October 22nd, 2015 Jen Observation (S.A.

) #6
This lesson was designed to check the progress of my students and their
chosen multiplication skill set (times tables), and moreover have a discussion about
stress before, during and after tests. Tests are something that my students will have
to continue to face through their academic career, as is stress. So I created a safe
and open space for them to analyze how they feel and, if they feel comfortable,
share their reflections on their experience with the class. This is a practice in
resilience for them. We began with fifteen minutes of practice time, before I
introduced the idea of the test and the related journal prompt I was asking them to
complete afterwards.
My wishes for this lesson are relatively minimal. I was able to create a
productive and active work period, but although the noise was from engaged
students it was still quite loud. I would like to try this again with a quieter
atmosphere, controlled through music. This weekend I will be compiling a playlist of
quieter or calmer music that the kids will stay quiet to listen to. I would also like to
make T___

my first and foremost priority during these active work periods,

although the rest of the class was excited and engaged by the idea of having
choice, T

floundered. I need to get to him immediately to talk with him about his

choices and get him started. It may even be more productive to give him a narrower
set of choices or a specific instruction.
Overall though, I feel very proud of the way this lesson went. I was able to
preface the activity appropriately in a way that presented a safe and open space for
my class to have this experience, and reflect both individually and as a group. I was
able to maintain the level of quiet in the room during the testing and journaling
period, even as students began to finish their journaling and began other extension

activities, so that every student was respectfully given the classroom atmosphere
needed to be able to complete their quiz and journal reflection. During the
journaling I was also able to reach my certain students who needed more
assistance, T___, B______, Y____ and G_____, in a timely manner and differentiate as
planned. I also presented the latter half of the lesson, the opportunity to take a test
and reflect on the experience, it in such a way that raised the level of concern just
enough to have my students engaged but not overtly anxious about this activity.
After reading my students journals I can tell that this was a lesson that they took
very seriously and that they maturely considered this opportunity for socialemotional learning. The success of this lesson shows me that the work I have been
doing to create a connected community of learners is positively affecting my
learners and my classroom as a whole.