Field study 1- Episode 4

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND LEARNER’S INTERACTION

(FOCUSING on DIFFERENCES in GENDER, RACIAL, RELIGIOUS
BACKGROUNDS)

My tools

 Find out the number of students. Gather data as to their ages, gender, racial
groups, religious and ethnic backgrounds.

As I am observing the class, I observe that there are like more than 40 pupils.
Their ages vary from 7 to b years old. Almost from these pupils are Roman Catholic
in religion, there are few who are Born again Christian.

During class:

1. How much interaction is there in the classroom? Describe how the students
interact with one another and with the teacher. Are there groups that interact
more with the teacher than others. The interactions between each other including
the teacher are present. The pupils interact with their classmates when they have
activities; they also interact with each other when they have their own business
aside from the lesson discussion with the teacher.

2. Observe the learners seated at the back and the front part of the room. Do they
behave and interact differently. Yes, the pupils who are seating in front and at the
back they interact differently, those who are seating in front are the pupils who
are more participative compare to those who are at the back maybe because, the
teacher attention are more focus to those who are in front of the row.
3. Describe the relationship among the learners. Do the learners cooperate with or
compete against each other, The learners usually compete with each other.
However, there was also an instance that they have cooperation’s.

4. When a student is called and cannot answer the teacher’s question, do

the classmates try to help him? Or do they raise their hands so that the teacher
will call them instead? There is an instance that the teacher ask one pupil to
answer a question, then the pupils were not able to answer the question, then the
pupil seating beside him tries to help him answering the question, and then
somebody from the other side, raise her hand to answer the question.

Outside class:

1. How do the students group themselves outside class? Homogenously, by age?

By gender? By racial or ethnic groups? Or are the students inmixed social
groupings? If so, describe the groupings. As I have observe them outside the
classroom, they group themselves I think based on their locality at home, I mean
based on how far is their home in each other. Or maybe since then they already
have this group of friends. But I also observe a numbers of pupils they are
group because they are classmates.

2. Describe how the learners interact with each other. What do they talk about?
They interact with each other by bullying somebody, mostly boys are playing and
roaming around, while girls are sitting with their friends and having some snacks..
OBSERVATION REPORT

Name of the School Observed: Tanauan School of Craftsmanship and Home Industries
School Address: Tanauan Leyte

As I am observing the class, I observe that there are like more than 40 pupils.
Their ages vary from 7 to b years old. Almost from these pupils are Roman Catholic in
religion, there are few who are Born again Christian. During Class: The interactions
between each other including the teacher are present. The pupils interact with their
classmates when they have activities; they also interact with each other when they have
their own business aside from the lesson discussion with the teacher. The interaction of
the pupils to their teacher is when they have something to ask or clarify from the
teacher. And the interactions from the teacher to the pupils are during the discussion of
the lesson, to make the discussion alive. There are group of pupils who interact more to
the teacher, I think this group of pupils are those who are above average or the
intelligent pupils, because as observe them they are really participating in the
discussion compare to the other pupils on the other group. Yes, the pupils who are
seating in front and at the back they interact differently, those who are seating in front
are the pupils who are more participative compare to those who are at the back maybe
because, the teacher attention are more focus to those who are in front of the row. The
learners usually compete with each other. However, there was also an instance that
they have cooperation’s. The pupils who are in seated in front are those group of pupils
who participate actively, while those who are seating at the back but wants to participate
in the discussion they are the pupils who ask help most. There is an instance that the
teacher ask one pupil to answer a question, then the pupils were not able to answer the
question, then the pupil seating beside him tries to help him answering the question,
and then somebody from the other side, raise her hand to answer the question. Outside
Class: As I have observe them outside the classroom, they group themselves I think
based on their locality at home, I mean based on how far is their home in each other. Or
maybe since then they already have this group of friends. But I also observe a numbers
of pupils they are group because they are classmates. They interact with each other by
bullying somebody, mostly boys are playing and roaming around, while girls are sitting
with their friends and having some snacks.

My Analysis

1. Identify the persons who play key roles in the relationships and interactions in the
classrooms. What roles do they play? Is there somebody who appears to be
the leader, a mascot/joker, an attention seeker, a little teacher, a
doubter/pessimist? The person who play an important roles in the classroom
interactions are the teacher and the pupils. The teacher acts as facilitator and the
pupils as learner. There are pupils who are attention seeker; they tried to catch
the attention of their teacher as well as their classmates. There are pupils who
appeared to be the leader and a little teacher; they are the one who teaches their
classmates who have less knowledge on the subject matter. The teacher and the
pupils are also jokers in the classroom. The teacher makes jokes to break the
monotony in the room.

2. Are students coming from the minority grout accepted or rejected by the others?
How is this shown? There are situations wherein the pupils that belong to the
minority group (e.g., poor, black complexion, etc.) are being rejected by some of
their classmates. This is manifested through group activity and class discussion
and even during and after hours. Some of the pupils who belong to the average
group don’t want to have a group mate who are in minority level. Others are also
laughing their classmates when somebody commits mistakes like for example
wrong pronunciation of words. Probably, these kinds of cases are founding every
institution in which this could affect deterioration of self-possession of every
pupils.

3. How does the teacher influence the class interaction considering their dividual
differences of the students? The teacher influences the class interaction
considering the individual differences of the pupils by manifesting a fairly values
inside the classroom. The teacher doesn’t discourage her students whenever
 responding her wrong answer from the question. The teacher doesn’t show
biases according to her pupil’s performance and routine when they were inside
the classroom.

4. What factors influence the grouping of learners outside the classroom? “Birds of

the same feather, flocks together”. Thus is comparable to the groupings of the
learners outside the classroom. The persons having common interest with one
another are in one group. The factors that manipulated the groupings of learners
outside the classroom are their gender, racial, ethnic and religious background.
For instance, one pupil has a preference to choose a friend who has the same
gender and racial group with him.

Reflections

1. How did you feel being in that classroom? Did you feel a sense of oneness or
unity among the learners and between the teacher and the learners?
While I am seating at the back of the classroom, observing, watching the
learners, I feel an optimistic feeling that as if I am already a teacher of them.
Within my mind I could sense the oneness and unity among the learners and the
teacher because the learners intermingled positively to their teacher, when their
teacher ask a question they respond it instantly without any hesitation and qualm
to themselves. This is shown by the student who have a full self-confidence and
trust to himself.

2. In the future, how would you want the learners in your classroom interact? How
will you make this happen?
In the future, I want that the classroom interaction to be very interactive
and participative wherein the learners could express their ideas in varied modes
and participate actively in every classroom activity. As a prospective teacher, I
am the facilitator of the learning process, providing direction and feedback to the
 students rather than just instruction and I will focus instruction on the needs,
preferences and interests of the learner.

3. How will you encourage the learners, regardless of religious, ethnic or racial
background, to interact and participate?
As a future educator, most likely I will treat my students fairly. I will
inculcate in the minds of them the value of being just and respectful. If ever I ask
them a certain question and respond me with a wrong answer. Of course, I will
not discourage them so that they could feel the so-called unity towards each
other regardless of their religious, ethnic or racial background. Further, I will
initiate to them that there religious, ethnic, and even their racial backgrounds are
not the major concern of education, and it is not a gigantic blockade to their
success in participating within the classroom. The total achievement lies on their
hands not on the system they have on their background.

My Portfolio

Post a collection of quotations advocating for celebrating diversity in the

classroom. Using these quotations, explain how you will encourage all learners,
regardless of religious, ethnic, or racial background to interact and participate well. "Its
time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and
there is strength." As teacher you have to emphasize to your learners, that whatever
your culture or race your pupils into, there is equal when it come to the teaching and
learning process. One man’s religion is another man’s belly laugh. As a teacher also
you have to be flexible in dealing learners which have different religion with you. You
should also be careful that you will not discriminate one’s religion, so that pupils are not
being threaten. Religions are many and diverse, but reason and goodness are one. As
a teacher you have to emphasize to your learners that not because you have a different
religion with almost of your classmates you are different. You have to treat them equally
and no bias. Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps
the most dangerous thing for a society to be without. Also, as a teacher, always put in
the mind of the learners, regardless to their race, religion religious, ethnic, or racial
background, they were being sent to school to learn, and that is very important for them.
Treat everyone as they are all the same.