Emily Gonzales

Intro to Teaching

Field Experience Part II

April 22,2020

I received my volunteer hours at an elementary school in downtown Dallas. While shadowing

throughout O. M. Roberts I was in multiple grades from K-3 with teachers Ms. Barriot, Mrs. Acy, and

Mr. Lloyd. I did notice that it seemed to be a lower income school. I saw more downs than ups while

watching staff with their students. Throughout the time I was there, there is only a handful of teachers

that I could say actually wanted to be there and were in it for the right reasons. While shadowing I kept

an opened mind. I felt that these teachers and staff have been here a lot longer than I have and maybe I

should watch and see if there would be changes. Not at all. Attitudes were grumpy, teachers were tired,

students ran not only out of class but out of the school. There was no respect coming from one an other.

Of course not the entire school had this attitude it was just mainly the staff I was around more.

I believe in order to have a successful campus you have to clear values, and expectations that

are shared by all. This is reflected in your mission statement and your vision. In order for there to be a

successful school there has to be a strong school improvement plan that reflects the needs of the

population that is served this includes addressing academic challenges, closing the achievement gap,

and promoting the community and parent involvement. Number three, you need to have a strong

leadership team that demonstrates compassion and leads with purpose. Number four, your leadership

team has to include representatives from all grade levels and include community representative

(partnerships/businesses). Number five, you have to make sure you are hiring quality teachers who

support the community and are willing to learn and grow from one an other. Lastly number six, you

have to plan staff development that will improve teacher growth. The cons can be done so much easier
than what it takes to do the pros. By not having clear values and not having a clear mission statement

the school can already become a mess. Having a school improvement plan that does NOT reflect the

populations needs. An admin team that is disconnected and does not lead with compassion but instead

has hidden agendas. Not having good communication can drag a school down. Absolutely all staff

should always be on the same page and plan. There should be constant support for one an other. Also

not enough community, and parent support like mentioned before good communication is key. Lastly,

having teachers that are not qualified, and take action or responsibility and having a staff where

teachers are not encouraged to grow. All of these will lead to poor performance and a poor school.

List of Characteristics of Effective Schools

- Teacher’s expectation

- Communication among teachers, students, and parents

- Principle

- Behavior management plan

I have picked these 4 items to add to my list from chapter 2 because I do think they these are

very important when in school. A teacher SHOULD absolutely have high expectations for their

students no matter what grade. This makes it a challenge for not only them but the student as well.

They do not get into the same boring routine and there is support there for the student as well. The

teacher would not give the student work if they did not think their students were capable of doing it.

Communication is a huge one for me. This goes for not only the teachers and students but as well as the

parents. There needs to be complete understanding on all sides so that the student is getting the right

support and resources they need to complete their work right and get the most out of the school year.

The principal I feel is also a huge part of an effective school. They are what keep the school moving

forward and on to new improvements and challenges. Communication with teacher and principal is
great to have, knowing your staff and being open with one an other. This will help with a rich, joyful

environment for staff and students.

When imagining and recalling the time that I had at OMR I remember there being a mess.

During lunch time is was crowded and students getting in and out of line. I remember during transfer

times going from class to specials and back, was just a huge unnecessary struggle. Certain teachers

would have to stop their lecturing early by 10-15 minutes just so they can get the class to specials or

lunch on time. There would be stop and go traffic because students would go say hi to their friends and

the line would have to stop and wait for them or there was too much yelling going on. While in the

classrooms, it took more than 20 minutes to explain what the assignment was due to walking around,

and talking with friends in the class. There was only a few students who would sit there patiently

waiting for instructions to go on. Then when outside time came along, there was at least one fight on

the playground every other day if not everyday. The staff would be outside with them yes but there was

no one truly watching them. Certain students are known to have to be separated at all times and when it

came to recess there was almost no rules for them. I think that this school has so much potential within

it’s staff and definitely in it’s students but there HAS to be a better improvement plan for them. This

school needs to go back and remember what their values are in order to have a well functioning school

for all who enter.

Ratings 1-10

- Clear values: 7

- Improvement plan: 4

-Hiring quality staff: 4

- Teacher’s expectation: 3

- Communication among teachers, students, and parents: 2

- Principle: 8
- Behavior management plan: 2

The rates I gave on the items on my list seem to be fair in my opinion. The clear values were

given a 7 because the “theme” of the school was “After high school- WE GO TO COLLEGE!”. The

goal was always there but the support and resources were not. There were no real values being spread

or shared. The improvement plan was given only a 4 due to the fact that the staff did NOT want to

improve for themselves or for the students. There was constant attitude and staff in it for the wrong

reasons (summers and holidays off). There was never any encouragement to grow from on an other it

was simple just “an other day at work” for most if not all the staff. Hiring quality staff can almost go

with the improvement plan. You need to know who you are hiring and understand their own core

values. The entire staff, not just the teachers, must have the right mind set. There needs to be constant

positive in the school so that the students and the staff can enjoy their environment while teaching and

learning. Teacher’s expectation was rated lower as well. There is no encouragement there is no

challenge given to the students. The teachers already expected the worst from certain students and that

was just how it was. There was no push or “you can do this” what so ever. Communication among

teachers, students, and parents was very low as well. The communication with parents was just not

there at all. Handful of students would go home and come back the next day without even touching

their homework from the day or even week before. Some teachers I saw would take the time to call

parents but nothing ever really changed while I was there. The students did not like to reach out for

help either. You could see that certain students were shy or embarrassed to ask for help or resources and

it seemed to me that the teachers would either ignore that or were just completely oblivious to it. The

principal was rated a bit higher. The “theme” for the school like I mentioned was college. I noticed that

the principal was trying to encourage that everyday during her announcements but was there really

being anything done? Besides her daily announcements, she did not get involved much. I did feel that

she was trying to change and put in more effort into the school. Lastly, the behavioral management
plan. This irritated me more than anything I saw at my school. First off I will say that the school is in

an area where there is not a lot of parent support and communication. There are many students that

came to school everyday that had unwelcoming attitudes. Students would be disrespectful to their

teachers and elders, there were constant fights. There were tantrums and hitting the staff when they did

not get their way or if they did not want to listen or do their work. There was constant cussing and

through all of this, the staff would either ignore it and allow the student to wonder out the class or

school itself. There were moments when I would catch certain teachers handling their students very

aggressively and physically like no one was watching them. This made me wonder, no wonder only a

handful on students truly listen and behave. Look at how the staff acts out. Staff would be constant

arguing with children and that just is not professional in my opinion. There were no boundaries for one

an other. There was absolutely no set behavioral management plan, it seemed that the staff truly took

matter into their own hands with students.

Communication as well as parent involvement I believe should be more of a priority within this

school. Communication with staff, students, and parents should always be there. This was not a priority

at all in my opinion at this school. Yes certain teachers would reach out to parents but there was nothing

in return from them. Students would not want to ask for help or resources. I could tell students wanted

to but they were scared or too embarrassed to ask their teachers. As for at home I know there was no

communication there either. There was no support because if there truly was, students would be coming

back to school with their homework done. An other key factor is parent involvement. While shadowing

there were many choir concerts, programs, awards that were held for students. I attended as many as I

could for my students and I noticed that only certain grade level parents would show up (mostly kinder

or 5th grade). There were not many parents who came to support their children. I do understand that

there are parents who have careers who can not take off for every little show. I do however think that

the parent should still show support and encouragement by helping with their child’s work. Meaning I

think that parents should pick up and notice when their child needs assistance with work and take time
to reply to teachers calls or emails. The parents at my school really needed to reach out and say “how

can I help my child succeed more?” or “what can I do more at home?” etc. Parent involvement needs

to be encouraged throughout all grade levels and help parents understand how important it is for their

child to get what they need in order to receive the right education to become outstanding adults within

our society.

The three changes that I would put into effect at my school would be; communication, teacher

and staff improvement plan, and hiring quality staff. Communication is one of the major changes this

school needs. There needs to be support from staff and teachers given to students. There needs to be an

open safe environment for others to grow from one an other as well as make changes to their school if

needed. There needs to be a constant open relationship with staff, students, and PARENTS. This is so

that the students are able to receive the right tools and resources that they need at home or in class in

order to get a quality education. I believe that because there was no communication among the three at

this school, students were not able to focus or really get the proper learning techniques that truly

needed. Teacher and staff improvement plans need to take action so that everyone is on the same page

with each other and can make the proper decisions for the schools needs. This is so that teachers and

staff can come together and figure out what is working and what is not in order to have a proper

functioning school. I think that just like communication this offers a healthy environment and the

opportunity to grow as a whole throughout the school. The third and final change I would do is hiring

quality staff. The right staff will do the right things for their school. It would not be just “an other day

at work” for them. It will be their everyday mission to figure out what is best for their school and

students. If it came down to firing almost every teacher I would. I would get rid of anyone who was in

this career for the wrong reasons (summers and holidays off). I want an environment students WANT to

come to everyday so that they are more OPEN to learning. I truly think by changing these three things

this school would have better attendance, higher testing scores, more funding, and a happy healthy

teaching and learning environment.