CSN Education Department - Alternative Field Observation Activities Packet

Greetings Future Educator,

One of the most rewarding aspects of EDU 201, 202, or 203 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 students to complete a 10 hour "Field Observation" in a Clark
County public school. If CDC Guidelines for Covid-19 prevent you from physically attending a
school campus during the current semester, this packet will offer the alternative experiences
required to satisfy your “Field Observation” requirements for this class virtually.

If possible to pair you with a cooperating CCSD teacher, your placement will be processed by
CSN’s observation coordinator, and you will receive details regarding your assigned school from
your CSN professor. Only then, will you contact the school and meet virtually with your assigned
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 that you must
complete in order to pass this class.

Your Name: Aldo Huezo

CSN Course: EDU 201

Professor: Olivia Grant

Professor’s email: Grantog@nv.ccsd.net

CCSD School: Goolsby Elementary

Cooperating Teacher: Jennifer Barret

DEPARTMENT OF TEACHER EDUCATION FIELD EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES

Standards of Conduct
You are student representatives of the CSN Education Department and the teaching profession.
Candidates are expected to maintain high standards of personal and professional ethics.

Attendance and Punctuality

Regular attendance and punctuality are mandatory. Once you determine a schedule with your
cooperating teacher, this becomes an agreement in which you are expected to adhere to. You
are expected to login and log-off to virtual meetings at the scheduled time. In case of illness or
emergency that would prevent you from joining a scheduled class virtually, you must contact the
cooperating teacher a minimum of 3 days in advance to let them know you will not be in
attendance on that day.

Relationships
You should exercise respectful discretion when voicing your personal views. It is important that
your demeanor and opinions remain confidential. Under no circumstances can information
about any students be released to, or discussed with, any unauthorized person. It is forbidden to
have any contact with students outside of the classroom you are assigned. This restriction
includes CSN students contacting CCSD students in person, through any electronic means, or
through the use of social media.

Dress Code
CSN Department of Education wants you to be a success. Therefore we have adopted the
CCSD dress code for students fulfilling their observation requirement in the assigned school
district. Appearance creates credibility; make a good first impression by dressing professionally,
even when meeting virtually.

Required Acceptable Attire: Males:

• Shirts with collars
• Ties (optional) with button down shirts
• Khakis, trousers, slacks; belts if pants have loops, (no sagging, rips or tears)
• Simple jewelry
• Shoes and socks that cover the toes and heels
Required Acceptable Attire:Females:
• Shirts or blouses that cover the shoulders & waist; no see-through or mesh
• Sweaters worn over shirt
• Pants, pantsuits, khakis, trousers, slacks (no sagging, rips or tears)
• Jumpers, dresses, skirts (in length from 2" above the knee to the ankle)
• Shoes and socks that cover the toes and heels
• Leggings worn under dresses/skirts/jumpers
• Simple jewelry or none
• Little (daytime) make-up
Not Acceptable Attire: jeans, shorts, tank tops, halter tops, muscle T-shirts, tight fitting
clothing, warm-ups, sandals, flip flops, stilettos; no cleavage showing, no sagging or frayed
hems; no head covering except for religious reasons, such as a yarmulke or turban-like. No
nontraditional hair colors/styles. Undergarments and tattoos should be covered. Remove facial
jewelry. *School principal/supervisor has the sole discretion on questionable clothing or
appearance that distracts from student learning.
Classroom Conduct: At all times, the cooperating teacher maintains legal responsibility for
pupils in his or her classroom. You should never assume that responsibility and be left
unsupervised with children. You should not discipline students. You are an observer, who
should take notes to discuss during your next education class meeting, or to record in your Field
Observation packet.

Professional Conduct:
Never speak to staff or students in an abusive manner.
Never touch or be alone with a student for any reason.
Never give a student food, drink, or other items without the teacher’s permission.
Never take photos/video of students or staff without written permission from the principal.
Never make or accept calls/text using any communication device while at the school.

CCSD WAIVERS
Review the terms of the CCSD Waiver Forms provided by your instructor.
“Student Statement of Responsibility” (Exhibit B)
“Student Confidentiality Statement” (Exhibit C)

These 2 waiver documents MUST be agreed to in order to secure your observation placement.
While submitting your Field Observation Request, you will be prompted to check that you have
read the waivers and that you agree to the terms. Completion of the CSN Field Observation is a
PASS/FAIL component of the course.

ONCE YOU ARE ASSIGNED A COOPERATING TEACHER WHO IS DISTANCE LEARNING

1. Pre-plan for initial contact with the school you are assigned and make sure that all interaction
with CCSD employees and students is respectful, courteous, and professional. You are a
representative of this class and the college. CCSD is allowing you to observe their teachers to
further your understanding of the teaching profession. It is imperative that your actions reflect a
willingness to learn, and are reflective of a future professional educator. The school will select a
teacher for you to observe and provide you with their contact information.

2. The first half of your field observation/experience will be centered around learning
background information about the school you were assigned, and focusing on the general and
unique characteristics of its culture. You will be looking at, and reflecting upon things that are
going on in the virtual classroom at the school level that you were assigned. You are simply
observing during this time. Your cooperating teacher may give you guidance on how your
experience can be expanded beyond simple observations, if he/she feels comfortable with your
professionalism and skills.

3. Contact your Cooperating Teacher to introduce yourself. Since this is your first contact, ask
the teacher for the necessary information to access their virtual classroom, and when the live
sessions occur that they would prefer you to join. Share this “Field Observation Activities
Packet”, with your cooperating teacher as well as the last 3 pages which contain the
“Cooperating Teacher Information”, the “Time Log” and the “Field Observation Student
Evaluation”. Let the teacher know that you will be taking notes during the observation for your
packet assignments, that you will be asking them to verify your hours of attendance, and
evaluate your participation once the total observation hours are complete.

4. When logging in with your cooperating teacher and their students during a virtual meeting, it
is recommended that you keep both your microphone and video camera OFF during the
observation, unless the cooperating teacher directs you to speak or be seen while observing. In
that case, make sure your home workspace is void of background distractions, or anything in
view that may be considered inappropriate for students to see. Your online attire should be the
same as if you were visiting the school in person. Employ the use of typical lighting and image
framing to make the most of your broadcast. The typical “Rule of Thirds” works well, whereby
the camera height is adjusted so that your eyes are positioned in the top third of the window.
Front lit subjects look better on screen than being backlit by a window or artificial light.

THE FIELD OBSERVATION PACKET ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS

Read through all the assignments and take notes during your observation visits. You will gather
information on more than one assignment during an observation. Then, using your notes
answer the questions for each assignment.

• All assignments must be word processed. Your detailed responses to assignment questions
must demonstrate careful analysis of the questions and the observation information.

• Questions and their responses must include thorough explanations and examples from the
classroom observation. All responses must be written as complete sentences.

Include the question number, along with your response as a short essay response as in this
sample below:

Assignment #2 - Question 1: What is your first impression of the classroom

environment?
Response: “The classroom environment is friendly and welcoming to the students and
seems a fun place to learn. The classroom is decorated with the students’ work,
interesting posters and the teacher shows respect to the students.”

When it is time to submit the Field Observation Packet for grading, these items must be
included:

• The cover page of the Field Observation Packet

• All observation assignments

• Time Log verifying hours spent within virtual meetings

 • The Cooperating Teacher Evaluation

THE FIELD OBSERVATION ASSIGNMENTS: Cooperating Teacher assigned to CSN student

ASSIGNMENT #1 (Culture): Using the questions below, carefully observe and evaluate the
culture of the school. School culture refers to the way teachers and other staff members work
together and the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions they share. A positive school climate
and school culture promote students' ability to learn. Remember you are evaluating the school
for its educational culture, place of learning, sense of safety, invitation for learning, promotion of
self-actualization, development of values and socialization. Use online resources such as your
assigned school’s CCSD webpage, http://nevadareportcard.nv.gov/di/,
https://www.publicschoolreview.com, and https://www.greatschools.org/nevada/las-vegas/ to
answer the following questions.

Physical Characteristics: Look at a picture(s) of the school to determine atmosphere, comfort,

and feelings the school creates for students in the educational setting.

1. Consider the school property: building, grounds, fencing, equipment, landscaping,

trees, parking lot, crosswalks, gates, signs and symbols. Describe in detail:
In my time going there to work for Safe key, I remember the parking lot area being
relatively small (at least when compared to the rest of the school) and with a smooth
and clean cement job that looked new. The grass job in the playground looked well-
trimmed and evened out, but with bald or dried up patches towards high traffic areas
for kids. The most interesting I remember though is how clean the crosswalks,
parking lot and playground looked, especially impressive for the playground given
how massive it was.

2. Next, (if available) study the interior of the school: halls, floor coverings, lighting,
doors, windows, hall colors and decorations and entrance security. Explain in detail:
The interior corridors where a white color with water blue colored carpets that
seemed to be a bit worn out. The corridor walls and the large cafeteria lounge was
clean, and corridors had limited decorations.

Culture of the School: Read, listen and/or observe to determine the climate, values, and
atmosphere within the school.

1: What are your first impressions of the school? Enrollment, graduation rate, proficiency
rates, student/teacher ratio etc. My impressions of this school are quite solid. With a 23-
1 student to teacher ratio and 96% attendance percentage, the school seems to be
managed competently.
 2: Please describe the student make-up of the school, gender, ethnicity, students with
disabilities, ELL students, and any other attributes that are important to note you found:
The school is very void of racial diversity, with dual racial groups, Hispanics, African
Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Alaskans barely combining for over 40% of total
attendance; with African Americans making up less than 6% of the school’s population.
The gender distribution seems to be very balanced at about 51% for males and 49% for
females. ELL students made up less than 8% of the population and IEP students made
up 10.61% of all the students.

3. Explain the school’s mission/vision statements, motto, and mascot: The mission
statement is: “The Goolsby Leadership Community is united in the belief that all
children will become successful leaders of the future through an academically
rigorous program in literacy, scientific inquiry, mathematical applications, and
interdisciplinary connections.” The mascot of Goolsby Elementary is a Greyhound.
The school motto is: “Above the rest of the pack”

4. Examine school traditions, achievements and awards; community recognition or

community partners; extracurricular activities/clubs and athletics. Look for and document
sources of community pride and sense of identity through ceremonies, assemblies,
trophies, and artifacts: I noticed that Goolsby holds family events or competitions to
reward students and to strengthen the spirit in children. Such events include the 2
weeklong bookfair, the Cork n Craft arts competition, a pumpkin carving competition,
and an invitation to a “Glittering Lights Las Vegas” exhibition at the Motor Speedway

5. Briefly describe three other pieces of information that can be found on your assigned
school’s website: The schools website also contains the staff member’s contact info, info
about school sponsors, and info about the school’s educational departments

Culture of the Classroom: Each classroom has its own culture and way of life.

1. What are the teacher’s expectations for learning and success? The teacher always
expected all her students to have the class materials ready and to be attentive.

2. Evaluate the level of student participation in the class. Who participates? Who does
not? Usually student participated one at a time whenever Ms. Barret would ask a
question, but nothing as far as volunteering goes

3. Evaluate the interactions between teacher and students, rapport, cohesiveness,

distribution of power, teacher personality: The teacher acted like a coach to the
classroom, she showed the skills needed to succeed, she offered help, she asked
questions, and she made sure standards were followed
 4. Observe student-to-student interactions, inside and outside of the class. Are they
using any chat features to communicate with each other? From what I witnessed in the
middle of the streams and after class was dismissed, I watched no there was no student
to student interaction whatsoever.

ASSIGNMENT #2 (Observations)

1: What are your first impressions of the virtual classroom environment? Is it warm,
inviting, organized, etc.? Describe the virtual environment in detail: The warm
environment made me feel kind of sad. Ms. Barret did most of her lessons from her real-
life classroom, so it gave a small sense of immersion through organized, clean and
similar imagery. However, through out the entire observation time I couldn’t help but feel
a bit nostalgic about the social aspects of school that can only be experienced in class,
like inside jokes, conflicts, physical assistance from the teacher and many other things.

2: Please describe the student make-up of the class, including gender, ethnicity, ELL,
students with physical challenges, and any other apparent attributes that are important
to note: Its hard for me to answer that due to the large amount of children that opted to
turn off their camera due to timidness. I noticed one African American girl, one Asian
boy, one white girl, one Hispanic girl, a white boy, and a Hispanic boy: that is only 6 kids
out of a class average of 12 students.

3: Are their posted class rules or course expectations? If rules/expectations are posted
write them exactly as they appear: I did not find any written standards in any of my
streams. The only rule I could remember was a raise of hand in order to ask something
to the teacher that she mentioned a few times

4: Does the teacher enforce these posted rules/expectations? What rewards or

consequences are used for compliance or noncompliance? Ms. Barret usually tried to
reinforce good behavior and following instructions with cheery and positive body
language. The only time I ever saw Ms. Barret trying to discourage something was when
students unmuted their mics and disturbed class. The teacher usually just reminded
students of the rules in a serious tone and then muted them and continued her lesson

5: What is the posted daily/weekly schedule for different subjects or periods? I was not
provided a schedule and I also did not manage to find one. The main website has a
basic schedule that Kindergarten hours are from 9:10 AM to 3:21PM, Lunch starts at
12:15PM and lasts 20 minutes.

6: Do you see evidence of the school’s mission/vision statements in the virtual

environment? By the way most children managed to behave accordingly and by the
arrangement of subjects Ms. Barret taught, I would say yes.
ASSIGNMENT #3 (Classroom Layout): Take screenshots of the learning management system
used by the teacher (Canvas, Google Classroom, Seesaw etc..)

1: Describe the workflow of the online environment. Is the space and time used
efficiently? The space time is mostly efficient. The lecture part of Ms. Barret’s lessons
suffered some setbacks due to her kids unmuting themselves and talking, and
sometimes kids took long to understand an activity due to the lack of an attentive
supervising adult, but she usually came up with a solution fast and was not
discombobulated.
 2: In your opinion, how can the virtual arrangement of the room be improved? I don’t
personally think they can be improved. The main problem with E-learning is that the
social aspect of physical learning is completely lost, but there isn’t really any solution
that would make E-learning seem more natural. The only solution I can come up with is
to have more group-based activities (outside of small groups) that would demand
teamwork and cooperation. Collaborating with each other will encourage students to
know each other better. The main problem I found with the lessons I observed was that
usually the teacher asked all of the kids to present their work one at a time in front of the
whole class; the easiest way to make a kid feel like a deer n headlights, particularly if
they’re already shy. Teamwork could allow students to build some trust

ASSIGNMENT #4 (Instruction): Observe any instructional time with your assigned Cooperative
Teacher, and record your observations when presented with the questions below:

1: Is instruction delivered in small groups, centers, whole groups, individually?

Ms. Barret taught most of her lessons to 12 kids at the same time. However, she did in
fact teach small groups of 4 students on Thursdays and towards the end of the day.

2: Describe your cooperating teacher’s teaching style: Ms. Barret acted like a coach
towards her kids and tried to show them the reading skills they needed through vids,
songs and activities.

3: How does the teacher incorporate the sensory modalities (learning styles)? Give
examples: Ms. Barret tended to show a lot of visual stories to the class to help students
to see, played educational songs, and showed off physical props like a plush seal and a
turkey hat that her kids would normally touch.

4: Do the students seem engaged in the lesson(s) presented? Please explain: When Ms.
Barret presented something, the class was mostly silent and looked attentive to what
they were watching. Occasionally there was some interruptions due to a student
unmuting and disrupted class, but the class would simply wait for Ms. Barret to continue
teaching and then pick up where they left off fast.

5: Are there any students isolated or not present/participating in the class? Explain? In
my time observing her class, Ms. Barret never kicked anybody out of her stream.
However, I did see kids that did not participate in activities due to lacking supplies.

6: How does the teacher handle absences from the class?

Teacher did not record absences out loud or in any notable manner. However, she
mentioned how she would mark a kid absent and notify their parent.

7: How does the teacher handle transitions from subject to subject or activity to activity?
Are the transitions efficient? Teacher would give kids a 5 minutes break to set up and
 would then ask for class materials if needed. For the most part, Ms. Barret did not have
any problems while transitioning.

8: List ways the teacher uses “attention getting” commands, word phrases, signals, etc.
Are they effective? Ms. Barrett would grab the attention of the class by singing out loud,
to which the kids payed attention in a very attentive way.

9: What specific behavior issues does the teacher have to deal with? How does the
teacher handle the behavior issues? Be specific. Miss Barrett did not deal with any major
behavior issues besides kids accidentally turning on their microphones in the middle of a
stream, but she usually dealt with this but just reminding them of the rules and then
muting them.

10: Are there any policies or procedures that help or hinder instructional time? Please
explain them and how they help or hinder instructional time.

ASSIGNMENT #5 (Observing a student): Discretely observe one student in your assigned

classroom during direct instruction.

1: What drove you to choose this student?

I chose Jenesis Guzman due to all the problems she had throughout class streams

2: Explain what the student did during the observation.

The student in question would usually unmute herself to interrupt class at least once
every time I watched Ms. Barret. She also had a bad tendency to not be prepared for
class with all her materials.

3. Summarize the lesson given and the student’s responses to the lesson. Usually the
teacher would present a song or story with class material and would also work through a
small worksheet as a group. Jenesis would interrupt the story at least once and during
the review time she would be missing her materials.

4. Make sure to document ALL behavior in relationship to what was being presented by
the classroom teacher: Although Jenesis was not the only one with the microphone
gaffes, she had them the most by a significant margin along with being unprepared for
class more than everybody.

5. Please describe what you discovered about the student’s learning styles, involvement
in class, and his/her educational needs: Based on how she did better when there was an
adult helping her grab and touch things, it would seem Genesis is a kinesthetic learner.

ASSIGNMENT #6 (Cooperating Teacher Interview): Arrange for a convenient time to

interview your cooperating teacher either on the phone or by video conference. Ask the
questions below. Include any school document, handouts, etc. the teacher provides..
1: What was the primary reason you became a teacher?
Miss Barrett mentioned teaching swimming lessons helped her discover her passion for
teaching she likes working with children and helping them reach potential.
2: What are the main challenges you face as a teacher?
During a normal year the main challenge includes managing behaviors and teaching
morals to children. With COVID it includes keeping supplies in order and the assistant
kits that need it the most.
3: What is the best part of being a teacher?
The best part of being a teacher is seeing the enthusiasm kids have in learning.
4: How do you determine where students sit in class?
Seating charts are determined by a student's vision, IEP’s, behavior and how students
may complement each other.
5: How do you select members of any flexible groups?
Members of smaller fix flexible groups are determined by skill level of students and how
they could all help each other
6: How often do you interact with parents in person? What are the main reasons for
interactions with parents? Miss Barrett gets to interact with parents every day due to
being a kindergarten teacher so she has very good communication with them most of
our conversations are about a kids progression and the materials needed.
7: How much grading do you complete on a daily/weekly basis? Grading occurs in the
form of assessments conducted at the end of every standard. Informal assessments are
done constantly in order to decide on whether a kid has progressed or regressed and
where to go from there.
8: How long does it take to prepare lessons for the day/week? The length of lesson
plans is based on the ambitions and materials given times can vary and teamwork is
always encouraged.
9: What procedures or strategies do you use to maximize instructional time? Making
sure the supplies needed are ready and organized. Also, to have a clear plan on what
it's wanted and to become familiarized with the lesson as much as possible
10: What positive reinforcements have you used successfully? What behavioral
consequences seem most effective with this age group? There are things that can be
used as incentives in order to reinforce positive behaviors like “brag tags” which were
dog tags that have positive traits about children. A good consequence to have in order to
 discourage negative behavior is to limit restrict the amount of computer-play time kids
get.
11: How are specialist teachers involved in your instructional planning and process?
They discuss how to teach a class and also try to learn from each other what works and
what doesn't based on what the team discuss is they can see how to help progression of
the children’s skills.
12: How often are you evaluated, and what measurement tool is used by the
administration for determining your teaching performance? It varies from school to
school. Miss Barrett is value evaluated once a year and her evaluation is based on the
proficiency and progression of her students. She is graded in a scale from 5 to 1, 1 being
the absolute worse
13: What consequences are there if your evaluation is not favorable? A teacher who is
graded with the two can be sent back to be a probationary teacher and a teacher who
scores a one could lose his job.
14: What surprised you most about teaching as a profession? The documentation
needed for in order to decide on what to do to progress class
15: What drives their lesson plans? What standards do teachers use during lesson
planning? Plants are being driven but what might interest the kid while at the same time
what might help that kid progress in this his or her learning.
16: If they are teaching at a Nevada Charter school, are there lessons prescribed from
core standards or from other resources? N/A
17. How do you accommodate ELL, GATE, General Ed and Special Education
students? Search accommodate from English language learners miss Barrett Reston car
incorporate a lot of visuals in order to help them make the correlation between English
words and what they mean. In order to accommodate for special students Ms. Barret
tries to slow down the pace at which she presents information to them due to the slower
rate of learning, she also tends to repeat love what she teaches to them.

ASSIGNMENT #7 (Summary): Thoroughly summarize and reflect upon your entire 10 hour
Field Observation. What did you observe, learn, realize about teachers, students, instruction,
the school environment? How has this observation better prepared you to understand the
teaching profession? How does the observation relate to the text information and class
activities? What specific ideas on teaching will you remember to include in your classroom? The
weirdest thing about my observation hours is that they made me appreciate school a lot more
than I originally did. The whole time observing miss better I learn how important school is in
order to help children learn socializing skills, morals, values, and other extracurricular things
such as the value of friendship. My time observing also helped made me realize how important
it is for the physical assistance of children, especially young children who may need help
learning things how to hold the scissors, how to circle line or how to color something properly.
With these observations I also learned how important a physical environment is for kinesthetic
learners.
_____________________________________________________________________

Remember that before receiving the final grade for this EDU course, the CSN student must
submit the completed Cover Page, Field Observation Activities, Time Log, and Student
Evaluation to the CSN instructor for grading.

The cooperating teacher must also email the instructor to confirm the successful completion of
the observation. The student is required to provide the CCSD cooperating teacher with their
CSN professor’s email, so the cooperating teacher can send an email to verify that the student
has successfully completed the 10 hours of observation. The instructor’s email must be
provided on the first page of this packet, and on the next page for the cooperating teacher.

Remember that completion of the Field Observation is a PASS/FAIL component of the course.
Students must save this completed packet in digital form, and as a hard copy for the Education
Department’s capstone course, (EDU 299) Education Portfolio or (EDU 220) Educational
Psychology

COOPERATING TEACHER INFORMATION - CSN FIELD OBSERVATIONS - VIRTUAL

Aldo Huezo (2).pdf