Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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. My
observation was online so I never went inside the school building.
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. Their enrollment total is 531. The student/teacher ratio is
18:1. Their proficiency rate for math is 52% and for reading is 59%.
2: Please describe the student make-up of the school, including gender, ethnicity,
students with disabilities, ELL students, and any other attributes that are important to
note you found. The males make up 56% and females make 44% of the school. The
ethnicity of the school is white- 39.1%, Hispanic/Latino- 33.3%, Two or more races-
11.4%, Black or African American- 10.1%, Asian- 5.6%, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
Islander- 0.5%.
3. Explain the school’s mission/vision statements, motto, and mascot. Their mission is
RHB students will be engaged, supported, and challenged. Their motto is Team Work
Makes the Dream Work. The school's mascot is a bull dog.
5. Briefly describe three other pieces of information that can be found on your assigned
school’s website. The school is named after a US Senator. The school enrolls 53%
economically disadvantaged students. There are 30 equivalent full-time teachers and 1
full-time school counselor.
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 teachers’
expectations for learning and success are that students pay attention to the lessons and
do their work.
2. Evaluate the level of student participation in the class. Who participates? Who does
not? There is a lot of participation in the class because the teacher makes the class
environment welcoming, and the assignments she gives everyone understand them.
4. Observe student-to-student interactions, inside and outside of the class. Are they
using any chat features to communicate with each other? The students never really
interacted with each other in the virtual classroom, and I don’t know if they talk outside of
class and when there were breaks, the students leave the virtual classroom and come
back when the break is over.
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. My first impression of
the virtual classroom environment was very welcoming everyone said hi to me which
was nice of them.
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. The student make-up of the class is White, African American, Asian. There were
more males than females. I didn’t see anyone who had any physical challenges or with
ELL.
3: Are their posted class rules or course expectations? If rules/expectations are posted
write them exactly as they appear. I didn’t see any class rules posted anywhere but on
their Canvas. There is a schedule on what they will do for the day and the rest of the
school week.
2: In your opinion, how can the virtual arrangement of the room be improved? The virtual
arrangement can be improved if the assignments for class and homework should be
labeled, so students don't have to look at every assignment to see what they need to do.
ASSIGNMENT #4 (Instruction): Observe any instructional time with your assigned Cooperative
Teacher, and record your observations when presented with the questions below:
3: How does the teacher incorporate the sensory modalities (learning styles)? Give
examples. The teacher is very visual in her lessons she shows PowerPoints, shows
videos, and writes examples about vocabulary or math since everyone learns differently.
4: Do the students seem engaged in the lesson(s) presented? Please explain. Yes,
anytime the teacher needs a student to present, many people want to present, and the
ones who present weren’t afraid of presenting like most kids do when presenting in front
of the class.
5: Are there any students isolated or not present/participating in the class? Explain?
Many kids present in the class when the teacher needs participation, and the kids who
participate seem to love participating, but for some reason, in the virtual classroom, not
everyone is visible, but everyone’s camera is on, but when they talk, their webcam
shows them.
6: How does the teacher handle absences from the class? In her Google classroom, she
posts what the students did in the classroom, so if there are any absents, the students
can go on the Google classroom and see what they missed.
7: How does the teacher handle transitions from subject to subject or activity to activity?
Are the transitions efficient? There is a schedule on which subjects she is teaching. First
is reading, math, science/social studies, reading groups, and math groups.
8: List ways the teacher uses “attention getting” commands, word phrases, signals, etc.
Are they effective? The teacher gets the student’s attention by making sure that
everyone else is muted, and she is the only one talking though she can’t see every
student, the teacher doesn't know how to fix that problem.
9: What specific behavior issues does the teacher have to deal with? How does the
teacher handle the behavior issues? Be specific. The only behavioral issue that I saw
the teacher had to deal with was some of the students weren’t doing any work, and she
told them that they had to do something in the classroom and not just sit there, and
that’s the only behavioral problem I saw the teacher had.
10: Are there any policies or procedures that help or hinder instructional time? Please
explain them and how they help or hinder instructional time. The teacher makes sure
that the lessons are not only able to teach her students what they need to learn but also
to make sure that the activity is fun for the students so they can pay attention and
participate in class,
1: What drove you to choose this student? The reason I choose this student is because
this student is very active in the classroom.
2: Explain what the student did during the observation. During the observation, the
student paid attention in class, took notes, answered questions, and did the assignments
he was assigned.
3. Summarize the lesson given and the student’s responses to the lesson. The lesson
was learning about vocabulary words. He was writing all the terms and definitions and
asking the teacher questions about specific vocabulary words he didn’t understand the
definition of.
4. Make sure to document ALL behavior in relationship to what was being presented by
the classroom teacher. All the students were behaved and listened to the lesson, and
the teacher was very clear and straightforward about what she was teaching, and if
anyone had any questions, she happily answers.
5. Please describe what you discovered about the student’s learning styles, involvement
in class, and his/her educational needs. The student was very focused on his work and
made sure to pay attention to what the teachers said. He was very active in the
classroom, asking questions and presenting what he needed to present for class.
1: What was the primary reason you became a teacher? She was in real estate for
years and wanted to a family and saw teaching was the right fit.
2: What are the main challenges you face as a teacher? Balancing the workload and
getting everything done on time.
3: What is the best part of being a teacher? Loves working with kids, and the grade
level she is working in.
4: How do you determine where students sit in class? She uses a Gagan way to
determine who sits where
5: How do you select members of any flexible groups? She would usually let the kids
pick their own groups depending on the project, other times she would pick them if
the project was big.
6:How often do you interact with parents in person? What are the main reasons for
interactions with parents? Every day when she was teaching in person. Just letting
the parents know they are there to help and to form a relationship with them.
7: How much grading do you complete on a daily/weekly basis? 3 hours a week
8: How long does it take to prepare lessons for the day/week? 2 hours a week
9:What procedures or strategies do you use to maximize instructional time? She is
organized and doing that helps with doing what needs to be done.
10:What positive reinforcements have you used successfully? What behavioral
consequences seem most effective with this age group? She uses points for good
behavior for eating lunch with the teacher, skip an assignment or draw. For her, the
students losing points helps since they don’t want to lose those points.
11:How are specialist teachers involved in your instructional planning and process?
They work closely with them and for research projects, they go to them since they
can help the kids with finding stuff to write about.
12: How often are you evaluated, and what measurement tool is used by the
administration for determining your teaching performance? Their principal try
to come in as much as she can to check on what’s going on, but it’s usually just
once every few years. They use the curricular standards and teaching standards
for evaluating them.
13: What consequences are there if your evaluation is not favorable? You can talk to
the administration and argue why the score is wrong, and they can fix it.
14: What surprised you most about teaching as a profession? The time outside the
classroom and how you need to manage it, so you don’t burn out.
15: What drives their lesson plans? What standards do teachers use during lesson
planning? They go to the curricular standards so the school can see what they are
going to be teaching.
16: If they are teaching at a Nevada Charter school, are there lessons prescribed
from core standards or from other resources? She doesn’t know
17. How do you accommodate ELL, GATE, General Ed, and Special Education
students? It all depends on their IEP and what it says they need help with or the
special education teachers come into the classrooms to help.
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?
I learned from my 10-hour observation that being a teacher means to be real patient with your
students since you will be asked a lot of questions and to make that your lessons aren’t just you
talking but also you made the lesson fun for the students so they can learn while also having
some fun at school. Teaching won’t be easy at first since you’ll need to look over the different
stuff you have to teach and make sure that the students do their work and learn in the process
and not just them working on paper. This observation has reminded me that being a teacher will
cause you to have a lot of work, and sometimes you’ll be overworked, but when those days
come, I just have to remember not to overdo it and take breaks when needed. This observation
relates to test information and class actives because it shows you how good a teacher is on the
field, and it’s to show that if your planning on becoming one, you should do what they are doing,
and if you can’t, then don’t go into this profession. Specific ideas for me to remember when I
become a teacher are to remember when teaching is to make something that is an attention-
getter to pay attention to the lesson. When doing activities, try and be creative so students can
be very involved in the classroom, so they don’t feel left out. Lastly, another idea to remember is
to be patient with your students because a lot of teachers I have met aren’t as patient as others,
and because of that, not a lot of students learned a lot, and they got terrible grades, so when a
student is having some trouble remember to be patient when helping someone since not
everyone learns automatically.
_____________________________________________________________________
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
Thank you for assisting in the preparation of a new generation of Nevada teachers. Our
education majors are required to complete 10 field observation hours in: EDU 20____
Introduction to __________________ Education
This class is where many of our students actually make the decision whether they will continue
further study of the profession. We appreciate you joining us in providing these students with a
wonderful first experience in the virtual classroom. If at all possible, please utilize the student to
assist you in supervised classroom instructional activities if you deem them ready.
We are hopeful that the information we have enclosed with this letter, which has been approved
by the Nevada College Consortium, will help you with a clear sense of how this field experience
works. When the student has completed his/her required 10 observation hours, please complete
and sign the “FIELD OBSERVATION TIME LOG” and “FIELD OBSERVATION STUDENT
EVALUATION” (along with the student). Then, return these two pages to the student who will
submit them to his/her professor.
For your convenience, the student has provided you with CSN contact information below.
Please contact the CSN instructor if there are any questions or concerns.
Also, before a final grade for EDU _____ can be assigned, the CSN professor MUST receive
your official email verification that the student successfully completed the 10 hour observation.
Please also “cc” the student on this email. The student WILL NOT receive a final grade in the
course until the email is received from you.
CSN Professor:
Student’s email:
Should you have any concerns or questions about this process, please feel free to contact the
instructor directly, or the CSN Education Department at: (702) 651-4400.
TIME LOG - CSN Field Observations - VIRTUAL MEETINGS
CSN Student:
CSN Instructor:
CCSD Grade/Department:
Please complete the following evaluation using the Performance Indicator Scores below (with
the student) once the total observation hours are met. Your constructive comments are
extremely valuable to the student. Return this page to the student along with their Time Log to
be submitted to the instructor with the completed Field Observation Packet.
Comments:
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________