Classroom Observation: Practicum/Field Experience Reflection

When doing my observation hours for this class I went to a local elementary school in Frederick County where I live. The elementary school is called Waverly Elementary and while there I observed the ELL teacher Mrs. Megan Taylor. In Mrs. Taylor’s class there were 4 students each day that I observed. While there I noticed a lot of SEI strategies and accommodations that were used. From the time that I walked into the classroom I noticed some SEI strategies that were being used. When Mr. Taylor started teaching her lesson she always reviewed what they had learned the day before. Once they were done reviewing from the day before it led into what they were going to be doing for that day. As she taught her lesson she always referred back to what was already taught to the students. There were also many accommodations that were used in the lessons that I observed. One thing that I noticed was that if they were having trouble saying it in English she would say the word in Spanish. When this was done the students better understood what word was trying to be said. One thing that they did was use note cards to learn the words for the lesson. They had English note cards and Spanish ones; they then had to match each word with the different language note card. Another accommodation that I saw was while they were reading. They would read the book together in English and then if they were unsure of a word they would write the Spanish word for it in the book. After completing this class there are a few things that I would want to do in order to make sure that students and their families felt valued. One thing would be to have a meeting in the beginning of the school year with all of the families and let them know the expectations for the year are. I would also do a fun activity in the beginning of