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CSN Education Department - Alternative Field Observation Activities Packet

Greetings Future Educator,

One of the most rewarding aspects of EDU 202, 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:

CSN Course: EDU 202 Introduction to Secondary Education

Professor: Connie Christensen

Professor’s email: connie.christensen@csn.edu

CCSD School: Dell H. Robison Middle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mr. Malven Smith 6Th grade ELA

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Breanna Sandoval

Professor Connie Christensen

EDU 202

Spring 2021

Field Observations Assignment

ASSIGNMENT #1 (Culture): Physical Characteristics:

1. Dell H. Robison Middle School is a very large campus located on a corner lot in the middle of
an Eastside Las Vegas neighborhood surrounded by houses and apartment buildings. Classrooms
and administration offices are located in the main building which is designed in a unique circular
shape with white walls and purple trim. On the outside of this build is the school’s sign, which
displays the schools name, upcoming events, and any changes in the bell schedule. Access to this
building requires granted access from staff. The main building is surrounded by two parking lots
and a performing arts building. A large amount of the campus is made up of landscape which is
used as a baseball field and physical education area. In the center of the campus is the tennis and
basketball court along with a large courtyard.
2. Since I completed my observations virtually, I did not have the chance to view the interior of
the school.
Culture of the School:

1. My first impression of Dell Middle School were not as expected. I shock to discover that Dell
was a 2-star school with proficiency rates below state average: Reading 34%, Math 15%, and
Science 21%. Total enrollment of 1,309 students with a student to teacher ratio of 24:1. Out of
159 middle schools in Las Vegas, Dell H. Robison ranked in at 133.
2. The majority of Dell H. Robison Middle School students are Hispanic. The student population
is made up of 84% Hispanic, 10% black, 4% white, 1% Asian, 1% 2 or more races, <1% Native
American, & <1% other. 47% being female and 53% male. 19% of the students have a disability
and 83% of the students are considered low income.
3. The schools vision statement is to work collaboratively in a positive learning environment that
promotes respect, motivation & scholarship to produce successful members of society. Their
motto is H.A.L.O (Have respect, Act kindly, Learn always, Own your actions). The students,
teachers, and administration of Dell refer to themselves as Angels and use an image of a shield
with wings and a golden halo as their mascot.
4. There’s not much community involvement at Dell Middle School, but this does not stop the
school from showing recognition to their students. Each grade level (6-8) has awards for perfect
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attendance, 4.0-3.0 GPA, and citizenship. The school offers an impressive array of
extracurricular activities and clubs such as: homework club, knitting club, anime club, cooking
club, robotics club, and much more.
5. The school’s website features a direct link to a website that educates parents on certain social
media site that can be harmful to teenagers and expose them to cyberbullying and/or online
predators. Students can find a learning line number on the website that is active Monday through
Friday from 8AM-4PM. This learning line provides students with homework and technical help.
Information on Dell H. Robison’s house system can also be found on their website. The schools
house system is divided into four categories based off Greek mythology gods Apollo, Artemis,
Prometheus, and goddess Athena. Each house represents a department such as English, Math,
etc. and strengths and values associated with the Greek God.
Culture of the Classroom:

1. Mr. Smith’s expectation for learning is for his students to be able to actively think and to be
able to apply what they have learned into the real world.
2. The level of participation in the class was very low, out of 22 students only about 6 actively
participated. Mr. Smith calls on other students to get them to participate. It appeared that most of
the participation came from the same students, these students were high performing Hispanic
female. I blame the lack of participation on the virtual aspect of the class. Due to Covid-19,
students attend school virtually through Google Meet. The students have the option to turn their
cameras on, but the majority of the students keep their cameras off.
3. Mr. Smith is a teacher with lots of personality and is relatable to his students. You can tell the
students enjoy having a teacher like Mr. Smith who enjoys talking about superheroes, comics,
and Roblox. When Mr. Smith focus his lesson around what the students enjoy there is more
participation and discussion from the students.
4. I was unable to witness student interaction outside the classroom, but what I was able to see
during virtual learning was the students using the chat box feature in Google Meet to
communicate with each other instead of turning on their mic and camera. I noticed students
would only turn their camera on if they felt the need to address an issue or had something to
show the class. For example, one student by the name of Ethan decided to turn on his camera and
mic to share with us his new headset he got for his computer. To Mr. Smith and I, this was off
topic from the lesson, but it intrigued other students and they began to interact with each other
and discuss technology devices and brands. Mr. Smith allowed the conversation to go on for a
few minutes because he was so fascinated by the amount of knowledge his 6th students had about
technology that he was unaware of. At the end of the period that day, Mr. Smith said to me that
there are days where his students teach him a thing or two.
ASSIGNMENT #2 (Classroom Observations)

1. For virtual learning, students use the platform Google Classroom, a very simple layout that is
easy to use and navigate. To the right of the screen is a chat box where students can chat amongst
each other, Mr. Smith used this feature to share direct links to assignments with me. The middle
of the screen displays the student’s name and icon, if the camera is turned on, the video image
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will replace the icon. Mr. Smith allows his students to express their personality or likes in their
icons, students have pictures of their favorite characters, sports team, or image of their family.
Mr. Smith decided for his students to do this when he realized not many of the student turn on
their cameras. When an image is not added to the icon only the student initials will be displayed,
Mr. Smith figured having his student add a little flare to their icon this would make the virtual
environment more fun and welcoming.
2. During my observations I was present for Mr. Smith’s 1st through 3rd period classes, majority
of his students are Hispanic males with Hispanic females coming in second. Each class period
had about three to five IEP students, these particular students have tailored lesson plans to work
with their disability.
3. During the beginning go the school year Mr. Smith has his students create rules they think
would be appropriate for their classroom, the students collaborate with each other to choose the
best rule for the class, then the students write these rules on large poster board where Mr. Smith
has his students sign and agree to abide by these rules. Mr. Smith shared that there is also a
progressive discipline with poster posted in his class, this poster was provided by the school.
4. Mr. Smith is constantly enforcing is the cellphone rule, on the class rules and school rules no
phones are allowed during instruction. When Mr. Smith enforces this rule, he points to the
classroom rules and signatures to remind the student that they agreed to follow these rules. The
consequence for using a phone in class is first to be reminded about the rules, second, a verbal
warning, and third, the phone is taken away from the student. Mr. Smith mentioned that cell
phones are the biggest disruption in the class, but this issue gets resolved quickly. Students
usually comply after the verbal warning in fear of having their phone confiscated. Other than the
phones Mr. Smith his students are very respectful and well behaved.
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5.

6. I did not witness any evidence of a mission statement or vision via the virtual environment.

ASSIGNMENT #3 (Classroom Layout):

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1. There is a steady workflow to the online environment, Mr. Smith mentioned that during the
transition into virtual learning was a real challenge in trying to manage time and provide
maximum instruction. He now has it under control and is confident when it comes to effectively
managing time.
2. In my opinion, virtual arrangement is great, clean and easy to navigate. I just wished more
students would turn on their cameras to make it feel like a classroom environment instead of an
online chat room.
ASSIGNMENT #4 (Instruction):

1. Instruction is delivered as a whole with all students present focusing on the same lesson. Mr.
Smith divides his students into small groups only if students need additional help, this small
group is assisted by a specialist teacher.
2. Mr. Smith’s teaching style falls under the student-centered philosophy of Progressivism and a
flipped instruction classroom.
3. Mr. Smith guides his students during discussion providing the necessary information for the
students to complete the activity on their own. Students will access the assignment through a
leaning platform such as Achieve or Nearpod. Once the assignment is complete students and
teacher go over assignment together.
4. Students only seem to be engaged in a lesson only if they topic of the lesson is of interest to
the student. For example, students did not engage or seem interested in the lesson on financial
literacy, but when a lesson on Roblox, a popular online game, was presented many students took
interest, even some of the more quitter students.
5. There is no isolation amongst the students. Participation comes from the usual students, while
the others hid behind their screens. I blame the lack of participation on the virtual aspect,
students are at home distracted by their surrounding and cannot focus on their lesson. A student
by the name of Sophia mentioned to me that it is hard to pay attention at home because her house
is too loud and she does not like to turn her mic or camera on because she’s embarrassed of her
household.
6. When it comes to students being absent from class, the only thing Mr. Smith can do is
document their absences. Any ongoing absences from the same students gets addressed by
administration.
7. There is no subject transitions in Mr. Smith’s classroom, the subjects of the lesson are always
related to English Language Arts. Mr. Smith has an effective transition between activates, before
moving on to a new activity, he signals to his students that the current lesson is almost over and
he will give the students a time frame to wrap up the assignment before having the students
move on to something new.
8. At the beginning of the period, Mr. Smith grabs his student’s attention by greeting every
signal student directly, for example Hello Ethan or Good Morning Esther. His commination with
the students is very clear and direct. Transition between assignments is signaled with a time
frame and at the end of the class period again, Mr. Smith makes sure to say goodbye to each
student directly.
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9. Mr. Smith is proud of all his class periods and proudly stated that he has no behavior issues
with any of his students. If a behavioral issue was to arise, Mr. Smith likes to deal with the issue
head on and talk it out to find the best resolution without having to remove the student from the
classroom.
10. Policies and procedures are implanted organically and do not affect instruction, but serve as
guidance. The only thing I feel hinders instructional time is the virtual environment, I strongly
believe students do not apply themselves as much as they would if they were present in a
physical classroom.
ASSIGNMENT #5 (Observing a student):

1. I was instantly driven to the student by the name of Johnathan, due to his participation and
personality he presented in class.
2. You can tell Johnathan is a ball of energy even through the screen, he would always be the
first student to raise his hand to answer a question or engage in discussion. You can tell he is
favored by his classmates; majority of the students acknowledge his presents when entering the
classroom. I would certainly categorize Johnathan as the most popular and most talkative.
3. The lesson for this particular day was an article about the latest internet gaming trend Roblox.
Many of the students play this game and were very excited to read and discuss the article. The
students had to read the article and answer question pertaining article such as the purpose of the
article, define key terms, and discussion questions.
4. Mr. Smith was very impressed with the knowledge the students had about Roblox and how
much more participation arose just because of the topic of the lesson. Mr. Smith tries to
incorporate as much student interest into the lessons as much as he can while trying to meet
standards and expectations.
5. Given that Jonathan was such an active student who participated regularly and showed interest
in learning, I was shocked to learn that he was an IEP student. Jonathan’s reading level is below
average and has to have his assignments adjusted to his reading level. With his amount of
participation and eagerness to learn, I believe in time Johnathan will reach the proper reading
level and become a progressive student.
ASSIGNMENT #6 (Cooperating Teacher Interview):

1. Mr. Smith did not receive his degrees in education, he initially wanted a career in the
philosophy field, till one day when he met a group of teenagers from his neighborhood who
could not read. This made Mr. Smith question the education system and the kind of teachers
serving the lower income communities. The shock of meeting teenagers between the ages of
twelve and fourteen who could not read was the primary reason Mr. Smith decided to become a
teacher.
2. One of the main challenges Mr. Smith faces as a teacher are finding different and creative
ways to meet the required standards for his 6th grade ELA classes. The other challenge is
communicating with the parents of his students, this challenge comes from language barriers.
Several of his student’s parents only speak Spanish, and Mr. Smith does not. This sometimes
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becomes an issue when discussing student’s performance or giving general class information.
Mr. Smith is currently taking Spanish classes to tackle this challenge.
3. When asking Mr. Smith what is the best part about being a teacher, he mentioned connections.
He really enjoys the connections he makes with his students and colleagues. Every year he gets
the opportunity to meet new people and make new connections.
4. Prior to Covid-19, Mr. Smith determined where he sat his students based on the two things:
the performance strength of the student and the Kagan model, which is an instructional strategy
designed to promote cooperation and communication. He would sit his students in a group of
four with two strong performing students and two not so strong performing students. Due to the
changes brought on by Covid-19, he now sits his students far enough apart to meet safety
standards and precautions.
5. When selecting groups, Mr. Smith likes to select his students based on their performance
levels. Mixing strong performing students and low preforming students in effort to create class
discussion, learning encouragement, and peer assistants.
6. Now and even prior to Covid-19, there is not much parent interaction or involvement at Dell
Middle School. Mr. Smith understands that many of his students’ parents work long hours and/or
do not speak English, so parent interaction is minimal. When parent interaction is called for, it is
usually to discuss grades or during the beginning when class information is being distributed.
7. Mr. Smith is very particular when it comes to grading, he refuses to get backed up with grades,
so he grades daily and inputs grades daily. All assignments turned in on a particular day get
graded on that day and homework assignments are graded on Fridays.
8. Mr. Smith usually spends his Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons creating his weekly
lesson plan. He mentioned it’s a 2–3-hour process that he does not mind and it has become sort
of a routine for him these past couple years, as long as his Sundays are free, any other day can be
used for creating lessons.
9. To maximize instructional time, Mr. Smith uses the gradual release of responsibility model,
which is the teacher’s responsibility to apply focus to the lesson and provided guided lessons.
While the student’s responsibility is to be collaborative and independent. The overview of the
gradual release of responsibility instructional framework is: “I do it”, “We do it”, “You do it
together”, and “You do it alone”.
10. At Dell H. Middle School and in Mr. Smith’s classroom they are all about positive
reinforcement. Whenever a student demonstrates H.A.L.O (Have respect, Act kindly, Learn
always, Own your actions) they are rewarded with HALO bucks. With these HALO bucks,
students can make purchases on the school’s online store or they can be used for an earlier
dismissal time. Mr. Smiths students range from eleven to twelve years old, a behavior
consequence for this age group that seems to be effective is removing the students cell phone.
Mr. Smith does not face many behavioral issues in his classroom, just the occasional student
using their cell phone when they are not supposed to be.
11. Mr. Smith has a few IEP students in each of his periods, this means these particular students
have an individualized education plan, due to a disability that the student was diagnosed with.
The student’s lessons are formulated to meet the student’s needs, learning style, and performance
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level. IEP students are also assigned a specialist teacher to assist them with assignments and
monitor their progress through the school year, these specialist teachers are often involved in the
planning and processing of lessons.
12. As a fourth-year teacher, Mr. Smith is officially evaluated once a year, and unofficially
evaluated once a week. A department share uses NEPF (Nevada Educator Performance
Framework) protocols to evaluate teachers at Dell H. Robison Middle School to identify
effective instruction.
13. If a teacher scores below a 3 on multiple elevations, that teacher will be in jeopardy of not
being asked to return for the next school year or automatically released. If a teacher cannot show
proof of improvement, then that teacher will be fired.
14. When asking Mr. Smith what surprised him the most about being a teacher, he gave me
positive and negative response. On the positive end, he was very surprised by the amount of joy
and respect he receives from his students on daily. His negative response was directed towards
the number of complaints he hears from his coworkers. This was surprising to Mr. Smith, the
amount of complaining the other teacher do about their students just does not sit right with him,
for this reason he avoids the teacher’s lounge.
15. Mr. Smith lesson plans are driven by the enjoyment of his students; he wants his students to
actually have an interest in the topic to create maximum engagement. I witnessed this when Mr.
Smith created a lesson based on the popular online game Roblox, all the students took much
interest in the assignment and more students than usual participated in the discussion. Standards
used for 6th grade English Language Arts: RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is
conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal
opinions or judgments. L.6.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-
meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies. W.6.2.a Introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using
strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include
formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension.
16. Dell H. Robison Middle School is not a charter school.

17. Students that need special accommodations are referred to as IEP students, their lessons are
tailored to their learning level. Special education students have a specific teacher in each grade
level that they are assigned to. At Dell H. Robison Middle School, administration and teachers
make sure every students’ educational needs are met.
ASSIGNMENT #7 (Summary):

Due to unfortunate circumstance taking place around the world, the classroom environment has
certainly been turned upside down. Instead of the typical classroom setting in a building on a
school campus, students now are learning virtually from their homes. During my observations, I
noticed that the virtual setting has reduced participation and student interaction. Students keep
their cameras and mics off throughout the duration of the period, unless called on by the teacher,
even then student will not turn on their cameras. I do not feel any connections are being made
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with this new learning environment. Students at home have a lot of distractions that can interfere
with effective learning. Teachers are doing the best they can to maximize instruction with this
new classroom style. Technology has become a large part of the classroom; this has led me to
familiarize myself with different learning platforms and has encourage me to take another
technology class. I am not that tech savvy so I could benefit from some extras course to help me
prepare for when I become a teacher. I wish I had more student interaction during my
observations to help me gain a better feel about the different student personalities in a classroom.
Mr. Smith was the perfect teacher for me to observe, his outgoing and vibrant personality
matched mined. I like how he relates to his students; I noticed a friendship type of vibe between
Mr. Smith and his students. You can tell he cares for his students beyond the classroom, and
cares about they kind of person they will be as an active member of society. My observations
have not changed my perceptive about becoming a teacher, more than ever am I eager to begin
teaching. Students need more teachers that are relatable and care about their well being beyond
the classroom. Students now are far more advanced and aware of events more than ever due to
technology. Students show more interest and have higher levels of participation in lessons that
are about topics they like or are familiar with. I will keep all these things in mind when I become
a teacher and begin creating lesson plans, not only to meet standards, but gain the interest of the
students as well.
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TIME LOG - CSN Field Observations - VIRTUAL MEETINGS

CSN Student: Breanna Sandoval
CSN Instructor: Connie Christensen

CCSD School Assigned: Dell H. Robison Middle School

CCSD Cooperating Teacher: Malven Smith

CCSD Grade/Department: 6th/ELA

School Principal: Immer Liza Ravalo

CCSD School Phone: (702) 799-7300

10.35

TOTAL HOURS:

Cooperating Teacher Signature: Date:

4/27/2021
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OBSERVATION STUDENT EVALUATION - completed by Cooperating CCSD teacher

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.

Enter the appropriate "Performance Indicator Score" in the spaces below

(4) =exemplary (3) =consistent level (2) =not consistent (1) =lacking

Professional appearance, adherence to CCSD dress code

Reliability, punctuality

Communicates effectively with teachers and staff

Demonstrates manners, graciousness

Reflects upon observations using critical thinking

Demonstrates enthusiasm and curiosity toward the profession

Models respectful behavior with students

Uses appropriate language

Exhibits pre-service educator success indicators

Comments: