Dynamics In Mrs. Akins Classroom

In my observations of the teaching practices utilized by Mrs. Akins in her first grade classroom. I have noticed that she uses a variety of instructional strategies. She divides the class into two groups; seven students in the higher reading group and five students in the lower reading group. The paraprofessional works with the students in the higher reading group and Mrs. Akins works with the students in the lower reading group. When the students in the higher reading group completes their assignment they play games that relates to reading. The students in the lower reading group rarely finish their assignment early. Mrs. Akins uses lots of diagrams to help the students with their reading and vocabulary. She has diagrams of the different sounds each letter make. She often points to the diagrams and ask the students to tell her the sound. According to Lemlech (2006) “products are differentiated by providing choices for students to demonstrate learning. (Pg.35) Mrs. Akins provides different choices for the lower reading group by allowing them to use diagrams.
Mrs. Akins use many different resources. She uses worksheets, the CRCT Coach book and she also uses letter cards with the slower reading group. The worksheets Mrs. Akins use includes a story and at the end of the story the students have to answer questions about the story and they also have to explain certain things that happened in the story. The CRCT Coach book covers main concepts that is actually on the CRCT state test, it provide practice test for the students, it provide the teacher with the means for evaluating the student’s progress in learning the standards and it help the students approach reading and writing skills confidently and creatively. According to Lemlech (2006) “the environment for learning can be differentiated by providing different resources and tools for students to use and by modifying learning centers and workstations.” (Page 35) Mrs. Akins differentiate the learning environment b providing different resources for the students to help them in certain subject areas.