Education Fieldwork

K-2nd grade with Ms. A

New term (2nd session)

5 kids usually, only 2 today

(T and R, brothers, from last term), (A, from last term) (D and L, sisters, NEW)

D and L (younger), only 2 who weren’t in the class last term, but they both use to go to Ms. A’s class for two year olds when they were younger.

Both girls have light brown/blonde curly hair.

D older, more talkative, asked lots of questions.

L asked some, but was often looking to her sister.

Ms. A told me their mother was from Spain and that they spoke Spanish at home, though their father couldn’t speak it.

Today: Clay fish (circle fish)

(Sketch of project steps)

For this activity, Amy brought in clay, circle and flower cutters, forks, rolling pins, wooden clay tools, and little cups of water.

First, the clay was handed out and we started banging it, flattening, etc. Ms. A asked D and L why they thought we did that. They made a few guesses, and then I jumped in and explained how it was to get the air bubbles out so that they wouldn’t explode in the kiln. Then Ms. A introduced the project.

Demo: cut 2 circles, close together (sketch), cut line across to make 2 tail pieces (sketch), score tail and combine (sketch), score circles, but tail between and combine (sketch), then make fish face: put line, push hole through for eye (sketch), scales: use finger to push in, tail: lines, etc.

Yesterday, the site supervisor was not at Wordsmiths. She had another commitment this entire week, so she’d emailed me and several other interns beforehand to let us know. In the email, Mariah had said that we should use the time-out discipline structure as needed, and had told us to call her if anything went awry.  Since I knew she’d given keys to other people, I assumed she had just included me on this list so that I’d be prepared for the situation.

When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, there were 2 other interns there. They told me that they had been there on Monday and Tuesday as well. I suggested that we go outside first, since it was nice out; I remember thinking that, when I was there 2 weeks ago, it might have been night to get some of the kids’ energy out before making them sit down and do work. Both interns disagreed with me—they said that the kids had “gotten better” in the past weeks, and they wanted to stick to this routine.

In this situation, I felt that I was more like a “volunteer” than an “intern”—I definitely did not feel that I had the authority to make decisions that would affect the schedule. I wanted to, but deferred to the interns’ decision. However, I think that these other two girls were also unsure of their authority; they didn’t want to deviate from the normal programming, even if it could be a positive experiment. 

(College)

Today only 1 student shows up. He was absent last week and is eager for a private lesson to help him catch up. We review and learn to identify scales. Due to lack of time, the other students in the class will not learn this; it's not essential to identify harmonic and melodic minor scales but it's nice. One student who was absent has missed three weeks in a row, she told me in an email she has been off-campus on weekends due to a combination of family emergencies and other commitments. She says she is practicing on her own so next week we'll see. I emailed the choral director to let him know, but he didn't seem upset. I think it was a mistake to schedule Sunday afternoon class, although it sounded like a good idea at the time.

(Fourth Grade)

...I lead a somewhat complex activity in which the students broke into groups of four and “composed” a rhythm of 8 measures in 4/4 time then performed it. Some groups really took it a great level by adding movements to their performances. Overall, there was a huge range in how long it took groups to write. I tried to hurry some groups along, which didn't really work. I didn't have a back-up for when students finished writing. There were a few times I struggled to get their attention. Ms. Presley urged me to be more “alpha” and to be sure to get them quiet rather than trying to talk over them. This also came up during the “performances”; some were not very good listeners.

4/12/13

New Spring term this week. (still working with Ms. A and Ms. B)

4-6 yr olds with Ms. B

9:30-11:30am

New boy, E (now there are two boys in the class)

E and A (girl) go to school together

E seems relaxed, gets to drawing in sketchbook right away, talks with other kids, tells me his full first name, but he goes by the shortened version

Today: Matisse Fishbowl paintings (sketch). Mixed Media, pink paint table and background, tempera paint patterns, tank, etc. Paper leaves and flowers, red tissue paper flowers in background

More planned out than usual, Ms. B mentions to me, I agree, comment that’s especially good for the first day. (she laughs, jokingly offended by my comment…)

Paint for the first half, then wash up

Story and snack: Ms. B reads while I clean up

E doesn’t want to sit during story time (he doesn’t have a snack), seems comfortable (happy?) standing for this time

After story, go to gallery. New show of animal art

Play I Spy (introduce to Eli, he asks and makes sure that everyone gets a chance)

Rather overexcited in the gallery, larger class, moving around a lot, not slowly, hiding things behind pedestals

Back to rom, add paper and tissue paper to paintings. When finished, kids go into other room to play (as usual) Some don’t feel like playing, stay and draw in sketchbooks. One doesn’t want to play or draw, seemed content to sit with us while others drew. 

Last Tuesday was the first day I was back at my placement after my students had their spring break. I had not seen them in over a week and I was excited to be back. 

This day, while the students did their independent work, they all worked on test. All of the students seemed to be focused on their test. Some were looking at their paper, some looked around every once in a while (which isn’t unexpected for some students). They all sat quietly which Ms. Morrow worked one on one with students on reading in the back of the room.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2013/04/east_penn_school_director_juli.html

This seems much worse than, say, any of Cathie Black's comments. Is it easier for rural school administrators than urban to get away with tone-deaf comments, is it matter of school-board versus superindentent/chancellor, or Democratic region versus Republican, or something else?

"On March 8, former South Carolina GOP head Todd Kincannon tweeted, "There is nothing more brain rotting than public schools. God, I pity the proletariat for having to send their inferior crotchfruit to them."

Stolz responded by tweeting, "As a school board director, I wish I could disagree. As a sentient being, I cannot."

Of course, while I doubt anyone on the SRC in Philly refers to public school students as "inferior crotchfruit," they too are (with 1 exception) not parents, teachers, or students, so I do think it may be fair to question some of their commitment to public education, even as--like Stoltz--they are responsible for it. Which is all the more reason that even if some of the school closings were justified, it's very hard to trust this group of leaders, and bothersome when individuals (like one of the people on the panel in our class seemed to) suggest frustration that students/communities can't just accept that the leaders are doing what is right for everyone.

After school class with Ms. A

Tie die paper

Last day!

I arrive in class and Ms. A asks me if I want to lead the class today. Though I had no idea what the lesson was that she ahd planned, so she quickly shows me, and demos/I do it and I'm ready to introduce it to the class! She prefaced the class as a whole (she is still in charge), but allowed me to instruct the demo and really show them what we were going to do: we did it together, I demo'd and presented each step, while she wrote down the steps, so they could remember more easily.

I was incredibly pleased that Amy asked me to lead. It was natural and notintimidating, really, at all. The only thing was that I didn't entirely know/understand her lesson plan, so I was a bit unsure of the second half of her lesson plan, so I was a bit unsure of the 2nd half of her lesson, but with her there, it was okay. If I had simply been given the plan and the materials to teach on my own, I might have tweaked it a little, but because she was still there, I treated it a bit more jointly and put more faith in a plan I had doubts about. Because she was there to help/answer questions, it worked out well.

Went to a 2nd grade class at a quaker school. Teacher A (15 students, 3 teachers)

12:45 back from recess, moment of silence

12:50 person of the week (Every Friday)

Introduce me to the class, "we have so many teachers" "I wish we could have a million teachers"

Reminder of commenting

Girl (S) sits in front of class, shows large pictures of herself: on a sports team, on a trip

(sketch of room and student set up)

Thoughts to bring back to my placement from this class: kids interacting with each other, asking/answering questions

other kids listening, looking on mostly silently, just a little restless, moving chairs, playing with tape

Teacher A: "You did a great job of listening and not commenting"

ready for comments, many instantly put their hands up

ex: where did you make the sandcastle? what did it look like?

1 or 2 adults came to the door throughout Person of the Week, Students don't really notice/react

Teacher A: "It makes people feel good when ppl ask questions!"

1:05 Choice Time: look at S's stuff, read. shared choice time with other 2nd grade class, relaxed, open environment, not too hectic, but a bit of structure. Some reading, writign, drawing.

Teacher A: when theyre writing during choice time, she's okay telling them how to spell it. She's really just happy that they're choosing to write and read at all.

A little loud, having fun, but not too disruptive