Field Experience

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form

Context for Learning

Description of School and Students

About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience

School Name and City: Saint Michael School, Orland Park

Type of School: Elementary school, Middle School, High School, or Other:   Pre-K through 8

Setting: Urban, Suburban, or Rural: Suburban

Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form.

1. My school is a private parochial school, so we add in lessons about religion into our daily routine as well as prayer.  In the primary grades there is at least 1 aide per grade, sometimes more. The upper grades each also have a floating aide as well as specialists to pull kids out of the room.  Our academics are important to our school and we really encourage excellence in academia.  We are not a bilingual school unfortunately, but we do get students with parents speaking another language at home.  By the time the children come to us they speak well.  We also teach the Spanish language from Pre-K 4 to 8^th grade between two separate teachers.

2. We have constant data meetings with the whole faculty and with primary/middle/junior high and then at a grade level.  We review test scores of standardized testing from previous years and then we get to see it compared to the national averages.  We work from there to figure out what we need to do per grade level to raise and achieve goals.

About the Students in this Class

1.    Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch:

2.    Grade level(s): 4 y/o Preschool

3.    Number of

a.    students in the class: 19

b.    males: 9

females: 10

c.    English language learners: no

d.    students identified as gifted and talented: no, too early.

e.    students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 3 students with ISP

4.

Special Education Category	Number of Students	Accommodations, Modifications, and/or Pertinent IEP Goals
Individualized Speech	3	Speech Teacher pulls children for 10-20 minutes each to work with them.

About the Class You Observed

1.       All of our day has elements of instruction.  Carpet time is the primary learning time which can encompass anywhere from 20-30 minutes, depending on what we are doing that day.  Every other point when we are freely playing around the room there is instruction whether its behavior or based on actions.

2.       We all learn together in a group.  We may separate to do projects because it is easier to work with smaller groups, but the lesson would be learned on the carpet.

3.    We have the Illinois State Standards as well as The Religious Standards we have to meet in our lesson plans.  We are following the initial way the preschool program has paved for us, and I don’t know whether or not they used a guide.

4.    We use the SMARTBoard in our classroom for story-telling and occasionally work relating to lessons.  We have many many types of manipulatives that we use for learning.

5. We have a sheet the parents fill out to tell us about their home lives (Languages, families, etc) and we observe them throughout center time.  We see what they choose and who they choose to play with.  We also assess them 3 times a year so we can see what they are learning and what they are learning at their pace. 

6.  At my level I think understanding and communication is the most important practice.

Reflection on this class

How do I begin to reflect on this class?  These past few weeks have just flown by, and I feel like my brain is about to explode out of my head with information.  A lot of this class has been an introduction to all that is the great and powerful Google.  I am fortunate enough to have copious amounts of experience with the Google.  This class reinforced some of those things and reminded me of some features, but it also introduced a number of new things that I did not even know about.  I feel more confident moving forward with my school and professional career knowing these tools.

Before this class I had never written a blog.  When I thought about a blog I always thought about it as a platform for people ranting about things in their lives.  I was a bit negligent on the purposeful uses for blogs.  I have gained a lot of insight into my own learning experiences as well as those of my classmates.

I find myself, after this class, more open to using technology in my own classroom as well as with my colleagues.  I think technology could enhance the learning aspect and bring a touch of fun with things like Quizlet live and the other quiz games we learned about.  Or even making my own video for the kids with the information I want to impart on them.

Overall I have taken away many things and I will endeavor to learn more about technology and its uses in education.

Frustration in and out of the classroom

As teachers we are going to be dealing non-stop with things frustrating us.  I'm going to tell a little story.  I have two children that are constantly going at each other: tattling, pushing, bothering, etc.  It finally reached the point where I had to contact both of their parents.  I think dealing with the parents was the more frustrating experience than the children.

I see sometimes it is almost as if parents do not want to deal with the children's behavior at home, and there is only so much I can do as a teacher.  What I think is something we need to work on is making sure that parents are aware of the expectations we have inside our classroom.  They also need to be aware that we hope the parents are supportive of our efforts for good behavior.  When we teach and instruct behavior we hope that it will trail out of the classroom we need to ensure that parents will be helpful on the other end.

This process will never be easy.  Many parents are full time employees and will only see their kids for a few hours in a day, and that time will be spent most likely, more recreational rather than instructional.

I think in all this we need to find a balance.  Dealing with the frustration of not being supported outside the classroom and the frustration of dealing with the issues inside the classroom.  Eventually we should be able to find a solution, but it will not be easy.

Social Media

I love social media.  I love being able to go onto Facebook or Instagram and see what my friends are up to.  I see how their families are, I see where they are in their lives, and how they have grown since I have known them.  Unfortunately I also see some things that give me pause and cause me to reflect a little.

On Sunday, the Chicago Bears were playing an intense game against the New Orleans Saints, and I did happen to be watching it on tv.  I watched the moment where Zach Miller landed awkwardly on his knee.  Of course watching it on replay is just gruesome but after that I did not think much of it other than it was a season ending injury.  It was later Sunday night and early Monday morning when I began seeing Facebook articles exploding about this.

Apparently the knee injury he suffered was much more severe and rumors were he could have potentially lost his knee if they hadn't operated on it.  I do not know how much is true because not too much has been officially been released but I could not believe that it was that bad.  It made me think about how a single moment can change your life.  That man was a professional athlete at peak form and suddenly it would have all been over.

It makes me think about the choices I am making everyday.  Am I going to be happy with these choices in the end?

Flipped Learning

What kind of learner am I?  I am very visual and auditory.  I can picture exactly where something will be in the book (even if I can't remember the text).  I also remember how things were said.

That being said I do not think I would have benefited from flipped learning.  I was the youngest of 4 siblings and growing up there was always some club or sport to get to and I did not have as much time to do homework.  That isn't to say my homework didn't get done, or I suffered for it, the time just did not exist.  I would not have had time to sit and learn and read a lesson to prepare for the next day, I would not have absorbed it.

I think now a days kids and families are so rushed that it may be a beneficial idea to have flipped learning so that kids will have to take a step back from everything to really think about school and to have that kind of focus.

Pushing Kids too Early

Something I like to think about a lot in the field of education is early achievement.  I was fortunate enough in my youth to attend a good school with a strong emphasis on achievement and learning, and subsequently that pushed me to take more advanced courses as the years passed.

It makes you wonder why are we pushing children to reach standards ahead of where they are.  It is now normal for 8th graders to be taking high school math classes, and for high school students to be in AP classes, and if they are not it is almost as if they are behind or in the slower category.  What they do is add more homework onto the ever growing pile that teachers give out now.  Not to say that homework is a bad thing, but advanced courses often come with more work, and by taking more courses students are going to be overwhelmed at home.

They are losing their childhood and teenage years because education is pushing every student to be ready for college.  For the record, I took many of these courses and they still in no way prepared me for college.  I think we, as educators, need to push students to reach the goals and standards for the children their own age.  If they are exceeding those, perhaps teach them additional ways with that standard.  Why have a 14 year old working on something a 16 year old is doing?

I think technology is a part of this issue.  Chromebooks in my school start at 4th grade and I know they are discussing bringing them down to 3rd.  Again we are pushing children to advance earlier than they perhaps should.  I do agree that technology is going to be one of the most important things children can learn about, but I think we need to help children also be children.

Technology and Changing Education

As a Preschool teacher I have a lot of feelings about technology influencing education.  I work in a Pre-K to Grade 8 school, so I am lucky to see how the other teachers and students use this new technology in everyday schooling.

Some positive aspects I have seen in the classrooms:

1. The students are very interested in the material.  Whether they are using iPads or Chromebooks or even just the SmartBoard, they are more focused on the lesson.

2. Teachers are able to explore a wider array of material outside a textbook.  The internet is limitless and give us invaluable resources to use in the classroom.  Lessons can be more fluid and can involve the children more.

3. Harder to misplace the work for children.  They take care of their tablets or computers better than they take care of worksheets.

4. We are creating tech savvy children which will translate into tech savvy adults.

This is not all of them, but a few I constantly think about.

Some negative aspects I have seen:

1. Forgetting Chromebooks or iPads at home and not being able to participate in the lesson.  Children are still young, and having them remember everything all the time can be a daunting task- they will forget things.  It becomes difficult to plan lessons that completely involve technology when the child does not have access to it.

2. Not staying on task.  Although the children might be more engaged in normal scenarios, occasionally they get off task, and with a computer and the Internet at their disposal, they become sidetracked surfing the web or playing games instead of engaging with their classmates.

3. Cheating.  Access to these wonderful resources has increased the amount of plagiarism in students work.  They will find a way.

4. Too much technology.  As a preschool teacher I am all about using gross and fine motor skills and emphasizing tactile activities.  I feel the earlier the child starts using an iPad or Chromebook (or whatever) that they lose some valuable life skills.  Not to say that using your fingers to type and poke is not fine motor- it is, but they need to have other skills outside of that.

5. Technology taking away from learning.  If there is a technology issue, it needs to be fixed before a lesson can start.  That takes away from valuable learning time for the children.  With children it often seems to be occurring more frequently, and they are not benefiting from this.

In all: I do not believe the negatives outweigh the positives or vice versa.  I think when involving technology, teachers need to walk a very fine line to use the technology and time effectively.