Who are your learners?

I had an excellent time at my first observation which took place Monday morning. My learners are a grade 3 class. This classroom is located in my hometown in a school I attended myself, although at the time it was only a middle years school. One of the first differences I noticed is how diverse the students were! There was quite a few students who were of visible minorities, had different learning needs, and even behavioral and cognitive differences within the classroom. The inclusivity was great to see, as from my own experiences my classmates were almost always white and able bodied. Because it was a Monday, I got to see how the children interacted in their morning routines after a weekend. They seemed to have their routine memorised pretty well already, but it was lovely to see some children helping others who may not have remembered the next step. For example, I noticed one girl whispered to her desk partner to get out their agenda’s after they sat down at their desks, as the teacher had already written the agenda items on the board for students to copy, something they were expected to do without much prompting. A few kids were also eager to help others put away their coats and backpacks. 

One of the students in the room is intellectually differently abled, and the rest of the students were helpful and supportive when it came to his learning. One of the first activities they did was an estimation, in which they observe a number of objects in a jar and write down how many objects they think are inside. The students let this boy have extra time observing the jar and encouraged his estimation. This experience was different from my own, as when I attended school children who were differently abled were placed in a different classroom and program, something I don’t think is beneficial to any child. 

The classroom space was great. Very bright and open and everything was accessible for all children. The word wall was beneficial when the students had free write time, as I saw many of them referencing the words that were listed there. I don’t have the best memory of my classroom spaces as a child but I imagine they were pretty similar as nothing jumped out at me that was particularly different, aside from the Treaty 4 flag acknowledging that we are on Treaty 4 land. Overall I really enjoyed my first observation and am looking forward to returning!