FS 1 – FIELD STUDY

Learning Episode 4- INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND LEARNERS’ INTERACTION

(focusing on differences in gender, racial, religious backgrounds)

My Learning Episode Overview

Episode 4 provides an opportunity for me to observe how differences in gender, racial, cultural
and religious backgrounds affect interaction in school, and learn about practices that teachers use in
dealing with diversity in the classroom.

My Intended Learning Outcomes

In this Episode, I will be able to:

 Demonstrate understanding and acceptance of the learners’ diverse background

 Identify best practices in dealing with diversity in the classroom

My Performance Criteria

I will be rated along the following:

 Quality of my observation and documentation,

 Completeness and depth of analysis
 Depth and clarity of classroom observation-based reflection,
 Completeness, organization, clarity of portfolio and
 Time of submission of portfolio

My Learning Essentials

An effective teacher who celebrates student diversity in her classroom:

 Uses strategies to build a caring community in the classroom

 Models respect and acceptance of different cultures and religions
 Bring each of the student’s home culture and language into the shared culture of the school
 Provides more opportunities for cooperation than competition

My Map

The learner’s individual differences and the type of interaction they bring surely affect the
quality of teaching and learning. This episode is about observing and gathering data to find out how
students diversity affects learning.

To realize my Intended Learning Outcomes, I will work on my way through these steps:
 Step 1. Observe a class in different parts of a school day.
(beginning of the day, class time, recess, etc)

Step 2. Describe the characteristics of the learners in the

terms of age, gender, and social and cultural
diversity.

Step 3. Describe the interaction that transpires inside and

outside the classroom.

Step 4. Interview your Resource Teacher about the

principles and practices that she uses in dealing
with diversity in the classroom.

Step 5. Analyze the impact of individual differences on

learners’ interaction.

My Tools

Use the activity form provided for you to document your observations.

An observation Guide for the Learners’ Characteristics

Read the following carefully before you begin to observe. Then write your observation report on the
space provided on the next page.
1. Find out the number of the students. Gather data as to their ages, gender, racial groups,
religious, and ethnic backgrounds.

During class:
1. How much interaction is the classroom? Describe how the students interact with one
another and with the teacher. Are there groups that interact more with the teacher that
others.
-there are so many interactions in a classroom, in my own experience teachers and students
are more interacting during discussing a lesson and when the teachers give some funny joke
 and sharing some moments during class. There are also interacting during their group
activity they are active and cooperating to their group so that they can finish their activity or
reporting.

2. Observe the learners seated at the back and the front part of the room. Do they behave and
interact differently?
- As I observe more students are choosing the back than the front part of the room because,
they can interact something not related to the topic and they are not listening well to their
teacher in the front while in the front part they are participating and listening well to their
teachers so that they give always some acknowledgement from their teacher.

3. Describe the relationship among the learners. Do the learners cooperate with or compete
against each other?
- In my observation other students competing other students specially in every end of the
quarter they competing for the honors and also for some awards that the teachers give,
some are not competing towards others because they keep going, they study hard and do
everything to achieve their own goals.

4. Who among the students participates actively? Who among them ask for most help?
- The most participating students are the students sitting on the front part, and most likely
seeking for help are in the back part because these are the students who is always
chitchatting to their classmate and not actively participating in class.

5. When a student is called and cannot answer the teacher’s questions, do the classmate try to
help him? Or do they raise their hands, so that the teacher will call them instead?

- Yes, they call some attention or they say call a friend to help him/her but not all teachers
doing this because they wanted to teach a lesson to the students who are not participating
well and when their name called, they just standing and not talking. Some teachers giving
some punishment like they will stand for 1 min. if the teacher ask question again and they
know the answer he/she can seat again. They doing this thing to make sure it won’t happen
again and the students must learn a lesson to listen and participate during class hour.

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 in mixed social groupings? If so,
describe the groupings.
- Most students group mix social group like in their group has introvert, extrovert, and
LGBTQ+ this are common group of students. This are their mix up because it is fun to have
LGBT in a group also an introvert and extrovert, they also click in each other. Some also
group they mix up with PWD’s students that they can help them towards their situation.

2. Describe how the learners interact with each other. What do they talk about?

- Nowadays students are more interacting because of Cellphone like playing ML, TikTok
Facebook and other apps. Also, they are interacting with sports like, basketball, volleyball,
combat sports and other.
Name of the School Observed_________________________________________________________________

School Address_____________________________________________________________________________

Date of Visit_______________________________________________________________________________

1. During class:

All of them participate in the class. Each of them is called to answer the questions or do the board-work
exercises especially in math and science subject. Their seating arrangement some are not affecting their
learning and the teacher could accommodate and give attention to them. There are really good students
who excel and answer the questions correctly. There are instances that a certain pupil could not give the
answer correctly. Other pupils will raise their hands to help him.

2. Outside class:
Most students group mix social group like in their group has introvert, extrovert, and LGBTQ+ this are
common group of students. This are their mix up because it is fun to have LGBT in a group also an introvert
and extrovert, they also click in each other. Some also group they mix up with PWD’s students that they can
help them towards their situation. Nowadays students are more interacting because of Cellphone like
playing ML, TikTok Facebook and other apps. Also, they are interacting with sports like, basketball,
volleyball, combat sports and other.
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?

In a classroom students differ from each other in their skill’s innate talents and abilities.
There are students that plays as a leader, a little joker that makes all his classmates laugh, an
attention seeker because she likes to sing and she has a beautiful voice. There is also a little
teacher not to do bad things. In each role they play in the relationship and interactions in the
classroom, it only shows that they have different characteristics and interest.

2. Are students coming from the monitory group accepted or rejected by the others? How is this
shown?

Each student is different because each family is unique. Some students who belonged to
monitory group were still accepted by their classmate. At their age, they just want to have fun
and play together because they respect each other despite their differences in attitudes, skills,
socio-economic status and abilities. The teacher also shows that they are accepted and they
belong in the class by making her classroom as perfect as can be.

3. How does the teacher influence the class interaction considering the individual differences of
the students?

The teacher influences the class interaction by encouraging learners to share their
personal experiences through sharing to the class or by groups, students are made to internalize
that they have differences. Another way is using varied instructional methods to accommodate
students’ diversity.

4. What factors influence the groupings of learners outside the classroom?

The factors that bring about the grouping of learners outside the classroom are; socio-
economic status, ways of thinking/ learning approach and habits, hobbies, interest and way of
life, and genre.

My Reflections/Insights

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?
I feel glad and comfortable in observing that classroom since the teacher acknowledge
our presence and the students are very polite to us. I could feel that the teacher is well
respected by her discussions. In that way, I can sense the oneness among the students and the
teacher.
2. In the future, how would you want the learners in your classroom to interact? How will you
make this happen?
 I want my learners in the future to be active and good listener. I could make this happen by
imposing rules and regulations that would discipline my students to make them behave in the
class that provide a positive classroom atmosphere. Through good classroom management and
teaching strategies that would consider students diversity, I could effectively make my students
and competitive learners.

Learning Episode 5- INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND LEARNERS’ INTERACTION

(focusing on different levels of abilities)

My Learning Episode Overview

Episode 5 provides an opportunity for me to observe how differences in abilities affect

interaction in school, and learn about strategies that teachers use in addressing the learners’ different
needs to effective learning.

My Intended Learning Outcomes

In this Episode, I must be able to:

 Identify the needs of students with different levels of abilities in the classroom
 Choose effective strategies to address the diverse needs of the learners

My Performance Criteria

I will be rated along the following:

 Quality of my observations and documentation,

 Completeness and depth of analysis,
 Depth and clarity of classroom observations-based reflection,
 Completeness, organization, clarity of portfolio and
 Time of submission of portfolio.

My Learning Essentials

Here are principles and concepts relevant to this episode:

1. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child, as well as at uneven rates
across different areas of the child’s functioning. (NAEYC 2009)
2. Development and learning is maximized when learners are challenged to achieve at a level
just above their current level of mastery, and also when they have many opportunities to
practice newly acquired skills.
3. Differentiated instruction is a student-centered approach that aims to match the learning
content, activities and assessment to the different characteristics, abilities, interests and
needs of the learners.

An effective teacher remembers that the learners have different levels of ability, and clearly lets
them know that their strengths are recognized and that everyone has the chance to learn and
 succeed. The teacher helps create a learning community where everyone can work together and
contribute regardless of their abilities and capacities.

My Map

To realize my Intended Learning Outcomes, I will work my way through these steps.

4. Write a
narrative report 1. Identify two or
and a brief more learners of
reflection on your different abilities
experience. but from the same
grade or year.

3. Observe them
as they
participate in a 2. Find out some
classroom activity information about
and how the their background.
teacher addresses
their needs.

My Tools

Use the activity form provided for you to document your observations.
 An Objective Guide for the Learners’ Characteristics

Read the following carefully before you begin to observe. Then write your observation
report on the space provided on the space provided.

1. Observe the class to see the differences in the abilities of the learners.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. Try to identify the students who seem to be performing well and those that seem to be
behind.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. Validate your observations by asking the teacher about the background (family, socio-
economic, presence of some learning disability, etc.) of these children.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4. Observe the behavior of both the high achieving and low-achieving learners. Note their
dispositions, pace in accomplishing tasks, interaction with teacher, and interaction with
others.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

5. Observe the teacher’s method in addressing the individual learning needs of the students
in his/her class.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

OBSERVATION REPORT
 Name of the School Observed________________________________________________________
School Address____________________________________________________________________
Date Visit_________________________________________________________________________

There are different abilities of the learners that I saw. First, there are learner who can easily
understand some are not, especially the boys at the back, another is, when the teachers said that
they need to be quiet, they follow their teacher.
The students in the front are more active than the students at the back though the students at the
back can answer the teacher’s question they need to be called first, while the students in the front
raising their hands immediately when their teacher give question.
Base on their teacher, the students at the back is really naughtier than the students in front. The
teacher really needs to focus on them especially on their studies because among all the students in
that section, they are not totally fast learners.
Obviously, high achieving students are more active in class than in the low achieving students. On
their group work, the high achieving learners can finish their work faster than in low achieving
learners. They also interact with their teacher often than in low achieving learner.

My Analysis

1. Did your observation match the information given by the teacher? Were you able to correctly
identify who among the students performed well and who did not? What behavior helped you
identify them? (volunteering to answer, responding to teacher’s directions, etc.)

- Yes, , some of my information matches to the information that their teacher given to me. I
was able to correctly identified who’s listening and understand the lesson well and who are
not and it is obvious to identify them anyway, because you can see it by how the students
participates in the class and who is more active when the teacher ask question regarding to
their lesson, and how he/she socialized or what scores he/she gets from quizzes, oral
recitation, etc. the students who performing well are participating and active while those
who didn’t are just quiet and they are shy.

2. Describe the difference in ability levels of the students in the class. Is there a wide gap between
the students who are performing well and those that are not?

- Yes, the gap between the students who are performing well and those who are not is so far
because even though the low achievers sometimes can’t cope with their lessons, they trying
to understand and focus to their lesson and I can see that eagerness to learn in their faces.
The ability of high achievers are really different in low achievers based on how they perform
in class.

3. Describe the methods used by the teacher in handling the students’ differences in abilities. How
did the students respond to the teacher? Did the teacher use differentiated instruction? If yes,
describe how.

- In handling students differences in ability, the teachers assess those low achievers to cope
with their lesson. He/ she want that everyone must participate and be active in the class
 especially to the low achievers. The teacher also applies method and techniques that he/she
know that will be effective or fits the capabilities of his/her students and also in order for
the students to respond productively to the teacher and as what I see, the students follow
their teaxher and they’re trying to cooperate and participate so I can say that they’re doing
well.

My Reflections/Insights

1. Recall the time when you were in the elementary or high school. Recall the high and low
achievers in your class. How did your teacher deal with differences in abilities? Was your teacher
effective?

- Way back during my high school years, when I'm in my third and fourth year, I have
the same classmates. I can recognize those who are high achievers and low
achievers. Most of the high achievers are girls and the low achievers are boys. But
not all girls are high achiever and not all boys are low achievers it all mix up. When
there are groupings in the class, our teacher will assign those high achievers in every
group so that those who are low achievers can cope with the lessons and it is also
fair because the student’s group is balanced (high and low achievers are grouped
together), Every time when the problem is hard, she will just call those intelligent
students to answer while those low achievers will just sit on their seats doing
nothing. But my teacher give some time to low achievers to prove if they know or
learn while they are discussing in their group, there are also times that those slow
learners will be tutored by those intelligent students. This method is sometimes kind
of effective because I can see that the slow learners are doing well in answering the
topics. I can also say that our teacher is effective because she is trying her best in
dealing differences in abilities.
My Learning Portfolio

With the principle of individual differences in mind, what methods and strategies will you
remember in the future to ensure that you will be able to meet the needs of both the high and low
achievers in your class? Make a collection of strategies on how to address the students’ different ability
levels.

Learning Episode 6- HOME-SCHOOL LINK

My Learning Episode Overview

 Episode 6 provides opportunities for me to have a more in-depth study of factors that affect the
development of the learner. Focus will be on the early experiences and characteristics of the learner as
described by the family and others.

My Intended Learning Outcomes

In this Episode, I must be able to:

 Describe the influencing factors in the home environment that affect the students’ learning
 Identify effective strategies on how teachers can work together with the family

My Performance Criteria

I will be rated along the following:

 Quality of my observations and documentation,

 Completeness and depth of analysis,
 Depth and clarity of classroom observation-based reflection
 Completeness, organization, clarity of portfolio and
 Time of submission of portfolio.

My Learning Essentials

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological model presents the learner within the context of layers of
relationship systems that make up the learner’s environment. The layers are:

Microsystem- Mesosystem –the Exosystem-the Macrosystem- Chronosystem-

includes the connection bigger social outermost layer the element of
structure such as between the system which which includes time, patterns of
one’s family, structures in the includes the city cultural values, stability and
school and microsystem government. The customs and laws pacing of the
neighborhood workplace and child’s everyday
the mass media life.
The models help the teacher look into every aspect in the learner’s environment to understand
his behavior. The teacher’s important role is not to replace what is missing at home (if any), but to work
so that the school becomes an environment that welcomes and nurtures families. The teacher works to
create a partnership with the family and community to bring out the best in every learner.

My Map

To realize my Intended Learning Outcomes, I will work my way through these steps:

Home and
School Link
  Select a learner from the class whom you bhave observed
 Interview the teacher about the learner’s characteristics.
 Conduct a home visit to your selected laearner’s residence.
 Interview the parents about
-the rules they implement at home concerning their child’s schooling.
- the learner’s activities and behaviior while at home.
 Describe the family in terms of
- Number of siblings
- Number of siblings in school.
 Identify the factors in the home environment that might affect the learner’s school
performance.
 Reflect on how a teacher can communicate effective with the home.

My Tools

Use the activity form provided for you to document your observations.

An Observation/Interview Guide for Home-School

Link
Read the following carefully before you begin to observe/interview. Then write your observation
report on the space provided.
The Learner
1. Make a general observation of the learner. Describe him in each of the domains of
development:
 Physical-body built and height (thin, chubby, underweight, overweight), level of physical
activity (fast, slow, lethargic, active, etc.)
 Social-interaction with teachers and classmates (loner, shy, sociable, friendly, gets into
fights, liked by others, etc.)
 Emotional moods, temperament, cries easily, loses temper, happy, shows enthusiasm,
excited, indifferent, etc.)
 Cognitive (appears to understand lessons, copes with the lessons, excels, lags behind,
 shows reasoning skills, turns in assignments and requirements, etc.)

Interview the Teacher

1. What are the most noticeable characteristics of the learner? (emotional disposition, behavior
and discipline, sense of responsibility, study habits, academic performance, relationship with
peers, relationship with adults, social adjustment)
2. How does the teacher communicate with the parents? How often? What do they discuss? Agree
on?
Interview with Parents
1. Conduct a home visit. Once there, observe the home set-up. (home is orderly, family pictures in
the living room, etc.)
2. Use the Interview Questions on the next page. Just ask the questions with which you feel
comfortable.

Suggest Parent Interview Guide

Your teacher may ask you to use detailed interview guide. Be free to translate the questions, if
necessary.

Name of Learner: Angel Monique Velez

Date of Birth: November 14, 2007 Age: 16
Grade/Year Level: 11- HUMMS Democritus Gender: Female
Number of Siblings: 2
Birth Order: 1

Parents:
Mother: Maricar Velez
Age:40
Occupation: Housewife Educational Attainment: College Graduate
Father: Martin Velez
Occupation: Security Educational Attainment: High School

Learner’s Physical Aspect:

Health
Mother’s Health during pregnancy with the learner: When Angel’s mom carrying her, her mother’s
health during pregnancy is okay and not so complicated

Ailments or health problems of the learner as a child: Angel was healthy child

Age of the learner when he started to walk/talk: Angel’s started to talk and walk when she was 1 year
old

Food preferences of the learners as a child and at present: When Angel is still a child, her favorite
food is fried chicken and until now it was her favorite, she also loves to eat desserts.
Who took care of him/her as a child? Her Parents

Learner’s Social Aspect:

Describe your child’s sociability (friendly, outgoing or shy, loner)

- Friendly and Outgoing

Who were the learner’s playmates?

- Red

As a child the, was he/she allowed to play outside?

- Sometimes

If he/she allowed to go out with friends?

- Her parents gave her a rule to follow

Do you have rules for him/her to follow regarding going out?

What are these rules?

- Yes, The rules that her father gave is limiting her going outside

Emotional-Moral
What are your expectations of your child?

- My expectation to my child is that she will focus on her studies, she already knows her
responsibilities and I expect that she will finish her studies someday. I believe in my
child’s skills and capabilities so I know that she will succeed someday.

How do you provide a nurturing environment for your child?

- I provide Angel a nurturing environment by maintaining the silence in the house if she is
studying her lessons. I will let her feel that me and her father will be always here to
support her and also I will not be firm/strict to her so that she will open to me her
problems if she had.

Does your child go to you when she/he feels down or has a problem? What do you do to meet hi/her
emotional needs?
 - Yes, my child goes to me when she feels down or has a problem. She shares it to me and I
comfort her by using comforting words and I also gives advices to her.

What do you do when he/she is not successful in something?

- I know that my child is not successful/failed in something so what I do is comfort her and
motivate her to be persistent that she must keep on going so that in the next try, she will
succeed and not fail.

How do you discipline your children?

- I disciplined my child by telling her the things I want and don’t want to happen. But as I
see on Angel’s behavior, I know that she is already responsible enough to know what is
right and what is wrong.

Do you have rules in the house? What are they?

- Yes, I have rules in the house like Angel must be attentive in her studies, in going out with
her friends she must not go home late, she must also clean her room and do her assign
household chore.

How do you impose the rules?

- I impose these rules by reminding this to Angel always so she will not forget what I had
say. She is not stubborn anyway and she really follows the rules.

What are the consequences of breaking the rules?

- If Angel breaks the rules, she will be warned of her behavior but if she repeats the same
mistake, that’s the time to take some actions ( not physical punishment).

Learner’s Cognitive Aspect:

What are the child’s interests?

- Her interest are Arts and Crime Documentary

What is he/she good at in school?

- She is good in Performance and Academic

In what subject/s does he/she have difficulty?

- Like other students hate, Angel also hates Math. She says that she has no problem in all
subjects except Math.
 How do you monitor his/her performance in school? How do you motivate him/her?

- I monitor her by checking her grades and asking her is she’s doing her homework’s and
projects. I motivate her by encouraging her to continue her good behaviors.

Do you have rules at home to help him develop good study habits?
What are these rules? How are they implemented?

- Yes, for example Angel’s exam is fast approaching. I will tell her to focus first on studying
for the exam. No watching of television and going to out with friends.

After you have gathered all the necessary data. Write the learner’s development profile using
the outline below. Type the profile in a separate sheet and attached it to this learning episode.

THE LEARNER’S DEVELOPMENT PROFILE (outline)

The Learners’ Development Profile

Name of the Learner: Angel Monique Velez
School: Barotac Nuevo National Comprehensive High School
Date of Home Visit: November 7, 2023
Date of Birth: November 14, 2007 Age: 16
Grade/Year Level: 11 HUMMS Democritus Gender: Female

Family Profile
Number of Siblings: 2
Birth Order:1
Parent:
Mother: Maricar Velez
Age: 40
Occupation: Housewife Educational Attainment: College Graduate
Father: Matin Velez
Occupation: Security Guard Educational Attainment: High School Graduate

Physical development
In paragraph form, describe the physical development of the learner. Combine the teacher’s, parents’
responses, and your own observations.

Physical Development
The physical development of the learner is she is physically fit. He loves to be engaged in different
Performance and some group activity. She is active and energetic in class.
Social Development
The learner is friendly to everyone. Sometimes she’s not but most of the time she loves to make new
friends. She interacts well with others and with that she gains more confidence in herself.