Alyssa Myers

EDU 201
November 25, 2013
Field Observation Packet

Assignment 1:

1. The classroom environment is warm and welcoming. The teacher’s desk is

very disorganized but the whole classroom is organized. Students art work

is decorated on the walls, posters of which center is which.

2. The classroom is organized by centers. Each side of the room is a center,

there’s the writing center, the art center, the computer center, the library,

the music center, the kitchen center, the science center and the building

blocks center. There were a lot of organized shelves for each center.

3. The pre-k class in the morning has more boys than girls. I only saw two girls,

and the rest were made up of boys. There were 8 kids in the classroom. All

the kids are special need and special ed. One child had a hearing aid,

the rest were physically well.

4. I did not see any posted class rules on the walls of anywhere. On the other

hand, listening, and keeping your hands to yourself, and participation was

enforced.

5. Mr. Gamble enforced his rules. Whenever a student was not listening of

paying attention, they would get yelled at, and get pulled to stand in the

back of the line. Mr. Gamble would make sure the student he is talking to

is listening by grabbing the students face and makes the students face
 look straight into Mr. Gamble’s face and Mr. Gamble would talk loudly

right into the students face.

Assignment 2:

1. The daily schedule is:

Breakfast

Circle time

Centers

Outside

Snack

Dismissal

2. Mr. Gamble’s instruction was delivered in a whole group. His class size

in the morning was 8 students. Once circle time was completed, he let

the children go into centers and the got to play and do whatever they

wanted. They had to switch to each center. They could not stay at

once center for the remainder of the class.

3. I would describe Mr. Gamble’s teaching style as formal authority. He

teaches his students the basics that they need to know and then he

evaluates them. He wants to know the student learning that has taken

place in his classroom.

4. During instruction, Mr. Gamble’s teaching style combines auditory and

visual learning styles while he is giving instruction. When he is teaching,

he talks and sings to his students, and for visual, he uses his smart board
 to show his students what he is teaching. During centers, the students

get to be more hands on (kinesthetic). I think he combines all three

learning styles well in his classroom.

5. For the most part, I think his students try to be engaged in his lessons.

They do get easily distracted and it’s hard for them to focus. I think that

is why Mr. Gamble grabs their faces to keep them focused. His students

are Special Ed and I can tell his students try to listen but it’s very difficult

for them. I would have to say yes and no that they are engaged in his

lessons.

6. When the class transitions from circle time, to centers, Mr. Gamble uses

a bell that he rings. When the students hear the bell, they know it’s time

to clean up and move on to something else. This transition is effective

for his students because the bell is so loud, and they’ve basically been

trained to know what to do when the bell rings.

7. To grab the attention of his students, he says, “One, two, three, eyes on

me!” If that doesn’t work well, he rings the bell. If he’s trying to get the

attention of one particular student, he just grabs their face and talks

loudly to them.

8. The behavior issues Mr. Gamble deals with is not listening. Some

students sometimes refuse to participate in his instruction and just tells

him no. Other than that, there was barley any behavior issues with this

pre-k class.
Assignment 3:

1. Centers in the classroom makes the flow of the room easy. Every student

knows where everything they need is located in each inch of the room.

Assignment 4:

A. Physical Characteristics

1. The school’s physical characteristics resemble most schools in Las

Vegas. The school is light brown. Fences surround the playground and

the bike rack. Kindergarten has its own separate area on the right side

of the school facing north. There is a patch of grass where the

kindergarten students can play with their own playground. There is a

huge field in the back of the school where the first through fifth graders

play. In the front of the school, there is desert landscaping and a

parking lot. On the front part of the school, their mascot is displayed.

They’re called Diaz Eagles. It has the address and the school name on

the front.

2. I have to say, I love the interior of the school. It is very warm and inviting

to parents and students. The halls are literally covered in students work,

and art work that are displayed for decoration through the hallways.

The lighting is warm, especially since windows from the atrium light the

main hallways up. Students can see live turtles by walking down the

hallway by looking through the windows of the atrium. Most of the

doors from the outside to get in are locked to get into the school.
 Inside most of the doors are unlocked and the classroom doors are

decorated. Parents can only enter through the front office to get in the

school.

B. Culture of the school

1. Every year, the school hosts a harvest festival where the teachers and

staff put on a talent show, have a barbeque, and have games for the

students and parents to play. It’s a tradition that they hold it every year

in October.

2. In the front office, the office manager and the secretary are at the

front desk and they deal with parents and visitors. Sometimes there are

disputes and issues parents have. Sometimes the office staff has scary

situations they have to deal with. Students and staff are very friendly to

each other. Every time a student sees one of their favorite teacher

they always say, “Hi Ms. MJ” or “Hey Mr. Jones!”

3. Student to student interaction happens mostly everywhere in the

school. Outside on the playground, the halls, and in the cafeteria

during lunch time. Before and after school most students gather

outside of the cafeteria and hang out where the desert landscape is

and they sit and socialize while they wait for their parents to pick them

up.

4. The school is organized differently than other schools I’ve seen. For one,

the school is not co-ed. The only co-ed classrooms are the pre-k and
 kindergarten classes. First through fifth grade are separated by grades

and they’re put in pods. First grade is the closest pod to the front of the

school. Fifth and fourth grade pods are in the very back of the school.

On the left side of the school is where all the girl’s classrooms are. The

right side of the school is the boy’s classrooms. The only time boys and

girls get to see each other is at recess and lunch.

C. Culture of the Classroom:

1. Mr. Gamble’s expectations for learning and success are simple. Eyes

up, listen up, and have fun!

2. Mr. Gamble had only 8 students in his class the first day I observed.

There was only one girl and the rest of his students were boys. The girl

did not like to participate at all. The boys would be more open to

participate but they took their time when they would. When Mr.

Gamble would ask for anyone to draw on the smart board, no one

would raise their hand. Mr. Gamble had to ask individually if they

would like to and they would nod yes.

3. The interaction between Mr. Gamble and his students don’t seem to

be warm and friendly sometimes. Mr. Gamble uses his power to the

fullest and his tone can be very mean sometimes when it is certainly

not necessary. I feel like he shouldn’t work with pre-k children and

especially with special ed students. He enforces his rule, eyes on me,

very much. His students get distracted very easily and I don’t
 understand why he needs to grab his student’s faces and talk very

loudly in a demeaning tone to his students. His students seem to be

used to him doing that to them because they don’t seem to fight back

or get upset about it.

Assignment 5: Teacher Interview

1. To help children at risk. To help Title 1 kids to get a better chance at

education.

2. Parent involvement can be an issue when there’s a language barrier. I

can’t understand the parents and they don’t understand me.

3. The best part of being a teacher is when I see the students grow to a

level they weren’t at.

4. I determine where they sit by their age, and by the level of their

attention. Sometimes I let them sit by their friend.

5. Teacher’s strategy.

6. I see parents regularly. Every three months I do parent teacher

conference.

7. No graded. I do observation progress reports once a week.

8. It takes an hour to two hours for two weeks to prepare lessons.

9. The traffic light is what I use. You don’t want your name to be on red

means time out or parent conference, yellow is think about it, and

green means you need a reminder.

 10. I get evaluated twice a year. CCSD evaluation is what they go by and

they want to see that your students are engaged.

11. Nothing surprised me. I was a long term sub. I knew what I was getting

into.

Assignment 6:

The student I observed is a female; the rest of her class mates are males.

She is smart and can be a handful at times. She yells the answer whenever she

knows the answer. She rolled her eyes at the teacher’s aide when she was told

to be quiet. She is not a follower, she is a leader and she bosses the boys

around. She does not like to participate when told to do so. When they have

circle time, she doesn’t like to sit on her bottom. Mr. Gamble has to tell her to sit

on her bottom a few times. When she was asked to move to another spot she

refused but she didn’t make a big scene. She quietly said no. When she doesn’t

listen, he moves her to the back of the group. She is engaged in all the lessons

but she is not on task all the time. She gets distracted very easily and has to

move around a lot. The lesson that was being taught was How are You Feeling

Today. Mr. Gamble had a poster of faces and he would point to the faces so

the students would recognize them and answer the question. She would rather

not participate but gaze around the room. I have a feeling that this particular

student is a kinesthetic learner. She loves to move and do things. Hearing and

seeing what is being taught doesn’t interest her.

Assignment 7:

The ten hour field observation at Diaz elementary was an experience. I

realized that teachers have a lot on their plate. Teaching can be very stressful,

and the students don’t even have to be the main cause of stress. Parents,

administrators, evaluations, lesson planning, and parent teacher conference are

just some things teachers deal with on a weekly basis. The most important thing

to worry about is how to make your students learn the best way possible and

how to help them be successful in their education. It is all up to us teachers to

teach them everything they need to know. That is a big deal.

My time in Mr. Gamble’s class, I had observed the good and the bad.

What to do and what not to do. Special Ed preschoolers can be a hard grade

to teach. To be a special ed pre-k teacher, you need to have patience! A lot of

it too. Mr. Gamble is a good teacher but what I had observed, I think he needs

to take a break from younger students and think of teaching older students.

From observing Mr. Gamble, it can be viewed as being a good

experience; even though he was difficult and rude to me, I can say I learned a

few things from him. I learned what not to do; like grab my students and yell in

their face. I learned never to have a messy, disorganized desk where I can lose

important documents and paperwork. On the other hand, I learned what

preschoolers actually did in school. I had no idea what was taught and how it

was taught. The curriculum for pre-k is different from the rest of the school. These

students learn colors, shapes, what objects are. After that, they get to
experience things that are new to them and have more freedom than

kindergarten. For me, I think pre-k could be so much fun to teach!

Mr. Gamble had a great way to grab the attention of his students. He did

so by ringing a bell and his students would listen and clean everything up. What I

liked was the red, yellow, and green light to show the students how they’re

behaving individually. When Mr. Gamble told one of his students he’s on the

yellow light, the student’s behavior changed dramatically. After he was told that

he had a yellow light, the student listened and participated for the remainder of

the class.

This observation has prepared me in so many ways and has opened my

eyes about what I will be doing for the rest of my career in elementary

education. This observation has not changed my mind about becoming a

teacher…It has made me more excited! I cannot wait to become a teacher. I

hope that I will be prepared and patient with my students. Pre-k doesn’t seem

as bad as it is sought out to be. If I become a pre-k teacher, I will definitely use

the, “one, two, three, eyes on me” method. The ringing of the bell is a great

idea too.

I would have to thank Mr. Gamble, CSN Education Department, and

CCSD because this field observation has given me more insight and hands on

experience that I will remember. This is great for new teachers in training to

experience. Thank you for helping me achieve my goal to become an

elementary school teacher!