Field Experience Day 1

On May 8, 2009 I completed my first 3 hours of field experience at Parkton Elementary School. Parkton Elementary is a school that services students from pre-k through the eighth grade. My day began in the parking lot where I noticed the landscaping was well maintained. The outside of the building was also well maintained. I first began by entering the main office to receive a visitor's pass. I was then escorted to a seventh grade math class. This class was taught by an Asian native, Mr. Ramondo. There was a total of 12 students, 5 girls and 7 boys. I noticed that one of the female students was blind. She sat at the front of the class. She did not have an assistant but Mr. Ramondo assigned one of the students to help her with specific tasks.
Mr. Ramondo began his lesson by passing out a multiple choice worksheet. He asked the students to complete the questions and then come to the front of the class and grab a colorful plastic egg. He, then, asked the students to write their names on a piece of paper and put the papers inside of the eggs. At the front of the class there were 4 baskets labeled A through D. Before the review of each answer, Mr. Ramondo would ask the students to put their eggs into the basket they thought contained the correct answer. He would then give every person, whose eggs were in the correct basket, a piece of candy. In my opinion, this type of lesson gave the children a reward for answering the questions correctly. A reward system is a good way to educate children.
I was then escorted to a fifth grade math class for the next period. This class was taught by Mrs. Norton. Her class had 19 students made up of 7 girls and 12 boys. In Mrs. Nortons classroom there was a Smart Board, where she completed most of her lesson. The children were asked to take out their workbooks and answer the word problems using the Versa Tiles. These tiles were labeled 1-10 and there were spots A-J in each tile holder. If the students' answered the questions correctly and put the proper tiles in the correct spots, a pattern on the back sides of the tiles would be present. This was an easy way for Mrs. Norton to spot the children who had the correct answers. Two of the children just made a pattern of tiles and Mrs. Norton reprimanded them for not answering the questions and just making a pattern. At that point, she took a dollar, of fake money, away from them for being dishonest. I also noticed that Mrs. Norton would give the children a dollar for completing their homework. She also took dollars away from them for not having their homework. I asked her what the dollars could buy for them and she said they have to pay a dollar to have the ability to talk at lunch. She told me that they also have auctions. I think the money system was a good idea. It taught the children to take responsibility for their actions, i.e. not completing their homework. If they wanted to talk in the cafeteria, they would have to pay money. This was a good way to teach them the value of a dollar.
For the third period, I stayed in Mrs. Nortons class to observe an EC classroom in progress. A teacher's assistant came in to Mrs. Nortons class for this period to help out. The class was made up of 15 students, 14 boys and 1 girl. I have learned in my SED 3000 class that the majority of children with disabilities are boys and this student ratio in this class helped to reinforce this fact. The children were learning to use calculators to help answer math problems. One of the boys was very disruptive and caused many distractions. Even though there were many distractions, in my opinion, Mrs. Norton remained in control. A few of the students appeared to answer the questions extremely fast, while others took longer to answer. In my opinion, some of those children did not have to be in that particular class. I am not saying that they are not EC, I just think that the placement of some of them was probably not necessarily in the their best interest.
Overall, I had a really enjoyable time watching both of these teachers instruct their classes. I learned a few different strategies that seemed to be very successful. This experience was very helpful and I am glad that I had to observe these classrooms.