observation

After a few emails and some gracious teachers and principal, I was able to do an observation at Jayen's school today. We went to the office as soon as we got there to get my official visitors badge then headed for the kindergarten gate as always. I kept telling Jayen that I was going to go with him today but I wasn't taking him home, he could stay. But as soon as the gates opened and kids were walking through, he pushed me away and said bye mom. I reminded him that I was coming to watch. He didn't like the idea so I stayed back a few minutes then walked through the gate. Jayen played independently but near his peers. He played on the jungle gym for a little bit then switched to the swings. Mrs. Mullins, his teacher, noticed he was swinging on his stomach instead of his bottom and convinced him to sit instead. She then asked Jayen if he needed a push. She invited another boy over and he pushed Jayen on the swings. The smile on his face and twinkle in his eye was so amazing! I was so thankful for this interaction!
After a few more minutes the bell rang and all of the children stopped playing, picked up their backpacks, and lined up behind their respective teachers. Jayen didn't miss a beat and kept right up with his peers. This is what I strive for! This is what I hope all of his day is like! This is my dream for him!
As they headed into their classroom the kids were greeted with a handshake, high five, or hug. I smiled and cried a little as this reminded me of one of the greatest teacher I know, Mrs. Renee Loftus. She did this same thing with her second graders when I taught with her. Only the greatest know how to reach their students!!!! After his high five, Jayen was told to head to Mrs. Lake's classroom. I was a little disappointed he didn't go into the classroom and drop off his backpack like the rest of the students. I was only their to observe though, so I took mental note and went on!
In Mrs. Lake's classroom Jayen hung up his backpack then sat down to do his morning worksheet. Mrs. Lake had just finished working with two other students and was able to teach one on one with Jayen. I was so happy with the attention she gave him. I feel this is what is going to help him learn the concepts. After the worksheet Jayen was supposed to get a book and sit back at his desk. I love that books are available to him, but I felt like this was wasted time. Jayen did not orient the book nor open it the entire time he was sitting there. The room was a very distracting place; the phone was ringing, kids were out of their seats, one child was physically upset and loudly displaying vocalisms, children were running out of the room.
At 8:40 the one on one para for Jayen finally arrived and a little while later the rest of the students arrived, a bus was late. Mrs. Lake turned the projector on and put on silly movement songs for the kids to get their sillies out and start their day. The other students were settled and Mrs. Lake was ready to start her reading lesson. She used the projector and displayed a worksheet on the board. Each child was given a set of 5 cards with a vowel printed on it. The worksheet had a picture above with letters below. The first one was a picture of what looked like a spider with the letters b_ g underneath. The children were supposed to hold up the vowel that corresponded with the sound that would complete the word. Although the room was extremely distracting, Jayen was able to follow along with maximum redirection. After the whole group lesson, the students were to grab workboxes and work independently while Mrs. Lake called them up one by one to assess their understanding of the concept taught. I really liked this! This is when data is taken! This is when you get to see teaching happen! I was really impressed, until... Jayen completed one workbox then was called up for his assessment. After his assessment he was allowed to grab more workboxes or a book. Once again he chose a book and sat without opening it. I really feel like this would be an amazing time for him to go back into the classroom. I would love to have her assess Jayen first then send him back to his general education classroom. I also felt like this would have been such a great opportunity for the para to write in Jayen's communication notebook. But not once did the notebook come out of his backpack and even worse, not once did the IPad come out either. His communication device did not go with him ANYWHERE.
After an incredibly long time of sitting idependently, it was time to transition back to the general education classroom. Jayen went to the bathroom before leaving the room but was not assisted or check on to remind him to wash his hands or flush the toilet. We are also keeping track of his outputs so without checking on him I'm not sure how they are writing down that he had went pee at 9:50. After he was finished in the bathroom we headed to the general education classroom and Jayen quickly joined his peers.
After walking in Jayen saw the kids were being dismissed to the rug and joined them. Mrs. Mullins was trying to introduce the kids to some new games that she was hoping to bring into rotations. Jayen sat quietly during the instructions and once was even recognized as a peer model. After instructions, the kids were dismissed back to their tables by table color. Jayen recognized when his table was called and got up off the rug and sat down in his chair at his respective table. He was able to participate with his table peers and completed an alphabet matching puzzle; some pieces independently.
When the kiddos finished their games, it was time for clean-up and dismissal for lunch. Jayen appropriately cleaned up and listened for the directions to be dismissed for the lunch line. I was able to follow him to the lunch room then shortly after was told bye numerous times. I politely accepted his request and left to pick up Brilyn from school. I had a great visit in the morning and was excited to come back to see the afternoon resource time.

I was invited to watch the resource teacher working with a few first graders. She currently doesn't have a pull out group for kindergarten. Mrs. Hodge was a very polite and introduced herself immediately. She gave me a place to sit and told me that her paraprofessional went to get the kiddos and would be back soon. The para works with the first graders under her supervision. The para did an appropriate job with the students. After they left I was able to sneak a couple more minutes with Mrs. Hodge and learned that she is currently the long term substitute and would only be there until December. Her husband has some health issues and she can't commit to any more time than that. Well ... I guess I learned that I don't feel this would be the best solution for Jayen. I'm glad I was able to observe and see exactly what this option looked like.

Overall it was an extremely helpful visit. I would really love to come back and see the afternoon since I didn't get to see a lot of the core learning. I hope they will allow me another visit.