Entry 8

The most important thing that I learned from my fieldwork is that I have to have fun while teaching. If I am not having fun, the students will not enjoy school. I need to control my emotion. Even when students are acting out I still need to act like I want to be at school. Getting mad does nothing for the student and nothing for me. Attitude is everything when you are teaching. At Barrett Elementary School I felt like the students did not want to be at school because the teacher was so strict and the students were not allowed to express themselves. The teacher did not seem like she wanted to be at school and that effected the students. At Dan Peterson School, I was working with disabled students. If I went to work with a bad attitude the students would always be able to tell and they would either push my buttons more or start crying. Despite what some people may think, school are not just about learning. School should be enjoyed. Students should learn how to enjoy learning. When I am a teacher, yes I defiantly want to be a teacher, I will make sure their is a balance between learning subjects and learning how to love life now and in the future.

Entry 7

• What are the school rules/classroom rules and how are they enforced?
• What are the procedures the teacher uses to make everything run smoothly in the class?

At Dan Peterson we only have four rules. They are Stay with the group, quiet mouth and body, follow directions, and give people space. Everyday for morning meeting we go over the rules with the class. Throughout the day, if a student is not following the rules, we remind them of what they are supposed to be doing. If they do not submit to following the rules we then will give them a strike. Every time a student received a strike they would be moved to a different stoplight color. One strike, the student would get on yellow which was a warning for them to slowdown and think of what they were doing. Two strikes resulted in the student being moved to red which meant the student had to stop what they were doing immediately and do some work sheets, on strike three the student would be moved to black. This meant that the student would have to go to a seat away from the class and practice being quite for five minutes. After five minutes of being quiet the student would go back to their seat and complete some work sheets. 

     This method was good for some of the students but others did not understand what the colors meant, but for the most part it did its job and was effective. The students really understood the rules though. They could say them all and do actions to remember them. 

   In the other class I worked in, the teacher would have the students write their names on the board every time they misbehaved. If they continued to act out they would get a check next to their names. If they got another check then they would have to make a call (I do not know to who) and admit that they were not following directions. This class was really well behaved. Therefor it must be a good method. 

Entry 6

What strategies does the teacher use to actively engage the students? How effective are these?

The teacher at Barrett Elementary school would engage the students by having them take turns answering the questions asked by the teacher and by having them ask questions about the lesson. Also she would teach a subject and then let the students practice by doing the assignment on their own. The effectiveness of these strategies varied. I could tell that some of the students were involved and learning, but, many of the students did not seem very interested in the lessons that were being taught. They would get rowdy or put their heads on the desk. Honesty, I think the strategies the teacher used was good for the students who understood things quickly but not good for those who struggle to understand. Those who were not engaged in the lesson and the discussions seemed to get left out. If I were to change something about the way the teacher engaged the students, I would have her call on the students who looked like they were sleeping, frustrated or loud. This way the students would have to follow along and if they did not understand, the teacher could help them out better.

     At Dan Peterson the teacher and teacher's aides engaged the students by working with them one on one to give each of the student a chance to work on what they were learning. This was effective, the only problem that would occur was trying to get around to all of the students before they got bored and disruptive. Because there were more students than aides it was hard to make sure all of the students were engaged in the work at once.

    When I am a teacher I will engage my students by doing interactive activities with my students. I have a hard time just standing in front of a class gabbing because that is not an effective method of teaching in my opinion.  I would give my students hands on activities that they could do so that they can learn the lesson in a fun and interactive way. 

Entry 5

• What do you think is the most important role a teacher plays? 
•  Why?What do you think is the most challenging role a teacher plays?  Why?

From working with my students it is hard to say what the MOST important role a teacher plays. I think that teachers should act as role models. Students should be able to look at a teacher and want to learn because of the way they act, teach, and present themselves in a classroom setting. Teachers need to know how to have fun but keep order in the class at the same time. A teacher needs to be a friend and a listening ear to the students. By doing this, students will be excited to learn more. Coming to school should be a pleasure not torture. The most challenging role a teacher has to play is staying emotionally detached from the students while at the same time become a friend and a caring individual. What I mean by that is teachers need to let the students know that they are important to them but the teacher should not get too emotionally involved or else they will burn out. The reason I say this is because at Dan Peterson, the students are disabled. They do not have easy lives and I do care about them but if I let myself get emotionally attached I would go into depression because I would be worried about them all the time. Teachers need to be an example for students. They need to be aware of their emotions and not let them bring the class down. That would be the most challenging role as a teacher for me.

Entry 4

What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in? 
How does this teacher manage assessment?

At Dan Peterson school I was asked to take data on the goals that the students did. I would mark whether the students completed the task independently, with a partial prompt, or a full prompt. I would then write any comments I had concerning the progress of the students. At Barrett elementary I was not asked to record information, but, I did notice the way that the teacher kept track of the students' scores. Each student was assigned a number. The teacher would call each number and the students would say what score they got. If the students did not want to say their score out loud they had the option of walking up to the teacher and tell her the score secretly. I do not think that I would be able to score things that way in my own classroom. I think it is important to have the students learn about honesty, but, I do not think I would trust my students to give me the correct score. Recording progress is important for the growth of students. I know that by grading everything myself I would have a lot of extra work but I want to be able to see where my students are missing questions so that I may better teach them in the future.

Entry 3

I was able to spend more time at Barrett Elementary school than I did at the beginning of my volunteer work. I was able to notice how some of the students really struggled with some of the concepts. The way that the teacher helped those students was to work with them one on one. She would explain things slower for those students using pictures and simple words. They would work things through step by step. At Dan Peterson, many different learning methods were used to teach the students because many of the students could not speak. Some could speak but not very well. One student did not know English but did know a different language. For some of the students we would help them connect words with their meanings by having pictures to go with what they were reading. They would have to match the words to the pictures. We also used some action pictures. We would have the students say what the people in the pictures were doing. Each  student understands things differently. It is important to make sure that each student gets an opportunity to have an equal learning experience by teaching in a variety of different ways.

Addition to Entry 2

I am so excited because the teacher that I have been volunteering for has been giving me more opportunities to help out. I have been aiding students with their computer assignments, passing out spelling tests, and helping keep the class in order. I am getting to know my students more. I am loving it. I think when I am a teacher however, I will have a very different teaching style than the teacher I work for. The teacher I work for has no tolerance for anything. She does not allow the students to have fun and express themselves. I agree that there needs to be order in a classroom, but at the same time kids need to be kids. One experience I have had working one on one with a student was when we were in the computer lab, the students were supposed to make two short sentences into one long sentence. One kid was struggling. I was able to teach him different words he could use and how to use commas to make the sentence work. It felt great helping the student because the teacher was busy with other things and I could help both her and the student.

Entry 2

I began working at Barret Elementary school this week. The very first day I was there, the teacher was sick so I did not do much. The next day I was there, I was able to get a clearer view of the order of the classroom. I am working with fifth graders which is quite new to me. Working in a regular glass is so different than working with disabled students.It is hard to work one on one with my students at Barret elementary school because I am only there for a short time. In that time the students have an assignment where they work by themselves. My job is to make sure that no one is talking or driving the teacher crazy. I wish I could spend more time in the class room so that I could get to know my students more and be able to help out. Unfortunately, due to my real job, I am only allowed to volunteer for a half an hour during my lunch break. However, I get to spend plenty of time with my special needs students. I learn from them every day. I work with those students one on one and in a groups daily. I learn how to help them want to learn. I cannot force them to do anything. I am learning ways to make learning fun for the students.

Entry 1

For my first entry I want to share a few things about working at Dan Peterson School. Each of the students in the class I work in have many differences. I cannot give many details due to confidentiality. However, I can say that some of my students are very good at working independently and others need much more prompts. Some need quite a bit of attention and others do not. Many of my student have developed challenging behaviors due and we are working on changing those behaviors to become good behaviors. I am saying this to let people know that even though my students have the same type of disability, they have developed differently from their peers. Each student I work with deal with different challenges, therefore, as a teacher I need to be aware of each child individually. I need to understand the needs of each of the students and their developmental differences. Doing this will help me to develop lessons and activities that can be personal to each of my students. That will give each child a chance to learn in his or her own way. 

Introduction

Hello, this is Cynthia Virgile. I have been teaching children with disabilities for two years now. I plan to get my elementary degree. From there on I want to get a masters degree in special education. For my fieldwork assignment for my intro to education class I plan on working at Barritt Elementary school in the Alpine School District. Also, I will relate some experiences I have while working at Dan Peterson school for special needs students which is also in the Alpine School District.