Field Experience Directions
Directions:

1. Site Selection and Forms: Choose a site (or two) for your observations. If you attended school in the Houston area, you may wish to choose one of the schools you attended. If you have children, nieces or nephews, or younger siblings in school, you could ask to do your observations in one of their schools. Almost any school setting for grades P-12 will work. However, this project may not be completed in a daycare facility. Once you have selected a site, call the school to seek permission to do your observations there. Introduce yourself, give a brief explanation of the project, and ask if you might complete the observation hours at their site. Some sites will require more documentation than others. My recommendation is this: print all of the general documents to take with you, just in case a site requires them. Obtain the necessary signatures on the Confirmation Agreement form; complete any background checks that may be required. The background check may sometimes be done online, but it can take a while to receive confirmation back, so do this as soon as your site is selected. Next, schedule your observation hours. Turn in your Confirmation Agreement form as soon as you are able to select and get permission to observe at a site. If you observe at more than one site, you will need a conformation form for each site.

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2. Observation: Observe a minimum of 16 hours in a classroom setting. If possible, observe in more than one grade level and subject area. You will need to dress professionally for your observation hours. You are encouraged to participate in the learning activities with the children, but always ask the classroom teacher’s permission before doing so. And, have fun!

3. Notes and Data Collection: Collect information from your observations and available site resources. You will use these notes to write your Report/Reflection paper. (See Step 1 below.) Be sure to collect anecdotal notes (stories of your experiences, what you did, what you observed, and your overall impressions, etc. See Steps 2 and 3 below.)

4. Report/Reflection: Use your notes and gathered information to write a report/reflection paper. Type and double space this paper. Label the three parts of the paper according to the Field Experience Rubric. Use the rubric as a resource and guide to your writing. The following steps will guide you in your notes and data collection and in the writing of the paper:

Step 1: Gather available information about your chosen site(s). Seek information from several sources, including the school’s own website, the district’s profile book/pages, and the Texas Education Agency website and AEIS reports (www.tea.state.tx.us). Be sure to find out about and include the following information in Part I of the paper (approximately 2 pages):
o What is the SES (socioeconomic status) of the community/neighborhood/student population served by the school? This is determined by the percentage of students on free and reduced lunch.
o What is the designation of the district (urban, suburban, or rural)?
o How many students are in the school and the classroom in which you are observing?
o What are the gender percentages of the students in your classroom?
o What ethnicities, languages, or cultural backgrounds are represented and what are their percentages?
o How do the student demographics (ethnicity, language, cultural background) compare to that of the teachers working in the school?
o What are the language proficiency percentages?
o What are the standardized test scores of the students at this school?
o What else can you find out about the students in the specific classrooms that you are observing?
o How does the information you find compare to the information you have read in your textbook?

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Step 2: Gather information from notes you have taken during your observations and interactions. Part II of the paper (approximately 2 pages) should describe the specific instructional strategies and techniques utilized by the teacher in the classroom or classrooms that you observed during your field experience. Be sure to answer the following questions in this section:
· How is the classroom arranged? How is it decorated?
· What feeling does the overall classroom learning environment convey?
· What supplies and materials are available?
· What instructional aids and forms of technology does the teacher use?
· What kinds of learning activities does the teacher plan?
· What kinds of questions does the teacher ask?
· How does the teacher meet the needs of all the different types of learners in the classroom?
· How does the teacher motivate students? How does the teacher handle problem, challenging, or off-task behaviors?
· What does the teacher do to involve parents in the classroom?
· Overall, what do you think about the teacher’s effectiveness? Remember to think and respond critically. How do students respond to him or her? In what ways are the teacher’s instructional practices similar or different from what you have read in your textbook?
Step 3: Discuss your own personal experiences in the classroom in Part III of the paper (approximately 1 page, but longer is fine). Discuss any activities or small group interactions in which you participated. You could also describe the characteristics of the learners you worked with, the instructional objectives focused upon, and how the activities went overall. Finally, take some time to reflect on how the experiences helped you to grow and describe that growth. What did you learn about students and schools, and the teaching process? What is your evaluation of the activities? How did the experiences make you feel? What did it make you think about? How did this experience make a difference in you and your perceptions of the teaching/learning process?

By admin in Essays on November 20, 2015