Field Observation #1
October 6, 2004
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Reflective Essay

On October 6, 2004, I visited Mrs. Atherton’s 3rd grade general music class at Storer Elementary.  The biggest surprise to me was the students’ behavior.  From the moment they entered the classroom, they seemed to know exactly what was expected of them.  They only needed a couple of individual reminders to be quiet throughout the class, and they all got up and got their books in an orderly fashion.  It was quite apparent that Mrs. Atherton made sure to lay down classroom expectations and rules during the first few class meetings so that things would be in order for a successful year.  She also was positive about everything, yet was not afraid to correct a student if necessary – both regarding content and behavior.  Because she had established a rapport and respect with them, her comments were always effective.

Mrs. Atherton utilized a couple different teaching strategies during the half-hour class.  The kids sang, danced, and learned by rote.  She dictated to them vocal warm-ups utilizing solfege syllables and hand signs before they sang the song from the book.  Before they sang, she led a brief classroom discussion about the meaning of the lyrics of the song.  This aided a tie-in to culture outside of just strictly music.  Then, she demonstrated the song from memory for the kids to have an example.   The students then sang from the book.  Finally, she taught them a dance to go with the song, and even involved me and my fellow observer, Pete Walker.

During my observation, I witnessed a great example of how a teacher can be friendly with the students, even talk with them, briefly, on their level, yet still maintain their respect by making these occurrences brief and rare.  When she gave directions, they were clear directions – not vague suggestions or requests.  Her wait time was appropriate, as well – I never timed it, per se, but it just felt right, including a time or two when no one had an answer.  When it was apparent that no one would come up with an answer, she re-asked the question, giving part of the answer.  Finally, she gave credit to partially-right answers, but made sure to also ask for the rest of the answer from someone else.

My last interesting observation was, at the end of class, while she was reviewing what they had learned, she referenced “Standard 1e” and “Standard 5” by name to the kids.  This implied to me that they had been taught about the MENC standards.  I thought this was above and beyond, and terrific.  All in all, she was impressive.  Mrs. Atherton had an obvious handle on the (fairly simple) material, and commanded the students’ respect.  They, in turn, seemed to enjoy her class.

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