Context for Learning

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

City: Elmhurst, IL

Type of School: Elementary school, Middle School, High School, or Other:   Elementary School

Setting: Urban, Suburban, or Rural: Suburban

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).

[In the classroom that I am in, there is only one general education teacher. This classroom does in fact use a pull-out program. Students who may be struggling in school go with another teacher, often a special education teacher, and work one on one with that teacher. Other times, students are pulled out of the classroom to test or work with a teacher in response to MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) to work on any school work that may be difficult for one student to do.]

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, for the time that I was at my placement, was in the middle of testing week. The school tests the students using Aims Web, which monitors student progress, pacing, and what the prediction of how that student will do in the future. The teachers normally have a structured classroom routine, but overall teachers get their own freedom in how they want to instruct and run their classroom. The school uses a standard based report card, but other than that teachers can work the curriculum as they please.]

               

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).

[The school district has come a long way with their educational support program. This school has some aides, but they do not work in the classroom. Teacher aides normally come into a class and pull out a student to bring them back to work either in a smaller group in a different environment or one on one. This location where students work when they are pulled out of the classroom is called Student Services. There are also school counselors that will meet with the students and there is also a teacher that works with gifted and talented students who is often called the Enrichment Teacher.]

About the Students in this Class 

1.    Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch: N/A

2.    Grade level(s): Kindergarten

3.    Number of

a.    students in the class: 17

b.    males: 9

females: 8

c.     English language learners: N/A

d.    students identified as gifted and talented: 2

e.    students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 1

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
Speech & Language Disability **stuttering, articulation, apraxia, patterns of speech	1	More time to answer questions, pull-out/work with an aide, more time to finish assignment/project in class
Gifted & Talented	2	Pulled out of class, work in Tier 3 (one on one) for more challenging assignments, put in a group of students that will challenge each other, more elevated tasks

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?

[Since the classroom I am in is only half day Kindergarten, it is difficult to fit everything in at once. For this reason, students are in a whole group for about 45 minutes every day and they spend about an hour total (split into 30 minutes in the day) in small groups working on what they talked about in the whole group discussion with the teacher. Most of the time, students are working on their letters, sounding words out, and writing. Each day varies, and a majority of the day is surrounded by whatever that lesson was that morning. The kids also have specials throughout the week, which also cuts into their classroom time.]

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

[As for ability grouping, students are put into literacy grouping. Students will be compared to other kindergarteners and how well they are making progress in the areas of literacy. This takes place in the form of an informal assessment during class time. As for tracking, the school district mainly uses observation and taking notes to see how well students are progressing and how they are doing in the class.]

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

[There are a few different textbooks that the teachers use to shape their own curriculum for Kindergarten. The first book that the teachers use is called Project Read by Victoria Greene. Published by Language Circle Enterprises in 2015. The other textbook that is used is called Phonemic Awareness by Michael Heggerty. Published by Literacy Resources, also in 2015. Mostly these books are used as resources to help build what the Kindergarten teams thinks works best and should be applied. Most of the time, the teachers form their curriculum for that year with each other with the help of the textbooks that they use.]

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

[In the classroom, there are a lot of fun resources for students and teachers to use. There is a SMARTBoard and computer that teachers can use to show information if need by. Most of the time, teachers are using the white boards to demonstrate simple things, such as new words, or a story problem for the students to try. There are no known online resources that are used in this Kindergarten classroom, most resources are used by hand in the classroom.]

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?

[There are many ways to determine what students know in the classroom. To determine this, it is mostly in the form of collecting data, informal and formal assessments, recording and a lot of observation. These are great ways to determine what a student knows and where students are progressing or not.  The way to determine what students are like outside of the classroom, whether that be their hobbies, experiences, or cultural backgrounds is by asking the students or talking with their parent (s). Luckily, this school gives teachers many opportunities to really know their students and their families. This takes form in parent-teacher conferences, older siblings that the Kindergartener has, meet the teachers in the beginning of the year, and many more events similar. There are many opportunities for teachers in this community to fully know their students through the various events that this school holds.]

  

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

[A major teaching event that I have learned through this placement is through the Butterfly Project. This is a fun project that students get to work on for a period of weeks. Students first get their own caterpillars. From then, students feed and watch their caterpillars every day and how they grow larger and larger. From then, students get to see their caterpillars spin their silk and form their own chrysalis’s. From there, students await and observe their chrysalis everyday until it turns into a beautiful butterfly. I think that this is a great experience that every child should experience if they can. This was teaching students the growth of a living organism, this taught students how to take care of and learn something new about something that they have cared about from day one. The best practices that were being used in this teaching event was hands on learning. Students got to experience the change from a caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly while in the classroom; they got to experience the cycle of nature! This is an experience that the students will remember for a long time because of how involved the students were in this project. Everyday I was at placement, I had a kindergartener come up to me and mention their chrysalis and how much it was changing. The students were excited, and they could not wait for the moment of change from their chrysalis to their butterfly.]