Classroom Observation:

For my classroom observational task, I spent an entire school day at a Middle school in West
Seneca, NY. I spent my time with 8th grade students throughout their day. One reason in
particular that I spent the entire day observing was that I got to see students across subjects and
not only for thirty minutes. I think its important to be able to see students through different
perspectives and over time rather than in one class. The way the school formats their special
education regimen is best described as a least restrictive environment. Students who are
identified as being students with disabilities (in this case academic) are mainstreamed along with
their peers and have a push-in special education teacher who co-teaches with the general
education teachers. During seventh period (eight in total), there is a self-contained class for the
students who have disabilities and they are all together in a room with the special education
teacher for remediation of materials or extra teaching. There are twelve students that Ms.
Wagner*** is responsible for throughout the day. Her students are all students with disabilities
who have identified as academically challenged, as opposed to physical, and represent a wide
array of disabilities with students having IEPs as well as 504 Plans. Some of these disabilities
include: tourettes syndrone, ADHD, autism, vision loss, allergies, hyperotic astigmatism, ODD,
anxiety, alternating estropia, cerebal palsy, deficit of attention skills, CAPD, and finally, tics. As
noted, students represent a wide variety of disabilities all contributing to academic
disadvantages.
When students are in their general education classes, they represent approximately half of the
population of the class (12/12). I say approximately because I followed them throughout the day
and sometimes the number of mainstream students changed. There were always twelve students
that Ms. Wagner*** was responsible for in those classes, though. Although she was responsible

for those students legally, it was a co-teaching situation in each of the classes. At West Seneca,
they call their Special Education teachers (Consultant Teachers) and do not make apparent that
the Consultant Teachers are Special Education teachers; this is to minimize attention directed at
these students for being students with disabilities. In the classes that Ms. Wagner*** pushes into,
she is a teacher, just like the general education teacher. They really did a great job working
together.
I think this model of teaching as well as the inclusion model of instruction is ideal for studentcentered practices. When students are mainstreamed, they are expected, to the best of their
abilities to monitor their own learning, and transition into independent students. In a selfcontained situation, students are more dependent on their CT for pushing them through their
learning, but with inclusion, students have to take a more active role in their learning, building
autonomy. Ms. Wagner*** does not necessarily believe in this though. She prefers more of an
inclusive setting for teaching. She has been a part of both models and thinks that she was better
able to reach her students potentials when she was working in an inclusive setting with them.
One of the lessons I observed was an English class in which students were identifying
themes present in a short story they had previously read. Instead of the teacher lecturing the
students about what a theme is and what they were in the story (teacher-centered learning), the
students were asked to through the reading and find their own themes. Students were previously
taught and modeled how to identify and frame themes, and this was their time to do independent
practice. Students worked in groups and together they had to come up with two possible themes
of the story. This was also a key highlight of the lesson; students were able to use grouping
strategies that best fit their interests. Students had to make their own choices about how they
learned best, and were able to decide whether they wanted to work alone, with a partner, or in

groups of three or four. After the students were given fifteen minutes to complete the activity, the
class came together as a whole and students were encouraged to share their responses. I really
appreciated how both teachers were really open about responses. She allowed students to take
their own meaning from the text and share it.
Some students in the classroom dont like sharing and this leads me to talk about an occurrence
that really stuck out to me. There is a student with a learning disability who has an extreme
extreme performance anxiety. Recently, I was her substitute teacher as well and had to witness
her breakdown before a test. She was a part of this English class, and was feeling really
unconfident. Ms. Wagner***, seeing how I was interacting with the students all day, encouraged
me to walk around the classroom and be a part of the interactions and sharing of themes. I ended
up working with their group, who was really uncomfortable to share. I learned a valuable lesson
on how to handle situations like this. In order to boost this students confidence and take her
mind off of her learned-helplessness, I asked her to share her example with me. Very
unconfidently, she gave me her answer. I asked her to show me/tell me how she got this answer
and some reasons from the text why she might have come up with this. In going through the text
with her and helping show her that she was completely right and there was text-evidence as
proof, she became confident in her abilities for the task and even shared out-loud! I was really
proud of the difference that I made for her in that class as well as the teachers for providing
various opportunities and methods for students to share their answers to provide for all learners.
Later that afternoon in the inclusion class, I was able to see more of Ms. Wagner***s
way of teaching compared to her model of co-teaching. She develops great relationships with her
students and it is visible in their interactions. To be blunt about this observation, she doesnt take
anything from them. She knows her students so well that she is able to confront each of their

problems or needs with what they need to hear. She is able to work around their interests and
needs to be able to provide the necessary amount of positive and negative reinforcement. For
example: In reviewing what they had done in English, the same student was feeling really
unconfident in her answer, even though she knew it was approved. Ms. Wagner*** is aware of
her debilitating performance fears and got the whole class talking about how she could do it, and
she did! She builds on their reinforcers and makes them take their learning autonomously. At the
same time, she is very knowledgeable about the negative behaviors in the classroom. In one
instance, a student asked to go to the bathroom and she was prepared to give that student
feedback on their behavior. She noted the exact time that he goes to the bathroom during her
class each day and identified that he likes to get out of doing his work during remediation. In
fact, this student had not yet completed his tasks and does this nearly every day. After doing the
right thing and completing his work, she allowed him to go to the bathroom. Although this isnt a
reward for students, teachers know that students want to leave the class and get out of doing
work, and a lot of them go to the bathroom to text. Ms. Wagner*** really knows her students,
and knows how to build on their interests for positive reinforcers. She also really enjoys teaching
and building relationships with her students, and you can find her every morning, bringing in
things for her students, whether its a birthday cake for one of the students, or a cool new game
she will buy for them. She really does care for her students, which makes the environment full of
mutual respect.
During this class period, if students were still confused about the material they had done
in English, she was better able to instruct them based on their needs and teach them in a modified
way. Her classroom is also decorated with material from each academic subject they are a part
of, and it is a very accommodating class to be in. There is in fact one student who previously one

of her students and eats lunch with her every day, just because she benefitted from Ms.
Wagner***s instruction. I really look up to Ms. Wagner*** as a role model and as the kind of
teacher I want to be.
One personal take-away from this observation is the value of knowing your students. The
more that you know your students, their strengths and weaknesses, their interests, fears, learning
preferences, the more you can build an educational program that helps them succeed the best.
Ms. Wagner*** improves students scores each year by tremendous amounts, and its the effort
and knowledge she puts into knowing and caring about her students. Never have I ever thought
that teaching was less than a full-time job. I know that teaching doesnt leave you when you walk
out of the doors at the end of the school day, it is hard work. It is much more rewarding when
you understand your students and push them to be the best they can and watch them succeed at
it. It was really inspirational. I really valued this experience! I dont think I would necessarily
change anything about their instructional methods. I really liked the system that they used in the
school I do have to contemplate my feelings about the inclusion/self-contained classes though. I
really value the opinions of the teacher I observed and I think I would have to look more in depth
to figure out what strategy and model of teaching serves a better purpose for the students
identified. Maybe I would have more than one period of a self-contained class, just to be sure
that students are getting the right modifications/accommodations for their learning. Its not that
the general education teacher doesnt know their students; its just that I believe the teacher with
them all day long and across subjects might know them better, this may be one thing I would
have to look into my opinions about.
*** Names changed to protect privacy