CSN Education Department -

Field Observation
Activities Packet

Greetings Future Educator,

One of the most rewarding aspects of EDU 202 is the opportunity you’ll have to
observe in a school classroom where students are actively engaged in learning. Each
of these three CSN courses require all students to complete a 10 hour "Field
Observation" in a Clark County public school.

Once your placement is processed, you will receive details regarding your assigned
school from your CSN professor. Only then, will you contact the school and meet
with your CCSD “cooperating teacher”. Both you and your cooperating teacher will
design a mutually agreeable schedule to complete your required contact hours once
you meet for the first time.

Within this packet, you will find the required field experience assignments and other
documents that you must complete in order to pass this class.

Your Name: >>> Jordan Bachman

CSN Course: EDU 202 Intro. to Secondary Education

Professor: Connie Christensen

Professor’s email: connie.christensen@csn.edu

CCSD School: >>> Las Vegas Academy

Assignment One:

1. The classroom environment is warm and inviting. The classroom is full of posters and student
work. The different sized and shaped tables and chairs make it visually interesting. I first saw the
room as disorganized, but after closer observation I noted the environment as an organized
mess. The chairs and tables are the focus of this room as there were round tables and square
tables with high counter tops and lower table tops. The room included chairs with pillows and
blankets and chairs with cushions in many colors and styles. There also were many books on
shelves, cabinets, carts, and even scattered among tables.
2. The student make-up was quite diverse. I tallied the number of males versus females in each
class and found that the classes were dominated by females. The ethnicities varied between
Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, Native Americans, etc. I only found there to be one individual who
was on the Autism spectrum and a part of an inclusive special education program.
3. The only posted class rules I found in the classroom were rules regarding use of the microwave.
The rules read as followed:
1. NO POPCORN!
2. Cover your food. No, I don’t have a napkin so go to the bathroom and grab a paper towel.
There aren’t any in the bathroom? Put a piece of notebook paper over it – preferably not one
with your class notes.
3. Unfortunately, someone gave clothes to all the house elves so if your food boils over or
splatters, you have to clean up after yourself.
4. If you don’t clean up your mess you won’t get to use the microwave anymore.
5. Watch your time! It already smells bad in Frazier. I don’t think I can survive the addition of
burnt Lean Cuisine to the aroma.
6. Did I mention NO POPCORN?!!
4. Yes, Ms. Bash does enforce these microwave rules. If a student does not comply with the rules,
they lose their microwave privileges.
Assignment Two:
 Assignment Two (Continued):
1. The workflow of the room is fluent but has some distractions. I noticed the size of the room
affected how crowded the desks and chairs were together making it more difficult to walk
around seamlessly. I believe the space is used as efficiently as it could given the unique shapes
and sizes of the furniture. The crowded space seemed to be a minor adjustment to the students.
2. I would recommend more variations in heights of the tables to give more room in order to
improve the physical arrangement of the room. I would also suggest utilizing the space against
the walls where large bookshelves existed but weren’t used as often.
 Assignment Three:
1. Ms. Bash posts her class schedule on a white board weekly. She teaches 4 different
subjects/periods and had the following as her schedule and goals for the lessons:
1. AP ART HISTORY
a. WHAT: The Pacific
b. WHY: E.A. 9-3 The arts of the pacific are expressions of beliefs, social relations,
essential truths, and compendia of info held by designated members of society.
Pacific acts are objects, acts, and events.
c. HOW: Bell ringer: Tamati Wakanene Pacific Cornflakes
d. HOMEWORK: Meet the masters
2. WORLD HISTORY
a. WHAT: the Middle East to India 600-1400
b. WHY: 1.7 Students will analyze the cultural impact of the Mongol empire in uniting
Asia and Eastern Europe. 4.1 Students will summarize the roles of nationalism,
economics, and religion, rivalries in the age of exploration.
c. HOW: Bell ringer: Trade and travel
d. HOMEWORK: Islamic Empires – guided questions
3. AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
a. WHAT: Culture
b. WHY: 3.1 Define the concepts of culture including: cultural trends, diffusion
patterns, acculturation, assimilation, multiculturalism, cultural religion, vernacular
religions, and heaths. 3.3 Identify and analyze cultural differences and regional
patterns including language, religion, ethnicity, nationalism, attitudes towards
gender, folk, and pop culture.
c. HOW: Bell ringer: culture questions
d. HOMEWORK: Finish questions
4. SOCIOLOGY
a. WHAT: Group Behavior
b. WHY: 4.1 Students will assess the impact of society’s social influence. 4.2 Students
will describe 4 stages of life: childhood, adolescence, adult, old age. 5.1 Students will
explain group membership as a human characteristic. 5.2 Students will identify
types of interaction such as conflict, competition, accommodation
c. HOW: Bell ringer: group membership – Mean Girls
d. HOMEWORK: Mean Girls questions as needed
2. Instruction is given in whole groups. Ms. Bash would sit at her podium or stand at her desk in
the front of the class and deliver instruction to the class all at once. She would then proceed to
walk by each table and give additional help and instruction to small groups typically consisting of
4 students to a table.
3. My cooperating teacher’s style could be considered a mix of many styles. In some ways, she
demonstrates a direct approach by assigning a period class work to be completed from the
books during class. Ms. Bash also relied heavily on discussion as a teaching style. She would
lecture at her podium regarding the subject but would consistently ask critical thinking
 questions for the class to participate in. Ms. Bash also described her particular teaching style as
an appreciation for the basics of education through textbook reading and guided questions
while also delegating group projects that include more artistic approaches such as inclusion of a
costume piece or drawings. Her lessons consisted of interactive projects to give some variety to
the traditional textbook reading lesson plans. Ms. Bash emphasized that the power of traditional
class work mixed with new, innovative projects is key to her teaching styles and how she keeps
students excited to participate in the lessons.
4. Ms. Bash incorporates all the sensory modalities when teaching. For example, to include those
who learn visually, she would start every class period with a video often accompanied by music.
In order to include auditory learners, Ms. Bash would lecture, play music, and rely heavily on a
class discussion. She also assigns projects where students are asked to film or perform a live skit
talking about sociology. This encourages kinesthetic learners.
5. The students were engaged in the lessons provided. Many students would participate in the
group discussions. I noticed most of the participation occurred when answering Ms. Bash’s bell
ringer questions. Often these questions were simple and had no right or wrong answer. For
example, the bell ringer she provided for AP Human Geography was “What piece of music has
wowed you the most?”. Ms. Bash explained she initiates bell ringers to give students a chance to
practice their writing skills in a no pressure format.
6. There was only one location to sit in the room that appeared to isolate a student. In between
two tables, there is a single seated couch. I observed every student that chose that seat and
watched every single one day dream and forgo the educational lesson. With the layout of the
room, it was quite hard to find a spot where a person was isolated given every table had a
minimum of 3 students facing each other in the proximity of Ms. Bash’s instruction.
7. Ms. Bash handles transition from subject to subject by using phrases such as “I wanna talk about
this”, “Now a couple other things”. She relies on her verbal authority to command the room in
the direction it needs to. The transitions worked very well. I did not notice any issues with the
attention of the classroom.
8. Some “attention getting” commands Ms. Bash used and encouraged me to try were bell ringer
questions and saying, “Bell ringer time”. Another command of hers is unique. She would quiet
her voice and say, “I can wait” when she was ready for the class to settle down and learn. She
also would use words like “Okay” loudly to announce to the class she was ready for them to pay
attention to her.
9. During my field observation, the only behavioral issues I observed were talking and staying on
task. Ms. Bash explained that her most efficient approach to this is “proximity”. She chooses to
walk by every table to make sure they are on track for the period. If she noticed a table or
student off task, she would walk towards them and establish a presence. If that didn’t work, she
would call on the student and ask “[Student’s name] are we finished with the [designated
lesson]? I also noticed there was one student who Ms. Bash described being on the autism
spectrum. This particular student would sometimes speak out of turn and Ms. Bash was good to
speak to him individually about the appropriate time to speak.
10. One policy that takes time out of the instructional period was attendance. This hindered the
amount Ms. Bash could allot to the actual lesson. She corrects this by using assigned seating to
quickly establish who was present or not. The best procedure I found that helped instructional
time was the school’s “Academic period”. LVA established an hour lunch everyday where the
first 30 minutes were meant for students to meet up for clubs, speak to teachers for tutoring
and questions, and mostly gives students a chance to make up tests for days they were absent.
This academic lunch provided students with a better way of making up assignments and enables
more students to join clubs because it eliminated the excuse of not having time after school due
to ride conflicts and other excuses typically associated with time constraints.
Assignment Four:
1. Physical Characteristics:
a. LVA’s school property included multiple buildings spread across a single campus.
This campus stretched across blocks of streets near Fremont street. The campus
resembles one you might find at a community college because some buildings
require you to cross roads and streets to get to. These streets are closed to
traffic during school hours to ensure safety to all students and faculty. The
school is also surrounded by large maroon fencing that appeared to have gates
that lock. Most of these gates were sealed except for one that was a popular
entrance for most students arriving by bus. These gates are supervised by
teachers when class is not in session and security patrols the campus at all
times. The landscape did not include much greenery due to the city atmosphere
provided by downtown Fremont. From what I could find, I only noticed one
parking lot that was across the street from the entrance to the school’s main
office. This was a public parking lot that was not associated with the school.
There were a lot of different signs around the campus directing students to
certain buildings and where to meet for clubs.
b. The interior of the school is where the heart and culture of the school was truly
reflected. Every hallway was plastered with student work and club posters. The
environment of an artsy magnet school was embodied by an overwhelming
amount of drawings, photographs, and other forms of artistic school work. The
posters that stood out to me were detailed illustrations of the constitutional
amendments. Each poster was extremely detailed and I was very impressed
with the artistic talents of the students. Inside of each building, the halls were
carpeted with maroon colored flooring. The halls were also well lit with large
fluorescent lights above the halls and classrooms. Some classrooms had
additional light sources including large windows and lamps. All classroom doors
had a window on them. Most teachers chose to cover these windows with fun
prints. For example, Ms. Bash had cat silhouettes decorating her door window.
Entrance security was quite dense which I believe is the result of the school’s
location. It is not the safest neighborhood and many homeless people wander
the nearby streets. I found that security was usually posted around the
entrances to the school. Not too many security officers were noticeable roaming
the halls which added to the safe, comforting feeling the school presented.
2. Culture of the School
a. Las Vegas Academy’s mission is to promote an interdisciplinary foundation for
lifelong learning by motivating, empowering, and challenging our students to be
academic, artistic, and compassionate individuals. The school’s focus is to
encourage students to participate and educate themselves in a diverse range of
the arts. This is reflected by their many majors including dance, vocal and
instrumental music, jazz, liberal arts, piano, theatre or theatre technology, and
visual arts. LVA’s motto is “From Excellence to Eminence”. This motto is also
 reflected in the dedication from staff and students to encourage and promote
students to professionally develop for their craft. LVA does not have a
recognized mascot.
b. In the main office, the interactions between faculty and visitors was pleasant.
The sign in process was simple and the office manager explained everything in
detail. She also was kind enough to walk me the first day to Ms. Bash’s room
and even called ahead to ensure Ms. Bash was present. The office manager also
gave a lot of responsibility to the office aide who assisted in checking me in the
days following. In other areas of the school, the faculty was eager to say hello to
me and students passing by. During the transitions from period to period, most
teachers stood at their doors and greeted each student entering with big smiles.
When walking to the teacher lounge for lunch, Ms. Bash and other teachers
would say hello to students when walking by and would often have short
conversations as well. The interactions between students and teachers is very
different from high schools I attended as it seemed like teachers were well
respected and appreciated. I took note of the relationships between faculty and
students and found they were more personal than ones you might find in a
typical high school. I think this may be a result of the intense dedication
students have for their majors and having teachers that are equally invested in
the students’ futures adds to the mentorship relations.
c. Student to student interaction appeared friendly and inviting. I noticed many
students would gather in classrooms to eat together including Ms. Bash’s room.
Other students gathered in the cafeteria, theatre, and the outdoor courtyard. I
also noticed some students gathered in the library, but this was not as common
an area in comparison to the outdoor courtyards and cafeteria.
d. The school is organized by buildings. For example, when you walk through the
doors into the main building the office is on your left after a short staircase.
Directly in front of you is the library which exits on the opposite side to an
outdoor courtyard which is enclosed by many other buildings. The Frasier
building, which is the one Ms. Bash teaches in, is 2 floors. The main floor is
simply one very long hallway with doors on either side of the hallway giving
access to many classrooms. This building included one restroom for students
and a small teacher lounge with a single restroom. Every building had some sort
of map imprinted on the inside walls and each building was labeled by the
building name on the outside.
e. Some of the awards LVA has accumulated are as followed: the 2013
Outstanding Arts School Award and 2014 Exemplary Arts School from the Arts
Schools Network (ASN), the nation’s largest professional membership
organization of specialized arts schools, the 2013 The Magnet Schools of Merit
Award of Distinction, and twelve consecutive Grammy Signature School awards
for excellence in music programs (including 7 Gold GRAMMYS). LVA has been
recognized by the International Network of Performing and Visual Arts schools
 as a STAR school. The U.S. Department of Education recognized the Academy as
a New American High School and 2 years after that honored the Academy as a
U.S. Blue Ribbon School. LVA has a wide selection of clubs including AP Club,
Archery Club, ASL Club, Batteries Included, Basketball, Bible Club, Black Student
Union, Cello Ensemble Club, Cheese Club, Clay Club, Coexistence Club, Creative
Writing Club, Dino Club, Drone Club, Engineering Club, Fashion Club, Film
Fanatics Film Group, Fitness Club, Frisbee Club, Gardening Club, Gay Straight
Alliance, GradNite Club, Green Team, Japanese Club, Japanese National Honor
Society, Jazz Club, Key Club, Model United Nations, Mu Alpha Theta, National
Honors Society, Needle workers’ Society, Nintendo Club, Orchestra Council,
Paws for Change, Robotics, Sharing Smiles, Sociedad Honararia Hispànica,
Thespian Troupe 5273, Varsity Quiz, and Vegan Club. LVA does not have any
official sports teams. In the front office, there was a project executed by
students to celebrate the school’s anniversary. This project was a large 5-foot
tall three dimensional “25” with photos pasted onto the numbers that
highlighted the school and its community. In the main office there was also a
display case that showcased the various awards and trophies the school had
accumulated over the years.
3. Culture of the Classroom:
a. Ms. Bash’s expectations for learning and success were demonstrated by her
lectures. When she would pause during a lecture to ask the class a question, she
would expect students to participate and share what they had learned and
retained. She also assigns a large packet of guided questions that makes up a
majority of her class grades in order to establish the expectation of what needs
to be learned.
b. The level of participation was moderate. When Ms. Bash would ask questions, it
typically would be the same few students answering. These few students were
also the same students that were more vocal about asking questions during the
lesson.
c. The interactions between students and teachers varied. When I observed MS.
Bash, she was very sarcastic and funny when responding to students. For
example, the class erupted in a discussion debating the flatness of the Earth.
Ms. Bash gave some students a hard time when they jokingly would defend
Earth being flat. This was common among a lot of teachers. I believe this is a
result of the age group I observed. Due to the nature of teenagers. I found that
some teachers find it easier to relate and build a relationship with students
when they are little more tough and strict in a sense that they can mirror the
attitude that some teens exude.
Assignment Five:

1. The primary reason Ms. Bash became a teacher was because of her “awesome teachers in high
school”. She also attributed her career to her Aunt who is an elementary school teacher. She
also had a motivation and interest in education because she was the first to attend college on
her father’s side.
2. Ms. Bash described her main challenges as a teacher to be the pay, being surrounded by germs
that cause many sicknesses, and the lack of trust to teach the way she wants by the
administration, government, and parents. Before she was a history teacher, she was a special
education teacher which she noted was extremely draining emotionally, mentally, and
physically.
3. Ms. Bash said the best thing about being a teacher is having summers “off” and having time to
travel.
4. Ms. Bash uses a randomized computer generator to establish where students will sit and
eventually through the school year she allows students to choose their own seat if it is not too
disruptive to instructional time.
5. Ms. Bash explained that she uses a variety of methods to select members of any flexible groups.
Some of these ways include having students draw different colored candies and matching colors
are the same group, randomized number generators, and occasionally allows students to choose
their groups.
6. Ms. Bash said she interacts with parents as little as possible. Most of her interactions with
parents are due to failing student grades and responding to parental concerns.
7. Ms. Bash explained that she usually spends 5-8 hours one day a week to grading.
8. Ms. Bash explained that because she has been teaching the same subjects for many years, she
doesn’t have to spend much time on her lesson plans since they are already established. She
spends a few hours creating lessons and updating lessons to fit current trends. For example, one
lesson she created required students to create a “bullet journal” which is a popular trend of
2018. She also explained that the summer prior to her first semester teaching Art History, she
spent the entire summer researching and educating herself on the material and preparing the
lesson plans.
9. Some of the procedures Ms. Bash uses to maximize instructional time are teaching from the first
bell all the way to the final bell, minimizing distractions, and having a flexible lesson plan.
10. One positive reinforcement that Ms. Bash uses effectively is handing out candy to good
behavior. One behavioral consequence she uses effectively with this age group is speaking to
the student about their behavior outside of the classroom as soon as the behavioral incident
occurs. She explained that communication is an effective way of dealing with behavioral issues.
11. Ms. Bash explained that because she graduated college in special education, she rarely has any
special education teacher that assist in her lesson plans since she already has the experience
necessary. Though, she still has online videos and classes she must watch each year to update
and refresh the best methods to incorporate special education needs.
12. Ms. Bash explained that every year her performance is reviewed by an evaluation called NEPF.
Some measurements used by this evaluation are test scores and the standard “are you providing
 the same to every student?”. NEPF includes 5 standards with 4 indicators for each standard
which are used to measure teachers’ performance.
13. Ms. Bash did not go into full detail on the consequences of failing to perform well according to
NEPF standards. She explained it is a very long process.
14. Ms. Bash said the thing that surprised her the most about teaching was how much existed in the
profession that wasn’t actual teaching. The amount of time dedicated to paperwork shocked her
and expected that most of her time as a teacher would be spent teaching students when in fact
most her time is spent grading, creating lesson plans, and filling out paperwork. The other thing
that surprised Ms. Bash was how many administrators that weren’t teachers prior to that job
title.
Assignment 6:

1. While discreetly observing one student in my assigned classroom during direct instruction, I
noted the following interactions: Ms. Bash introduced the prompt for the classes daily sketch to
begin class. The student I observed watched Ms. Bash and listened quietly and attentively. Ms.
Bash granted the class the ability to sketch whatever they wanted rather than having a
particular prompt like she usually does. This was the beginning of her AP Art History class. The
student pulled out her notebook when Ms. Bash was finished with her instructions. Ms. Bash
also included a video for the class before announcing they had 2 minutes to sketch. During the
video, the student watched the video with no distractions. The student did not turn from the
screen or talk to anyone during the video. Ms. Bash then instructed to sketch for 2 minutes as
she would have a timer on. The student then proceeded to follow instructions by sketching in
her notebook. After the sketching portion of the class was finished, Ms. Bash began a new
project with the class. The student I observed had her notebook in front of her while being
instructed by Ms. Bash. The student took notes while the lesson was explained. The lesson that
Ms. Bash prepared for them was a piece of printer paper folded in half long ways and then
folded into thirds. After folding the paper into thirds and unfolding it, the students were
instructed to cut along the trifolds to the center of the paper, not all the way across. This
creating 3 flaps that could flip up and down. On the front of the flaps, students were asked to
draw the 2 art pieces designated to them from a previous class. On the inside of the flaps,
students were asked to write similarities and differences between the two art pieces. Ms. Bash
offered some key points to think about when creating this project. She said to write detailed
enough that someone who didn’t know anything about their art pieces could understand. This
meant students needed to be very specific and write the most important facts and ideas about
their pieces. The project would be due by the end of class. The student I observed first drew her
pictures, traced them with a black outlining pen, and then wrote out her comparisons between
the pieces. After finishing her work, the student worked on a project from the same class that
was due the following class period until the bell rang. This student did not ask for any additional
help or clarification from Ms. Bash, so there were no one on one interactions. Ms. Bash did walk
by her table twice to offer any insight or clarification, but the student did not have any
questions. By observing this student, I learned that she learns best by the lectured instruction
and taking notes. She also was a quiet student so involvement and participation in class was low.
I also noticed that she was involved in the lessons in her head and notebook by writing her
responses rather than speaking them out loud.
Assignment 7:

I took note of a lot of different observations, conversations, and advice given by Ms. Bash and her class
periods. Ms. Bash gave me advice to only ever grade in the classroom and never bring grading home.
She found that she would get too comfy at home to want to be productive on grading. Instead, she
dedicates one day a week to stay late at school and grade all her work. She also found over the years
that many students were accuse her of “losing their homework or quizzes” and that was their reason for
not having it. Now because she only grades in the classroom, she always knows that the paper must be
within the classroom and nowhere else. Ms. Bash’s classroom was decorated with movie posters from
Puss in Boots, Mary Poppins, and Lord of the Rings. Ms. Bash also made good use of the space provided
by doubling some book shelves as tables by placing counter tops on the top of a book shelf. Ms. Bash
also told me a compelling story of why she chose to switch her classroom set up from traditional rows of
desks to more modern DIY chairs and tables. She had a student a few years back who was very tall and
very wide. He would complain constantly that he was uncomfortable in the traditional desk as there was
not much room for him. Ms. Bash offered to allow him to sit at her desk, but the student was too
embarrassed because he thought his peers would know he had to sit there because he was larger. This
gave her the idea to find more comfortable seating that was accessible for students of all sizes and
shapes. One tip Ms. Bash gave me that I found to be helpful was to first substitute teach in order to get a
feel for the classroom and also allow myself to observe different teaching styles to figure out what might
work best for myself. She also encouraged me to spend my lunch breaks with other faculty and not
students all the time because teachers who spend their lunches with students tend to “go crazy”. She
also said it would be beneficial to me to minor in math or science because it will give me more job
opportunities when I start looking for a teaching position. Ms. Bash said there is more of a demand for
STEM teachers in comparison to English and Social Studies. Ms. Bash said that I should begin a collection
of DVDs to use for class because you never know when they’re might be a lack of internet connection or
any other issues that may cause you to pause scheduled class lessons. For example, she had her
sociology class watch Mean Girls in order to associate different sociological theories. Ms. Bash also
values the ability to locate information in textbooks so she encouraged me to not completely forgo
textbooks because they do have an importance in the curriculum. Ms. Bash also has an interesting
system regarding late and absent work. She has a red file cabinet that is locked, but has a slit on the top
big enough for papers to fit through. This file cabinet is used for late work. Some students used to argue
that another student must have stolen their work out of the cabinet and that was the reason their work
would go missing. This is why Ms. Bash now has a lock on it to deter students from using that excuse.
Ms. Bash also has another file cabinet that is marked by color for each period and then is broken down
by days so students can easily collect the work they missed if they were absent for a class. I believe this
field observation gave me perspective on how a classroom functions. I especially think the interview
questions prepared me for what I need to expect out of a teaching profession. It is not completely
dedicated to actual teaching. Ms. Bash allowed me to understand that teaching is a full time job because
there is paperwork to fill out, work to be graded, meetings to attend, conferences to go to, videos to
educate new teaching methods, evaluations, dealing with parents, and lastly teaching students. I noticed
a lot of the things mentioned in our textbook were actually being used by Ms. Bash. I noticed that she
would include a way to incorporate all teaching modalities and the way she formatted her schedules for
the class reflected the standards we reviewed. The number one thing I will try to remember when I
become a teacher is patience. Ms. Bash said she used to yell over students a lot and yell at her students,
but over the years she found that yelling was not the best approach. She also said that she requests
students to stay in their seats until the bell rings because it is harder for someone to pick a fight when
they’re sitting down versus standing up. I will keep this tip in mind when I become a teacher.