Field Experience Record

Stephanie Swedlund

Course Number & Name

HDFS 150 Early Experience

Semester Taken

Hours

Descriptions
I completed field experience for this class at the Brookings Activities Center, where I helped prepare meals for elderly people and interacted with them as well. I also organized and led an over-the-phone evaluation where we called all of the members of the Activity Center and got their opinion on the center and what they liked and what needed improvement. During my field experience at Hillcrest Elementary in Brookings, SD, I would mainly help kindergarten aged students who had not completed their daily assignments. Sometimes I would help a student individually but mainly I would help a group of three or four students at a time. I would occasionally conduct activities for the students to complete while Ms. Daniels would be working on other tasks, however the students would complete their activities is groups of five or six.

Fall 2009

30 hours

EPSY 302 Educational Psychology ECE 150 Early Experience EDFN 475 Human Relations ECE 228 Guidance with Young Children

Spring 2011

14.5 hours

Spring 2011 Fall 2011 16 hours My field experience at Camelot Intermediate School in Brookings, SD consists of helping out in Mrs. Stahl's 5th grade science class. I mainly help a small group who has a little difficulty focusing on their work. Sometimes I take the group to a study room to do homework, study, and read them their tests. I also help them with classroom activities. My field experience in the Pugsley Preschool in Brookings, SD consists of helping the student teachers get their classroom activities prepared, interacting with the children, and clean up at the end of the day. I also help out in a small group where the student teacher is doing an investigation on the students. In my small group, the student teacher is conducting activities that involve the students' interest in light. A classmate and I were paired up with an individual who was supported through ECCO in Madison, SD. Our goal was to help teach the supported person to develop more independent living skills, which we chose cooking. Every week we planned an activity that dealt with cooking and then we would try and create a new snack every week. We had to determine what her biggest motivator was and used that to help us go through the lesson plan and stay on track. Some of the objectives we came up with were making sure to wash your prior to beginning to cook and to clean up. In the beginning she needed direct instruction to tell her to wash her hands and clean up, by the end of our field experience she knew on her own that the first thing that needed to be done was to wash her hands. Throughout the semester, I was assigned to four 4 th grade students who were at the lower level of reading. I had to do an initial assessment on their reading fluency, comprehension, and word recognition abilities. Then, throughout my time with them we did a variety of reading strategies that were to help improve their specific area of needs. We read a different story each week and did activities before, during, and after the reading. At the end I had to do a final assessment to determine if they improved, stayed the same, or decreased in their reading abilities. I would go into one of the first grade classrooms at Medary Elementary School in Brookings, SD and conduct a wide variety of reading strategies to about eleven students. Every week we would do a new strategy and read a different book. Some of the strategies we did were pictures walks, KWL charts, and readers theaters. Once a week for about 8 weeks, three of my classmates and I went to a 3rd grade classroom in Madison, SD, for about an hour each time. During our time in the classroom we conducted a variety of activities that involved the students in engaging in language arts. I went over the case file and observed a student at the Mickelson Middle School in Brookings, SD who had behavior issues. I mainly observed him in his math class, which was located in the resource room, and his social studies class, which was located in the general education room. I also collected data that helped me come up with a Behavior Intervention Plan for him in the end. Twice a week, throughout the semester we would all meet with the HeadStart students at the Armory building in Madison, SD. We all took turns coming up with lesson plans and different physical education activities for the students to engage in. There were about 20 three-year-olds and four-year-olds, and we would split them up into four groups and then

Fall 2011

40 hours

SPED 413 Serving Students with Severe Disabilities

Fall 2012

10 hours

ELED 459 Literacy Assessment/Rem ediation ELED 450 Reading Methods ELED 440 Language Arts Methods SPED 410 Behavior Management of Exceptional Children PE 360 Physical Education Methods

Fall 2012

10 hours

Fall 2012

10 hours 8 hours

Fall 2012

Spring 2013

12-15 hours

Spring 2013

15 hours

SPED 454 Guided Reading SPED 442 Serving Students with Learning Disabilities ELED 320 Science Methods ELED 360 Social Science Methods Level III Experience

Fall 2013

20 hours

Fall 2013

10 hours

Fall 2013

3 hours

Fall 2013

1 hour

rotate them from each activity during our time with them. Throughout the semester, I worked in the 4th 8th grade class at the Spring Lake Hutterite Colony in Oldham, SD. I specifically worked with the 5th and 6th graders in working on their fluency when reading aloud. Every week I would provide the students with a readers theater script, in which they would practice and within a few days perform to an audience. For a few weeks during the middle of the semester, I would observe a student with a learning disability at the Madison Middle School. After observing the student in a variety of settings and reviewing his file, I created a lesson plan that targeted his specific area of need, and implemented the lesson. I planned and taught a three-day unit of study on symbiosis to the entire 4 th 8th grade class at the Spring Lake Hutterite Colony. The students completed a variety of activities such as dissecting mystery objects, completing word sorts, and listening to a picture book being read aloud and filling in the blanks on a worksheet. I also had the students complete a preand post-assessment to calculate their growth in knowledge. I taught one lesson that integrated a social studies concept to the 4 th grade students at the Spring Lake Hutterite Colony. For the last two weeks of the fall semester, I went to the Spring Lakes Hutterite Colony in Oldham, SD for the entire school day to observe what it is like for a teacher working all day with the students. During my time there, I taught a variety of lessons to all of the different grades in the 4th 8th grade class. My cooperating teacher had me lead an entire day of teaching a few times as well, to give me that experience. As part of my student teaching experience, I was placed in the 5th grade science and technology classroom at the Camelot Intermediate School in Brookings, SD. I worked with two cooperating teachers during this placement and would spend my mornings teaching science and language arts and I would spend my afternoons teaching technology. My responsibilities included creating a 10-day unit in the science class for the entire 5th grade body of students to complete, teaching three classes of science in the mornings, teaching language arts to one of my homeroom classrooms in the morning, and teaching two classes of technology in the afternoon. I was also responsible for completing the morning routine of lunch count, attendance, and escorting the students to their special class. I also completed recess duty Mondays and Fridays, and was responsible for assessing, grading, and recording the results for all of the classes I taught. I was also given the opportunity to sit in one IEP meeting and to sit in a variety of conferences for at-risk students held by all of the teachers on the team I worked with. As the second portion of my student teaching experience, I was placed in the Social Skills room in the Camelot Intermediate School in Brookings, SD. This room is for students who struggle with controlling their behavioral impulses. There were five students who spent the majority of their school day in this classroom, with at least four adults available in the room or area at any given time. My responsibilities included working one-on-one with a few of the students throughout the day, and encouraging them to complete their work. I also was in charge of coming up with a Following Directions unit on character counts for two of the students to complete. Students had to complete a variety of activities that were often multi-step directions, in order to successfully complete their job. Most all of the students in the room had a daily schedule of jobs for them to complete, and for every three jobs they completed, they earned a break. A break may include: coloring, playing with a puzzle, watching a video on the computer, drawing, or reading. In this placement, I learned that patience is very important for working with students with behavioral issues. I also learned that it is important to be able to recognize when students are reaching their limits and about to break down. I am currently completing my field experiences in this placement. I teach a variety of ages, ranging from 8th grade students to seniors in high school. My responsibilities include teaching Algebra 1, 8th Grade English, Pre-Algebra, Senior English, Sophmore English, and Geometry. I have also been given the opportunity to do IEP testing, writing IEPs, and conducting IEP meetings.

Fall 2013

53 hours

ELED 488 Student Teaching General Education

Spring 2014

273 hours

SPED 488 Student Teaching Elementary Special Education

Spring 2014

226 hours

SPED 488 Student Teaching High School Special Education

Spring 2014