My Experience At St. Edward Confessor School

For my observation, I observed a first to third grade special day class at a public Fresno Unified School District classroom in Fresno, California. When I first entered the classroom all the students, approximately 10 students, were sitting down on the rug in front of the class as the teacher was reading a short story to them. When she finished they would go over their reading assignment.

My observation for the spring semester was placed at Pine Richland High School. I was able to watch over John Dolphin’s twelfth grade British literature course. John Dolphin has been teaching at Pine Richland for the past eighteen years. I went to observe his class three times. Two out of three of those visits I was able to be at the school all day long to really get the feel of the way it is like to be at the school all day and seeing the difference of his eight classes. Throughout my time there I learned different strategies on how to keep the students involved, the way that a school of this size is ran, and the difference of how John taught compared to my previous observation teacher.

At 1:00 p.m. I entered into Evoline C. West Elementary school on Thursday, July 12 2012 for an interview with Mrs. Yolanda Lawrence. As I entered the classroom, I was greeted by Mrs. Lawrence, the head teacher in this classroom. Mrs. Lawrence has no assistant at this present because of it being in the summer. After I entered into the classroom, the entire class welcomed me with “hello Ms. Flournoy”. It made my day to see all of those smiley faces greeting me. This was a 2nd grade classroom which consisted of 17 students of which 8 were girls and 9 were boys. This interview and observation was a total of 2

At Arts-Based School I did my observation in Leni Fragakis’s third grade class. This was the first observation I had done since learning about instructional design. Since learning it, I now have a new way of observing, I pay more attention to the teacher; how she implemented the lessons, what strategies she uses, and the types of assessments she uses. This gives me a better experience because before I was just paying attention to what the students were doing and their part in the classroom and now I am paying attention to so much more. Even though it is important to watch the kids, I now also know how important it is to observe the teacher, too. I was also able to observe what I am learning in class be used in the classroom.

From what I have been through, my current high school experience has not been meeting my expectations. After speaking with friends and parents, I believe that Archbishop Mitty High School can provide the experience that I am seeking. One aspect I am looking for is a larger campus, school community and a safer environment. I feel that the size and location of Archbishop Mitty will help enhance my learning experience. Something else I am looking for in my new high school experience is more school spirit and camaraderie. I have attended many sports events at Archbishop Mitty and I have thoroughly enjoyed the enthusiasm and spirit of the environment. One last reason is that I am looking for a school that can provide a larger class selection with

I observed the kindergarten classroom of Sarah House. During my observation, Ms. House completed a language arts lesson with her students. Ms. House used both whole class instruction and one on one instruction during her lesson. I felt that she did an amazing job with classroom management and created lessons that were not only engaging, but fun for the students.

On October 27, I, along with Jenna Mrofchak and Andy Norton, shadowed multiple teachers at the Chagrin Falls Middle School. During the day, I shadowed Mrs. Mrofchak, a life science teacher, Mrs. Bauer, a world history teacher, Mrs. Dennison, a health teacher, and Mr. Richmond, a english teacher. Throughout Mrs. Mrofchak’s first period class, I was able to interact with the eighth grade students by answering any questions about the high school or my freshmen year. Afterwards, the class began to take notes and continue in a day to day class schedule. As a result, I was able to watch the class's reaction to the different explanations the teacher gave. Additionally, I was able to gain knowledge about how to control a classroom

Journal one of the Westminster College class EDU 562 Field Experience was related to observation and participation with a first grade classroom, on Monday, January 4, 2016. Upon arrival the class teacher provided instructions to assist in the set up of the classroom January calendar, make a graph of the lunch choices, and to pass out morning work for the students to complete as they arrived in the classroom. At 8:30 a.m. the teacher welcomed most of the students with excitement as they entered the room. She informed the students in detail and repeated the routine and morning arrival instructions. Once everyone arrived, the teacher rang a bell which symbolized it

During the Spring Semester of my sophomore year at The College of New Jersey, I was placed at Maurice Hawk Elementary School in West Windsor Plains Burrow for my practicum experience. My practicum partner, Gwen, and I were placed in Mrs. Jones’ 3rd grade classroom. This portfolio is an accumulation of different lessons and activities we observed and participated in, both in Mrs. Jones’ classroom as well as in other classes held at Maurice Hawk. The portfolio is just a snapshot of all we did and learned, but it serves as a reminder of various learning theories and application of teaching practices in a real classroom.

In Miss. Hooker’s classroom she never makes a problem, just the student’s problem, but a problem they share and can fix together. Once the student would see that Miss. Hooker wanted to help them, they were very less offensive and were happy to have someone on “their side”. Another big thing I learned was to use every resource out there. She uses so many different websites and reading materials to get ideas, and talks to other teachers or other adults, she does not limit her circle of information. I also learned that sometimes it is true what they say “less is more”. In Miss Hooker’s classroom I almost felt claustrophobic. There were so many posters/resources on the walls, and every shelf was pilled full of books or totes, I was very over stimulated by the clutter. The stuff was not useless junk, it was mainly books, and different learning materials but there was so much stuff out that I do not think half of it got used. One big thing I realized is you cannot fix everything. There was always someone that had a hurt body part or did not feel good. Yes, Miss Hooker would show compassion to this matter, but she did not stop everything to try to best accommodate the student either. If she would have done something to accommodate every student she would have never been able to complete a lesson.

My field experience took place at S Bryan Jennings Elementary in Mrs.Reid 's second grade classroom for a little over a month. During my time within the classroom I observed the subjects: reading, mathematics, and phonics, science, and writing. I also observed a teacher planning period. When I was within the classroom I observed the techniques the teacher used in the subjects, the programs used, the children’s abilities with the subject and/or topic, the students struggles within the subject and/or topic, the teachers struggles with students who did not understand, and the stereotypes that applied and/or did not apply to the classroom, teacher, and students. Within this dissertation, I will describe and focus on these observations in a more specific way following with observed examples.

When students came in, they were calm and polite, a few even spoke to their visitors and seemed genuinely pleased that they had guests today. When the students came in, they knew exactly what they were supposed to do and did so quietly. The diversity in this classroom was nice to see and the students all interacted kindly to each other and with

There are so many opportunities and lessons I have been taking away from this observation experience. First, being the importance of structuring a classroom

While observing Mrs. Cirrincione, I liked her classroom management skills. The students seemed to know what was expected of them at all times. Mrs. Cirrincione also connected much of the students’ lessons to their personal interests, which means she has taken the time to get to know each of her students. Mrs. Cirrincione pulled sticks throughout the day giving each student the opportunity to participate. Throughout several of the lessons, Mrs. Cirrincione would give the students helpful hints to remember the content. I struggle to remember new content, so I appreciate that Mrs. Cirrincione took the time to teach strategies to help the students

For my classroom observation I had the opportunity of sitting in on a first grade regular education classroom. Listed below are the following that relates to the teacher’s classroom design.