Today I spent the entire day at Harbor View (which was only from 7:30-12:45 because it was a half day) and was given the opportunity to observe Mrs. Killingsworth teach her class, which Mrs. Noble arranged since we have a student teacher who is teaching full time now. I probably took about 10 pages of note in the first half hour I was in her room. It was so different that Mrs. Noble's classroom dynamics in many ways. I am so glad I had this opportunity because I think it is great to see how different two classrooms in the same grade, at the same school (and right next door to one another) can so so different. The students in Mrs. Killingsworth's class were very well behaved and knew the routine, going about it quite independently. I think that this is mostly due to the students behavior and personality in the class, however I could be wrong. I noticed that even before class started that the students were well behaved and doing activities without having to be asked. Another way that her class was very different was that there is more diversity in the class in regards to the students' race, nationality, and religion. She shared with me that there are students with parents who are Egyptian, Vietnamese, Russian, and there are also two African American students in the class. Mrs. Noble's class is composed of all caucasian-American students. She explained to me that this year was difficult with the students who were from different cultures because they do not always understand the American culture and why they do the things they do in school. She told me that the parents of one student

whom are Russian, couldn't understand why they chose to do a theme on pirates because they believed so strongly that pirates were bad and wanted to be sure that Mrs. Killingsworth was telling the students the truth. Another student who is Muslim, sits out during the pledge of allegiance and singing of the national anthem as by request of his parents. His parents also have told Mrs. Killingsworth that they do not want her to discuss Leprechauns or St. Patrick's Day due to religious reasons. Those same parents told Mrs. Killingsworth that they do not want her using the word "picnic" when they will be having lunch outside this spring because they insist there are racial ties to slavery and lynching. Mrs. Killingsworth tols me she googled it and that was incorrect but that she must stll respct the requests of the parents. So ofcourse I googled it and found this link:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pic1.htm

I also enjoyed observing her class because she uses so much kinesthetic learning opportunities and incorporates singing and dancing to help energize students and keep them interested and help them to concentrate better. She did this frequently between exercises and it really helped the flow of the day and moving from one activity to the next. She also informed me that there is one student in the class who is autistic and I would have had no idea if she hadn't told me this. EVen after she informed me of this and I observed the students with this in mind, I have no idea which student it was (and all students were present for class today). I was amazed to learn that an autistic child can keep up and learn with such little extra help just as students without such challenges. THis is amazing to me and I think shows that people underestimate the potential children with autism have but if we hold them to the same general expectations as everyone else they can do very well. I think that using so much movement in her class must also be an ideal learning style for a student with autism. I also wonder if all the movement she incorporates improves behavior and makes her classroom management easier. It appears to look that way to me although I am not sure if there is a direct correlation. 

 

I also have to mention that when I first arrived in the morning and sat down in Mrs. Killingsworth's class, I had one boy come up and introduce himself. However, his introduction was basically "2 tickets to the gun show"-as he proceeded to tell me his name and flex his muscles for me in at least 6 different ways. It was absolutely hilarious! And then when I asked him how he got so strong he said, "Well you know, I pick up a lot of things and curl them." And at that point another boy chimed in and told me that he can pick up really heavy things too. He showed me his arm muscles and told me he could pick up cars. These boys were too funny!

At 10 o'clock I went to Mrs. Noble's room where I did a ton of assessments with the students. I had planned to assess 4 students on the calendar and then my case study student in multiple areas but I had so many other students want to do the assessment activities when they saw others doing them that I ended up doing probably close to 15 assessments in various areas. It was a good thing I had extra assessment sheets with me. I think the more students I assessed, the more I learned about the range of abilities in the class. It is amazing how huge of a gap there is between th strongest and weakness students. For example, one student can only count aloud to 28 and another can count to 999. I also realized that some students know all of the sight words they have learned in the class and others only know about 25 percent of them. Students who I saw perform at the two extremes in the classroom (strongest and weakest academically) appear to also be at very different developmental stages in how they behave, interact, communicate, and how they process things cognitively. I never knew that was such a big ga in this class and I hope knowing this will help me in my upcoming lessons to better relate to the students and to decide what is and what is not developmentally appropriate for individuals and each small group level. I think that I really started to sympathize with the students who are behind and couldn't help but think if the student realizes that they are behind the other students in the class and if so, how it may effect their self esteem, confidence, mood, etc.. Many of the students who are at a lower level seem to be unaware or appear to be emotionally undisturbed by their own struggle to keep up, however, I am really curious to know if that is an accurate reading or if it does in fact affect them. At lunch I was also able to sit and talk to Mrs. Noble about the class and what her schedule as a teacher looks like and how she prepares each week. She answered many questions for me and was very personable. I really feel like she is easy to work with and makes me feel very comfortable and at home in her classroom. I also think her style and approach to work is similar to my own, which she told me she thought it was, making it very easy to work with her as a coordinating teacher.

Today I learned so much from my field. I really had a great day of observing and I am glad I got to spend a few couple of hours in field as well as observe another class. In assessing, I really felt that I learned a lot about the students and they started to open up to me more. I am starting to see them more as people and seeing them as much more capable than my initial impression of them. I see them now more as individual students rather than children. I definitely can see how one-on-one work with students is important to not only learn the needs of each individual in the class but also to form personal connections with the student, which helps the teacher to see them as unique individuals. I was not expecting to enjoy assessing students as much as I did today but it has really been one of the highlights of this field experience for me thus far. Next Wednesday I will teach my third lesson on St. Patrick's Day and, as usual, I look forward to it!