FIELD OBSERVATION 1

Field Observation Experience

Chloe LePore

Introduction to Special Education 203

Field Experience Observation

Thurs. December 12th, 2019

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I completed my field observation at Ethel W. Staton Elementary School. I started my

observation hours on Wednesday, October 30th and completed them on Wednesday, November

6th. I was placed in a second grade classroom that was part of the inclusion program that Staton

has. The teacher I was placed with was a general education teacher with a background in special

education. She had around twenty kids and at least five were part of the inclusion program. I

thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in the classroom at Staton.

I thought that Staton Elementary was a very good school. I liked how to school in general

was set up and how they went about their environment. The motto for Staton was “Staton

Pioneers are respectful, responsible, and safe!” They said this during the morning and afternoon

announcements. My teacher also implemented this saying into her classroom, which I thought

was very good. The environment at Staton is very positive and everyone is looking out for each

other. There were positive affirmations all over the walls throughout the school and everyone

was very nice!

The special education children that were in the classroom I was observing all participated

in the pull out program. I was very lucky to see the process of determining if a child needs

special education because my teacher was in the process of referring a child to a speech therapist.

There were three children who saw a speech therapist throughout the day and two children who

were in the autism class half time and the general education class half time. These children all

left the class at different times and had a special signal they gave to Mrs. McCallum letting them

know they were leaving. She had to give a special signal back in order for them to leave. All the

students had their specific schedules printed and put inside their desks which allowed everyone

to know when to go and where.

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The most interesting thing I got from observing her classroom was about the pull-out

program. There was a set of twins who both had autism and functioned on the same pull out

program. These kids worked off of a reward system, which was the method that worked best for

them. Mrs. McCallum would “reward” them when they did their work and stayed focused while

in her classroom by signing their papers. They both had a paper that they were in charge of and if

she signed them, they would get some type of reward in the special education classroom. Mrs.

McCallum said that before they implemented this reward system, both boys did not want to

participate in school activities at all. The other special needs students in her classroom did not

participate in the reward system, as they had their own systems that worked for them. I really

liked that the school, whether it be in the general education class or special education class

focused on the individuality of the child and what worked for them.

Because Mrs. McCallum’s class was mainly general education, there were modifications

and accommodations for the special education students. She allowed students to stand in front of

their desks if they were ansty and also allowed different types of seats for those students who

could not sit still. Mrs. McCallum also based her classroom on a reward system called Bams. She

had a container of pom poms which were the bams and each child had their own container on

their desk with their bams. According to her, this has been the most successful reinforcement

program she has used and the children seemed to love it. She accommodated those children who

needed a little extra help by seating them next to children who are a bit higher and allow them to

help each other in the event it was needed. Mrs. McCallum also allowed students to continue

working on assignments that they may have not finished in the event they had some free time,

which was very nice. Another aspect that Mrs. McCallum did is highlighting important parts for
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her students during reading assignments. Even though she taught a general education class, she

used a lot of modifications and accommodations on all the children.

I am so happy that I got to do these observation hours during this class. I learned so many

things about teaching in general and about how special education works within general education

classroom. I was very fortunate to be placed with an amazing teacher and in an amazing school.

This experience made me even more excited to become a teacher!