Ben Reiner

ED 204

Reflection #1
10/12/15
Entering Rush-Henrietta high school I had no idea what to expect,
coming from a small rural school in the middle of nowhere entering one of
the biggest schools in Rochester frightened me a bit. I wasnt sure what to
expect from the students or what to expect the schools conduct to be like,
however once I entered the school my nerves were immediately calmed.
Entering and only seeing a small part of the school everything seemed
organized and well supervised. The principal was there to greet both us and
the students entering the building late, she also seemed to know each
students name which was incredibly surprising to me as it is such a large
school. Once school policies were explained during our meeting with the
principal I began to see how this school operated on a large scale. It had a
tremendous amount of interdepartmental cooperation as well as
administration input. The schools work on testing was an interesting notion
in that I had never heard of administering the same exam throughout the
school, I do however think that it is something that makes the department
stronger and more regulated as it eliminates the notion of teachers being
easier than others. The analysis that also goes along with the testing I
found incredibly helpful and interesting, the early and frequent re-teaching of
students on material that they didnt comprehend is incredibly helpful and
then leads to a high level of comprehension within the school. Once going
into the classroom I saw many things that we have been talked about and
things that the school district discussed, such as posting objectives within
the classroom and things in the lesson plans to explain how things work and
what possible questions the students may ask. The teachers and the
department often used each other in order to improve their lessons, they
offer each other advice on what students may ask and what the students had
trouble with in years prior.
The program I found most interesting within RH was the push-in policy
that the teachers had. This was where if there were students that needed
extra attention within the class another teacher would push into the class so
that either the original teacher starts working with the students that need
extra help and the co-teacher works with the rest of the class or vice versa.
This I think allows for a more adaptive environment for the teachers and
students, because I believe most of the stigma is gone with students that
need extra help because in this scenario it removes the aide from the
classroom where I believe most of the stigma comes from. This also allows

an opportunity for feedback between colleagues on how the class is run and
adjustments that may need to be made throughout the school year as the
curriculum and the students progress throughout the course. The other
interesting thing that RH does is they since common core has taken over
they have specific teachers developing curriculum for the course. It allows
them to better create assignments and to determine what the best course of
action is for the students and for the teachers of the course. Overall I really
like Rush-Henrietta and believe that it will make a positive impact on my
teaching career and experience. I am excited to learn what I can do to help
improve myself and how to better interact with students.

Practicum Reflection 2
When we were sent to rooms for our second week at Rush-Henrietta I
was determined to have a more interactive experience with the students in
the classroom, luckily for me I was in two separate classrooms that were
doing activities that were contusive to that. With being more interactive
within the classroom I was nervous about my content knowledge as I havent
taken high school math in 3 years now. So the first thing I did once going into
my first class was to observe what the lesson was and what material was
being taught and how it was being taught, because of the new common core
standards in Algebra 2/Trigonometry (A2T) the way I may have learned the
material they were teaching a different way so I didnt want to stray from the
standards. Once the teacher was done presenting the lesson students broke
off into group work, at this point in time the co-teacher came in I observed
the teacher and what students he primarily was working with. This was so I
could let that teacher work with the specific students that may have had
special needs. After I became more comfortable with the classroom setting
and the way the teacher was working. I began to become more interactive
within the classroom, this included helping people with problems as well as
walking around and just seeing how the students were doing in general. I
believe I was a successful as what I would describe as an aide. The class was
run quite smoothly and the teacher seemed to have a good report with the
students as she joked around with them. Meanwhile as that is the kind of
teacher I want to be it was hard to be myself in the classroom, because I
dont know the students well and have no prior experience with them. I think
though that would change in a classroom that I spend a larger amount of
time with, however given with what I did have I believe I did well.

So after that first class ended I went to a different A2T class, in this
class I was there for the full block. This then was a different environment the
first class was a more controlled setting this one was a bit wilder. The
students in this class were more disrespectful and since the class is a bit
later in the morning the students were more awake, so therefore the teacher
needed to be a bit stricter and a bit harsher. I think that the student
arrangement in the class however was not contusive to how they behaved in
the classroom. The students desks were in groups of 4 and they were
allowed to sit with who they wanted, this then I believe promoted talking
between friends and the students that were talking were the students that
probably needed the most help understanding the lesson. So during the
lesson I would walk around the class and work with students individually as
the teacher was working so that I was able to not disturb the lesson. Then
once the student went to work in groups I was able to walk around the room
and work on a one on one basis with them, I think I did really well with these
students as Ive been in the same class for two weeks now. Of the next
coming weeks I hope to work on leading the classroom and I feel that this
will actually help me without knowing the students. So that I can become
more comfortable with the students even when I dont know them. While the
teacher may have been harsh for my liking to the students maybe thats
what it takes for that class to pay attention, I would prefer to have the
students respect me without me having to be too harsh to them. That I guess
is my biggest question when entering the teaching field is how to gain the
respect of students I feel like it comes with experience but I am someone
who wants it right away. Hopefully by observing more teachers I can find
someone who is well respected and figure out how they did gained that
respect.
Practicum Reflection 3
10/25/15
Diversity is something within that is important regardless of where you
teach, and although you may teach in a school with little to no ethnic
diversity that doesnt mean that there isnt diversity in the classroom.
Theres socioeconomic and diversity within the students abilities and
cognition levels, these are the diverse things I have noticed most of all in my
time at RH. While some ethnic diversity has been in the classrooms I have
observed so far I have not seen it effect the classroom enough to warrant
any significant actions be taken. Yet people seem to think mostly that is the
primary kind of diversity found within most classroom.

With socioeconomic diversity in the classroom technology is something

that often suffers because students are sometimes unable to provide the
materials that help them succeed in the classroom. Especially in math this is
where the school comes into play and the teachers as well, the teachers in
the school use the calculators quite a bit in class and since students may not
be able to afford them the teachers help provide. They do this mainly
through the library and rental calculators, this allows for the students to gain
all the materials they need. Also with the chromebooks that the school uses
improves the technology and spreads it throughout the school so no child is
left behind. The teachers did not let the diversity in the class effect how they
taught, instead they just made sure that they were on par with the other
students in terms of materials. This includes things just as basic as pens and
pencils, I saw in each of the classrooms I was in materials available and
frequently offered to students. Teachers also were very consciences with
what they said and examples that they made, no assumptions were made
and everything seemed very well thought out.
I think the biggest form of diversity that I noticed was the diversity in
abilities within the classroom, in an A2T class these students can range from
9th graders thanks to RHs double accelerated program to 12th graders who
have already failed the course once. This means that teachers have to deal
with quite a lot of different skills within the classroom and from this the
curriculum needs to be carefully developed, this then showed changed what
teachers did during both instruction and during practice time. One thing I
noticed is that the teachers position during group work is that the students
who were struggling in the class were all grouped together on one side of the
room, this then allowed the teacher to position themselves at one side of the
room. However they did not ignore the students that were gifted within the
class, instead she challenged them within the class by giving them more
difficult content to work on if they get the concepts in that class. Even in the
AP Stats class I sat in on this week multiple skill levels were in the class, then
the students were given the opportunity to help teach the others in the class
in order to challenge them. The students who struggled in the AP class got
help from both the other students and the teacher however they needed to
be more independent within the classroom and with their work as it is an
applied class. I think diversity is something that we all need to work on in the
classroom but often I think the kinds of diversity that we often deal with is
not the kind we predict.
Practicum 4 Response
11/1/15

As our time at Rush Henrietta has ended a lot of realizations were

made, many of them were positive and some a bit eye opening. I think it was
very positive experience and one that will have a lasting impact on my
teaching career. As this was the first time that the school has done this with
RH I think somethings that may be beneficial for the program to progress in
the future. For starters I think that perhaps maybe a better course of action
is attempting just to introduce us to everyone in the department it may
relieve some of the awkwardness that we had while going into classes. That
was something that I noticed with attempting to enter different classrooms
on a weekly basis, was either you needed to know another student in the
class or you had to make an uncomfortable entrance into the class. Also
working on communication between the teachers and us could perhaps be
more helpful so that either we can get materials for the class online or at
least know what were covering in class that upcoming day. This would be for
more personal reasons I think, what I ideally wouldve have liked for to
happen was my responsibilities to progress from week to week. As in the first
week I would observe and possibly just help out a little in the practice part of
the lesson, second week perhaps I could have attempted to teach part of the
lesson and in the final week at the placement I would be able to teach and
lead the whole class. This would obviously be at the comfort of the teacher
and the type of class it was.
Things that I learned throughout this experience are things that I had
really never thought about. The most important thing I found is that I may
have to change my teaching style and demeanor depending on the type of
class I had. The teacher that I observed for three of the four weeks I saw in
two different classes and it seemed like I saw two different teachers. In one
class the students were very well behaved and I believe most of them were
part of the accelerated math program. The teacher was much more relaxed
and was able to joke with the students and lead an effective class.
Meanwhile once the other class entered the teacher lost all sort of the joking
manner that she had in the other class, she instead got a stern look on her
face and became more hostile in the class. So then I began to evaluate what
I would be like in a class like that and how it may change my teaching style.
Since I have the tendency to be the type of teacher who likes to have fun
and have a good personal relationship with my students, so what I think is
that I would need to have two separate personalities in my teaching. One
would be my fun loving side which I would love to use all the time, the
second would be a serious side in which Im more critical and less of a fun
personality. Ultimately I think that it would be something I would need to
develop with experience, it would be nice though to attempt to figure them
out before so that I could go in knowing what it would be one less thing to
worry about.

Overall I think that it was a really nice experience especially because it

got me into a new environment that I hadnt experienced yet. I also became
more cognizant of what common core curriculum looks like and how schools
have been adapting to new things that the state keeps throwing at them. Im
excited to go to Mt. Morris and hope to perhaps get to observe not only a
math class but a music class as well.

11/15/2015
Reflection #5
The first week at Mt. Morris was something that I was very surprised
with the district and the general population of the school in general. The first
thing that struck me was when the principal came in and addressed us, she
began telling us about the school and the issues that were in the school. The
most striking issue to me was the behavioral issues in the school, the fact
that they are considered a city placement is something that I could not
believe when she was initially said this. However once we began to observe
and interact with the students I could plainly see why this was considered a
city school placement. The principal also stated the support system both
within the school itself and the system that most of the students have at
home differ greatly. The support system that the administration and the
teachers have set up was one like I have never seen before, they were so
appreciative and accepting of one another it was amazing to watch. The
students however had very poor support systems and were in situations that
were not contusive to learning.
The first class I sat in on was an art class which contained a contained
special education class. This was very interesting to watch because that is
something that Ive never seen at a high school level, the teacher was very
supportive of the students and honestly showed little to no differentiation to
the treatment of the students in the special education class. She also allowed
the students to use technology in the classroom which I think helped the
students be more comfortable within the classroom and made the whole
experience for the students more enjoyable. I had some interactions with the
students and I think I had a positive interaction with them, I attempted to
ensure the students that they were doing good work in the class and
engaging the students in discussions about their work and studies.
The second class that I worked in was an Algebra 2/Trig class, since the
class was so small the teacher was able to interact with the students on a

personal level. This class was very well behaved and the teacher was able to
be more of a relaxed classroom environment. In this class my interaction
with the students were uninhibited and many of the things that the principal
said I didnt see in that class, so I thought that perhaps she was exaggerating
in order to make sure that if anything happened we wouldnt be surprised
and shocked. Then the third class came in it was an algebra 1 class, the
teacher prefaced this class by telling me that there were 18 students in the
class 12 had IEPs and 8 were ESL students one of which just moved to the
district 2 weeks ago and did not understand any English. This brought out a
different side of the teacher and everything that the principal said made
complete sense. There was a moment in the class where the phone rang and
the teacher needed to answer it so it was just me and the aide in the
classroom, as the conversation progressed the students became more and
more rowdy so I started working on the next problem with them on the
board. It was a teaching moment that will stick with me for a while as I tried
to incorporate all of the students in the class even the students that were the
most troublesome in the class. I think it was a moment that made me realize
that I really wanted to be a teacher was when the students got the question
correct and then thanks to the discussion we had were able to explain why
their answers were correct and could basically reteach the lesson. Which I
believe shows comprehension in the subject. I look forward to working with
this class in the future and helping them improve.
Practicum Reflection #6
11/21
The two schools that we have experienced have been incredibly
different, Rush Henrietta being more of a suburban environment with a
diverse student population. Then Mt. Morris being a rural school with a
population that was initially surprising Latino population. Both schools have
provided an environment that I was not used to, I think initially there was
shell shock to both for me but I think that the experiences will better me in
the future. This week I was provided an opportunity to sit in on a band
rehearsal something that was intriguing to me in theory because being in a
school environment where they mostly need to deal with students issues
rather than focusing on academics. So being in a band class where its not a
core subject I was interested to see how the teacher would handle the
students and their behavior in a larger classroom setting.
The band rehearsal started with students getting their instruments out
and the teacher greeting them at the door. After everyone was mostly set up
he began by discussing policies that had been something that other teachers

had brought up. He talked about procedures in the band class and was rather
threatening showing that he was a no nonsense teacher, he purposely used
quite a bit of his instructional time to do this. I think this was really
interesting and something that really needed to be done in this subject. Once
this discussion was done the band began playing, while technically they were
not great the teacher did the best he could. The teacher then while some of
the students were not paying attention and doing other work the teacher
would call them out individually, not necessarily a big thing just calling out
the students name. I think this was fairly effective for the size of the class
and the number of adults in the classroom.
The second and third class I went to were both math classes and there
was different environment in this class that I was in RH, since the classes
were a much smaller size the teacher was much easier for a personal one on
one environment in the classroom. Since the students had a test in the
coming days it was review day, this meant that I was able to work with the
students one on one and help them better understand concepts. The
teacher specifically created guidelines and procedures to follow so that it
was easy to manage. The second math class had more students who needed
help and were a bit rowdy. The teacher then was much more stringent on
noise level. One of the most interesting pieces of this class was the student
who spoke almost no English, we used one of the students who spoke
Spanish to help with his learning. I think this was also incredibly helpful to
the student who had translate because not only did she need to comprehend
what the lesson was but then she had to put it in her own words. Overall I
think the experience at Mt. Morris had been helpful and a place that I know I
can still learn from.

Ben Reiner
12/5/2015
This semester I have spent more time within a classroom than I have
ever had before. I found this semester reaffirming that I want to be a teacher
I saw different schools and broadened my horizons as I came from a school
district that was fairly small and not diverse. So the students that I
encountered were much different than those I had ever dealt with before. I
also now see more diverse populations not just in an ethnic sense but in a
general sense of the word. With many different students and backgrounds I

saw many different tactics used throughout classrooms with multiple

disciplines. One of the major things that I wanted to figure out with
classroom experience was figuring out how to run the classroom and what I
felt was most effective to deal with both general classrooms and problem
students. Also just general ideas in practice like classroom layout and
technology incorporation in the classroom and to what extent it is used in
two very different districts.
The two teachers I worked with the most had two very different styles
of controlling a classroom that had severe behavioral issues. One was
controlling the class and managing students by sheer force and fear almost.
There was a clear division of power within the classroom and the students
didnt seem to enjoy the class for that reason. The other teacher provided
more of a unified classroom where the students and her were a unit together.
Instead of using anger she just then became disappointed in the students
which seemed to be more of a motivation for the students to behave and
cooperate in a more appropriate manner. This report with the students allows
them to gain the trust of the students and also allows them to have a
personal connection with them. One of the other major differences within the
classroom was the physical layout in the classroom. Both of the teachers
decided against a traditional desk setting and went with a form of grouping
one teacher went with groups of four facing inward. While this was very
helpful when it came to group work and discussion the actual lecture
suffered greatly because students were not all forward towards to the board
or the teacher at most times. This did not help the behavior issues in the
classroom it also did not help the students maintain focus. The other teacher
used an approach that was a two three two set up, so there were two
students on either side and three in the middle in desks. This allowed group
work to be easily accessible and the teacher to be able to monitor and
observe the classroom quite easily. Technology is something I believe that
couldve been used better in both classrooms I visited. In Mt. Morris the
teacher had a smartboard in the classroom and it was used fairly well.
However with both schools couldve used something that would help with
assessment and really utilizing students knowledge.
Both of these teachers have taught me quite a deal about the
classroom and how the theoretical side and the application of teaching
greatly differ, and no matter how much training you go through there will
always be situations that you are not ready for and that you just need to
adapt to. Also that just because things that Ive seen work before may not
work on other classes. Overall though I think that if I follow my instincts and
just treat the students like real people and realize that there are going to be

outside factors that students will bring into your classroom. These are things
that you need to both overcome and adapt to.
School Fitting
Between the two schools we visited there were major differences in
most of the major areas including size of school, population of students, and
average level of income. While both schools were both very different from
where I came from in a general sense Mt. Morris was closer to the size that I
came from. They also had so much worse of a population and much worse
behavior than I had ever experienced. This while I believe is something that I
can easily adapt to if I tried, however for me I want it to be about the content
and my relationships with my students. So I would prefer to not have to
concern myself with student behavioral issues on a regular basis. While I
preferred the size of Mt. Morris in terms of student and class size, however
the staff organization at Rush Henrietta I found fantastic. While meeting with
the principal she was describing the teaching system I felt like she was just
exaggerating about the school and that it was something that ideally worked
but in practice did not. When I entered the classroom and asked the teacher
how they were dealing with the common core standards being changed
drastically in the course she was teaching she told me the exact system that
the principal had told us. This I think is a situation and an environment is
something that is good for a young teacher. Coming from a small school
district I thoroughly enjoyed knowing all of the students very personally and
being able to truly be able to be a part of the community. This is something
that I want to happen in my future school. With that I think it would be a big
transformation for me to go to a school the size of RH and to have that many
students in the school and not having a personal relationship with all of
them, however with a school the size of Mt. Morris having that personal
relationship is something that is very feasible within the school district.
Overall I think that I would work best at a school like Rush Henrietta.
Even though the size is something that Im not used to it be would be
something that I could easily adapt to and work with overall. The district and
the students were both big selling points, even though one of the classes
that I observed the students had poor behavior I believe that it was due to
the classroom management. The students were diverse and seemed to have
a genuine interest in the classroom. I also think that the support staff within
the school is also something that is very helpful, especially to a new teacher.
Using technology is something that I feel I could offer to this school. The
push-in method is also something that the school uses I feel that is very
useful and helpful to the school and its students, having someone who can
evaluate my teaching and how students are doing is very helpful. The other

thing I like is immediate feedback on assessments and the comparisons that

can be made to other classes of the same level. I always prefer comparisons
to other classes so that I can observe what Im doing and remedy things that
need help. However if another position were to open in a more rural setting I
think that would be more of an at home setting for me.

Final Reflection
This semester I was exposed to a lot of different experiences and
environments that I had not experienced. These have helped shape me and
figure out what extremes of a classroom could look like. The most extreme
case of classroom management and school was at the Rochester Prep
School, seeing what I felt like was the furthest thing away from the way I
want to run my classroom. It truly opened my eyes to not only what a very
strict class structure does to the students but to the whole school
environment. When I picture a healthy schooling experience I picture the
social aspect being a large part of the school. This however had been almost
removed from the district and made me question the success rate that the
school had and how well adapted the students are to college life. It does
make me question though what cues I would have in my classroom, while
they felt a little too command like and very forced I believe that they would
actually be very beneficial as little to no time would then be needed to
explain the instructions but a simple phrase could be used.
In terms of student interaction and engagement in a classroom, seeing
many different grade levels and courses being taught I saw varying levels of
each. With younger kids I find that engagement and interaction is both much
easier and at a much higher level than at and older grade level. The biggest
example of this was in York when I observed a 6th grade math class from a
master teacher. The students were engaged and quite active throughout the
lesson, this was reflected in the tests that they had gotten back that day, the
scores were quite high and the students were able to look back on mistakes
that they had made realize what they had done and most of all were
invested in how they were doing. This is the kind of level I would like my
students to be at in my school. Though this is only usually found in an

advanced high school classroom, however it is one of my goals to achieve a

high level of participation and engagement in the classroom. The thing I
found that was the biggest difference in teachers with a high level of
engagement was the energy level of the teachers and how they maintained
their students. I personally think that this is one of strong suits in teaching is
my ability to not only keep attention on myself to be observant enough to
know when things are not working and think on my feet. With a bit of fine
tuning within the classroom and experience with a multitude of students I
think that I could be a very effective teacher.
One thing I know that I need to work on is organization within the
classroom, and creating a procedure that would be effective not only for the
students but for me as a teacher. The classes I saw had very loose
procedures that were followed, mostly it just followed a general lesson plan
guide with teaching guided practice and then finally practice. What I would
like to do in the classroom is to create almost a guide for everyday like the
teachers had in elementary and middle school where everything had a set
limit of time and everything would be very predictable. This may be a bit
unrealistic within a classroom and especially in a class that may only last
about 40 minutes, however it is something I would like to experiment with.
Overall this semester I found very informative and helpful in molding me as a
future teacher. I cant wait to implement what Ive learned into a classroom.