Field observation 1

Artifact#4

Field observation

Yoselin Mendoza Billings

College of Southern Nevada

Edu 203
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When someone tells you that you will be getting an opportunity to observe kids you may

feel shocked and/or excited that your first year in college you get to start observing kids. I know

I was. As I was finding out that I was getting the opportunity to observe kids I was feeling so

many emotions. This is because I was excited to know the feeling of being a teacher and seeing

how they teach kids and how well the kids respect their teacher. Especially if you're at a young

age and have a disability. I started and finished my first year observing students at an elementary

school called Red rock Elementary school. This was such a beautiful experience. Although, it

would have been different if it was in person but, due to the circumstances it was all virtual. I

still enjoyed observing them whether or not it was in person or online. On the other hand, I was

already aware of what school I was observing, and only because I do have a niece who goes to

this school and is a 4th grader. The physical environment of this school is very warm and

welcoming. Everybody is so nice when you look around you see kids walking in a straight one

line very quiet getting to their destination. Then you see colorful paintings on the wall which are

very beautiful and admiring. To that end, since I was allowed to observe the students online and

since in this course, our main focus was on special education. I was able to get a big opportunity

and be able to observe a special needs class. It was such a cool experience because as I was

learning new things from the book and being more aware of what special education meant I was

going through the experience myself.

Furthermore, my first day observing this class was so exciting because the moment I

joined the class was very alert and confused about who I was so the teacher introduced me, and
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everyone was excited and already calling me Ms. Mendoza. I was so excited and very happy to

be there. I noticed that the teacher has a different schedule throughout the week. For example,

Tuesdays and Wednesdays they have speech classes, and every day they have specials. Specials

can be anything from library, music, art, etc. In Ms. Longfield's class who is my cooperative

teacher in her class, it would only be 14 kids. Each 14 of her kids were all at different levels.

Therefore, she would have three different groups and one group would be with her, the next

group would be with her assistance and the last group would be on I pads using ABC mouse till

they rotate. Being in Ms. Longfield's class has taught me so many new things. Ms. Longfield has

so much patience and it's awesome that she isn’t feeling overwhelming feeling trying to get her

class together because she does it get help. The kids in her class were all excited to be there.

From what I saw some kids did have extra help at home. They were sometimes being helped

with family members that were in the house. This class is mixed with 3rd,4th, and 5th graders.

Some were at the same levels and some were different. As the teacher began her class, she

started by having the kids say the pledge and then from there they would jump into their

introduction where they would watch videos about what their lesson was going to be about for

that day. Everyone was paying attention. I did see some kids who did lose focus and wouldn’t

pay attention. A way Ms. Longfield would handle is she will call them out and tell them to pay

attention and if they wouldn’t listen, she would just say that they had to stay after class or they

would lose their computer time. The students will get back on track and continue with their day.

To add on, Ms. Longfield would usually take turns teaching the class with her assistance.

The way they do it is the assistant would help them with math while Ms. Longfield will help

them with Ela and writing. Ms. Longfield's teaching style is very efficient and strategic. She

doesn't leave any student behind and even if the student fails at something she gives them that
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comfort and that they did their best and to continue trying. She still congratulates them even if

they got an answer wrong. A specific behavior she may have to deal with is sometimes the

students don’t want to pay attention and not do their work. They either leave the screen or have

their parents do their work. Due to everything being virtual there wasn’t much they can do but

just to tell their parents that were nearby to have them do their work or to try helping them do

their work. She would also have these little tests at the end of the week and see where they stood

and see how well they’re understanding the materials.

On the other hand, the number of hours I've spent observing this class felt like I was already

in that class and was an assistant. This is because I already knew the schedule, I knew what was

going to happen next, etc. I felt welcomed and comfortable being in the class and just watching

the kids grow. This was related to my materials that I have been studying in this course because

in this course it was telling me different disabilities and how it is different than a general class.

Like I said before this class only had 14 kids and all 14 kids sometimes did get along, they would

call out each other and help out each other. For example, Tuesdays and Wednesdays the students

will have speech class. So how that goes is that since everything is virtual the teacher will send

them a box of everything they may need for that time. So, in the box, they will have images and

words they will go through with the speech teacher and this teacher would have them sign and

say what the word said/meant in the picture they were holding. So, she would say it and she will

go around and have every student say it individually and sign it just so she can know that they're

understanding and paying attention. Therefore, the kids will eventually do it and say it. In the

class, there were kids with down syndrome, autistic, etc. So, when you would see you can tell

some kids were being good and paying attention and some were just losing focus. Also, I noticed

the relationship the parents had with their kids. In the book, it states how it could be sometimes
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overwhelming and a bit difficult for a parent but from what I saw there was this dad on virtual

and he was helping not only his kid but everyone in the class. This is amazing because he is

Latino and can barely speak a bit of English and that didn’t seem to bother him, so he was just

helping every kid in the classroom with things that they were having difficulties with. This

amazed me because it showed me how the parent has a big heart and is willing to help not only

his kid but every other kid.

To end off, knowing that my assignment was observing a class with IEP students I had the

greatest opportunity to observe a class of special needs. It was such a great experience, and I was

so excited that I got to experience how it felt to be in a class where later in the future I want to

teach. Teaching Special education can be a bit challenging but at the end of the day, you’re

helping these little kids grow and understand materials that they’re having difficulties with. Not

only this but you’re preparing them for the future.