My Visitation And Fieldwork Assignment

During my field experience at Ridge Elementary school, I was placed in a 4th-grade classroom. While working on my field experience I had gotten the luxury to connect and bond with several types of student’s from various backgrounds and demographics. When I first stepped foot into the fourth-grade classroom it was very well decorated with quotes, educational tips, and motivational messages. There were three windows in which the students often gazed out while working. The walls were an eggshell color which was kind of depressing. Adding color to the walls would have made the environment feel a little more joyful yet the students still made that classroom their second home by decorating their desks.

In a good classroom, students should feel safe and comfortable. The classroom was staffed with Ms. Caitlin the kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Doherty the teacher's assistant. The class size consisted of twenty children. The classroom held five round tables with four students per table. Having tables rather than individual desks, Ms. Caitlin encouraged a sense of community rather than allowing a child to be alone at a desk. The furniture was at an appropriate level and size for 5 and 6-year-old children. Also, there was space for children to store their work and personal belongings in cubbies. The class had four different learning center stations these included: writing/reading center, block center, math center, and the kitchen center. Bulletin boards were displayed and decorated with colorful pictures which reinforced concepts learned in the classroom. For example, the alphabet, numbers and days of the week. Student work was also visible in the classroom. In the front of the classroom, a smartboard and rug was arranged for the students to gather for lessons and play. This area was kept free from all forms of distraction. In the back of the room, extra materials were available such as pencils, erasers, crayons, glue sticks, and scissors. Overall, I believe that Ms. Caitlin provided her students with a positive, cheerful, and organized learning environment. She instilled in her students that the classroom is a

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.

She told me about her classroom rules which are mutual respect, attentive listening and appreciations no put downs. She spent the first three weeks of school going over these three rules and afterwards she had each student write their name on colored paper which is their contract, their signature on that paper means they will follow those rules throughout the year. She has another rule in her classroom called “Kelso’s Choices”. Kelso’s Choices are nine different choices they can make on how to solve their problems in class. When the students come to an issue they have to choose two of the choices on the poster before going to the teacher. Some of the choices on there include, walking away, talking it out, apologizing, telling them to stop, etc. I really liked the idea of Kelso’s Choices because it teaches them problem solving as well as social skills. Instead of being unfair or going to the teacher they have the opportunity to solve the issues and be fair towards each other.

We have cubbies were students put their belongings. We have tables that either two to three students can sit and do their work or activities. A few ways to improve my classroom would be to have a few more educational poster like of nutrition, grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives and etc.), separating the different elementary grade levels so they near posters that would benefit them and adding activity board where students can draw or use it. The positive things in the classroom is that the room is separated into two parts so kids doing homework is in one part and kids playing is in the other part. Also, having posters that are beneficial to what kids are learning in school and the individuals’ cubbies for each student and the

My observation this semester is in a self-contained classroom for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The class is taught by one special education teacher who is assisted by a teaching aide. The desks are spaced out from one another, allowing each student a lot of room to move around. I believe the desks are arranged this way so that the students have limited contact with one another. There are books and games on a shelf that the students are allowed to use during break time. There are also two computers that they may use during breaks or after they have completed their work. In one corner of the room, there are two bean bags and a sign that says quiet zone. The students are taught reading, math, and language arts in this room. They go to an inclusion room for science and social studies. They eat lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the fifth-grade students. They also leave this room every day to attend related arts with the rest of the student body.

I want to build a sense of community were discipline problems can be prevented, children can feel safe, secure, nurtured and supported by the environment through thoughtful arrangements. The large amount of space in my classroom will be devoted to the arrangement of individual student desks the U-shaped desk pattern in my classroom will allow me to make eye contact with every student and reach each student with ease and this is also good for frequent whole-group discussions. I will provide open passageways through the aisles so the children can move around the room, this is essential for children in wheelchairs to have mobility. My classroom will have brightly colored posters, rugs and furniture such colors as yellow, orange, red and green will be on the classroom walls. I will have a bulletin board in the entrance for posting lesson plans, information about special classroom activities,

The teacher passed around a microphone to each child, it symbolized who was speaking and this made everyone special. The students then had to write two sentences and draw a picture of what they remembered best about their holiday break. Eventually, they shared their two sentences with the teacher or me. Second, I noticed that once everyone read their journals, the teacher quickly called on students based on their bin color, which meant it was time for reading to begin. Each student had their own colored reading bin which included: three reading level books, a word list of the week, and a worksheet using the given word list. The colored bins symbolized what the student was to complete during reading time. For example; students with yellow bins read with the teacher at a table, students with green bins worked on the worksheet, students with blue bins read the three books quietly, and students with pink bins worked on writing on a small whiteboard the word list for the week. This strategy was beneficial because it developed independence. Thirdly, I noticed enthusiasm during the math lesson at the end of the day. The teacher had the students sit on the purple rug for a math lesson. The teacher used her laptop and the video clip to provide the students with visual instruction. Once the video clip was over, the teacher pulled up the worksheet to preview together with the class. Then the students went back to their desk to work on the worksheet

These students make the students with disabilities feel they do not belong or there is something wrong with them when there is not. Additionally, I find the students who get along with students with disabilities are the ones who have taken the time to get the person rather than the label. Students who are introduced to other students with disabilities at young do not discriminate against these students. Their peers at younger do not see the differences as much an example is the comments made by the Patty’s sister how she did not realize until they were older there was some “wrong” with Patty. Another example from the film talks about the mother’s concern about how the students’ opinion might change about Samuel as he grow older. I think if the friends Samuel has, or people who really respect the individual with a disability growing up and learning stereotypes would not matter because they can see the individual for who they are and would not treat them any

Over the course of this semester, I have had a valuable experience observing the children in the special services classroom at Coulter Grove Intermediate School in Maryville, Tennessee. During this observation, I did not only spend time observing the developmentally and physically disabled children that went to the school, but also their neurotypical peers that were put in the classroom as “peer buddies”. Peer buddies acted as friends to the disabled children in the classroom in order to expose the children to those with different abilities and challenges to them. The special services department covers the whole school, but I concentrated my attention on the children in the lower grades. These children were mainly white, but there was one young African-American girl. While the racial divide was uneven, the divide between the genders was around equal. Since the special services classrooms concentrated on children who needed more attention than children who were developing normally, there were more teachers than there is in a typical classroom. The number of teachers in the room varied throughout the day, but there were usually three or four in the classroom at any given time. I spent most of my time observing in the classroom, but also spent time in the cafeteria and playground, which opened me up to even more opportunities observing neurotypical children. In this final application paper, I will summarize my observations and analyze how exactly they match up to what we have

I felt this was a great idea because the students will be able to know what to work on for the day. I, also, was happy that the standards were posted. Even if the students do not pay much attention to them, those standards can help him back track to make sure he covered the standard he wants to cover with the students that day. The posters were a nice touch to the room. Remembering back as a student, I enjoyed those posters especially the ones that would try to motivate you. This is what I did enjoy about his classroom setting.

This classroom was very organized and it did have a lot of things labeled. I recognized that the teacher had a lot of things in her classroom labeled. She had words like door on the door in the classroom. She used a lot of bright colors. I also recognized that the teacher did a lot of one-on-one with her students. For example, she did very small group activities and a lot of the activities consist of one-on-one activities. She allowed the children to experiment with the project. She stated that she like to have children to participate in morning discussion. This time allows her to introduce the new letter of the week. She believes that children learn a lot of literacy through song and dancing. The children would sing the songs as they played in the classroom. Some of them would dance to music.

In this class I was able to assist with everything the students did. I helped with craft time where the students would create a craft depending on what the lesson plan was for that week. I helped students utilize their fine motor skills by advocating the individual task of using a glue stick without help, coloring in the lines, and using safety scissors. Each task was focused on the child performing at the best of his or her ability and using praise to promote the task and the child 's ability to perform the task. During story time the students would sit in a circle and either Mrs. Abby or I would read to them while asking questions about the story or about something pertaining to the story. During music time, the students watched educational videos about letters, numbers, colors, and how to count. I saw that the videos kept their attention while also allowing them to dance and sing along. In this type of class setting I was able to contribute to the development and advancement of each child by pouring my knowledge and experience into their lives. Having such a small class was helpful in that I could focus on each child individually to ensure that the students were equally cared for and valued.

She had a drawer on her desk for substitutes. Posters with things like the scientific method, main idea, clocks, schedules, alphabet with words that start with each letter, and the current spelling words were all on the walls. The teacher would have the students “take pictures” of things on the board to remember for test. For oral discussions students would clap when other students got the correct answer. For reading there were three groups going at a time. The group at the table with the teacher, a group listening and following along, and a group reading to each other while timing the reading to improve speed. When the other class of students came in she continued the work because her class and the other class follow the same lessons. The students from the other class were very respectful toward her and her to them.

In order to get a true understanding of teaching in an inclusion classroom, I was able to observe a fourth grade classroom at Village School in West Windsor, New Jersey. The general education teacher was Ms. Welsh and the special education teacher was Ms. Wilush. Ms. Welsh has been teaching for many years, while Ms. Wilush has only been teaching for two years. Each teacher brings with them different strategies, that together make a wonderful classroom dynamic. The students make up an average size fourth grade classroom of a little more than twenty, but there are three students who receive additional instruction from Ms. Wilush in a resource room throughout the day. During my observation, I was able to sit in on writing lessons and science lessons. There was a wide variety of students in the class with all different strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. Watching and learning from both teachers through observation and interview was an extremely valuable experience.