Fieldwork Reflection

The three lessons taught were a Seahorse Description lesson, an Ocean Pollution
lesson and a Ocean Shapes lesson. The first lesson I taught was a math lesson on ocean shapes,
where students created ocean shapes from construction paper. The Ocean Pollution lesson was
for students to budget using play money to clean up a polluted ocean habitat. The third lesson
was the Seahorse Description writing lesson. Students described a seahorse by writing using
can, have and are in their sentences.
The ocean pollution lesson was a huge learning experience for me because I implemented
too many things in one lesson. I learned that my introduction was too long. However, I used an
ocean puzzle to have students get hooked, which worked. However, a group did not work well,
so I needed to group students based on how they work with others. The through part was very
engaging because students were excited about cleaning up the ocean pollution in the water tub.
Students were working together to find out how to spend their ocean dollars wisely to purchase
appropriate tools to help them clean the ocean pollution. The change Id make is to only
providing students with the set time I provided because some students took too long and have
difficulty decided based on the group members. The beyond part went well. Many students
understood the concept of how humans are endangering ocean animal habitats.
The Ocean Shapes lesson got was off to a good start. Students enjoyed singing a shape
song and the flannel board helped visual learners. The through part included shape picture cards
and a numbered heads activity. The change I would make is to provide shape picture cards and
images from books or pictures that can help scaffold students into finding shapes within the
ocean. The beyond part was the most effective and students were all actively engaged. The
process students were going through illustrated their understanding. This lesson helped me see
how to teach math in a fun and engaging manner.
The Seahorse Descriptive lesson was very effective. This lesson began with previewing
vocabulary, which provided me with information about students background knowledge. I found
that many students had deep background knowledge. This also gave others with a better
understanding of new vocabulary words in the book. The book was appropriate, but it was a bit
small. A larger book would be better for students. The circle map was extremely helpful in
brainstorming and helping me assess students understanding. The modeling of the tree map and
sentence frame helped many students learn to organize their thoughts. However, many of the
students including some E.L.L.s wrote complex sentences and used a lot of the writing tips they
had learned throughout the school year. The beyond part was successful and sharing with a peer
worked well. Overall, this lesson was successful and could use a few changes to make it better.
I learned about the students in a variety of ways. I observed students in the classroom
during centers, at arrival, during library time, at recess, lunch, classroom centers, math, science,
E.L.A., and E.L.D. Conversations with the classroom teacher, noon duty aide, E.L.D.
intervention teacher, afterschool program teachers, and parents was another way I learned about
students. All these adults shared information about the individual students and the class. I learned
that students behave differently in the classroom, at lunch, at recess, at the afterschool program
and at home. Every setting plays a role in how students behave and learn. For example, some shy
students arent shy at home. Some shy students arent shy in small groups at the afterschool
program. Some classes follow directions well in the classroom, but not on the playground or in
the cafeteria. The afterschool program has several students picked up very late or lack parent
involvement. Some students work better at the afterschool program because of the activities and
choices available. In addition, I learned about students from scores shared with me from the

teacher which included spelling tests, unit tests, A.R. reading tests, star tests, CELDT scores,
writing assessments, math units scores, D.O.R.A. scores, etc. I also looked at the students
cumulative files which included lots of information related to students development and
academic record. Lastly, I used student journals, surveys, interest inventories, homework, and
work samples. I learned that students enjoy hands on activities, group projects, art and science. I
learned that students struggle with writing including grammar, propositions, nouns, present/past
tense and writing clear sentences. Also, most students speak English and Spanish.
My key learnings from the master teacher included how to manage a classroom using
effective techniques. These techniques included brain breaks, community classroom, cognitive
discipline and positive reinforcement. There were so many little things the teacher does to create
a warm, caring and cooperative classroom. She greets and dismisses students with physical
contact such as a first pump, a should pat, handshake or hug. She also has classroom meetings
every day and has bucket fillers who look for students doing positive things throughout the day.
Students also sing, dance and take a pledge to good students. Also, students are asked to do an
act of kindness every day. The teacher shares the act of kindness every moment. These acts of
kindness include smiling at people, giving a compliment, making a new friend, drawing a
picture, etc. In addition, every week there is a star student, who shares details about themselves
and their family.
Formal and informal assessments are used in a variety of ways. They are used to plan
lessons, revisit necessary material, create goals, update and inform parents of progress, and
encourage students.
Technology was used in the classroom in many ways. This was done constantly because
this is a science and technology school. Students use technology to create group projects, such as
an IMovie. The teacher had a green screen and added a group made poster of a flower and
students described the flower. Students conducted animal habitat research on computers.
Students typed their finished work on Word. The smart board was used to enhance lessons. Brain
breaks using you tube was used. Kahoot.com was used to assess student learning before and after
lessons. Students used computers to play and read during centers. The computer lab was visited
twice a week and they used a math game website. Students took reading quizzes on the computer
every morning. The projector and document camera was used every day during math. Students
created stories online as well.
Classroom management procedures include posted classroom rules. These rules include
being respectful, being kind, using an inside voice, being on task and being a bucket filler.
Cognitive discipline is used to deal with challenging behaviors. Students are made aware of their
actions and when students act out or when conflicts arise the master teacher handles these
situations instrumentally. She has a soft area with different materials for students to use such as a
stress ball, an emotion mirror, puppets and posters with coping techniques such as breathing,
ballooning, counting, etc. In addition, positive reinforcement is used. The teacher acknowledges
when students are doing positive things in the classroom. She encourages this by acknowledging
their actions while having students write something positive they saw a student doing and
sharing it with the class and filling a bucket with these notes. She also says, I like the way
your. Thank you for. A good listener/student does what youre doing Students with
extreme behavior problems are on a behavior contract, which is filled out at every transition.
This encourages students to continue to follow directions and stay on task. The
strategies/procedures were very effective. It was very rare when students acted out. If they did it
was unnoticeable because of how she managed the classroom. The classroom ran like a well-

oiled machine even when the teacher needed to deal with other things away from the group of
students.
This experience was eye opening for me and helped me understand how consistent you
must be. I also learned that being prepared for the unexpected is key to having control. There is a
positive way to manage a classroom while still having fun. Students know and understand their
role in the classroom and how their behaviors affect others. I know that there are many
components to managing classroom behavior, learning about your students to help you teach. All
of this comes with patience, time and experience. I have also learned that things do not always
goes as planned, but flexibility is key in maintaining control. In addition, I learned that there are
many ways to learn about your students and your class to better support their learning. I have a
lot to look forward to learning and implementing next semester.