Observation In Middle School

Catalina was observed during the afternoon in her fifth grade classroom. At the start of the observation, the class, along with Catalina, entered the room. Catalina walked up to the observer and said, “are you the substitute for Ms. Taylor?” She then took a seat at her desk that was arranged in a group with approximately three other classmates. Mrs. Carter, Catalina’s fifth grade teacher, asked the students to get out their snacks as she began a math review. Catalina pulled out a snack out of her desk and showed it to a student seated in front her before she ate it. While Mrs. Carter read math answers to the class, Catalina appeared to check her answers, as she wrote on her math sheet. When Mrs. Carter asked the students if they had any questions,

Carter asked the class to pull out their math workbooks. Catalina followed her teacher’s direction and wrote in her workbook. When a student was called upon to read a math word problem, Catalina followed along in her book while the student read. As Mrs. Carter solved a math word problem on the board and asked a question to the class, Catalina raised her hand to answer the question. She provided the correct answer and received praise from Ms. Carter. As Mrs. Carter continued to solve the math problem on the board, the students in the class took notes, while Catalina stared at the board. After a few seconds, a teacher’s aide walked up to Catalina and showed her where to write in her workbook. Catalina wrote in her notebook as the teacher’s aide assisted Catalina with the word problem. At one point, Catalina looked at the work of a student seated next to her. She then leaned over and corrected the student’s answer while she said, “no, it belongs over here.” Mrs. Carter then asked the students to work in pairs to solve a math problem on the whiteboards. Catalina solved the math problem with the help of her partner. After a couple of minutes, the teacher’s aide checked on her progress. When Mrs. Carter introduced a new math problem, Catalina played with her pencil and looked at her nails before her focus returned to the math problem. Throughout the lesson, Catalina correctly answered questions collaboratively with her