Field Experience Journal

Field Experience #1 Classroom Interaction in Special Needs Class

Introduction - Frederick High School (Frederick County, MD)was the location of my
self-contained class observation. Located in the City of Frederick, this secondary
education facility has about 1300 students enrolled with demographics including
20% Hispanic, 28% African American, 38% White and 14% various other ethnicities.
Free and reduced-lunch students make up 38% of the school population. The class I
observed was an ELL class and was 100% Hispanic with very limited English
language skills. These students were in the first level of their English classes, many
in their first days in the United States; some students often begin the class in the
middle of the school year as they move to Frederick.
Part 1 - My hypothesis was that the female teacher would pay more attentions to
the male students because the female students would be better behaved and not
require as much attention. I used a verbal flow chart, a gender-based response
tally, and qualitative descriptions of the types of interaction (words said, tone of
voice, patience with, etc.) with boys verses girls and qualitative journaling of
interactions.
Part 2 - The classroom was jammed with 27 students and had minimal room in
between the rows or around the perimeter of the classroom for the teacher to move
about. The teacher also had a student aide to help with non-instructional duties
(making copies, etc.). The students were of mixed high school grade levels (ages of
15 to 18 years old) as their English language skills determined placement in the
class. There were 15 boys and 12 girls in the class. Differences between students
were not obvious by the way they looked but exist because of their country of
origin. Twenty-one class members came from El Salvador, five from Guatemala and
one from Mexico; the teacher reported that some students walked here from their
home country. Thirteen live with both parents, seven live with no family in the
home, four live in a single parent household and one lives with a brother or sister.
The teacher also related that these students are somewhat needy and require a lot
of nurturing due to the fact that they are new to America, some without any familial
support. Either it was a class rule or their socioeconomic status, but I only saw one
phone the entire 90 min class period.
Teacher Response Chart (which gender to which teacher interacts during 20 min
sweep)
Male 6

Female 3

Qualitative Data (Words Spoken Individually to Students and tone of voice) To

boys: pay attention to when I am talking, not to your neighbor, good job with
your homework
To girls: You cant learn if you talk, good job, very nice

Qualitative Data continued: One part of my plan was unable to be completed as

she did not wait for students to raise their hands to be called upon; therefore, it was
impossible to determine which gender she would choose to answer. Her comments
to the girls included phrases like, you cant learn if you talk (meaning chatting
with neighbors) and very nice as praise for work completed or correct answers to
oral questions. Likewise for the boys, she called out to one young man who was not
paying attention in a sharp way but was extremely kind to the boy whose first day it
was in her class. She walked up and down the crowded aisles checking homework,
making verbal contact with each student, and was kind but firm. By her tone of
voice students could tell if the teacher was making a joke, correcting them, or that it
was time to pay attention. Due to the fact that it was a foreign language class with
a lot of repetition practice necessary, the verbal flow chart shows a lot of even
exchange of information between teacher and students; however, she did do most
of the talking. There was a fair amount of student to student interaction (see verbal
flow chart) since the class was too big to really keep completely under control
unless direct instruction was taking place. Since the teacher had to help students
one-on-one occasionally, she allowed this chatter as long as it didnt get too loud
and students seemed to stay on task, completing the necessary work. Overall, the
students were fairly well-behaved and motivated to learn English. The students in
this ELL program get 2 years of special education language-adjusted classes
before they are placed in the mainstream.

Verbal Flow Chart (20 min

sweep)
*Blue arrows - teacher to student
interaction
*Black arrows - student to student
interaction

Teacher to
student
(each tally
represents 2)

*Tick marks represent additional

interactions

B
B
G

G
G

B
B
B

G
B

B
B

Part 3 My hypothesis was not correct as I recorded no favoritism or gender bias of

any sort by this teacher (as shown by verbal flow chart). She is a native-speaking
Chilean woman who spoke excellent English, was kind and supportive to all students
while being business-like as well.
I learned that the traditional classroom set-up of rows of desks is not always
conducive to learning, but that I will have to adjust as space permits. Teaching
does not always occur under ideal circumstances, and teachers must sometimes
cope with inadequate facilities, insufficient materials, interruptions and other
difficulties (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 20I2). I would like to be creative with
the set-up of my classroom and experiment with different designs. By observing
this classroom and utilizing the verbal flow chart, it is clear that proximity to the
teacher affects the amount of student chatter or students being off-task since the
teacher can usually only notice and correct those students to whom she is closest.
The chatter between students is minimized as they complete tasks that are
engaging; therefore, I will plan my lessons with this in mind. Overall, the students
in this class showed respect for the teacher; they could tell she was sympathetic to
their struggles as first generation immigrants since she is one herself. Her caring
was rewarded by the students desire to please her. Snowman corroborates this
principle by stating, A student who identifies with and admires a teacher may work
hard partly to please the admired individual and partly to try becoming like that

individual (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 20I0). I hope to foster an unbiased

compassionate environment in my classroom.
References:
Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2012). Addressing cultural and
socioeconomic diversity. In M. Kerr (Ed.), Psychology Applied to Teaching (13 ed., p.
156). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.