Education Read the instructions carefully and complete this assignment to the best of your ability.
Field Experience Activities
While completing your Field Experience hours, the following slides are activities you may do to enhance your learning. Please complete at least 5 activities- 1 per column. One activity will need to be selected by your cooperating teacher. Once you have completed the activity, save the document in your One Drive by clicking on “File” and “Save as”, named “First Name Last Name, Block I”. Then color the cells, using the paint bucket, of the activity you have completed. Once this is done, please reflect over your activity on the following slides in at least 5-8 complete sentences. You may not complete the same activities for one block that you did for a previous block.
East Central University
| P Professionalism | R Reading & Writing | I Interactions | D Diversity | E Engagement |
| Read over the school/district’s policies and procedures (eg. handbook, emergency procedures, acceptable use, first aid, etc.) | Observe and assist students using devices (eg. tablets, mobile devices, clickers, computers, etc.) | Interact one-on-one with a student | Observe the use of different instructional formats (eg. digital, print, verbal, manipulatives, etc.) | Assist with grading assignments or assessments |
| Send an introductory email to the mentor teacher or print off an introductory letter to give to him/her | Read with or to a student | Interact with a small group of students | Discuss with the mentor teacher modifications that he/she makes to assignments | Assist with planning or teaching a lesson with the mentor teacher |
| Discuss dress code with the mentor teacher and identified the district’s policy on dress code (if applicable) | Assist students with writing | Teach a lesson to a small group of students | Observe the use of different instructional strategies (eg. independent work, small group, whole class, peer/partners, etc.) | Observe students highly engaged in a lesson |
| Observe a mentor teacher using varying tone or body language that demonstrates support and empathy for all students | Read aloud to the whole class (eg. novel, storybook, textbook, article, description, background, etc.) | Lead the whole class in an activity | Observe exclusion or inclusion of a student during instruction | Assist with a lesson that utilized technology (eg. SmartBoard, Chromebooks, tablets, etc.) |
Field Experience I
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Example: from Block I
Activity R: “Read with or to a student”
Reflection: Today I read an excerpt from the class novel, The skin I’m in, with a student. The student and I took turns reading. I noticed that while I was reading, the student appears to be looking around the room and was not focused. However, when I would ask him questions about what I read, he got all the answers correct. I wonder if he has read this book or chapter before or if he is that good at paying attention while seeming distracted. As a future teacher, I look forward to reading to students; however, after reading today I realize that I need to work on the inflection in my voice and the manner in which I read so that students will hopefully find the way I read aloud interesting and entertaining.
East Central University
Activity P: “Observe a mentor teacher using varying tone or body language that demonstrates support and empathy for all students.”
Reflection: Today I watched my mentor teacher use different cues to create a welcoming classroom environment. I noticed how she used her gentle tone consistently throughout the classroom. One thing that caught my attention was when she knelt down to speak to one of the kids who was struggling with the task, but she made sure that the kid was at the right pace of learning and encouraged them with her gentle tone of voice. All the kids were doing their task at their own pace and remained calm as she was redirecting her students, using different body language, being attentive with appropriate eye contact and a smile on her face, and showing geniune empathy and no fear of judgement. This style of teaching approach clearly helped the students feel comfortable. This experience taught me the importance of supporting professionalism, using a gentle tone of voice, and showing genuine empathy to create a welcoming classroom environment. As a future educator, I want to have the same level of demonstration in my classroom so that my future students can feel supported.
Activity R: “Read with or to a student”
Reflection: Today, I read math and about its shape manipulation infront of the student. This activity is picked up by my observing teacher in (Ada Early Childhood center) which was short with the aim of improving math and number recognition. First my mentor teacher showed them visual cues for the task and then I had to read them a short math book. When I was reading the story, I found out that students were more active when they were shown visual cues on the television rather than the book reading. When I turned to the next page, I showed them the picture of the numbers that were illustrated in a student-friendly, color-coded style, which made me realize that kids tend to get more excited to learn and get more familiar with the numbers. We discussed the importance of having a picture in a reading book and then finished the reading material. I realized how important it is to have a visual representation along with the color-coded chapter for reading and writing.
Activity I: “Interact one-on- one with a student”
Reflection: During my observation in kindergarten, my mentor teacher showed me a helpful attitude with kindness. I had the opportunity to help the students in her classroom. During the walk-to read intervention, I had to help them with the writing intervention. My mentor taught me the importance of having the ability to create a brainstorming ideas with the writing task for the student. I noticed one of the students was not working on the given task, so my mentor teacher showed me how helpful it is to sit beside a student and provide immediate support. This strategy helped the student, as it made him feel safe and seen. The one-on-one interaction method made me realize the importance of focusing on each individual as it showed an effective and incredible bond between the teacher and the students. I noticed that following step-by-step interaction with one-on-one students helped them feel more comfortable focusing on the task. As a future educator, I want to follow this step to make sure that all my student feels supported and encouraged.
Activity D: “Observe the uses of different instructional strategies (e.g. independent work, small group, whole class, peer/partners,e.t.c)”
Reflection: I learned the importance of using different instructional strategies to create a friendly classroom environment. I noticed that while my mentor teacher was using different intervention to keep the lesson dynamic, student appears to be getting excited.The classroom began with “story reading” to “walk to read” to make every child feel active and have the knowledge of working independently. I noticed that the switch from reading to “walk to read” allowed the student to know the concept in their own words. He also used a collaborative small group activity, which caught my attention; it allowed the students to work together to identify rhyming words and color them. The main purpose of the small group activity was to create a brainstorming session and to encourage the kids to build eachother’s ideas and be involved in their learning. Observing the uses of different instructional strategies made me highlight the importance of giving students the opportunity to teach one another and regulate brainstorming sessions, as this fosters collaboration and enhances their understanding of the material.
Activity E: “Observe students highly engaged in a lesson”
Reflection: This activity is picked up by my observing teacher during my observation in Ada high school, one thing that caught my attention was from the high school student, they were highly engaged in a lesson during a Spanish class. My mentor teacher provided visual cues along with the Spanish audio to tell the story. The task for the students was to watch and listen to the audio simultaneously, requiring them to translate it in English and to write their task in their notes. I noticed one of the students was fully engaged with the content and the task; This made me realize that this individual student can use a multi-sensory approach where the individual student was able to combine the task. It illustrated that the multi-sensory components helped the students capture their attention effectively. As a future educator, I intend to have the same level of approach and strategies in my classroom.
Field Experience Submission
Once you have finished completing the following, coloring the background of the cells for the 5 activities you chose and reflecting over the activities, please click on “File”, “Download” and “PDF” to save your document as PDF.
You will then submit your assignment in your Field Experiences Blackboard shell as a PDF.
East Central University