Ezahu Solis

Artifact #3
Field Observation
Assignment #1

1. My first impression of the classroom itself is it is very organized and neat. The desks are
set up in rows with even spacing between all of them with the teacher sitting up front.
There are lab tables on the outside of the rows for the students to conduct experiments, as
well as sinks in case an experiment goes wrong. The teacher has her own lab table up
front in order to demonstrate upcoming experiments for the day. The classroom is also
decorated with colorful posters and even includes past student projects. The posters in the
classroom all either correlate to science, by including posters of notable scientists or even
famous scientific theories, or are motivational and encourage students to succeed and do
well in class. There are also some “fun” decorations in the class such as a “Prom Props”
box located on top of a cabinet on the right side of the classroom and a glass display of
bobbleheads of notable scientists from history. Student work is displayed proudly and
there is even a section in the back left corner that is full of promotional items for the
school, displaying pride in the institution.
2. The student make up for the class is primarily white but also includes a small percentage
of Hispanic, Asian, and African American students. From my general observation, there
seems to be no ELL or students with physical disabilities. One thing to note is that boys
outnumber girls 9-5.
3. There are no posted class rules. When I asked the teacher why she does not have any she
explained that because she is teaching seniors and juniors, she feels as though she can be
civil and treat them as adults. She explains this ideology in the beginning of the school
year and allows them the choice (by their behavior) whether they want to be treated as
adults or children. She reports that she has little to no problems in her classes because of
this.
4. The teacher does enforce “the rules” but as explained before, there are no posted rules in
the classroom and the teacher gives the students a bit more freedom, treating them as
adults, in order to gain their trust and promote good behavior through self inflicted
expectations. Good behavior or active participation is met with a smile and positive
feedback, such as in the case of a student actively answering her questions within a five
minute time frame to which she promoted his participation to the entire class. There was
a moment where a student had decided to take her phone out and send a text, in a stern
but gentle voice the teacher called her by her name and told her to put it away, the student
complied immediately, put away the phone, and apologized.
 Assignment #2

1. The workflow and space of the class is used efficiently, promoting a productive and
organized environment. With the rows lined up promptly, students have the option to
either work on their own or bunch up with others to work together as a team. Because the
desks are in even rows and spaced appropriately, it allows room for students to move in
and out in an orderly fashion with no hassle. There is even extra room on the outside of
the desks to allow sufficient space for utilizing lab tables along the back walls of the
classroom.
2. The physical arrangements are fine, I personally cannot think of any better way to
organize the classroom, it seems as though the teacher has utilized classroom space not
only to the best of her abilities, but also to the best of the classroom sizes’ abilities. I
would suggest groups of tables instead of straight rows, but in my experience, while
group desks are more convenient for group work, it becomes a pain for students who end
up with their backs facing the board, making it a literal back pain to see what is going on
in the front of the class when the teacher is instructing. I believe that the rows of desks,
while looked at as more “old school”, is the most effective way to set up this classroom.

Assignment #3

1. There is no posted classroom schedule for different subjects or different periods.

From what I was told, the teacher gives a general schedule for the week at the
beginning of the week, students have the choice to write it down if they choose,
but a general synopsis of the day is given at the beginning of each class period.
2. Instruction is delivered to the whole class at once rather than individually.
Because the students are lined up in rows with the teacher placed at the front of
the class, it is much more convenient and easy to instruct all students at once
rather than individually.
3. My observation teacher’s learning style is a mix between the demonstrator
method and facilitator method. She enjoys lecturing the students in a very
straightforward manner, and the students seem to receive it well, but she also likes
to take breaks and show videos or demonstrations from her lab table. She also
likes to ensure that students have a good understanding of the topic by asking
them questions that trigger critical thinking.
4. Visual and auditory learners get a good head start in her class because it usually
begins with a lecture of the topic for the day, tactile learners also get a head start
because they immediately begin taking notes. Luckily for kinesthetic learners,
they always get an opportunity towards the end of class to work with their hands
and try experiments. With this approach, the teacher ensures that all learning
styles are covered during her instructional period.
5. Students seem engaged during the instruction period and productive during the
“practice” period. While there are occasional “side bar” conversations happening
during the instructional period, they usually don’t last long and there is an
overwhelmingly higher percentage of students paying close attention, taking
notes, and trying to get the most out of their instructional period. During the
“practice” period, there are numerous conversations occurring, but a high majority
of them being about the recently lectured topic. Students collaborate effectively
because of high attention paid during instructional period.
6. There are no students who are isolated from the class. While there are certainly
students that do not fit in the bigger “cliques” of the class, there are no students
that face isolation in the classroom. The class itself seems very friendly with one
another and are not against working with students that they do not know as well.
It is easy to see that the class is very collaborative, friendly, and open with all
students in the class, establishing a solid bond with one another.
 7. The best of example of how the teacher transitions from one topic to another can
be proven through her transition from a review of the topic from the day before
(or sometimes the homework from the night before) and the lesson that will be
discussed that day. While she reviews questions that students may have from the
lesson of the day before or the homework they had last night, she makes constant
connections on how that question would be built upon more in today’s lesson
while also effectively answering the student’s question. During the lesson itself,
she will also go back and readdress the questions that were asked at the beginning
of class, making the lesson come full circle for the students. The transition, in my
opinion, is effective with the students as I can tell they are responding positively
to it.
8. The teacher uses a variety of “attention getting” phrases such a “okay, quiet
down” or “let’s get started” which she does in a stern but gentle voice. This
attention getting technique is very effective, eliminating all conversation and
putting students in “learning mode”. It is either effective because of her influence
over the class, because the students themselves are disciplined, or a combination
of both. Although it is important to note that she does not have to get their
attention too often as they are a well behaved class.
9. There are only two real issues that occur in the class which is either occasional
sidebar conversations or cell phone use. She deals with them in the same manner
by calling the student or students by their name and asking them to either quiet
down or to put their phone away, depending on the situation of course. Because
her students are disciplined, there is no push back and from what she has told me,
she does not face any real problems in the class that can’t be dealt with with a
quick warning. Overall, her students are very well behaved.
10. From my observation, there are no policies or procedures that hinder class time. It
seems as though the administration has given teachers freedom over the timeline
of their class, allowing them to start and stop their lessons in an effective,
productive, and efficient manner. The teacher reports this to be the case.

Assignment #4

Physical Characteristics:

1. The school grounds themselves are surprisingly clean. There are gates around the outside
of the football field only, leaving the rest of the school grounds very open and free. There
are numerous windows throughout the building allowing sunlight and pleasant views.
The landscaping itself it well maintained and neat, it is obvious that they put heavy effort
into maintaining a clean and orderly image in the school. There are signs all around
campus that clearly point you in the right direction of where you are trying to go, for
 someone like me that has never been to the school, this was incredibly helpful. The
parking lot is very open and spacious, leaving plenty of parking not just students, but
faculty as well. Crosswalks are clearly marked and allows easy movement for students
that are walking onto campus. The football field is displayed prominently at the very
front on your entrance in, giving a sense of pride for their school athletics. Students have
be seen conducting physical education on the field as you enter the school parking lot.
“Foothill Falcons” is prominently written on the front of the school. The overall state of
the campus on the outside is phenomenal, it has a welcoming and spirited feeling, I have
no complaints of the outside.
2. The halls of the school relatively clean and the walls, just like the outside of the campus,
are covered in school announcements, events, and sometimes even student achievements.
The lighting is a bit dim, maybe even a little depressing, but for the four minutes they are
in the hallways between classes, I don’t believe it is a problem for students as most are
chatting and laughing on their way to their next class. The doors are heavy but have
relatively large windows on them, creating a more open and less suffocating feeling.
There are plenty of windows around the outside classrooms which makes the classrooms
feel less like a “box” the only issue is for the classrooms on the inside of the hallways
that do not have windows except for on the doors. The teacher even made a remark that at
some points she feels claustrophobic being in a room for so long that has no view of the
outside, I could imagine that most other teachers probably feel the same way. The hall
colors are very plain, but luckily because of the posters that I mentioned earlier, it does
make the hallways “pop” a bit more. Of the few complaints I have, one is the gates that
lead to the school. If it wasn’t for the well maintained greenery and openness of the main
campus, it would seem almost like a prison because of the primary and secondary gates
that greet you at the entrance of the school. I understand the need for security and a
follow up “verification” for visitors, but for students it could be daunting and
intimidating. My second complaint is that the rows of lockers within the inner chambers
of the campus are a bit confusing and make it almost maze like. Besides those two
complaints, the overall state of the campus is welcoming and clean.

Culture of the School:

1. Foothills mission statement is “​We believe all students can learn. We believe all students
can earn a diploma. We believe all students can be successful after high school.” Their
Motto is “Graduation for All!” and their mascot is the Foothill Falcons.
2. The interactions that I experienced with staff members were very pleasant and
welcoming. I had no trouble at all finding the people that I needed to speak with on my
first day and was always greeted by at least one staff member each time I returned for my
observations. The students who monitored the visitors check in were also polite,
 interacting in a respectful and appropriate manner. There was not much interaction
between the students and the faculty for the one or two minutes that I was in the offices,
but when they did interact it was professional and respectful.
3. Student interaction varies depending on the student or the number of students. In some
cases, there are huge groups of students traveling from one class to another laughing and
joking the entire way there. On the other hand, there are also students that walk quietly by
themselves to their next class, it doesn’t appear as though they were upset, but they were
perhaps just enjoying quiet thoughts before going to their next class. It seems as though
the majority of students gather in the outside quad during lunch, I saw a significantly
smaller group of students actually utilizing the indoor cafeteria, in this instance it could
also be correlated to the nicer Spring weather that is prevalent now.
4. At the front end of the school, leading into the parking lot, you have the football field
which creates a feeling a pride in the school’s athletics. Through the west entrance, you
have the doors leading into the theater, ahead is the administrative building. The main
campus is to the right of the administrative building, having an open area for students to
eat lunch and socialize. Just north of that is the cafeteria. If you continue right along the
campus, you come to the faculty offices, to the left of that across a sea of lockers, there
are scattered classrooms and long hallways. Within the lockers on the very far end of the
school is the library. There are numerous signs everywhere that point you in whatever
direction you wish to go, which as I have said before was very helpful for someone like
me that has never been to the school.
5. Foothill High School opened its doors on August 23, 1999 with only 93 faculty and staff
members and 1,268 students. Today, Foothill High School has over 150 faculty members
and over 2,600 students. During my time there, the teacher explained to me a tradition
(more so a game) that the school started to raise money for cancer research. The game
involves every teacher having a donation box in their classroom. Students put pennies in
their classes donation box to earn “positive points”, but put nickels, dimes, and quarters
in other teacher’s boxes to give them “negative points”. The class with the most “positive
points” wins and all the money is donated to charity. I was told that the year prior, they
raised almost $4,000. Foothill High School also has a Career and Technical Education
program that prepares students for real world careers. Foothill is also involved in multiple
programs such as SkillsUSA, DECA, and FBLA.

Culture of the Classroom:

1. The teacher expects that all students not only pay attention during the instructional
period, but also cooperate with one another and help those who are struggling. This
ideology is evident in the way she has her classroom set up as well as the way that she
interacts with students and distributes assignments. There is an expectation to produce
 quality and well thought out questions and discussions based on the lesson that was
presented. Students always respond promptly to these expectations.
2. I was surprised to note that it seems as though all students participate at one time or
another, some more than others obviously, but there is not a single students that does not
participate at least once in some way during the class discussion or the question
answering. Granted, this could be due to the class size being significantly smaller than
most other classes, perhaps even the fact that this is an AP class and students worked to
get into it, but I was still surprised to see such an active and engaged class.
3. The interactions between students and the teacher could be humorous but always
appropriate and respectful. Going back to the smaller class size, it seems though the
smaller amount of students allow for more pleasant and clear interactions between the
students and the teacher. The overall relationship between the students and the teacher is
based off of trust, the trust of the teacher instilled in the students to be active and engaged
during the instructional period as well as well behaved and disciplined and the students
trust in the teacher to be available for help and proper guidance. I believe that the
teacher’s personality has a lot to do for why her class is so engaged and ready to learn,
because she gives trust to her students and treats them as adults, they reciprocate the
feeling of mutual respect by meeting the expectations that she is setting for them as
“adults”. This ideology leads to a more respectful, engaged, and “feel good” sort of
classroom.

Assignment #5

1. The primary reason that my observation teacher became a teacher was an interesting
answer. Right out of high school she became an electrical draftsman and she did it for 12
years. Eventually she took on the job of training the new electrical draftsman that came in
and she really enjoyed the teaching aspect of it. She also credited the fact that at that
point in her life, she was beginning a family with her husband and wanted summers off to
spend with the family. Another factor was her love for science, crediting her former high
school science teacher (Ms. Black) with nurturing her love for it.
2. The main challenges she faces as a teacher is the administration. It is not in a negative
way, but the administration does create heavier workloads for the teachers at school. This
begins to interfere with being able to teach and interact with the students. New programs
and approaches to the teaching get introduced every year which set teachers back from
doing things the way they believe should be done. Eventually, all the programs go away
from lack of productivity which results in a “do over” every year.
3. The best part of being a teacher for her is interactions with the students. She really
appreciates the students that decide to come back after college and tell her how much
they appreciate her class or how it inspired them to pursue a career in science. She said
 that she is fortunate enough to get well behavior, disciplined kids that want to learn the
material and succeed. She noted a former student who had come in three weeks prior who
had returned to the school to tell her how much he loved her class and how he was
pursuing a career in physics because of her. She also had another student email her and
say that her class helped her through her first semester of organic chemistry, saying that
she is ahead of her classmates because she had taught her the material very, very well.
There are points, she admits, where she questions why she is in the teaching profession,
but when students thank her for her hard work, she feels as though it is all worth it.
4. She determines where they sit in the class in the simplest way possible, by hitting
“random” on her seating chart, because at first she doesn’t want them sitting by their
friends. She then asks if any students have any issues where they’re sitting (can’t hear,
can’t see, etc) and make minor adjustments there. Then, depending on the class, halfway
through the semester she allows them to choose their own seats. The class must show that
they understand when it is “her time” and “their time”, from there, she allows freedom
for the students. If they begin to slack off, then she reverts back to random seats. Because
her students are juniors and seniors in honors/AP classes, she feels as though they should
get more freedom as long as they act accordingly.
5. She does not select member of flexible groups, she allows them to work things out
amongst themselves. She said that she has noticed that students who struggle with the
material actively seek out the “smart” students, not to leech off of them, but to get a
second walkthrough on the material. Most of the kids, she says, have known each other
for years and actively help one another out, which makes her comfortable with allowing
them to choose their own groups.
6. She does not have a need to interact with parents too often, especially with honors/AP
students. She sees them during the open house and receives occasional emails from them
to track student progress, but other than that, parent interaction is very minimal because
the students are always well behaved and on top of their work. When she taught lower
level classes, she did have more behavior issues that had to involve parents, but since
switching to honors/AP she has not had to deal with that much. Most parents, she says,
prefer to handle any sort of business over email.
7. Onl a daily/weekly basis, my teacher completes 3-4 hours a day of grading and about
15-20 a week. Grading is done every day. Occasionally she will stay later at school to
complete grading. The reason she has so much work for grading is the subject matter.
Unlike some other subjects, the workload is heavier and more complicated. She herself
likes to take the time to look through the students work and see where and why they are
getting answers wrong so that she can correct them and let them know. She goes above
and beyond to ensure her students are successful. She doesn’t believe in the “right or
wrong” grading approach, she likes to let her students know how they can get better.
8. To prepare lessons for the day/week depended on whether she just began the class or if
she had already established herself in the class. For newer classes, she said it was more
difficult and would often stay up until 11 at night making lesson plans. She says it takes
about 2-3 years of teaching to established a style of teaching/lesson plan creating. After
that, the “groove” of lesson planning becomes a bit easier.
9. The procedures and strategies she uses to maximize instructional time are self
explanatory. She wastes no time in beginning instructional time in order to take
advantage of every minute of the class period. Since she has a seating chart, at the minute
bell she begins to see who is present or absent, then when the bell rings she does one final
check and immediately begins teaching. This straightforward approach helps maximize
instructional time.
10. The positive reinforcements and behavioral consequences are a bit different depending on
the class. For her honors/AP classes she doesn’t have to focus too much on consequences,
she says she is fortunate enough to have students that want to learn and that continue
learning all on their own. For positive reinforcement, she showers them with gratitude for
continuing to be active. When it came to lower level classes that misbehaved, she would
simply remind them that it was her class and her instructional time so they needed to pay
attention. How she responds to behavior is dependant on the class and explains that you
have to “know” your class in order to respond to participation/misbehavior in a
productive manner. She also says that she doesn’t believe in classic attention getting
methods such as chimes or gongs to get student’s attention.
11. Specialist teachers serve their own roles in her classroom. At the moment, she does not
have any specialty teachers in her class but when she did all they did was adapt to her
way of teaching in order to help their students. They served very light roles. She also took
feedback from them and allowed them to have their input in the class. If they wanted to
teach, she allowed them to, but overall they did not have heavy roles.
12. She is evaluated 3-4 times a year through the NEPF evaluation. Evaluators would come
into her class and observe her for 3-4 days, typing notes and filling out the NEPF rubric.
The teacher then fills out her portion of the NEPF for completion of the evaluation. The
evaluation covers whether she is involving all standards in her instruction. The teacher
portion covers her reasoning if she missed any of the parts on the rubric, this time around
she hit all her marks. The overall process on her half takes around 15 hours.
13. If her evaluation is not favorable then she could be dismissed. If she does not fit the
rubric the first time around then there is a correctionalperiod along with a counseling, if
the second time around she does not meet the criteria then she is fired.
14. The most surprising thing about teaching for her was the fact that she was always fed the
idea that teaching is “easy” and not complicated. She believes (and I agree) that teaching
is one of the most challenging professions. She mentions a statistic that teachers make
700 decisions in a day and she completely agrees. After my observation, I can say that
 that is definitely the case. She does say that overtime it does get easier. The most
worthwhile part of the process is receiving positive feedback from students who
understand how difficult the job is.

Assignment #6

1. The student that I watched during my observation was a white male. He sat close to the
back but still paid attention in class and was an active participant. The lesson for the day
was on electromagnetic, magnetic, and electric waves. One thing that interested me was
the fact that the student did not look up to make eye contact with the teacher for a good
majority of the lesson, instead, he spent his time writing/taking notes. The peak of my
interest came when the teacher said she would be writing a longer equation on the board
and rather than looking up to copy it down directly from the board, it seems as though he
was writing it down word for word as she was speaking it out loud. This observation
leads me to believe that he is an auditory learner, as most students would need to
reference the board in order to copy down a long equation, while this student was able to
write it down just by listening to the teacher saying it out loud. Another interesting
observation, going back to what I originally said, was his placement in the class.
Although he sat closer to the back of the class, he seemed to do fine there and even
thrived. There were not many moments where the student didn’t seem engaged despite
being farther from the board. To add to this observation, it seemed as though the student
only answered questions when no one else was willing to answer. From this observation,
I can tell that this student is incredibly shy and because of where he chooses to sit (see
assignment #5, teacher allows students to pick their own seats in the second half of the
year) I can assume that he also does not like being the center of attention. He spent the
entire lesson in silence and only chose to talk at the end of the instructional period while
waiting for the bell to ring. A good majority of his time was spent taking notes and
staying on task, it was also noted that the only time he really took a good break from note
writing was during instructional videos. In conclusion, the student I observed, from my
assumptions, is an auditory learner that is shy, does not like to be the center of attention,
and thrives because of the small classroom size.
Assignment #7
1. During my 10 hour Field Observation, I learned a great deal about what it means
to be a teacher. Despite its shortness in length, 10 hours is enough time to get a
good idea of how a standard classroom operates. With teaching, I learned that
lesson planning is a lengthy process not just because of ensuring curriculum
standards are met, but also that student needs, district/state/national standards, and
overall self inflicted standards are met. This process lengthens planning
significantly but always ensures that students are receiving the best education
possible and that all surrounding standards are being satisfied. With students, I
had a heavy and important realization. The day of teachers asserting their
dominance and creating a more “conservative” learning environment are gone.
The teacher I observed took a new approach with how she would treat her
students, as stated in my observation notes. The teacher treated the students more
like adults and allowed them more freedom when it came to instruction, seating
arrangement, and even leisure time (if time allotted). Building this sort of rapport
and trust built between the teacher and the student helped create the calm,
creative, and open classroom environment that I witnessed during my observation.
The students were well behaved, attentive, and disciplined not from the teacher
yelling and discipling, but from her ability to build trust with her students through
freedom and good treatment. But despite a good natured classroom, instruction
does seem to still be a challenge. I noticed that during instructional time, the
teacher almost has to put on a “show” and keep the momentum going. Students
are able to learn effectively and productively if the lesson is presented in a manner
that has momentum, moving from topic to topic efficiently and effectively. I
could only imagine what instructional time must be for students when the teacher
cannot effectively transition through the lesson without losing momentum. I
believe this subconscious ideology comes from student’s young age. Because of
their age, especially this in coming generation, they like to feel stimulated and
when they are, they are more open to learn and participate. The lesson presented
should always be put on almost like entertainment, especially with the more dry
material, in order to keep students engaged and attentive. The overall school
environment is very relaxed from what I observed. The students are disciplined, it
seemed as though everyone was on the same page, knowing what they had to do
and were on track to do it. This observation definitely gave me a real world look
into the teaching profession, giving me a real life application to all the material I
have been studying in the textbook. It is amazing to see all the topics from the
book being executed in a real teaching scenario, it helps establish these lessons
not just as ideas, but as ideas that work. When I become a teacher, I will definitely
be giving my students more freedom and building trust/ a rapport with them in
order to create a welcoming, relaxed, and disciplined classroom. It is clear as day
to me after this observation that this is the best approach for me as it also fits in
with my personal philosophies as well the my teaching philosophies. I will also be
teaching my curriculum in a fun and refreshing way, almost like an entertainer, in
order to keep students engaged, attentive, and active. Overall, I feel as though my
time spent at Foothill High School was a productive and eye opening experience,
one that I will carry on to my career as a teaching professional.