Field Blog 4

Over the last few days I did 10 observation hours with Mr. Gainey. He was my assistant coach my last three years of high school basketball and therefore we have built a strong relationship. Because of this relationship I was comfortable asking him about different things he and his co-teacher, Mr. Shelley did during their physical education classes. This was my first experience observing in an elementary phys. Ed class because when we went to the elementary school as a class I ended up being there during a seventh grade class. I have been excited to see an elementary class because I feel that is what I would want to teach the most.  Through my experience I have found this to be true.

While doing my observation I saw every grade level from kindergarten to 5th grade. It was interesting to see the huge differences between the age groups. Mr. Gainey started off by telling me how they try to set up every class. The usually start with a  warm up activity and then they will either teach a new skill or review a skill they have previously taught and then have to kids participate in a game that has them practicing the skill they just learned. This is the second time I have seen this format and it seems to work well with the students. Introducing or review the skill and then letting the students’ practice it in a fun activity seems like the best way to get students participate.

What I learned most out of these few days with Mr. Gainey was how to properly address students of that age when a problem occurs. In elementary school the students have issues that seem insignificant to us but are a big deal to them. The students would often complain how their "friend", as Mr. Gainey calls students who choose to partner together, was not doing something or being nice to them. When this occurred Mr. Gainey would have the students step out of the activity when there was an appropriate time and have the student with the complaint explain to the other student how they were feeling. The students would usually just shake it off and want to get right back into the activity. When Mr. Gainey would talk with a student one on one he would bend down so that he was on their level. Having a teacher stand at 6'3 can be a little intimidating to a student but, I feel the students feel much more comfortable talking to him when he is down on their level.

Mr. Gainey and Mr. Shelley both did a great job of keeping the students attention and having control over their classroom. They used a trick that I have seen used many times but in a little different way. They would clap to get the students attention but they wouldn't just do it when got extremely noisy but yet every time they needed the students’ attention and if the students didn't stop talking they would silently wait until the students quieted down. Using the clap every time sent the message to the students that it was something they should respond to all the time not just when they felt it was important.

This experience was different than the ones I had previously had in class because I was very comfortable asking Mr. Gainey any question I had without hesitation. I also knew many of the kids from my summer job at the Boys and Girls Club and that gave me an advantage because I knew how they behaved how they were there and how they were behaving in the classroom. With many of the kids they were completely different because of the structure that was in the classroom. Observing Mr. Gainey has reconfirmed my thoughts on wanting to work with elementary students over any other age group.

Reflection of Clinical Teachin Experience

   

Through this clinical teach experience I have realized that a lot goes into preparing a lesson for a class. We started preparing our lesson by each reading the chapter and writing down our own thoughts. We then came together and disused our ideas. We found that on some things we had similar ideas where on other things we all had completely different interpretations on the text. We took these different interpretations and came to an agreement on an idea that incorporates what we all think. At first this was a little bit of a challenge because some of our ideas were way off from others but through discussion we eventually got our ideas to be on the same page.

After getting everyone on the same page we started to form our lesson. We decided that we didn't want to do straight lecture or PowerPoint but instead we wanted to mix a PowerPoint in with activities. We started with find three or four main points that we could concentrate on to form our lesson around. From there we worked to come up with activities that could accompany these ideas. This was more challenge than I think we thought it would be.

Going into the meeting with Dr. Shutkin we thought we had a pretty good idea of what we were doing. Through discussion we found that we needed to incorporate more of how behaviorism plays into a student’s education. This is when we came up with doing the conditioning exercise. I don't think this worked out in class exactly how we planned. We hoped that the tables that weren't getting candy would eventually stop doing the activity; this was not the case though so therefore we were forced to explain the activity. Besides this activity I feel the rest of the lesson went well. I thought the card game at the beginning helped reinforce the idea of how those schools with more resources end up better off than the schools who have very little. Also during the lesson we knew that getting the class involved in discussion would be difficult but, for the most part I thought it went pretty good. The class started to respond more once we got into the lesson.

The lesson went pretty much as we planned except for at the end. We realized that we had a little extra time at the end so we decided to do a recap of what we had covered in the lesson. I thought this was a good idea because it helped reinforce the ideas we had previously discussed. Through this experience I have learned that planning lessons can be a big challenge. I thought it was very helpful to have other people to discuss my ideas of the reading with while planning the lesson. It has showed me that it is important to have other people to discuss lessons with when it comes to having my own classroom.

  

Field Blog 3

During our field visit at Agnon Elementary School I observed Seth Mansell during at 7th grade physical education gym class. I was excited to see an elementary physical education class that day but it so happened that I was there during a middle school time but, the experience turned out the better than I could have asked for. Seth has only been teaching for two years and he currently teaches grades kindergarten through 8th grade. He spent time talking with me how this can be a challenge because each grade is doing something else different and he only has a minute in-between classes to set up. We also discussed the differences between being in a private and public schools. Seth was telling me how when he was my age he never thought about the things such as benefits or time off or any of those things but, he is now realizing that they do make a difference. Yes, a job is a job but, when you are in a private school and $200 dollars is taken out of your check as Seth has. This is opposed to being in a public school where those things are already figured in and in mot case they aren't taken directly out of the teachers’ pay check. In no way was Seth complaining about this because he is says he is so happy to have the job he has but he did say how it does make a difference. The most beneficial thing I got out of this experience was how Seth incorporated the kids spelling words or science formulas into the physical education class.  Seth explained to me how he went to the third grade teachers and got the students spelling words for the week and then during class he put the letters of the alphabet on the wall and they had to practice their throwing skills by spelling words from their spelling list that week. For another grade he had the kids use science formulas for their team names. Seth said he used a lesson plan similar to these during his job interview and was told by the hiring committee that it was the thing that set him apart from the rest of the candidates who interviewed for the job and ultimately was the thing that got him the job.

While I was observing there was only a class of six because they had other testing and such going on that day. Seth adapted the lesson to the best of his ability based on the group he had. He explained to me what he usually would have done and how he adapted to the small group that was there today. The students were playing volleyball that day. They started with a hitting drill where they tossed the ball to Seth who would then set it to allow the kids hit the ball. He would stop and correct them when needed on their technique. He also pushed those who were able to handle it to try and more difficult hits. The students then went into playing a game of volleyball but, since there were only three kids on each team he allowed them to catch the ball once before returning it to the other team. I didn't think would allow the game to move along very well but it actually helped the students. It allowed them to set up a strategy for the best attack they could get. Seth also got involved and jumped into play as well. He explained to me that he gives the students points when they use the skill that they practiced previously in class so today the students would get points when they used the hitting skill.

At the end of the class Seth wrapped up with having the kids teach the hitting skill back to him. Then he printed an example lesson plan out for me that I could take with me to refer to when I start planning lessons. This field experience has been the best so far. It was easy to talk to Seth about the experiences I am currently going through and he gave me advice on what to look out for and things to help me along my way. I aspire to be as good as a physical education as Seth where I really get the kids involved in the activities and wanting to be there. I am excited to go home and do my field visits in an elementary class.

Blog Post 10

Through ED 100 and my blog post we have discussed many different issues with the education system and different techniques and styles of teaching. There are many things that I find I have frequently discussed in my blog post. These things included, student-teacher relationships, student engagement, a well-rounded school, teacher self-reflection, diversity amongst students including race, sex, and age, connecting students home life with their classroom life and state testing. The biggest thing that has stuck out to me in my post though is the incorporation of many of these ideas to create a classroom community. I feel that a classroom should be a place where kids feel safe. In order for this to be achieved teachers need to not only make trusting relationships with their students in the classroom but, they also need to get to know their students outside the classroom. They can do this through building relationship with the students' parents/guardians, attending the things the students are interested in and bring the students interests into the classroom. In order for teachers to do this it takes a lot of work and extra time out of a teachers life outside the classroom. This is usually not something that comes natural to a teacher. It definitely takes a certain type of person to be a good teacher and once that person is found it takes continual work for them to become the best teacher for their students possible. I hope through my continual learning I will one day be able to be one of those teachers who has a great classroom community for my students.