Field Experience
This semester I completed my first field experience in a classroom. I was placed in a first grade class at Clearview Elementary in a Spanish Immersion class. I had never actually worked or volunteered in a classroom when I wasn’t a student in the class. I was very excited and nervous at the same time. I chose to work with a math curriculum because I am currently taking MATH 330: Teaching Elementary Math and I thought it would be a great use of what I’m learning and use it in the class room. After going to the training session I quickly realized that my MATH 330 class would be very little help since we were suppose to be using Fermi math.
My students have taught me so much over the past weeks that I would never have learned if I did not experience it myself. You have to be put in situations to know how you will actually handle them. There is always “role play” and “what should you do if?” But when you are on the spot with 24 eyes starring at you, you don’t always remember what you practiced before. These children think the world of you and saying one wrong thing could break their hearts. When I walk into the classroom now I get bombarded with hugs from almost all the students, and when they have to leave at the end of the day I have to tell them to get in line for the bus. They see me as a role model and are always asking questions about my life. I even had one little boy ask if he could marry me when he gets older. It was very cute but I explained I was much older than him and that it was not possible. Respect has to be earned by the students. They will not listen to you until you prove to them that they should and that it is worth their time. Disciplining the students is a hard line and knowing whether or not you can do that or if the teacher allows it is tricky. I had to let my students know that when I am working with them that they have to listen and follow directions.
While I was in the classroom I would work with the students about 4-6 kids at a time. There were different stations in the class that they would rotate their groups every 10 minutes or so. The teacher was very organized with materials, supplies, and where everything was located in the class. I think this really helped the day go smooth and was less stressful for the students and the teacher. The teacher also had several ways of getting the students attention when they would change activities or if students were being too loud. Professora Kari (what the students would call the teacher) would either do a loud pattern of claps that the students would repeat exactly how she did or she also had a small set of hanging chimes that she was ding. I think those were very good tactics used to control and get the attention of students. Another thing that Professora Kari did was acknowledgement of good behavior and incentives. There were different pins and prizes that students would receive for these things. I think it is very important that we praise our kids for the good things they do instead of always punishing for the bad.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience and time at Clearview. Professora Kari was a 1st year teacher so we related on several levels. I was very pleased to hear that she didn’t receive a “pink slip” last week. It was very cool to talk about policies and issues that she and other teachers face that were mentioned in the book. She gave me many pointers and we discussed many thoughts about Immersion programs, which was very insightful for myself. I really appreciate everything she has done for me and I am actually planning on attending a field trip with the class in the end of May. I will miss the students but maybe one day I will see them in another class or even my own down the road.
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