Field Work – Reflective Reports
EDUC 2110
4/21/16 -
I knew before I was getting started this day that not much was going to be done, but still wanted to go observe. I’ve been to this classroom before and wanted to go back the chance I could get because the children were so loving towards me last time, and I enjoy watching how Ms. Daniels handles the students in her classroom. The last time I observed her class, I had learned so much and wanted to see what all I could learn this time.
I arrived in Ms. Daniels’ class after they had already started, and all fourteen of them were gathered on the colorful alphabetical rug listening to Ms. Daniels read them a book. I joined them on the rug in the back and sat there and listened myself as we got the book read to us. All the kids love having Ms. Daniels read them a book because she makes it entertaining with all of her voices with each character.
After reading a story, Ms. Daniels made all of the students return to their assigned seats and she turned on a movie because she had to finish testing three students. What she was testing them was their sight words. What I did while she finished up testing, was sit with the students and watch the movie ‘Monster’s Inc.’ that she turned on for them.
About an hour passed and Ms. Daniels had finished testing the remaining students. The students were already chatty because they couldn’t sit still anymore, so Ms. Daniels turned off the movie and let them play with the toys in the classroom. Some were playing with blocks, Legos, cars/trucks, marker boards, matching card games, colorful links, dominoes, and colorful teddy bears that Ms. Daniels uses to help them with math. I played with the kids also, because when I visit a classroom I like to interact with the kids to see what they are like, so I decided to play almost everything with about every student in there. I read books to some little girls, played with the colorful links to help them make things and do some patterns with them, played dominoes, and we set them up and then watched them tumble, and then I had this sweet little girl make me a note on a marker board with a heart stating “I love you” in it. Which I thought was the sweetest thing.
The children played for at least an hour and a half before having to go to lunch. I of course went to lunch with them. I stood and observed all of the students having their conversations with one another and opened up ice creams, yogurts, and fruit that they handed me. Lunch lasted for approximately thirty minutes, and then we returned to the classroom after letting the students go to the restroom to wash their hands. Not long after, students had to line up to get ready to go to their exploratory, and I would pack up my belongings and leave. I said my goodbyes to my favorite teacher, each and every loving child, and made my way out.
Going to visit my favorite teacher and her students for the second time was great. I love to see how she interacts with the children and shows her love to them in the way that she does. I believe that if all teachers were half as great and loving as she is towards all of her students, then there would be many, many impacts left on students’ lives. Although she was my kindergarten and first grade teacher many years ago, she’s the teacher that’s left the biggest impact on my life today. Watching her with her students touches my heart and I wish to be half the teacher as she was towards my classmates and how she continues to be towards her present students.
4/22/16-
I decided it would be a good idea to go observe a classroom in a different county this time. My aunt was a kindergarten teacher at Westside Elementary, so I decided to contact her and go observe her class for the full day.
Arriving for the day, we got there early and kids soon came in minutes after. Her classroom was full of colors and things that you would find in other kindergarten classrooms, like tables for groups, toys, cubbies, etc. Starting off the day, students were arriving in the classroom while I was sitting at the back table waiting patiently for the day to start, and a little girl named Mia came up to me and asked me a bazillion questions. There were about nineteen students in there in all, but Mia was the only one that really opened up to me at the very beginning.
The students were really wild and rambunctious on Friday and didn’t want to listen for anything. The ones that were misbehaving were asked to go move their banana off the tree, onto yellow (for misbehaving). Many were asked to move their bananas. Although they weren’t happy about it, they, for the most part, straightened up afterwards.
About 8:15 came and it was time for groups. I wasn’t able to get around to each group to see what they were all working on, because I stayed in the first group to watch the students read. The group I was helping with was sight words and reading a small ten page book. After twenty minutes, the next group would come and do the same routine. However, Mrs. Goodman had a mix of students from all different academic levels in her class. She had a few of the higher students, average students, some of the lower students, and then some Special Ed students, and she put them into groups by their level so when they got to their groups, the teacher teaching the group could move at their pace. In the reading group, all students did very well as I could tell except there were a few that didn’t know some of their sight words and one that could track the words that was being read, with his finger.
I was asked to help run the reading group as Mrs. Goodman got things ready for the next activity, so I did. I read the story page by page and they read it afterwards with me in unison. The one group that I did that with did very well with it. After each group read, they were given a worksheet and it asked a questions pertaining to the book and they had to circle the correct answer. The second problem on the worksheet told the students to draw a picture of them helping another friend (because the book was about teamwork). Two out of the four groups were to write one sentence about their picture. One out of the four groups were to write three sentences because they were recognized as the highest students in the class, and then the other group were to just draw a picture and tell me about the picture because they were considered the low students.
Mrs. Goodman told me that they’re all fairly good at reading and learning their sight words, that some of them happen to get ahead of their group so she’s constantly having to change the students in the groups. She’s trying to keep everyone that’s on the same level together.
The 22nd is Earth Day, so Mrs. Goodman planned something for the children to watch on the projector about recycling and underwater, because their letter for the week was “U”. The students had “show and tell” and they had to bring something from home that started with the letter “U” to be able to show it to the class.
Not long after we headed to lunch, and something that I didn’t know I learned about the little girl, Mia. Her daddy was in the Army and he would be getting off his plane and coming to the school to surprise his little girls because they hadn’t seen him in a year. They had no idea that he would be coming home that day. Mia was upset earlier that day because she missed her daddy, but she would try not to look upset. During lunch, while I was eating with the teachers and all of the students were out in the lunchroom, we heard people clapping. We looked out the windows from the teachers spot and seen Mia, her big sister, and their little baby sister who is two hugging their daddy, crying. This was probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever witnessed. It touched my heart so much. The whole lunch room full of students were clapping and cheering for them, and it made my heart melt to see those children with their daddy after a year. They were so happy. I had to stop watching after about two minutes because I almost started to cry. I enjoyed that moment. I witnessed my first military homecoming!
After lunch we headed back to the classroom with the students and had a craft done for Earth Day. They colored fish bowls that the assistant teacher had drew for them and stuck fish stickers on their bowls making it a “fish bowl”. The kids had real fun with the activity, except would fight over who would get what sticker and what not. After the students were done with their activity, and with their name written on the back, I gathered all of the colorful and fishy fish bowls and gave them to the assistant teacher to put out in the hallway.
After, came the party. A birthday party for four students. The four students’ parents had brought goodies for them to have as a group. So we handed out brownies and a little cupcake table by table. After all students were done with their brownies and their cupcakes, we called them up to get a Ring Pop. Yummy, sticky, goodness, right? It wasn’t so bad. While eating their Ring Pops and sitting on the colorful alphabetical rug watching Magic School Bus, I helped Ms. Goodman and the assistant teacher wipe down the tables and things before the children had to pack up to go home.
Once three o’clock came, Ms. Goodman headed out with the majority of the students to take them to the bus, the assistant teacher went outside in the rain to help with pick-up duty, while I sat in the classroom and watched about four of the kids. While Ms. Goodman and the other teacher were absent from the room, I let the children play with the puzzles, the clock, and the marker board. I helped one student learn the clock, and helped another with his puzzle, and then he wanted me to play a pick-up game with him.
The end of the day came for me and Mrs. Goodman, and were both exhausted and wanted to take a nap. After going to two schools, I realize that they do things differently. Not only do the students of course act different, but the teachers don’t teach or react the same. To me, both teachers were very good. Honestly, I was having a bad day Friday, but ended up having fun and learning as much as I could while observing that day.
EDUC 2120
11/13/15 –
I signed in at Irwin County Elementary School at 7:58 AM and walked my way to the kindergarten hall where Mrs. Daniels’ class was located. When I walked into her room Mrs. Daniels was getting ready for her rambunctious group of five and six year olds. I make myself comfortable, as I was told, and sat at the computers located right across from the assistant teacher’s desk, Nathan. During the three minutes that I was seated, I was looking around the room and noticed a behaviors chart with each child’s name on a clip, lots of different colors, toys for each gender, books, tables, dry erase markers for each child, a very colorful alphabetic carpet that no one could miss, and then the students returned from their morning breakfast in the lunchroom, escorted by Nathan, the assistant teacher.
While the students were in the process of hanging up their book bags, each one made their way to me, excited to see another “helper” in the classroom other than their teachers. I was asked my name several times by at least 9 students out of a classroom of 11. I wondered myself why there was such a small number of students in the classroom, which I later found out and it’s because they were considered the “lower level” kids. After I was told that news, I thought back to earlier in the morning when all students were gathered on that colorful carpet and were in unison during their morning routine of going over the calendar, the date (words and numbers), one-hundreds, tens, and ones, punctuations (., ?, !), and several other things, and it stunned me that they were considered the “lower level” because no one would have guessed it.
Today was FUN FRIDAY down the kindergarten hall, so not much was done during the day that involved any work. The only thing that was done was watching movies, coloring, bathroom breaks, snacks, naps, and play time (recess or toys in the classroom). During this fun Friday, I joined the kids in each activity to get the real feel of the kindergarten classroom, and all the kids loved it! I had two kids on each of my arms walking down the hallway during bathroom breaks, going to lunch, and heading to exploratory (recreational classes). I even laid down with them when it was nap time. It was nothing but fun in Mrs. Daniels’ class for me and I loved every bit of it.
After exploratory, not much time was left during the fun day that was filled with lots of laughter and fun until the students had to be escorted to their buses. When 3:00 PM arrived, Mrs. Daniels led her little “babies” to their buses, and I followed. Mrs. Daniels walked each student to their bus, followed by bye hugs, kisses, and an “I love you” (which I remembered from being one of her “babies” many years ago). After all 11 kids were on their buses waiting for the ride home, my old teacher, Mrs. Daniels, hugged, kissed, and reminded me that she loved me, and I was on my way home, also.
After this very eventful day, in Mrs. Daniels’ kindergarten class, filled with love, laughter, and fun, I realized that teaching is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Young kids have always been a passion of mine and I want to fulfill the hope and dream that I’ve been wanting to do for some time now. Not only do I love kids because of the endless jokes that are made, but I also want to make the impact on students as Mrs. Daniels did on mine and continues to do on all of her students.
11/19/15 –
As I did the other time, I signed in at the front desk of the Irwin County Elementary school. Because it was Thursday and not fun Friday, I decided to go back into Mrs. Daniels’ classroom for a day full of classwork, instead of just fun.
I arrived in Mrs. Daniels’ classroom before the students. I sat at the computer desk as I had previously and waited patiently for the little friends I had made from the week before to arrive. A few minutes went by and finally all 11 students walked in the classroom as happy as could be. They were smiling and each got in line for hugs (from me). As usual, the whole class gathered on the colorful alphabetical rug for the morning routine, and this time, I decided to join them and watch what the students were writing on each of their papers. They did the date, numbers, etc. in unison. (They were/are very bright kids). After finishing the morning routine, a Thanksgiving book read to them, and several hilarious comments from some students, it was time to get to work on the Thursday before Thanksgiving break.
To start off the workday, Mrs. Daniels introduced the Mayflower and talked about the First Thanksgiving. Students were given questions that would be answered as a class about the Mayflower and the First Thanksgiving. Mrs. Daniels got creative and drew a boat and colored it for a visual for her students and then wrote down the answers to the questions that were required for them to know. While continuing to learn about the First Thanksgiving, Mrs. Daniels came up with an arts and crafts idea, making bracelets. All students were given the same amount of colored beads as the other and a brown pipe cleaner. Each color bead represented something and as she said it, the students were supposed to put that color bead on their brown pip cleaner. As she was telling the story, I would walk around and check to see if they were all doing it correctly, and they were. Finishing up with making the bracelets, now it was time to put them on. Each of us, Mrs. Daniels, Nathan, and myself, had students lined up for us to help them with their bracelets. I of course had at least six because all the kids adored me (because I was new), while the others only had three or four. Next came the Thanksgiving color sheets. One with a turkey and the other one of a boy and girl pilgrim, which was color by the number. I thought it would be fun to color with the kids, so sat at their table and shared crayons with one of my new little friends.
All the kids liked coloring, learning about Thanksgiving and the Mayflower, but not so much math. When it came time for math, few students would complain and Mrs. Daniels would have to warn them and tell them that if they didn’t stop, they would get their clip moved to “try better” (yellow). They were learning that if you rearrange an addition sentence (7+4=11 to 4+7=11) it would still equal the same. They did really well with this and some even learned to do it a different way than Mrs. Daniels was showing them. Being the “lower level” class, they were very smart.
Students were again gathered on the big colorful alphabet rug to say the alphabet. What Mrs. Daniels did was good and kept her students engaged. She had a ball and whomever she rolled the ball to, they had to say the next letter of the alphabet. Of course I had to get in on the action, so I sat behind them and listened to how proud they were of themselves for getting the next letter. It’s nothing like hearing young children clap for themselves because of how satisfied they are.
The day goes on with exploratory, nap, lunch, recess, and playing with toys and marker boards. When 3:00 PM arrived, it was then again time for the students to head to the buses following behind Mrs. Daniels. The same routine each day with goodbye hugs, kisses, followed by an “I love you”, and same for me too.
Like I had said before, in my last reflection, I can’t wait to become the teacher that my students want to see every day. Even if I were to become half the teacher Mrs. Daniels is towards her old and her new students, I would be a very good teacher. I learned that no matter how old children are, they will surprise you each and every day, and keep a smile on your face throughout the day. One day when I am able to teach children at an elementary grade level, I will then realize that I have reached my dreams of being a teacher.
EDUC 2130
11/19/15 –
During the time that I was in Mrs. Holt’s classroom, third grade, I was helping with something called FLEX. My cousin had told me I could come observe/help with it. I agreed because I thought it would be a good experience, since I’ll eventually have to do it in the future when I become a teacher. FLEX is nothing but reading. It’s when a teacher and one student is given the same story and the student is timed for exactly one minute to see how many words they can read correctly in that time period.
The class I was in was the “lower level” class that needed a little help with their academics. But from what I had seen that day, each child did really well with it and I enjoyed it.
11/20/15 –
Today after doing the usual of signing in at the front desk at Irwin County Elementary, I went next door to Mrs. Daniels’ room to Mrs. Sherrod’s room. I chose this classroom because I thought it would be good for me to get the feel of a more special needs classroom. Mrs. Sherrod’s room didn’t consist of disabilities, but it did have the students who needed extra help on their work, and one little girl with hearing aids, who sometimes used sign language to communicate.
This day was also a fun Friday for Mrs. Sherrod’s class. After moving from Mrs. Daniels’ class to Mrs. Sherrod’s was different because the first day that Mrs. Daniels’ students seen me, they were drawn to me, but Mrs. Sherrod’s students were not. To start out the day, students were given coloring sheets with a kangaroo (because they had learned the letter ‘K’ the day before) and on the back was an individual practice of finding and then circling the letter ‘K’. While working on their worksheets, Mrs. Sherrod played music for her students to dance/sing too. It was rather funny watching students dance in their desks and listening to them sing as quietly as possible (which wasn’t). It was all so funny and adorable.
Likes Mrs. Daniels class there was a big colorful alphabetic rug that all students would gather on for their morning routine, which was much like Mrs. Daniels’, except also consisted of the weather. One thing that I found hilarious was when Mrs. Sherrod asked her students if it was hot, cold, or chilly outside this morning, they said chilly. Then Mrs. Sherrod asked if it was sunny or rainy outside this morning, and added “what do I see shining through this window this morning?” The students replied, “SUN!” Then one student raised to her knees, raised her hands, and shouted “THANK YOU, JESUS!” Mrs. Sherrod almost couldn’t contain herself, until her class started getting out of control and she had to bring everyone back down to reality.
After finishing the morning routine, and listening to the hilarious comments that her students would make, she read a Thanksgiving book, in which all the students enjoyed and thought it was hilarious. Next, Mrs. Sherrod explained to the class that she was going to let them help her prepare for their Thanksgiving dinner, which was making butter. She had already put in the ingredients that were required to make the butter, in the jar. She showed her students how to shake the jar without dropping it, which is with two hands. I, of course, joined the group on the floor and laughed at their reactions of each child shaking the butter jar. After time passed, they all were amazed at how in the world they made butter. They thought it was the coolest thing.
Finishing up the morning routine, and the making of butter, not much was done this day because of it being fun Friday. The desks were put together because we were having a Thanksgiving feast with the students and their parents. While continuing to get ready for the feast, a movie was being played for the students. Soon it was time for the feast.
The menu was: chicken tenders, mac and cheese, cornbread, and for dessert, ice cream. All the kids were so excited to be having a feast with their classmates and with the parents who showed up. Eating lunch lasted about 45 minutes to an hour, and soon we were only left with six kids, as the others left with their parents. I had goodbye hugs and wishes for a great Thanksgiving from each child who left after lunch.
Because we were only left with six kids, not much was done, at all – naptime and recess. Recess lasted for approximately 40 minutes, and I was pleased with the day I had in a different classroom. Returning to the classroom from the playground, not much time was left in the day until buses would come around and parents come to pick up their kids. Students grabbed their book bags and remaining items and lined up. I hugged each child goodbye as they left the classroom at 3:00 PM and thanked Mrs. Sherrod for letting me visit her classroom for the day, and I was on my way.
After such a different environment than Mrs. Daniels’ class, I enjoyed Mrs. Sherrod’s classroom as well. There was lots of laughter (and eating). I’m glad I went into Mrs. Sherrod’s classroom to learn about some more boys and girls and what their classroom consists of because I enjoyed being with all the students.