The Last Day

Yesterday was my last day of observing with my cooperating teacher. I was sad to say goodbye to all of the students I helped throughout the past ten weeks. I had an extremely good experience in my field placement. My cooperating teacher was very welcoming. She taught me a lot about teaching in general and teaching a special education class. I learned many techniques that will help me in the future with my own students.

Books are great resources for teachers to use, but they could have never prepared me for teaching as much as the field experience did. Although, I have a lot more to learn, I am more prepared to be a teacher then I was ten weeks ago.

Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to become a teacher. However, I changed my mind numerous times about what I wanted to teach. I was not sure if I wanted to teach mathematics in a high school setting or every subject to the elementary students. Through my experience, I realized that teaching is the right profession for me. Also, I love working with the elementary students. Therefore, I am going to pursue a dual-license in Early Childhood Education and Intervention Specialist.

Ultimately, I hope to teach intervention mathematics. I want the opportunity to work with elementary students and enhance their mathematics skills. Basic mathematic facts are very important. Unfortunately, students who have problems learning their basic facts get farther and farther behind in mathematics. They grow to hate mathematics and usually struggle with it for the rest of their years in school. Therefore, I want to be the teacher who gets the students back on track and enjoying mathematics.

Overall, I had a very good experience and learned a lot of useful techniques for the classroom. I cannot wait to start my next observation experience!

Testing

In the class that I am observing, tests are very different than what I am used to. In kindergarten, first, and second grade, there is not a big difference between worksheets done in class, homework, and the actual tests. I like that the worksheets, homework, and tests are all virtually the same. I do not believe it is fair for a child to work diligently in class and get everything correct, but not know what to do on the test because it has a different layout.

Since the students are all doing different activities, the classroom is not quiet when a single child is taking a test. I find this very distracting. I think that it takes the students longer to complete the test because of all of the distractions in the room. I think it is especially important that tests are taken in a quiet environment when the students have learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities struggle with school without the added stress of a loud testing area.

Also, it seems like the students do not care when they get a bad grade as much as I did as a young student. For instance, the students have spelling tests every Friday. The students work with the list of spelling words that they will be tested on all week. They write the words multiple times and write sentences using the words. However, they do not study the words at home. Therefore, when it comes time to take the test, they forget the words. Most of the students get a D or F on all of the spelling tests, but they never try harder the next week. For me, I cried if there was anything lower then a B written on the top of my tests.

I believe that it is very important for students to be tested. However, I do not believe that a student’s progress in the class should be dependent on one day. Students have bad days and bad days can really affect how well a student does on a test.

I study for tests and know all of the material before tests are administered. However, I get test anxiety and forget everything when the test is in front of me. I get very stressed out about the whole situation because I can study for hours and know everything, but since I do not know the information at the exact moment when the test is in front of me, I earn a bad grade. I know that many children suffer from the same anxiety as I do.

I honestly do not like written tests at all. I think written tests add unnecessary stress to a child’s life. Tests should show what a child knows, but not make a child nervous. Therefore, someday, I hope to come up with an efficient way to test my students without the use of paper and a pencil. I want to create a testing method that is nonthreatening to the children and shows how they have progressed.

Leveled Literacy Intervention

The teacher that I am observing uses a reading program called Leveled Literacy Intervention. This program is used by all of the Intervention and Title teachers at the school. Leveled Literacy Intervention is a small group, supplementary intervention designed for children who find reading and writing difficult. The goal of the intervention is to bring children up to grade level achievement. Leveled Literacy Intervention is based on the Fountas and Pinnell gradient of text difficulty. (The Fountas and Pinnell leveling system consists of 26 point on a gradient of reading difficulty. Each point on that gradient, from the easiest at Level A to the most challenging at Level Z, represents a small but significant increase in difficulty over the previous level.) Each level of text makes increasing demands on the reader, but the change is gradual.

Each system is a different color. In each system, there are Levels A through C and Lessons 1 through 70. All of the books have the system color on the back. The amount of words in the book and the level of the book are indicated on the color of the system. Since the teacher usually uses the same system, thus color, for all of her students, the children cannot tell the difference between the books. I believe that this is very important for students. Students who struggle with reading get discouraged when they are reading books that are in a lower level then their peers.

The teacher that I am observing really likes Leveled Literacy Intervention. She says that the students are making huge improvements in their reading and writing skills. The books are interesting for the students too. Leveled Literacy Intervention uses topics that are interesting to the age group. One of the books in the program is Goldie and the Three Bears, which is similar to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but it is at a level that the students can read.

Students in the School

There is not a diverse racial student body at the school that I am observing. The school is made up of mostly Caucasian students and Caucasian teachers. I observed the second grade play and noticed that out of the 60 children, only two of them were African American. On the other hand, the socioeconomic make up of the school is diverse. There are families in the lower class, middle class, and upper class.

There are four special education teachers in the building. One of the special education teachers instructs all of the kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders with Individualized Education Programs. On the other hand, in the older grades, there is a special education teacher for each grade. Therefore, one special education teacher cares for the third graders, another special education teacher cares for the forth graders, and the final special education teacher cares for the fifth graders.

In my opinion, the school dress code is very easy to follow. There are only three basic rules for dress:

1. The students are not allowed to wear flip-flops.

2. The students are not allowed to wear spaghetti strap shirts.

3. If a student wears shorts or a shirt, it must be fingertip length.

There are not usually any dress code violations with the kindergarteners, first graders, or second graders.

The student’s language outside of the classroom usually consists of what they did over the weekend, what cool toy they got, and what they are going to do during recess. The kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders use the same language in and out of class. However, forth and fifth graders are at the age where they start to use different words when they are away from their parents and teachers.

There are numerous extra-curricular activities available for the students. The state is concerned that students with an IEP are not given the same extra-curricular opportunities. However, teachers and administrators are required to inform the students with IEPs of activities going on in the building or community. I had the opportunity to watch play practice. It was very cute and it incorporated all of the students, even students with IEPs, in the second grade. Students went up to the microphone to say their part or give an introduction to the next song. I was shocked that the elementary students were offered so many opportunities for interaction and socialization. When I was a child, the activities I was involved in were not affiliated with the school.

I like the student recognition program that the school has. Every month, the entire student body has an assembly to recognize outstanding students. There are four awards that the students can earn. They include Behavior, Academics, Attitude, and Reading. One student from each class is chosen for the Behavior, Academics, and Attitude awards and is recognized in front of the school. The Reading award is given to any student who passes three consecutive books at 80% comprehension level. Last month, 130 students school wide earned the Reading award.

The School Environment

The environment at the school that I am observing at is very friendly and welcoming.

To get into the school, you have to press a call button, which goes to the main office. In the main office, the secretary unlocks the door to allow you to enter. A camera is set up to enable her to see whom she is letting into the building.

The lunchroom and gymnasium are right next to the main entrance. I have never seen this in any other school that I have ever been in. I believe this layout creates a few problems. First, the main entrance and office are very noisy due to the location of the lunchroom and gymnasium. Also, it is very easy for the students to run out of either of these locations and into the parking lot, which can be very dangerous. In my elementary school, the only doors in the lunchroom or gymnasium that led to the outside went to the fenced-in playground. Other then the location of the lunchroom and gymnasium, I believe the physical arrangement of the building is properly designed.

I observe in an elementary school and there are students’ artwork, poems, and activities hanging everywhere, on walls, on bulletin boards, and in showcases. As soon as you walk into the building, you can tell you are in an elementary school that is student-centered.

The building is clean and well maintained.

At first it did not seem like there were adequate restrooms for the students because there are only three girl’s toilets and three boy’s toilets for each hallway. However, the teachers take their students to the restroom at different times during the day, so there is usually only one class at the restrooms at a time. The students wait their turn for the restroom, get a drink, and get in line to go back to class.

In my opinion, the hallways are never quiet, but they are never rowdy either. There is always a student, teacher, or entire class walking in the hallway to the restroom, the their classroom, or to another activity such as gym, music, or art. In the hallway, the teachers and students are very friendly. They say “Hello” to anyone who passes them. On my first day, I felt very welcomed when I passed four teachers and they all greeted me.

I was fortunate to be placed in such a good school. The teachers, staff, students, and environment have made my teaching experience interesting and enjoyable.