EDUC 2130
Field Work Experiences
02/12/2012 - Blackshear Elementary (Nobalee Strickland)
On February 12, 2015 I went to Blackshear Elementary and assisted in a Valentines party for students. At this party I was able to watch how students interact in a social setting rather than an educational one. At the party students were free to socialize at their own free will and allowed we to have a better understanding of the way in which they interact by choise. Surprisingly, the students got along exceptionally well with the other individuals in the classroon.
Thru watching them the two and a half hours I was there I noticed that most of these students were colorblind. Race and culture did not seem to bother these students, nor did it dictate who they were interacting with. At this age it is easy for children to not see different races or cultures, because they have not been exposed to the prenotions or negativity towards cultures other than our own.
I noticed that the teacher did an excellent job in helping to create a "melting pot" among the students and aid in eliminating cliques in her classroom. Although it may not have been done purposly, students seating were arranged in such a way that different cultures were not able to exclude other students that did not follow in the same culture. By having students sit next to others that were different from them it is teaching them at an early age how to socialize with other social cultures.
Particularly, two young girls caught my attention. Coming from two different cultural backgrounfs, one seemed to be of a Latino decent while the other of African American decent. These two girls seemed to be inseperable throughout the party. Whether it be sitting next to other or sharing each others valentines the bond these two shared looked inseperable. I found it hopeful to see indiviudals from such different backgrounds finding friendship within each other.
By the time the party was winding down I had seen plenty of interaction among different students and different races, but had not spent much time watching their parents. For the remainder of the party I watched the actions and interactions the student's parents made with each other. I noticed that the parents were not as inclined to interact with other parent of different social status and of different cultures. I believe this is caused by not only the age of these individuals, but also the preset notions many Americans develop regarding others that are different than ourselves.
After the parents left many of the students went along with them. I noted that many of the remaining students were mostly bus riders. While waiting for dismissal they quietly played amongst themselves because the idea of actually doing something educational was out of the question for them. The attention these student's craved was heartwarming. They all wanted my attention and wanted to ask about me. There willingness to meet someone new was overwhelming and made me want to make more of an effort to be that way in the future when meeting new individuals despite there cultural background.
02/25/2015 - Blackshear Elementary (Kathy Paul)
Upon arrival at Blackshear Elementary I joined the class when they were arriving back from there physical education class. There was sounds of laughter and conversations as they filled the halls and headed back to each of their classrooms. There was clusters of children everywhere you looked in the halls and I began to notice a trend in cultures grouping together. This was very suprising due to my last trip to Blackshear Elementary where I was very impressed with the way in which students interacted with others. However, as student seperated and went their own ways to their own classrooms I was happy to see that the students in my classroom for the day had once again taken their seats and were interacting with others well.
It was now time for small reading groups. They dialect in which my group used was extremely diverse. Listening to them speak showed me just how different their home life truly was. Some were very advanced and fluent whereas others spoke with an accent and struggled with the English language. The children that were struggling often came from a Latino home and it was clear not much English was spoken to them. These students needed more one-on-one time and were not comfortable at all speaking words they were unsure of. Students in the group that were well acquainted with the English language were eager to jump in and help the struggling individuals. It is wonderful feeling to see children who are so young but so understanding to others weaknesses.
It was now time for the class to go to lunch. I thought this would be wasted time in my field work experience, fortuneately I was wrong. During lunch students do not have assigned seats and are only required to sit at their classes alotted table. Students were not seated with students other than those they were interacting with in the classroom. This was the third interaction I had witnessed in one only a few short hours and was impressed that I had seen these students interacting with three completly different sets of individuals.
After lunch I only had thirty minutes left to spend with the students. This time was spent observing them participate in their daily math lesson. The portion of the math lesson that I was able to see was spent at the bulletin board where participation was a group effort. The students were very patient and for the most part waited their turn and raised hands when they wanted to speak. I enjoyed seeing the excitement and involvment they put forth for this activity. I believe this method of teaching is something I will use in my future classroom for sure. It was not only fun and entertaining but also effective in teaching the subject.
I was amazed at how diverse the group of friends these students had were. At such a young age children are blind to the grouping and cliques, we as adults often create. The older these children grow the more they will be influenced by the ways in which they see us, as their educators, treating other individuals. I feel that that the teachers of these young students have given them an excellent foundation on which to build in reference to cultural differences and biases concerning them.
04/08/2015 - Blackshear Elementary (Cassie Dyal)
Upon arrival at BES, I reported to the Media Center where I would shadow the computer lab for the next couple of hours. The first class of the day was already in progress when I arrived. The students were in Kindergarten and were very chatty. After counting the students I found that there were eleven males and nine females. Of these twenty children twelve were Caucasian, four were African American, and four were Hispanic. The computer lab teacher informed me that this was a mixture of students from all of the Kindergarten classes rather than only one homeroom.
On this particular day the Kindergarten students were playing academic games online. They were not required to go to a certain site, however I noted that many were on the same site and would converse back and two over their achievements. Not interested in playing were two female students who chose to sit at a side table and read library books. I later learned that they were working on their accelerated reader points. Shortly after I had arrived it was times for the students to return to their classes.
The next class was due in the Media Center in only 15 short minutes. We quickly made sure all screens were closed on each computer, picked up any trash that was left behind, and straightened the chairs. At 8:30 fourth graders, again from different homerooms, began to trickle in. It was clear these students were not worried about their volume. As the chairs began to full up the chatter slowly ceased as the teacher made her way to the lab area. This was a bit bigger class than the last, having twenty-two children in it. Of these twenty two, twelve were girls and nine were boys with over half of them being Caucasian.
Unlike the last class, these students would not be playing games and instead would be reviewing for their GA Standards test they would be taking in a few, short weeks. To begin with they were taken to a website which walked thru instrucitons for taking the test, which is now online. The purpose of this excercise was to increase the children's knowledge of the testing process and ensure they were properly prepared when testing day arrived. Individually, students were instructed that they may review sample test problems once they had successfully learned how to login and complete the test questions. One-by-one students moved on to sample test problems and them continued to quietly practice for the remainder of their class time. I was impressed at how involved these students were in attempting the sample problems. It was evident that they were invested in their potential acheivement on the test. At 10:00 their class ended and the fourth grade students returned to their classrooms. The teacher and I repeated clean up in the lab for a second time that morning and waited for the next class to get there.
Running ten minutes late, eighteen second graders finally began showing up. The lab teacher had planned on completing a very simple online research assignment but due to the loss of time she decided to put it off for another day because this would have been their first assignment of this nature. Instead, she instructed them to go to Brain Pop and watch a video of their choice and complete the quiz that accompanies the video. Sadly, before they were able to complete the videos and share results my time had ran out and I had to leave.
On this day I learned many things about different age groups. I enjoyed being able to see a range of varying age groups in the same setting with similiar tasks. It made the growth these students achieve between grade levels very evident. I hope I have to chance to observe a similiar setting again.
04/20/2015 - Blackshear Elementary (Kellie Allen)
I arrived in Mrs. Allen's first grade classroom around 11:30 when the students were returning from their lunch. In this particular class their were no desks and instead four rectangular tables for students to sit at. All students but two were seated at tables and the two that were not were seperated from the rest of the class due to bad behavior. They were both boys, one Caucasian and one African American. As they were entering the classroom I began to take note of each individuals demographics. In this particular class their were nine boys and eight girls, with a total of seventeen children in the class. Furthermore classifying them, there was two African Americans, thirteen Caucasian, two multiracial. I was very surprised to find that there were no Hispanic students in the entire class. It was also surprising to me that Caucasian students highly outnumbered other races. However, the teacher told me this was the norm for their school regardless of the zoning being in the lower socioeconomc part of the county.
Once all students were all in the classroom and seated Mrs. Allen reviewed procedures and rules of literacy centers before instructing them to move to their assigned groups. Children divided into four different literacy groups that were each a different academic level. The first group was made up of five students. Of these students two were boys and three were girls. This was the highest achieving group of the four and was composed of all caucasion children. The second group consisted of four students and was one of the most diverse groups in terms of race. It included two boys, one who was bi-racial and one Caucasion, and two girls, one African American and one Caucasian. The third group was composed of five students and also had a diverse make-up. Consisting of two girls and three boys and containing all races that existed in the classroom, it was the perfect oppurtunity to observe racial interactions among the students. The African American boy had to be redirected several times and still remained off task. He did not interact well with the other children in this group. A Caucasian girl seemed to have the best demeanor in the group and several times reached out to her peers offering assistance. The academic level of this group was considered average for their age and grade level. Finally, the fourth group had 2 boys and 1 girl in it. It is probally the least diverse group ethninticity wise.
The teacher then explained to me what literacy centers were and their importance. Literacy centers include word work, vocabulary, and reading a familiar book. During literacy centeres new level readers are introduced. She said that they are used for advancing student's literary skills. Before being placed in a group each child's academic reading level is assessed and they are placed accordingly. I also learned that these are not set groups. According to their academic progress or regression they may move up or down among the groups.
Students remained in their literary groups until 1:00 when they knew that it was time for them to begin cleaning up and moving back to their regular seats. Mrs. Allen started a countdown and the students who were straggling quickly rushed to their place. She called for them to line up according to table. Each table had a certain color as it's name. Once all were called the students were allowed to go the the playground for recess. Their all the classes in First Grade joined on the playground for 30-45 minutes depending on the day of the week and what activtites were going on that week. On this day they had extended recess due to good behavior during testing. While watching play I saw many, many groups of children gathered in their particular areas. The teacher said each group has a particular area they tend to play at. When looking at the entire grade level I was amazed to see that there did seem to be an overwhelmingly high number of Caucasians in the group. Before I left I walked back to class with the student in Mrs. Allen's class and was impressed with how quiet they were walking back to class. She seemed to have excellent control over her students.
