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Bradley Simmons
4-12-22
ENGL 459
Dave and Rex

Field Experience Reflection

For any young student, aspiring to be a teacher, doing field experience and completing

observation hours is a mind-blowing experience. Not only that, it is a learning experience, a very

important one, at that. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to observe at two different

schools when completing my observation hours. One of them was a CPS, but the other one was

at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, Missouri (it’s a long story). In both schools, I

was subjected to many valuable techniques and practices that will help me be an effective teacher

in the future. With that said, let’s get into it.

At Cristo Rey, I learned a very important lesson about working with technology and what

happens when it doesn’t work. Technology’s great when it works, but it often is more trouble

than it’s worth. The lesson learned was: to improvise. That isn’t specific to when technology

doesn’t work. That can apply to many facets of teaching because there are so many unforeseen

possibilities that can happen in the classroom. During this same instance, I also learned that it is

important to keep calm. Having technology go down could scrap your whole lesson for the day,

which is worthy of panic. But, remaining calm and thinking on the fly is key to resolving issues

such as this. As a result of thinking quickly, the class participated in a whole-class discussion

about the book they’ve been reading. They discussed which film adaptation of Hamlet was better

and why. The students cited character portrayals and actor/actress performances as evidence.

This was a great way to keep students engaged in the class content, while technological

difficulties were being taken care of. I also learned that when it comes to assigning point values
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to assignments, it’s trial and error. There is no one way to determine how much an assignment is

worth, especially with the number of assignments adding up over the year. Even though it is trial

and error, the correct point value will be found eventually. I think a lot of what I saw at Cristo

Rey can help me grow as a teacher, but also as a person in general. I’m a very routine-based

person, so I like to have a plan. Seeing it firsthand, I now know that as a teacher, things will

rarely go according to plan. Things like that cause me to be stressed and anxious. The example of

remaining calm and collected, made me realize that these things happen and that it’s not worth it

to stress out. That is an instance where I can grow as both a teacher and a person. I need to

realize sooner rather than later, that not everything will go my way and that that’s okay.

Onto school number two: Helias. This was a brand new experience for me. Therefore, it

was an important one. I went to a large public high school and here I was, in a tiny, private,

Catholic school, where my graduating class was close to the size of their whole student body.

The halls were cramped, narrow, and of course, there was an emphasis on God, which is entirely

different from what I’m used to. Being in the school itself was a valuable lesson. At any time,

being exposed to something out of my comfort zone is a lesson worth learning. Who knows, I

might end up at a school just like Helias in the future. In regards to what I observed in the

classroom, I learned even more there. One class that I frequently revisited was discussing The

Grapes of Wrath. It was one of the most incredible things I could’ve witnessed as an aspiring

teacher. The teacher-student connection was so strong. The classroom was relaxed but structured,

and the teacher had phenomenal classroom management skills. She had a way of being orderly,

but loose at the same time. There was almost a palpable sense of respect between the students

and the teacher in this English class. For the majority of the class, they were having an open class

discussion about the book. The way that the students and the teacher fed off of one another’s
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thoughts and energy was like nothing I’d ever seen or experienced before. The teacher had this

way of making her students expand their ideas from very narrow, simple ideas, to broad,

complex ideas. Upon prompting the students to think critically, they would ask high-level,

complex questions as a result. She just kept picking her students’ brains and they kept doing the

same to hers. It was truly incredible. It was almost like I witnessed the students getting smarter

and expanding their knowledge about the book and its characters. It’s hard to put into words

what I saw because it was so remarkable. Truly, this was a class where I could see that the

students looked forward to being in it every day. I saw the students learning and thinking hard

and not to mention, the environment was fantastic. There was something in the air that was

almost contagious. It was impossible not to be awed at what was happening. Based on what I

saw, I learned that it’s important to grow relationships with students. I’ve always believed that

student-teacher relationships are critical to student and teacher success. Based on this experience,

I know that it’s true. Those relationships pay dividends. I also learned that having a relaxed, but

structured classroom management style is possible. It doesn’t seem like those two would go hand

in hand, but they do. Classroom management skills and forming relationships with students are

crucial to my growth as a teacher.

In conclusion, I learned a lot, to say the least. My time observing Cristo Rey and Helias

was both extremely valuable experiences. I was exposed to numerous different teaching styles,

classroom management techniques, and ideas I want to implement in my classroom in the future.

As I learned, technology doesn’t always work like it’s supposed to so it’s important to be able to

think on the fly. Being calm is key. Assigning point values to assignments is also something I

learned about. The importance of student-teacher relationships was also something that I was

able to learn. On top of that, I learned the importance of being able to get students to think
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critically and at a high level, and what that means for the classroom. I was also exposed to a

completely new kind of school. Getting out of my comfort zone paid off in the long run.