FIELD OBSERVATION ASSIGNMENTS

Assignment 1:
1. The classroom environment was welcoming, the classroom was filled with student
projects, alongside educational resource posters. The room seemed cluttered due to the
sitting arrangement, but later I found out her reasoning behind the structure of her
classroom. She did not have much furniture or decorations,but was very student oriented.

2. The teacher has 3 sets of block periods, in her first two classes all her students are
accelerated learners, while her other classes are her regular ELL classes. In her non-
accelerated class, she has students that need ESL or have an IEP. The classes have a
diverse makeup of both boys and girls and different ethnicities.

3. This teacher has her students come up with a set of rules, which she then transfers onto a
student contract. This contract is made by her students as a guideline of the behavior that
is expected from them. All the rules are student oriented and made up by the students and
they are posted in her room in plain sight. Every individual block period has their
corresponding rules.

1st Period: Respect, Acknowledge, Nicely, Encourage, Motivate, Manners,

Interest, Kindly, Understanding, talk it out, agree to disagree.

2nd Period: Treated Equally, Respect, Kindly, Fair, Communicate, Inclusive, Non-
Judgmental, talk about it.
3rd Period: Nice, kindly, Fair, Equally, Patient, Motivate, work hard, Apologize,
Be reasonable.

4. The teacher does enforce the classroom rules, if a student misbehaves he/she will be
isolated from the rest of the class. The students have the freedom to choose their seat at
the beginning of the year if a student misbehaves they are then isolated, or they are put in
a different place of the classroom for the rest of the year. The students can also lose any
privileges in participating or receiving any rewards acquired by the class.

Assignment 2
1. In my opinion, the room could have been set up differently to improve the workflow, but
the teacher made it work, and it seemed to be used efficiently by her. The reason behind
her structure was to be able to see all students and have a sense of inclusion in the
classroom.
 2. The physical arrangement could have been improved, I believe that the desks could have
been less spread out, to provide more space for the students to be able to move around the
room if needed. The teacher had a reading corner that could have also been improved by
moving the desks around, which would have created more space for the students to enjoy
the reading space she had provided.

Assignment 3
1. The daily agenda changes weekly per class. During my time observing the class, I
realized that the agenda changed only if the reading material for the week was different.
The class would remain on the same day to day activities since they relied on the chapters
of the book being read. The only difference that I saw was that the accelerated schedule
was less thorough then the regular ELL class. In my opinion it seemed to be because the
accelerated class had a better understanding and were able to work independently then
her other classes.

2. Instruction was delivered as whole groups, then individually as needed. The teacher
would start of by instructing the whole class, then she would move on to groups, and
slowly would walk around the room, and instruct individually as needed.

3. This teacher’s teaching style was student centered. She designed her lessons around her
students. The books chosen for the course were books that she would research based on
interests pointed out by her students. She based her lessons on subjects or projects her
students would enjoy and would relate to.

4. The teacher would incorporate all learning styles into her curriculum. She would have the
students listen to audio books, while some would read their book instead. She would also
use visual aids in her curriculum, she would use her projector screen to instruct the
students how to move around the designated webpage she would want them to use.
Sometimes she would do lessons that varied in learning styles, but sometimes she did not.

5. Among the Brave was a book that was being read by the class, the teacher had chosen this
book because it appealed to the age group. It is about a dystopian society where children
struggle to survive. When the teacher would ask them for predictions more than half of
the class would raise their hands to participate. After the teacher would read them the
chapter the students were eager to read more and participate more. Her choice of
literature motivated the children in the class to read more.

6. There are students that are isolated. The reason being is after so much disruptive behavior
the teacher then decides to move the student and place them by themselves which in her
opinion results in the student being more productive. During my time there, there was this
student that was disruptive and would not do his assignments. She placed him in a
 different seating area that day, he had no one to talk to, soon after he started focusing on
his work. It proved to help the student.

7. The teacher has a very efficient way in handling transitions. The students know the
routine, she uses a timer for which she times each activity, in doing so the students know
how much time they have per activity. This helps the students cover more material at a
faster pace giving them less time to deviate.

8. My first day in the classroom the students were being very loud to this she yelled out,
“Clap twice if you can hear me!”, the students would immediately clap and remained
quiet.

9. She had a few students who would be disruptive by talking over her or would interrupt,
but other than that she did not have a lot of behavioral issues to deal with. The students
understood that once she used her attention getting commands, certain actions would not
be tolerated.

10. My first day there, there was a soft lockdown which took about 15 minutes of her
instructional time. This drill practically set the pace for the class on that day. They
became more disruptive and distracted. During this time the teacher had to physically
tape down a cover for her classroom window. This must be practiced alongside other
drills, which interrupts instructional time.

Assignment 4
Physical Characteristics

1. As soon as you walk into the school there is a giant fence separating the two front offices
from the rest of the school. People do not use the fence entrance; this fence was put there
to prevent students from wondering away. The school had recently had a student with
special needs leave the school, which caused them to put up the fence as a precaution. On
the left side of the school you have your music hall, and the gym. The gym is right next
to the lunchroom which is surrounded by desert landscape. To the east side of the school
are the three halls that separate the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade halls and the library. All around
the school there is desert landscape and a few trees and there are two separate parking
areas in the front and back of the school.

2. The school has a teal coloring on its letters, and white. In the music hallway there is
murals painted throughout the hall of musical notes. On a wall by the lunchroom the
school motto is painted. The 6th,7th, and 8th grade halls are filled with student projects.
There are also boards encouraging clubs, or respectful behavior. There are also
 disciplinary posters and exit markers throughout the halls. Throughout the whole school
there isn’t much decoration, there is just desert landscaping bushes and trees. No sitting
areas on the outside.

Assignment 4
Culture of the School
1.454545

3. The staff and visitor interactions I observed were brief. Parents were coming or going
with their kids. Everything is computerized so the only interaction that the parent has
with the office staff is verbally letting them know the students name. Once the parent
gives the office staff the information necessary they must sign them out of school from an
online computer sitting in the front office. One thing that I noticed was that the front
office was made up of two student aids and 2 staff members. They paid very little
attention to who came and went at times. Sometimes the people coming in had no badges
associated with CCSD, and the office staff would not greet or notice. Overall the faculty
and students had a good relationship from my observation. Students would wave at a
teacher in the hallway or would stand and talk to a staff member. In the library, the
librarian seemed to know ever child that walked in, some children would come in just to
say hello. It was a nice atmosphere no hostility of any kind was seen between staff
members and students.

4. Student interaction differed from inside to outside school walls. After school in the front
where they would sit and wait for their parents, you saw that they were cursing pushing
each other or antagonizing one another with rude jokes. Inside the students seemed to be
respectful when in the hallways and there was rarely any visible misbehavior. In other
areas like the outside hallways or by the lunch room area students were very different.
They would curse freely or make inappropriate jokes as well.

5. On the west side of the school you have your 7th, 8th, and 9th grade halls. You also have
the library placed right next to the 8th grade hall. Towards the south side of the school,
you have your main offices, the lunchroom, and the gym. It is a one story school, the
whole school is made up of one long 1 story building with open halls, separating the
designated areas.

6. I did not see much achievements or awards, while there I was made aware that they are
transitioning to Academy. They started this transition this year and will be complete by
the next. They do have school organizational team meetings which are held every month
and are open for the community to attend.