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Griselda Alvarado
LBS 300
Reflective Essay
12/13/16
My early fieldwork experience gave me the opportunity to put into practice what I
learned in the classroom. The supervising teacher, Mr. Sergio Brito, set a great example for me to
follow. He works determinedly at Lugo Elementary with his 6th grade class, the principal, Ms.
Dionne Garner, and the staff to improve their 3-year average API score of 713. The school is
located near busy cross streets by the 710 freeways in the city of Lynwood. It is near Imperial
Highway and Atlantic Blvd. behind a busy shopping center. In the shopping center, there is a
Starbucks, a McDonalds, a KFC, and a Mexican grocery store along with other small businesses.
This city is comprised of mostly working class Latinos. According to the 2014-2015 School
Accountability Report Card (SARC), the school was considered 93.9% socioeconomically
disadvantaged student population. Fast food restaurants and poor air quality from the heavy
traffic surround the children in this school everyday. The school itself is very small and has a
poor school facility overall rating. It has 429 students enrolled and 22 fully credentialed
teachers. Hispanic/ Latino children make up 94.4% of the student population with 53.8%
identified as English learners. According to Mr.Brito, most children are bilingual and very few
parents speak English. African American students make up 3% of the student population and
other race/ethnicities comprise less than 3% combined. Although the school has an afterschool
program, Mr. Brito claims that it is poorly organized and very few students attend. Additionally,
the school does not have a Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The lack of resources is evident in
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the schools CAASPP Report. In grade 3, only 10% met the Math standard and 19% met the
Language Arts standards. In grade 5, 13% of students met the Math standard and 19% met the
Language Arts standard. Despite the continued efforts, the students and teachers at Lugo
Elementary struggle to improve overall scores due to the lack of economic, societal, and parental
support.
This little disadvantaged elementary taught me more than just textbook procedures. I
learned the importance and the difficulties of providing a quality education. The effort that a
teacher must input is indispensable. In these underperforming schools, the effort will compensate
for the lack or resources. Teaching requires the willingness to learn, adapt, and at times dedicate
additional hours to the classroom. However, I learned that teaching and learning couldnt happen
if there is a lack of classroom management skills. Mr.Brito is a very efficient teacher because his
classroom management skills are excellent. According to him, the first two weeks of class are
crucial in establishing a set routine, rules, and expectations. Mr. Brito admitted that during the
first two weeks there is not a lot of teaching because the children are getting acclimated to his
teaching style. One of my favorite techniques that he used for classroom management is that the
children had something to do as soon as they walked into the room. They were expected to work
on their vocabulary with their table before he went over it as a whole group. He used a clicker to
get their attention and a timer to help everybody stay on task. These techniques helped occupy
the students for a few minutes while the teacher settled in and allowed the teacher to redirect the
different capabilities together. Children are very good at teaching and learning from each other.
The children that are behind can benefit from the assistance. The advanced students have an
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opportunity to retain more information because they are explaining. Also, they are learning other
skills such as communication and leadership. He assigns a group leader and the group is
expected to collaborate and problem solve without assistance from an adult. This technique
benefits everyone because the teacher has time to work with a small group and offer more
individualized assistance. This strategy will yield improved scores and facilitate individualized
assessment.
Working with children in small groups also proved beneficial to me. I was able to
correctly identify and differentiate between the childrens reading levels. It allowed me to focus
on the students that needed help without holding back the students that excelled on the task.
During this time, I also realized that the students perceived me as friendly and approachable.
They were more likely to ask me questions and felt comfortable sharing their work. This is a
good strength to have because as an educator, I want my students to ask questions and learn
without the fear of humiliation. Conversely, my strength can easily become a weakness if I fail to
be assertive. I tend to be friendly and smile a lot and older children may perceive me as a passive
teacher. I need to work on being stern. My plan is to begin the school year on a serious note and
soften up as the year progresses. This will prevent the students from thinking I am a push over
The LBS 300 fieldwork experience bridged the classroom with reality. The classroom
allowed us to share our experience and learn from each other. Our fieldwork gave us the
what we had learned in the classroom and on our fieldwork in our journals. I was able to
determine what methods were applicable to my fieldwork. During this assignment, I realized that
some textbook skills are not transferable to some schools. Each school and each child is different
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in environment, opportunities, and resources. As educators all we can do is adapt and evolve our