I had my first Field Experience on Tuesday, September 3, 2013. I spent an hour in iss !

ic"ey#s
1st $rade class room at %est&ood Elementary in 'e& (astle. I &as as"ed to ma"e sure all of the students
copied their ne& spellin$ &ords from the smart board. I &al"ed around the room and made sure no one
&andered off tas". I obser)ed *shado& readin$+ for the first time. The students repeated &hat the teacher
read from the smart board. iss !ic"ey let me lead her students throu$h a pa$e of this. I spent the rest of
my time e)aluatin$ indi)idual students# readin$ le)els. Each student read a fe& pa$es for me, and I rated
their s"ill &ith a chec",plus, chec", or chec",minus. I also made -uic" notes if anythin$ ob)ious struc"
me. iss !ic"ey used my obser)ations to $roup her students for the rest of the day#s readin$ practice.
She told me she normally uses Starr readin$ test scores and .ccelerated /eader le)els to $roup her
readers.
The most eye,openin$ part of this experience &as the method of beha)ior mana$ement that &as
used in this classroom. Each student has a ma$net &ith their name on it. They are arran$ed on a ma$netic
board that has a chart dra&n on it. Throu$hout the day, students are told to either mo)e their ma$net up or
do&n, dependin$ on the -uality of their beha)ior. There &ere about fifteen ad0ustments made durin$ my
hour. This practice is somethin$ that I &ould not &ant to brin$ into my classroom. It &as )ery distractin$
for the teacher and students. It also seemed to actually create beha)ior problems at times.
I &ould definitely use *shado& readin$+ if I tau$ht at this $rade le)el. It is a $reat &ay to $et
students acti)ely in)ol)ed in trac"in$ the text and pronouncin$ &ords correctly. They thou$ht it &as fun,
li"e playin$ a $ame.
This experience helped me $ro& professionally because I $ained a better understandin$ of ho& to
teach a $roup of t&enty children &ho are on at least fi)e different s"ill le)els. I ha)e a difficult time &ith
the idea of $roupin$ children because I thin" the least s"illed students must "no& they are bein$ sin$led
out. I hate the idea that some of them may be discoura$ed at this early a$e. It seems to be a necessary e)il
thou$h, because all $rade,le)els appear to customi1e the acti)ities of students to their $eneral s"ill le)el.