually. I have no missed two weeks of crucial data collecting. Next week will need to be a catch up time where I collect multiple data points on the same skill area: blends. The planned assignment from last week will still hold (blending together the oral components of a one-syllable word), but now, I will need to add another oral assignment (adding another blend type- cl and bl- for Hannah to blend). I need to audiotape Hannah that way she and I can both listen to oral mistakes made. It is known that Hannah has oral language difficulties and I think that allowing her to listen to her mistakes can help her improve on skills- perhaps she does not know she is making the mistakes.

Hannah’s oral language difficulties became apparent during her science quiz. Hannah would ask for repeated directions or a rewording of the directions. I would read the directions and then restate the directions in terms that Hannah could best understand. Having Mrs. Spencer accommodate to Hannah’s needs brings about a wondering- does Hannah have an IEP or 504 plan that requires a teacher to restate directions because Hannah has difficulty with oral language? I will need to make note to ask Mrs. William about this next week.

I loved watching Hannah during music class because I have only ever seen her in the academic learning environment. Music class is a great way for students to come out of their shells and present themselves in ways that they may be unable to in the classroom. Hannah had a deep focus on what she did- putting methodical thoughts into everything. She paid close attention to directions and kept her eyes on the music. Just about every student talked and played on their instruments, but not Hannah. Perhaps it was because she sat right in front of the teacher or maybe it is because Mrs. Beasley stated one time to not talk to play and those directions stuck with Hannah.

Hannah is an excellent student and I cannot wait to see her improvement throughout the rest of the semester. However, I am a little concerned that she may have forgotten the skills previously learned (i.e. diagraphs). A peer mentioned that if Hannah actually learned the skill then she has not forgotten it- what a great point! Time will tell.