Classroom Observations

The responsibilities of a school principal are many, especially in a Catholic School where we are in charge of everything that takes place in our schools including the budget, contracts, purchasing, payroll, development, hiring, parish council, accreditation, communication, parent liaison, safety coordinator, student advocate, student disciplinarian, curriculum specialist, counselor....  You get the idea.

One of my favorite responsibilities is classroom observation. While observing classes, I get to see the lessons taking place live, students working, teachers perfecting their craft, technology being used as a learning tool, student collaboration, and lots of good things you would expect in a learning environment. I also get to see the frustration from lack of understanding by teachers and students, students not succeeding from a lack of motivation, technology malfunctioning, learning differences which prevent students from keeping up with their classmates, and anger that tends to get the best of us when we spend 9-10 hours a day with the same group of people getting on your last nerve.

Education is beautiful but it is not always a bed of roses. I get to see this when I'm in the classroom. I get to see the human side of education. I also get to see a lot of compassion, love, hard work, the "Ah Ha" moments (which is extremely fulfilling), brilliance, friendships, and lots of smiles.

In this week's blog, I'm going to share with you what I see during some of my classroom observations.

I walk into Mrs. Morgan's PK4 class and I see Mrs. Morgan at the SMART Board working one-on-one with students teaching them how to write the letters of the alphabet. Mrs. Sexton is working with several students on reading using the iPad. Not only do I see these two wonderful teachers working with the students, it is also computer time so Mrs. Slattery is also in the classroom working with the PK4 students on the iPads as well. The students not working with the three teachers are working with a partner on centers. Not sure if I have ever seen a PK4 class this organized and running this smoothly before. It was quite a sight to see. As the principal of St. Ann, the best thing for me to do was observe, learn, and stay out of the way. Don't mess with perfection.

In Ms. Williams 4th grade class, I observe the students in one of the computer labs during Language Arts. Students are working on easyCBM, ReadWorks, RQ, IXL, and LIFE during this class period. While all this was taking place, Ms. Williams was constantly moving about the lab working with students one-on-one, answering questions, and working to motivate students to do their best. She was making sure the students are working at or above their reading level. We are constantly working to take the students up a notch. We spend a lot of time on Language Arts because reading is the academic skill that's hardest to improve, yet is the single most important academic skill we all need. Throughout the class, the learners were actively engaging in the learning process. I enjoy Ms. Williams class mainly because she individualizes so much of her lessons for the students. It is as if she develops lesson plans for each of her students. Developing one lesson plan for the entire class takes a lot of time. Her lesson planning is incredible.

In Mrs. Slattery's 6th grade computer class, the students created a Social Studies continent trivia game using PowerPoint. Isabella and Lacy worked on one with questions on flowers, capitals, and flags of the world. If you answer the question correctly, you continue moving forward. If not, you will have to try again until you successfully answer the question. Megan and Monserrat created a PowerPoint trivia game on Antarctica. The students who finished creating their trivia game were working on computer coding. Never a dull moment in Mrs. Slattery's class.

When I entered Mrs. Harty's 1st grade classroom, the students were listening to a Christmas story. This was followed up with a science test on weather. I took the test as well. I was happy to have finally passed a science test. That didn't happen very often when I was a student. It is pretty neat watching the minds of 1st graders at work. The intensity on their faces shows that they were truly concentrating on the test. For the teacher, the hard part was making sure all the students were on the same question. Remember, they are 1st graders. They need to follow along as the teacher reads the test to them. They took the test at the end of the day and there was no lack of concentration on their part. The students were super-focused on the test. Some of the 1st graders are so smart that it is scary. Mrs. Harty definitely has the patience of Job. I enjoyed being a part of this class.

Going into Ms. Ghio's Innovation Lab, I quickly see that she incorporated Religion and Geography into the lesson. The class tracked the journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Jerusalem. The learners use Google Earth on the iPad to do research on Israel. The students described the climate of Israel and the weather patterns in December and January. They also needed to figure out what landforms Joseph and Mary had to travel through. The main question the students needed to answer was: "If you were Joseph's apprentice, what could you design and build to help make their journey easier? Consider the terrain, weather, and cost." Students worked in small groups answering all the questions. This lesson is actually going to take several class periods to accomplish. Ms. Ghio and Ms. Williams were working together to figure our times Ms. Ghio could take smaller groups of 4th graders to complete the project. Our teachers work so well together.

I go from Ms. Ghio's class to Mrs. Miller's 3rd grade classroom to see students doing a wide variety of activities. Two of the students were working with Mrs. Miller on ReadWorks incorporating Reading and Science. Some of the students were working on Math concepts. The students are allowed to move on to a new topic or do review work. Several of the students were doing independent fiction and non-fiction reading. Other students were working on cursive writing or spelling words. Wish I could clone Mrs. Miller so that all schools could have at least one of her. Awesome!

Then, it was off to Mr. Kissell's 6th grade Language Arts class. The students took their vocabulary writing quiz and then moved to reading a story on ReadWorks. I got the opportunity to see the students work on answering ten ReadWorks questions (7 multiple choice and 3 short answer questions). The ReadWorks story is an eight part series of fictional work. While the students worked on the reading and quiz, Mr. Kissell sees their answers in real time. So, the students having difficulties are able to receive individual instructions from Mr. Kissell. The students are also able to revise the quiz if they did not do well. A big part of ReadWorks is for the students to use text evidence to support their answers. I love it that ReadWorks works on real time. Mr. Kissell is able to move about the classroom with his iPad and monitor student work, and students have the opportunity to ask questions as he moves about the classroom. ReadWorks also allows the students to monitor their own progress.

Next is Mr. Cooper's music class with the Kindergartners. This should be interesting as they are learning about sounds. There is so much curiosity and energy packed into their little bodies that makes it hard for them to control themselves especially in music class. Best just to give them an energy release and music class is that energy release. If you turn on music in a kindergarten classroom, there will be a lot of dancing and jumping around that kind of looks like dancing. Maybe we should combine Music with Physical Education. When Mr. Cooper asked the learners about the different sounds, I didn't notice all the different sounds until I heard their answers. Time to check my hearing.

Just an FYI: Kindergarten teachers have earned their place in heaven. They don't even have to worry about purgatory because they have a get out of purgatory free card. I believe the same should be true of elementary and middle school principals. Just sayin'.

The day would not be complete without a visit to 2nd grade with Mrs. Odum. She took full advantage of her new speakers by playing Christmas music while her students learned about Math by surveying classmates. Students used pencils or crayons to make the survey tally marks before making the final count. The students moved from math survey to centers. Some of the students started using iPads with headphones to work on IXL, while others worked on the handwriting skills by practicing upper and lower case Uu and Yy. The final group worked on Lyrics to Learn. Through the generosity of one of the 2nd grader's grandparents, the 2nd graders have a subscription to Lyrics to Learn until the end of the school year. If this programs helps improve the 2nd graders' reading comprehension, maybe we can get it for Kindergarten through 5th grade next year.

This should give you a brief look at one day at St. Ann Catholic School. The school spelling bee was about to start. It is time for me to get out of the classrooms and leave the teachers alone. It has been a great day with me doing one of my favorite things as an educator and that is working with my teachers to help them become the best teachers they can be. We at St. Ann are fortunate to have the teachers we have who make teaching at St. Ann Catholic School a part of their life's mission. We have many master teachers and many more who are working to become master teachers.

If you are looking for a great school for your child(ren), I know where you can find just the right place. There are lots of great things taking place at St. Ann Catholic School. Come by for a visit. I believe you will like what you see. After thirty years in education, I love what I see.

God bless you and Merry Christmas,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School