Renee Boucher Observation

For this assignment I had the opportunity to observe Renee Boucher's resource room class at Sunset High School in Beaverton. This observation was interesting and different from previous observations I have done, for this was my first time observing a high school classroom. From my understanding the students in the room were in grades 9-12. When I arrived Ms.Boucher was giving announcements for the week. Then three students did a book talk. Students are required to read a book of their choosing, and then come up to the front of the class to talk about their book. One student talked about the book Paper Towns by John Green, another student talked about the book The Martians. Finally, the last student talked about a book that tells the story …show more content…
It is an individual project that student have been working on for quite some time. Each student picked a topic and created a book about it including a summary of the topic, pictures, a poem they've written about it, etc. Each student had a folder to put their materials for the project. On the front of each folder was a to do list of everything they are required to complete for the project. Ms. Boucher collected the folders at the end of class and held on to them until the next class. I thought this was a great idea on her part, for sometimes students forget their materials at home and are not able to work on their assignments in class. However, by holding on to the materials she ensured that each student would have something to work on during class. Furthermore, providing a to do list kept the students on task. During the time we were in the library the majority of students were actively working on their assignments. Ms. Boucher made rounds around the library to check in with each student individually about their …show more content…
Boucher I learned that she is double certified in English and special education. Many of the student who were in the resource room I observed have been with Ms. Boucher for 2-3 years. I also got the opportunity to talk the librarian/IT person at Sunset. Currently Sunset High School is implementing a Sunset reads program. In order to promote reading throughout the school, each homeroom classroom teacher is going to receive a crate of books and students are going to be required to read for the first 10-15 minutes of homeroom. That way they are reading outside of their English classes. When I was there they were sorting through books that Multnomah County libraries have donated to the program. The hashtag #sunsetreads was hung up throughout the entire school. Outside of teachers classrooms hangs a sign that says what book they are currently reading. In addition, I learned that the district is experimenting with a new program for their English Second Language students. This program allows material to be read to them, and if students speak into a microphone it will even write out the words that they are saying. Students in the resource room have also been able to use this