Journal Question #4

This entry answers #4 of the Reading Methods Journal

What types of instructional materials are being used by the teacher and/or the students?

As far as instructional materials go, Mrs. Overstreet clung pretty tightly to the curriculum provided at the school. I am not sure if this was by choice or by force, but based on the surrounding teachers, I would assume that the school pushes the curriculum pretty forcefully. The Math curriculum comes out of a booklet filled with worksheets. Every night the children’s math homework includes a worksheet. Word sorts are used for spelling and grammar, but I did not see a spelling or grammar workbook. Having used both throughout elementary, I am grateful that I did not see them.

One thing that I am thankful that Mrs. Overstreet did was to exploit the smart board constantly. Rather than shoving worksheets in front of her children, she worked all of the in-class worksheets as a group. She modeled for them how to do each and every problem so that they could complete their homework with ease. They worked together, discussed, and problem solved as a group. Though I have strong feelings about worksheets (mostly negative), I realize that most schools require their students to complete them and Mrs. Overstreet did a phenomenal job guiding her students through the process.

Over my fall break, I went to Mrs. Overstreet’s class to observe her reading portion of the day. Directly after lunch the children read “just right books” (on-level books) quietly for 45 minutes or so, during which time Mrs. Overstreet does guided reading with her struggling readers. Mrs. Overstreet then has a writing lesson with the students that she creates using a Lucy Calkins book called The Art of teaching Writing. Mrs. Overstreet told me that she uses that book more than any other resource in her class. The kids “make inferences” about the text, keep track of their “mental movies”, and recognize their roles as readers as they venture through the writing process in the writing journals that they keep.

The science lesson that I observed was thrown together last minute by a neighboring 3rd grade teacher, but Mrs. Overstreet explained that the science lessons are always hands on. I really didn’t get a good understanding of how the science curriculum worked, but I didn’t ask too many questions because it was late in the day and the kids and teachers were ready to go!