Clark1 Shaina Clark Intro to Teaching Victoria Eastman 25 November 2008 My New Outlook on Teaching All the field experiences have helped broaden my view on teaching. I have worked in classrooms before, but never have I just sat back and observed the culture of the classroom and how the teacher connects with the students. I also never had the opportunity to observe a middle school or special education classroom before. I had always felt that I was very comfortable in the classroom setting, but realized through these observations that I was not as comfortable in some as others. I feel that I felt the most comfortable in the regular elementary third grade classroom and the high school world history classroom. Although, I did feel a little out of place at the time of the presentation in the regular third grade classroom when the guidance counselor went over the importance of good and bad touches from people. I felt the least comfortable in the middle school classroom and special education classroom because I observed behavior problems and issues that I was not used to. All these observations has helped shape ideas of how I want my classroom to be someday, and helped confirm my choice to become an elementary teacher. When I first went to the field experiences I thought it was just going to be a re-run of what I already knew. I had worked as a cadet teacher in a classroom before, so I thought that the field experiences could be a waste of time, but was still excited because I couldn t wait to get
Clark2 back in a classroom and see some young students again. But, I was wrong. I learned so much more about classroom culture and how students react to their teachers through these observations. I saw how teachers had to deal with behavior problems, and how the consequences differed depending on the age group and maturity level of the child. I saw some different methods that teachers used to get the students excited about learning and how the students responded to these activities and lessons. I saw some that worked well and others that didn t. For example, in the special education class that I observed they had an activity called No Talk No Walk Time. This is where the students and the teachers sit down, get comfortable, and just write. The students seemed to respond well to the teachers doing the same activity that they were doing. But, in the same classroom, the teachers allowed the students to have some independent time to work on a worksheet that they had just taught about, and the students got easily distracted and were not doing what they were supposed to. An example of the behavior procedures and how it worked differently is in the special education classroom the student has to flip a card if they are misbehaving. One student had to flip his card, so he just got up and flipped it and then sat back down and started to behave. Another student had to flip his card, got very upset, and went to the cubbies and hid back there. No child handles a problem exactly the same, which is why I believe that punishments need to try to accommodate every child in the classroom, not just make one big punishment for all the students no matter what. The classroom environment tended to reflect the classrooms cultures. Each room was pretty similar to the others, but had something that was unique about it compared to the others. I observed that the elementary level classrooms tended to have more colors and artwork and educational posters about different topics rather than the older classrooms. The older classrooms tended to have less color and more motivational posters. And then at the high school level, the
Clark3 room tended to be decorated just for the subject that they were teaching. For example, in the eighth grade classroom that I observed, her classroom was decorated in sports posters that had motivational sayings. I found it to be neat, but also I believe that it does not include everyone in the classroom and may not feel inviting to everyone because some students are not interested in sports. The high school class I observed was for world history, therefore the teacher had maps and historic things and information on the walls, which I felt was trying to invite the topic for the room. I observed many interactions between teachers and students, and the majority seemed to be positive. When the teacher got a little angry at students for not doing what they were supposed to be doing, they seemed to respond well by behaving better and respecting the teacher. For example, in the special education classroom the teacher had to remind the students to ask appropriate questions during show and tell time and the students asked appropriate questions from then on. But, I also observed a negative interaction too. In the eighth grade classroom I noticed a girl was having an attitude with the teacher and didn t want to do anything she was asked. The teacher seemed to respond to the problem by ignoring her. I was not so sure this was the approach I would take because even though she was ignoring the girl, which did not cause an argument, the girl still continued to disrupt the class and learning environment. There were many different ways the teachers used to get the students to interact. Some played games, such as the eighth grade classroom. Some had the students all sit on the floor and read to them, such as the regular third grade classroom. Some just opened up for class discussion, which tended to happen in each classroom I observed, and some just went down the rows and had each student answer a question, such as the high school classroom.
Clark4 The biggest challenges that I believe I will have to face is classroom management, consequences for behaviors, and learning how to handle time management. The classrooms were so organized and structured and at this point in time I do not feel that I could accomplish that effectively. I also find that I do not like to discipline or have consequences for behaviors, and I believe in Kohlberg s Theory in that each student cannot be effectively be disciplined because each child is unique. Such as the card flipping working effectively for the ones student did not for the other. So, I will have the struggle of trying to come up with a fair discipline system for all the students. Finally, I think I will have to learn how to effectively use time management. I observed that some teachers had some things more timed out than others, but all of them seemed to have a system. The eighth grade classroom had warm up practices at the beginning that were timed so that the teacher made sure she had enough time for the game at the end. The special education classroom had every activity timed out which I believe helped the students stay on task. In order to face these struggles, I am hoping that the majority of them will be taught to me through my courses here at Manchester. Also, I would like to observe classrooms more to see how teachers address these problems. Finally, I would like to start subbing at schools when I have time to try to help prepare and have real life experiences with these issues. I see some of my strengths as communication, patience, creativity, and enthusiasm. I feel that I can communicate well with students and they tend to respond to me in a positive way when I talk to them or try to help them with a problem. I feel like I have a good amount of patience and understanding when I am dealing with students. I believe that I can be creative when coming up with activities and lesson plans for the students to do to try to entice them to be interested in the subject. Finally, I feel that I am truly enthusiastic when it comes to teaching. I
Clark5 believe that I have positive energy I can bring into a classroom. It is my passion to teach, therefore I love doing it. My new professional goals that I have set for myself is to observe classrooms farther and be able to interview and talk with teachers. Also, I want to take as many courses and workshops that I possibly can to try to further my qualifications and be better prepared to become a teacher. I want to become a more effective teacher by doing anything possible to learn more about the world of teaching such as classroom environment, classroom culture, disciplinary methods, and how to effectively interact my students make them interested and excited to learn. I would also like to further explore all these aspects of teaching, so that I can become a more effective teacher. Especially things that I feel are my weaknesses. In conclusion I really enjoyed the field observations and the experiences that they brought. They gave me a wake-up call to see how every classroom is different and each has their own culture and experiences. I found it very intriguing to see how each teacher interacted with their students and how they set up their classroom environment. I felt that each teacher I observed was exceptionally qualified and did a wonderful job in their classrooms, because the majority of the students seemed to respond well and be interested in what was going on in the classroom. Also, I feel that the majority of the students felt comfortable in their classrooms. Teaching is a tough career that takes a huge amount of responsibility. There is so much involved in teaching, and the minds of our future are at stake. These observations just proved to me that I am up to the challenge. I still want to be a teacher, but not just any teacher, I want to be a successful effective teacher that students will not forget as they move on to the next step of their lives as I have a new class of students coming in to try to leave the same impression.