Shadow Day

In February of this year, I had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Meyer’s classroom. Mrs. Meyer’s teaches 7th grade ELA. I observed two inclusion classes and a partial PreAP class.

Mrs. Meyer’s welcomed me into her classroom with open arms. She was very transparent with me regarding her classroom setting. She was flexible and willing to allow me to see any element of workshop that I needed. The fact that she was willing to change her lesson to meet my needs demonstrated the type of teacher she is.

Her classroom is amazing! She has flexible seating, an incredible library, and student centered environment. I looked at her bookshelves for quite some time searching for new book ideas.

There is a strong sense of classroom community in her room. It is obvious that her students respect her. She has established a positive relationship with her students. She knew exactly what they needed and worked to meet those needs.

As for workshop, I was able to see the process from start to finish. I was so excited that we were working on the same skill in writer’s workshop. I was able to gain a few new ideas to bring back and utilize in my own personal classroom. Another thing that made the shadow day so meaningful.

There were several take-aways I had from Mrs. Meyer’s classroom. 

• Classroom management and routines are imperative! Workshop doesn’t work without clear routines/procedures. The first twenty days of workshop procedures resonated with me at this time. 
• Students needed to be sent back to their work spaces with a clear purpose. This purpose should be an extension of the mini-lesson taught in class. Students were given a clear purpose, a time frame to work within, and expectations of the evidence of the work.
• Small groups are possible! I’ve been struggling to determine how to set up small groups to work with me. I saw first hand how students are often able to sort themselves into that particular group. She worked with the group that needed her most. If she saw students off task, she invited them to the group to work with her. This was my biggest take away! I was able to create a “help desk” in my own personal classroom. The first week of implementation, students were crowded around it begging to work with me. I felt like I was working on a level that was able to meet my student’s needs.
• Workshop looks different in everyone’s classroom. The structure of workshop is the same: mini-lessons, purposeful independent practice, and conferencing. This shadow day gave me the confidence to implement workshop into my classroom.