Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Fieldwork Observations
Fall 2017
Dr. Dotson
Educ. 401
Reflection #1 - Reflect on your first day in the placement. What did you do? How did
you integrate yourself into the classroom? Where is the school located? What is the
composition of the student body and staff (gender, race, SES)? What was your first
impression of the school?
My first day at Glade Spring Middle School in 7th grade was a success. I was
very nervous walking in and did not know what to expect, however, I relaxed after
meeting all the kids and introducing myself to them. After observing the first class, I
immediately knew that this age was going to be very fun but very challenging. On
my first day, they were learning about pronouns and also reading part of a story.
Each class was very talkative, but my teacher was really great at letting them talk
but knowing how to control the noise. They were all very well behaved and usually
calmed down and listened when my mentor teacher requested. I mostly observed
on the first day and introduced myself to each class. I also tried to start memorizing
The school is located right off the exit in Glade Spring, VA. It is a very rural
area but is a very nice, large school building. There are three main hallways and
each grade. In this school, a lot of the children live below the poverty line and after
speaking with my teacher I was shocked at how many of the students come from
tough situations. On my first day observing, the class was sharing a journal entry
and discussing things that they struggled with. One student raised his hand and
stated that he and his family had not had water for a week. This student was not
asking for sympathy but just stated this as a fact and went on about his day. While I
have been exposed to poverty and am aware that I am very blessed, I was shocked at
how open this student was about his situation. In that moment, I realized that this
job is so much more than teaching, but is about being an advocate for the kids who
At the end of the day, I was very excited about starting my practicum at Glade
Spring Middle School and could not wait to teach and get to know the kids in each
class.
Reflection #2 - Reflect on the kinds of assessments (formal and informal) you see used in
your classroom. How do these assessments inform curriculum and instruction?
In the classroom I was in, assessments were varied and my teacher always had
discrete ways of assessing her students. Often times, assessments were taken through
Teenbiz 3000. This online reading website gave a reading test before students could read
the articles and gave my teacher a score of what reading level each student was on based
on the test. After the students took the test, the website would adjust to fit the reading
level of the student. The students really enjoyed picking out nonfiction articles and
reading about things that interested them. After reading the articles, students were
expected to take the reading comprehension quiz on the article. This quiz gave my
teacher a way to assess reading comprehension among students and gave her an idea of
Some other ways that my mentor teacher assessed her students was through
informal assessments such as daily assignments and journal entries. Through theses
activities, my teacher was able to see where each student needed help and could read
comprehension tests after reading a story. Grammar quizzes were also given every two
weeks and focused on a certain grammar rule that had been taught that week.
Overall, formal and informal assessments were given daily and were essential to
the curriculum. While formal assessments were given less frequent, informal assessment
occurred multiple times in each class period. These assessments allowed my mentor
teacher to always be aware of where each student stood academically, and gave her a
when planning each lesson. In the classroom I was in this semester, my teacher was
always very good at connecting student experience to the lesson she was going to teach.
To activate prior knowledge, a teacher first has to know the audience and what is
relevant to students. For the 7th grade classroom I was in, this meant talking about the
interests of students or anything that had to do with their experience. After she had
students make connections and talk about their experience, she would introduce a concept
through a reading assessment that was given at the beginning of the year. This short test
determined the reading level of each student and gave my teacher an idea of where the
students were and how much support they would need during the coming year.
and determine what her students knew. If students seemed to be comfortable with a topic
she would move on, and if they were not she would spend more time on that particular
topic.
It has been proven that when students make connections to a text they are reading
or a concept they are learning their comprehension increases. Because of this, my teacher
always tried to make her lesson engaging and connect her lessons to topics that would
Of all the lessons I was able to watch and learn from, my favorite lesson I
great at connecting with her students and keeping them involved, even when doing
something like grammar. She started off the lesson with activating their prior
knowledge and asking the students if they knew what personal pronouns were and
if they had ever used them before. After this introduction, the students discussed
and then asked some questions that lead into the lesson. My teacher then used the
projector and the grammar textbook to introduce and give examples of personal
pronouns. She highlighted the idea of how to use personal pronouns and listed all of
them on the board. After this, she asked students to do some warm up activities in
the book and said that when they were done she would call on students to come up
to the board and fill in the activity. Stating this made the students accountable and
they worked harder knowing that they might be called on to answer a question.
After the students completed the activity, they came up to the board and filled in the
blanks. When everything was corrected, my teacher reviewed one more time and
provided the students with a five-question exit slip to check for understanding.
When all the students passed the exit slip in, my teacher played a song from the
flocabulary website that was about pronouns. This last video was fun but also listed
the personal pronouns one more time to be sure that ALL students remembered
learning and discussion happened naturally. This can be both a blessing and a curse
to give 7th graders the freedom to be in group situations. While really good
discussion and group work can happen, talking was also a problem. While my
mentor teacher debated moving the desks into rows many times, she ultimately felt
that the positives outweighed the negatives and that group work was essential to
learning.
A lot of the cooperative learning that took place was helpful and elicited
strong discussion and the students enjoyed learning if they were in a group. My
teacher allowed them to work together when doing daily assignments and often
encouraged them to ask one another for help before they asked a teacher. Some
tests were also group work and the students always did better when in pairs during
this time.
Group projects were also assigned and my teacher provided guidance and
gave each member of the group a specific job for these projects. By doing this, she
made sure that each student was expected to do his or her part and one student
While cooperative learning does not work all the time, it is a very important
part of a differentiated classroom and was used in a positive way in the classroom I
observed.
Reflection #6 - Reflect on the classroom management strategies you observe in your
placement. How do classroom, teacher, and school expectations affect classroom
management? How are classroom rules established? Do students have input? How
are positive behaviors reinforced and how are inappropriate behaviors dealt with?
has to master. While teaching the content is very important, if a teacher does not
have control in a classroom, learning will not happen and bad behavior will ruin the
classroom environment.
While each teacher develops their own way of maintaining control in their
classroom, my mentor teacher established a positive rapport with her students and
maintained positive relationships to gain students respect. Her main way of keeping
the classroom in order was built off of her relationship with each student. If a
student was not doing what he/she was asked, she would simply give them a look
and the student would almost always behave. This was because of the relationship
and the respect they had for her. If this tactic did not work, she would pull the
student out and speak with them one on one, often times asking why they were
acting out and if something was going on. Lastly, she would give silent lunch or in
infrequently, if ever.
took her years to learn and that she continues to learn each day. The one thing that
my teacher said she had only done a few times in her years of teaching was yell at a
class. She said that it was never helpful to yell or show frustration and that it never
resulted in a positive outcome. I found this very helpful and applauded my teacher
for never showing her frustration to her students in my time with her.
Reflection #7 - Reflect on how the needs of inclusion and ELL students are met. What
special accommodations and support are available to these students?
Out of the three classrooms I worked with this semester, two were inclusion
classes and all had students were at various capability levels. While there were no
ELL students in the classroom I was in, extra support was available at the school if
needed.
At Glade, aides are readily available and are a huge part of the classroom
environment. In two out of the three classes I was in, two of the classes had aides
present each day to help the teacher and give the students extra support.
The aides are there for the students with IEPs and help with reading and
would sit with certain students who needed the most support. My teacher and the
aides conferred about lessons plans and tried to integrate extra support into each
lesson. For example, my teacher always read everything out loud and also showed
explicit examples on the board. This accommodated students who had lower
reading levels and gave a visual representation of what was being done. She also
used videos and audio recordings of books to help students who struggled with
reading fluency.
Inclusion students were able to be in regular classes and teachers and aides
provided that extra support in order to incorporate them into each class. This
helped theses students immensely and helped with their confidence. Because they
were no longer being pulled out and made to feel embarrassed about their
academics, these students could feel valued and were often times the hardest
workers and made the best grades when compared to the average student.
Reflection #8 - Reflect on your practicum experience. What are the many roles a
teacher has to play? Were any of these roles not apparent to you before the
practicum? What ideas/learning will you take with you into your student teaching?
What was the most positive and the most negative thing you experienced in your
classroom experience?
mentor teacher and from the students I taught. A teacher wears many hats in a
classroom and my teacher was no exception. While teaching English was her main
goal each day, she was also a counselor, and advocate, a collaborator, and so much
more. At the most basic level, a teacher is there to teach, however, a teacher is also
there to support students, build meaningful relationships with them, and teach them
about life and how to interact with the world. In the classroom I was in, many of the
students came from rough situations and my teacher knew that in order for her to
be able to teach English, she first had to establish relationships and show each
student that she was an advocate for them. This takes time and patience, but it is
worth it in the end. When students are shown that teachers care, they will want to
work harder and if a teacher expects them to succeed, more than likely they will
want to succeed.
Before my practicum experience, I truly did not realize how many roles a
teacher has to play. It is one thing to hear my education professors say that we have
I have learned so much about myself and the education profession during my
time in 7thgrade. I now feel that I am prepared to step into my role as a teacher when
I enter student teaching and will take a lot of what I learned in practicum and apply
those ideas and tips to student teaching. The main thing I have to remember is to
relax and be myself. I tend to get caught up in the lesson and if it will go as planned
This will come from experience but I know if I can relax, my teaching will improve
and I will be able you have fun with it and go with the flow. I also will try and remind
myself to ask questions and to never feel like a nuisance to my mentor teacher. At
first, I tried to never ask questions and was very careful to never get in my teachers
way, however, she was more than happy to help and by the end of practicum I
became much more comfortable with her and we ended up team teaching some of
our lessons.
The most positive thing about this experience was getting to know the
students and feeling like a part of their classroom. Because I was there so much, I
was able to build relationships and teach the students who needed extra support.
and come from heartbreaking situations. On the very first day of my practicum, the
students were having a discussion about problems they faced in their lives. Many
kids said homework or that they never had enough time to play every sport they
wanted to play, etc. One student however, raised his hand and said we do not have
water this week but mom and dad are working on getting it back. This child was
very matter of fact and no one batted an eye. I could not show my shock at the time
but was devastated that this child one, did not have running water, and two felt
comfortable enough to share it with his peers. This and many other examples of
children who lived in poverty broke my heart and made me realize the harsh
realities of this world. My mentor teacher taught me to have a big heart for these
kids, even on the days where they tested your patience, other issues were always
Practicum truly was the greatest learning experience I have had thus far my
in education career. I found myself feeling the most at home in the classroom