I attended my third field experience
at Liberty High School in a 12th grade math classroom
with my  cooperating teacher Mr. Radler.
Liberty is a large high school with a diverse
demographic, which makes teaching there challenging but
rewarding. I spent most of my time with students from
various backgrounds including students with IEPs,
students in emotional support as well as ELL students.
This "mixed bag" of students made teaching exceptionally
challenging. Motivation was the primary issue with this
class; most students did not participate and even more
had an unacceptable number of absences. Most of the
students would do the work if you sat one on one with
them, but otherwise they would not. I found this field
experience to be an eye opening experience to not just
teaching ELL, emotional support and IEP students one on
one, but also how to bring the group of students
together and motivate them to learn. In an economics
activity, I had students create paper airplanes to model
the law of limited marginal returns, which the students
really enjoyed. |
work with Mrs.
Auker, a 6th grade reading teacher at the school. In a
classroom of no more than twelve students Mrs. Auker
and I instructed students with low level reading
skills. I enjoyed this experience because I was able
to work one on one with the students to work on their
reading comprehension; it is not too often that a
teacher is able to work with students on a one on one
basis. Every teacher is a teacher of reading
regardless of the subject they teach. In a time when
inclusion is becoming more and more prevalent in on
track classrooms it is important to be aware of the
limited reading skills some students have in order to
provide extra instruction and aid. 
My second field experience was at Governor
Wolf Elementary School in a 4th grade classroom.
Although I am majoring in secondary education seeing how
elementary students learn was an insightful experience.
Despite the stereotype of young students being
rambunctious and out of hand, the students in Mr.
Meila's class were quite well behaved. I benefited
greatly from a group of students who were always looking
to help and participate in activities. Like in my
previous field experience, there was a heavy emphasis on
reading. I was able to engage with students in class
reading lessons as well as small group instruction.
Currently I am doing my pre-student field
experience at Easton High School in a 9th grade history
class with a veteran teacher, Mr. LaDuca. I am extremely
excited for this experience, primarily because this is
my first field experience that I am teaching within my
discipline. This also will be my first field experience
in which I will teach a full unit to the students. I am
just getting to know these students, but they are very
diligent workers. The biggest hurdle will be designing a
unit plan that incorporates activities for a diverse
group of learners (10 students have IEPs). I want to
include a plethora of visuals such as power points and
plenty of activities that promote critical thinking.
Hopefully I can make history interesting and fun for a
group of students who hard working but reluctant to
participate.