Final Summary of Field Experience

Whitney Leavitt

Dr. Agriss

June 11, 2013

Field Experience Summary

Placement at Shaw Middle School

1.      What have you learned about teachers during this period?

Being in a classroom and teaching is different from sitting in a classroom and being taught how to teach. My coordinating teacher teaches the same English class for five periods a day. I am somewhat relieved because I think it takes me long enough to plan one successful lesson to teach for one day. Some teachers have to prepare two or three different lessons everyday because they teach a variety of subjects. I have learned through my experience observing this quarter that teachers are always busy, deal not only with intellectual growth but emotional too, and without a classroom management plan, teachers are setting themselves up for more work.

            My master teacher is a busy man, I always knew teachers had a lot on their plate but my thinking did not go much further than that. I only spend two full days at the middle school a week and by the time I leave I am exhausted and half the time I was not even the one who taught! Teachers have early morning meetings, lesson planning, teaching, afterschool programs and grading papers. Not to mention dealing with students who are struggling. I have found that prep period and lunches are not always guaranteed. Teachers often give up this time to provide extra instruction to students. My teacher often goes on weekend vacations to get a break from the stressful school week. I may have to do this as well.

            I have also found that teachers are not just the people who teach lessons and grade your papers. At the middle school there are a lot of students with financial and family problems and often times their teachers are the only stable people in their lives. I have walked in on my teachers prep period only to find a crying student asking for help. They can’t get a hold of their parents and they need to make a court showing or have no form of transportation to get from point A to point B. There have also been a few instances when I asked a student how they were and they end up spilling their guts to me and expect words of wisdom in return. In order to keep a classroom of emotionally and mentally healthy students, teachers can’t just address the intellectual component but the emotional as well. Teachers do it all.

            Successful teachers are also strict and well planned. Those with classroom management plans, such as my master teacher know how to control student behavior. There is a consistent system everyday where kids walk into the classroom and they know they have to get started on the entry task right away. They also know that during the entry task their teacher will be asking somebody to write down the names of those who are not behaving as they should. They know there are consequences and that their teacher is not afraid to punish. Strict management plans can make a difference in the conduct of a student in their classes. A student can be well behaved in a classroom with a strict management plan and a trouble maker in one that is unorganized. Teachers have to be on top of their game.

2.      What have you learned about yourself during this placement?

It is usually not hard for me to be myself, but I found that it took me a few weeks to adjust to the new classroom setting. The first few weeks I would walk into the school and feel out of place and I would be awkward at times trying to act normal. I was constantly trying to act in such a way that the students would approve of. One day I was trying to get a student to do her work and she told me, “You should not make that face at me, it is not cute.” I was taken back a bit and decided to be firm with her. “Do your work.” was my reply. From that day, I knew that in order for me to feel comfortable in the classroom I had to be myself. Not every student is going to like me, but I guess that is life. The last few weeks of my observations have been great! I feel like now I connect with students on a stronger level and I am conversing with the other teachers during lunch. I think I found the happy medium between being professional and being my goofy self.

I have made a few exceptions when trying to be myself. I am not usually a strict, mean, feared person. I have found that in order for my classroom to settle down and stop talking, I need to be strict and mean sometimes. At first I feared the students would hold a grudge, but after seeing my coordinating teacher punish students daily, they still came back to school the next day and have friendly conversations with him. I feel some days it is easier for me to punish those who are constantly talking out of turn but it is still something I need to work on.

All in all, I have learned that I need to be patient with myself, being a teacher is a tough job and there is a lot to learn. Taking baby steps is okay. Most people don’t go to bed an average person and wake up extraordinary, it takes time and effort. I have learned to accept this.

3.      What have you learned about schools during this placement?

When I had my interview at Shaw to see if I was a good fit, the principle walked me through the halls of the school and explained to me their plans of bringing the school together. They have four hallways, and each one has a team name. They use the teams to establish groups for field trips, competitions, schedule school wide testing’s, etc. While the principle was explaining this to me he also told me of the difficulties. Having a school so big and many teachers, it is hard to get everybody to agree on a plan. It is easy to develop a plan of action and think, why don’t schools just do this? Saying is easier than doing. Just because a school has low test scores or a high dropout rate does not mean everybody that works there is lazy. Shaw middle school strives to promote student success through fieldtrips, inspirational speakers, assemblies, competitions and other fun activities. Schools are large and it takes a team effort to make a change.

4.      What is one lesson-learned that you would share with another student just beginning their 341 placement period?

I know that for me, coming into this class and seeing that I had to spend nine hours in the classroom and teach eight lessons. I was a bit overwhelmed. Now that it is almost over, I look back and realize it is not that bad. My coordinating teacher and I have a good relationship. He is easy going and would let me teach whatever classes I wanted, on whatever day. He would even give me options on what lessons to teach. I would say that establishing a good relationship with your coordinating teacher will make the experience flow a lot smoother. I would also say to plan accordingly. You have eight lessons to teach and one needs to be observed by your advisor, do not wait until the last week to teach every lesson. You do not need to be more overwhelmed than necessary! Another piece advice I would give is to plan ahead, you know that before you come into this class that you need to spend a good chunk of time at the school you are placed at, try to arrange your classes so you can go to the school twice a week instead of 5 mini visits. I was lucky enough to schedule classes 3 days out of the week and leave Tuesday and Thursday free to observe at the middle school. I know this is a lot of advice but I believe it is important. This class gives us the opportunity to learn and prepare us for our future jobs. You do not need to be a perfect teacher yet, but you should strive to be.

Nearing the End

My experience at Shaw middle school is coming to an end. My last day is Thursday. I did not know it would be so hard to say good bye to my eighth graders. They will not be there when I come back next year! As I was leaving the middle school today, students were waving to me in the halls and yelling my name across the parking lot. I feel now that I am comfortable in the classroom and faculty lounge it is time to go!
Highlight
The past week my students have been working on their embedded assessments for their comedy unit. Today, my teacher was spread thin trying to get end of the year projects done, and left me in charge of helping the students write their five paragraph papers. My six hour school day went by really quick but I also felt that I had been writing a paper for six hours straight because I had a constant flow of students asking for my help. Even though this was tiring, I got to see the light go on when I helped. I had two students today who would write a paragraph and come to me and have me read it to make sure it was right. It made me feel good to know that the students believed in me. What I had to say was important. When I gave them the go, they were really excited to start the next paragraph knowing they were on the right track.
Different View
This experience also made me think differently about students. When you sit in the back of a classroom and observe, you tend to categorize students as the bright ones, the ones who are average and the strugglers. I was blown away by some of the writing I saw. Students who were mostly quiet, or did not participate in class activities had beautiful writing. As I went around the room and read some of their passages it would cause me to smile and compliment them. It made my day and I hope it made theirs.
New Approach
A practice I have seen my coordinating teacher do is give high fives to students who are on task or have done the above and beyond. Today I decided to adopt this. After observing the class, I would pick out the few who worked diligently all class period or those who had breakthroughs and give them high fives. I think I got a bit to high five happy and gave one student too many. By the end of the class period, his high fives were getting a little wimpy. I kept giving him high fives because his work was so good! I had seen his previous work and could see the progress he had made in his writing over the past few weeks.
Conflicting Situation
At Shaw middle school, attendance is always a problem. I saw two students today who I have not seen in about 2 weeks! I thought they had moved away. One of the students was actually bragging about having the record for the highest amount of absences. I think it is sad that these kids don’t care enough about their education to come to school. Where are their parents in this? Missing school not only causes problems for the student but the teachers too. How do teachers deal with students who are far behind while trying to teach those who have been at school everyday? One teacher is not enough for 20 kids. It is hard for a teacher to ensure success for every student.

MAP testing

This week at Shaw middle school I had a chance to see the students do MAP reading tests. My coordinating teacher was having a bad morning because he had heard an hour before class that he would be doing MAP testing all day, pushing back his lesson that he had planned. He gave me the assignment to watch the students test and help them with their questions, while he continued to prep for the lesson he will give Wednesday. I was also running between the computer lab and the English classroom picking up assignments and I even wrote excuse slips for those who finished the test late. It was an overall interesting day, but a fun day too. For lunch I usually eat in the faculty room and listen to teachers conversations. Today I felt more comfortable and joined the conversation. I may even borrow a wet suit from a fellow teacher for the sprint triathlon I am doing! Anyways, today was full of mini highlights.

When I was in school, we had STAR testing instead of MAP. Whatever the test was, even though it was boring, I would try my hardest. I caught quite a few students who were not trying their hardest and it really made me feel disappointed. They didn’t care because it had no affect on their grade and they would rather rush through the test and talk with friends. I stopped a boy today who asked how many questions their were and after hearing that he was less than half way, started clicking and pushing the next button. I stopped him as fast as I could, but he had already sped through 5 questions. Another student was on question 28 only 5 minutes into the class period! She said she didn’t care and the test meant nothing to her. I don’t know what to say to make them care. What good are these tests if students don’t take the time to give it their all.

Going along with the students who didn’t try on the test, my coordinating teacher quickly came up with a solution. He called the parents of the students and set up a date for them to come after school and talk with both the teacher and student and give permission to take it again. For the last few periods of the day, my teacher told the students to do quality work, otherwise they would be taking it again after school with their parents. It really helped the students to try. This is a approach I will adopt.

When I was coming back from running an errand I heard a student yelling, “Get out of my way!” repeatedly. I looked up to find a student I did not recognize trying to get passed my teacher in the hallway. I was appalled that a student would talk in such a way to a teacher. She was yelling very loud and I could see that it caught the attention of other classrooms with their doors open. I am not sure what exactly happened to the student but my coordinating teacher walked back into the computer lab and apologized for the ruckus. I really hope nothing like that happens to me!

Shaw middle school

This week I had the opportunity to ride a school bus from Shaw Middle School to Rogers High School for an introduction to high school assembly. It was cool to take a step outside of the English classroom and travel with the kids to another setting. We left Shaw during lunch at 1:05 and came back at 3:15. It had been a while since I sat in a school bus. A student from my 5th period class begged for me to sit next to him. On the short ride there he talked to me about baseball and how excited he was to go to high school with his older brother and sister. When we got to Rogers auditorium I got a little nostalgic. I miss the good o'l leadership days in high school and putting on assemblies. I loved to see the excitement of the middle schoolers. On the way out they were given a Rogers shirt and on the bus ride they were yelling "freshman power," while we were all crammed three to a seat. It was a lot of fun.

Thursday I taught three lessons. When preparing the lesson, I have an idea of what the students will say as a response to the questions I ask. I look at the lesson as an opportunity for me to teach the students. There is a boy in my 3rd period class who is very bright. When I asked questions, he would often bring up an aspect I had not thought about. Students can teach teachers. Together we form a learning community.

As I was teaching, I found that many students were excited to answer questions. Most would raise their hands, but they would also shout out the answer at the same time. I had to constantly tell the students to pause and speak one at a time. At the end of my lessons, I ask my teacher for any words of wisdom. He told me to always ask students to raise hands from the beginning of the lesson and only take answers from students who raise their hands. In the next lesson that my coordinating teacher taught, he demonstrated this to me. The class was quieter and my teacher hardly had to raise his voice. This is a practice I will adopt.

There is a quiet student in my 3rd period class. She is very sweet, often asks for help and really puts effort into her work. I was surprised when she told me she had lunch detention for the rest of the week from Mr. English's science class. She told me she got in trouble for not doing her work and talking. It was crazy to me to see how differently students act in other classrooms. Students often have good behavior in my cooperative teacher’s classroom. I am thankful that I was paired with such a great teacher. The students really do look up to him.

Richland School District

This week has been smooth and uneventful. Last Thursday students were finishing up a lesson from Wednesday and started a new lesson on political and non-political cartoons. We are still in our comedy unit. Yesterday was MSP testing so for the last three periods of school we watched Jim Carrey's first movie Rubber Face and the TV show Modern Family.

A highlight of my week does not necessarily have to do with me but it is something I have seen. When I first arrived at Shaw in February, there was a student in my sixth period class who was unmotivated and did not have much self confidence. When it came to doing her work she would say that she didn't know how to do it and would not listen to anyone who would help her. She was quiet and a little standoffish. A few weeks ago, this student came to school with new clothes, new hairdo and a new attitude. This could have been due to her birthday but whatever it was she has been participating in class, developing a closer relationship to peers and teachers. In the faculty room I overheard the science teacher talking about this student and the great effort she has been putting forth in the classroom recently. She had been turning in all of her work. At the end of the day, she also asked my coordinating teacher what she could do to bring up her grade. Seeing this kind of progress makes me happy. This is what makes teaching rewarding.

This situation is not only a highlight but something that made me think differently about kids. Changes can be made. Teachers should not give up on students when they see that they are failing. This is an opportunity to lend a helping hand and help them to do better. Sometimes all a student needs it to know that teachers or parents care about them. If they see that tithers have confidence in them, they will make that confidence their own. It is possible for every student to succeed.

A practice that I will adopt in my teaching is standing my ground. I know this seems like a obvious one, but in certain situations it can be hard for me. Some students will listen to me if I tell them to stop a disruptive behavior but others like to challenge me. Tuesday, a student was playing with a toy while the rest of the class was MSP testing, he was also talking to neighbors and not facing his computer screen. I went over to him, after telling him several times to turn around and asked for the toy, he challenged me, saying he needed it and pulled it away from me but I was persistent and stern and told him that he could have it after testing. I confiscated it. It was hard for me to not back down and just say to put it away.

A conflicting situation this week I would say happened yesterday. Its funny because i just did research on showing films in the classroom and how to make it an effective teaching moment. My coordinating teacher showed a film in class and it went against my research. First off, we watched the movie Rubber Face that was Jim Carrey's first film. My teacher had never watched it and expected it to be funny. I was the worst move ever, after 25 minutes we turned it off and watched Modern Family. My teacher had not previewed these episodes either. The humor did go along with our comedy unit but some parts were inappropriate for school. Although the class was engaged, they did not have to do any assessments. The teacher before the movie asked if they could determine whether it was low or high comedy, but we did not ever discuss it. This situation helped me to know the conflicts that I can run into if I do not properly prepare a lesson where film is involved.

This week was a great week! Last Thursday my coordinating teacher was gone with half of the 8th graders at a ropes course. The other half went the day before. The ropes course was to prepare students for the MSP testing that they will be doing this month. The goal was to overcome fear and instill confidence. I decided to stay at school and work with the substitute teacher. It was a good experience working with smaller class sizes.

A highlight of my week would be the two lessons I taught. At school, my coordinating teacher teaches the same class five times. The substitute teacher, after teaching two classes, asked if I would like to step in and teach a class. I can see that the further I get in my observations, the more comfortable I am with the class. A few weeks ago I probably would have turned down the offer, but I was excited to take the class over for two lessons. The class was behaving well and they enjoyed the simple lesson. It was a great feeling!

It was a learning experience to see someone other than my coordinating teacher teaching. After observing my  teacher for a few months now, I can see what the students are capable of doing. I noticed that the substitute teacher was spoon feeding the students a bit too much. The students had to read a passage, answer five multiple choice questions and as a class answer a short essay. The teacher for the first two classes read the passage and pretty much wrote the short essay for the students. They were still talking about how exciting the ropes course was. I took note of how the substitute taught and thought of ways I could make it better. When she offered for me to lead fourth period, I tweaked things a bit. I had the students take turns reading the passage and gave them specific instruction as to what to look for in the passage. I got a bit more participation when it came time to do the short essay. I was proud of myself when the substitute taught the next lesson and decided to borrow the techniques I had used. I'm glad I got to see her teaching style and ask the question, "what can I do better?"

One practice I have been adopting is floating around the room and answering questions that students have. This week I have been making an effort to ask students if I can see their responses and help those who are to afraid to ask for it. This last week, I saw that a student had answered a question wrong and I was able to ask her questions and hear her explanation as to why she thought that way. I was able to lead her in the right direction. It was cool to see the light bulb go on. I didn't even give her the answer. It was through the process of critical thinking she solved the problem herself.

This week has been a smooth week. I did see something this morning that bothered me. There is a student that is in my sixth period class. He is very intelligent but often gets off task. I have heard through other teachers that he is disruptive in their classes as well. Today he was sitting in the office. I wonder what I can do to help this situation. Maybe he is bored with the material and needs something more challenging. I have been thinking of asking him what he likes to do and if possible incorporate it into a lesson or assignment. This could be a possible solution for avoiding class disruption.