Field Experience

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form

Context for Learning

Description of School and Students

About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience

School Name and City: Maywood Elementary

Type of School: Elementary school

Setting: Urban

Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form.

1.     List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program).

The classroom is co-teaching model, with a push in support teacher. There is a one head ELA teacher, Ms. Bowes. In Ms. Bowe’s homeroom there is a co-teaching ELL teacher, Mrs. Rubio, who is in the classroom for one half hour, she works with 6 ELL students. There is one Instructional Aide that assists in two of the four students with IEP’s

2.     Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that affects the planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.

The district currently uses McGraw Hill curriculum, WonderWorks. Their standardized test currently administered are NWEA, MAP tests, and PARCC tests. The requirements have been set forth by the Common Core State Standards for students to learn prior to their state test.]

3.    For special education only: List any educators with specialized expertise in the school/district (e.g., specific disabilities, subject-specific pedagogy, English language development, speech therapists).

Ms. Houston- Works with students with development delays, she works with students on their focused IEP educational goals. (Push In)

Ms. Z- works with students with identified speech delays (Pull out)

Ms. Rubio – works with ELL students. (Pull Out)

Ms. Kaforski- Reading specialist, works with lower 5 NWEA/Map testing students outside IEPs/504, ELL.

About the Students in this Class [Give a brief or one word response]

1.   Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch: 100%

2.   Grade level(s): K

3.   Number of

a.   students in the class: 23

b.   males: 13

females: 10

c.   English language learners: 6

d.   students identified as gifted and talented: 2

e.   students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 4

4.   Complete the chart below to summarize required accommodations or modifications for students receiving special education services and/or students who are gifted and talented as they will affect instruction. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. The first row has been completed in italics as an example. Use as many rows as you need.

Special Education Category	Number of Students	Accommodations, Modifications, and/or Pertinent IEP Goals
Example: Learning Disability	Example: 4	Example: Close monitoring, follow up, and Resource Room
Students with Autism	2	One to Two  Aide, use of audio text, modified assignments, tests, and sensory needs
Students with Developmental Delays	2	Modified assignment, extended time on assignment and exams, orally read questions, transcribed responses if needed

About the Class You Observed

1.   How much time is devoted each day to instruction in the classroom? Describe the class periods (if applicable)? Choose a content area of your specialty or major. How much time is devoted to teaching that subject?

The class schedule is broken into 30 half increments. If science or social studies is on the agenda for the day it is 15 mins each. ELA and Math are both scheduled for 90 mins each. Of the time instruction is only 10 minutes, some days were devoted to more reading. However, the teacher utilized stations, and took only a couple minutes to instruct the students. She would be sure to model each assignment of what the students were required to do.

2.   Is there any ability grouping or tracking? If so, please describe how it affects your class.

There was group based off the MAP scores, the students had a Reading and Math score wall, where each student had a score. On our designated station days, 60 minutes are devoted to stations and group work. Each station is 15 minutes long, for some activities, stations can be added together for harder or longer tasks. The students are grouped by reading MAP scores. The stations were modified to each group’s ability. I do not think it affect the students’ daily class. The student knew who were in each group, and the students were motivated to work together. Students rotated throughout different stations and have different opportunities to sit one on one with the teacher. She have several assessments to track student growth before and after each unit and MAP scores are tracked tri-annually. All instruction is differentiated to achieve learning mastery.]

3.   Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.

The district uses the curriculum of Wonders Works, which includes supports for ELL and Tier 1,2,3 Supports. The classroom uses Wonders’ Reading and Writing Workshop and Interactive Worktext Grade 5, both published by McGraw-Hill Education on May 29, 2013 for teachers to scaffold teaching with Tier 2 and 3 supports. The online website is also available to the district.

4.   List other resources (e.g., SMARTBoard, manipulatives, online resources) used for instruction in this class.

In our classroom, there are many other resources for the education of students. We use a Smart Board/ White board, a projector, and camera projector. The classroom has a full library with leveled readers, there are organized by student interest topics. The District also mandates that we have 60 minutes per student on the online reading website of Lexia

5. What do you know about what your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests?

      The students are from Maywood, this is a low income. The parent involvement in usually low. The students were very into slime, YouTube, and typically children movies. The students loved animals and held a high standard for friendships and protecting each other. The students were in the middle of math unit on teen numbers. The students were able to count to 100 during choral reading, and had a solid concepts around calendar, sight words, alphabet and sounds.    

6. Describe one teaching event. What best practices in teaching were used?

     

      One teaching moment that stuck out to me was the cubes and stick activity. This was an introduction; the students were given cards that said I have... and Who has? There was a visual representation of the number they had with cubes and sticks. The students had to identify the number they had and ask for the number listed at the bottom of their card. The game continues til everyone had taken a turn. The students sat in a circle. This was a great introduction to their worksheets. Where they had to count a teen number as sticks with addition ones.