Field Experience Journal - Spring 2004
February 8th - 14th
Week One
Alderson Academy
My first day at Alderson Middle School was an experience I will never forget. First of all, we got a welcome from the principal, who told us about the school and how it’s only three years old. She also gave us a tour of the school. I learned that the building was renovated from a junior high to a middle school and in the process, gained several wonderful resources. For example, the teachers have a resource room that the principal described as having “everything that no one can ever find in their classrooms.” It is full of textbooks, novels, workbooks, and other resources for teachers to use. They also have a wonderful library and extracurricular facilities. Next, I met my teacher, Mrs. Exparza, who has been teaching for three years, all at Alderson. She introduced me to her sixth grade students that I will be working with for the next six weeks, who are predominantly African American.
Mrs. Exparza’s classroom is your traditional classroom with inspirational quotes on the walls and since it’s a Reading class, there are books everywhere. I noticed the very first day that the students’ are very outspoken and most of the time disrespectful. The teacher has a really hard time keeping them on task and in their seats. However, since Alderson is an academy, the teachers are extremely strict and have zero tolerance for misbehavior.
One really interesting thing they did my second day was fill out actual job applications. This helps them with spelling, reading, language arts, and real-life situations. I felt this activity was really neat and will probably do it in my own classroom someday.
I must admit that I was mostly intimidated and scared my first week. I think this is because of the attitudes of the students. I also felt that my teacher was overly harsh, but she told me that she has to be that way to keep them under control. By the end of the week, I was feeling better about my placement, but still a little nervous.
February 15th - 21st
Week Two
This week I conducted some in-depth research on Alderson Academy. I found that in my class of 15 students, 5 of them have IEPs, 3 are reading on a 5th grade level and 4 students are reading on a 4th grade level. My teacher also said that a few of them have been tested for special education, but have been too low to qualify. She said that it poses a problem because these students are not successful on their 6th grade work. There is also one student that is visually impaired and several are on medication for ADHD.
Also, I found some other really interesting things like due to Title One funding, Alderson has a variety of support services that other schools do not have. For example, there have a “Communities in Schools” program which provides after school activities, mentor programs, help with homework, and many other things. They also have a social worker on campus that provides families help with various needs. Their partner businesses are Plains National Bank, and Parker, Smith, and Cooper Architectural firm. These businesses write pen pal letters to the Alderson students every six weeks, provide gifts at Christmas, act as mentors, and provide students with Good Citizenship lunches every six weeks.
In relation to Social Studies, I found that Mrs. Exparza’s Reading classes read “Time for Kids” (the magazine) weekly. One other really interesting thing I noticed in relation to Social Studies is that the classroom is labeled with signs indicated North, South, East, and West. I thought this was really neat, especially since I am terrible with directions.
This week I really began connecting with the students. My first day I heard one of them saying I was “just another white girl…” However, I think now they respect me and look up to me because they know I attend Texas Tech and most of them think that’s really cool.
February 22nd – 28th
Week Three
This week was completely different from the previous two weeks because I made the transition from observer to someone who actually feels comfortable working with the students in small groups and individually. I also got to observe a Social Studies class and completed my assignment of reading something related to Social Studies aloud to the students and conducting a survey. I wish I could have seen more in the Social Studies class, but they just read through the most recent issue of “Time for Kids” magazine and completed worksheets that coincided with the articles. This week, the main article was titled, “Economic and Political Systems” and it focused on capitalism, socialism, and communism.
In general, I noticed many behavioral problems such as continuous back-talking, attitudes, and students’ rolling their eyes at everything the teacher said. However, the students were really excited to finish their novel, “A Wrinkle in Time” and have started a new book titled, “Tangerine” by Edward Bloor.
This week I finally walked into Alderson Academy and felt comfortable in what I was doing. I feel like I know the kids in my class and have built relationships with most of them. So now I feel like part of their classroom instead of someone sitting at the back of the class taking notes and watching everything they do. I actually enjoy getting up in the morning to go to my observations and will be sad when my field experience is over this semester.
February 29th – March 6th
Week Four
This week was even better than last week. I feel like I’m completely out of my “shell” and have changed from trying to be the students’ friend to someone they respect and will listen to. I have learned all of the kids names in my class and talk with them about things other than school such as basketball, band, and activities they do at home.
I also saw a transition in the kids as well. Now that the school year is near the end, the teacher in my class finally trusts the students enough to let them read aloud in groups. She reads a few pages aloud, then they split into groups and read a few pages to each other, then they must finish the rest on their own.
I also saw a few things in the students that in a way disappointed me. For example, they don’t listen to any of the morning announcements, sometimes miss the Pledge of Allegiance, which is also on the loud speaker, and are usually yelling to each other during the moment of silence. However, they are not punished for this so the teacher must not see it as a problem. I guess the reason I question it is because the students in my field experience classes last semester at Cooper Middle School loved the announcements and “Channel One” and always respected the Pledge of Allegiance and moment of silence.
Sadly, the highlight of this week was on Wednesday when a student in my class brought a gun to school, which turned out to only be a small B.B. gun, but it still gave everyone quite a scare. Apparently he had gotten in a confrontation with an adult as he got off his bus the day before and told his friends that he “would get him tomorrow.” So, he brought the gun to school and bragged about to a friend, which luckily confided in a teacher who got the problem solved immediately. Even though it wasn’t an actual gun, it still scared me pretty bad and made me realize just how real situations like that really are. This student is no longer attending Alderson Academy or any other school in the Lubbock Independent School District. At the end of the week, my teacher said that the few weeks leading up to Spring Break are always extremely hectic because the kids are so ready for a break.
March 7th – 13th
Week Five
This was another hectic week since Spring Break is only a few days away. On Tuesday the teacher and I split the class into two groups and each of us took one. We read an article called, “Goal: Ending Child Labor” taken from “Time For Kids” magazine aloud to our group and helped them decide what the purpose of the article was, who the audience was, and how they would describe the author’s voice in the reading using concrete examples. I felt like about half of my group really paid attention to what I was saying and the other half just listened for the answers, which was really frustrating because I wasn’t sure how to handle this problem since I’m just observing I guess I don’t know where the line is on what I should and shouldn’t do. However, in the end I think most of the students got the general idea of what I wanted them to learn and completed the assignment.
Later the students filled out graphic organizers for a persuasive essay that they will soon begin working on. They are allowed to choose their own topics as long as they talk with the teacher about it beforehand.
On Thursday, I worked in a small group again. This time, we went through an entire issue of “Time for Kids,” which focused on the upcoming presidential election with George W. Bush versus John Kerry. I read some articles aloud and let students volunteer to read some aloud also. In this time with my group I also tried to stress to them that just reading the main articles in a newspaper or magazine is not the best way to read. I emphasized this by reading the small articles to them, which in the end they thought were really cool, not only because of the subjects, but also because they were short (of course). We then answered multiple questions on worksheets regarding the articles we read. Now, it’s time for Spring Break and all the kids are excited!
March 21st – 27th
Week Six
This week the teachers have been giving lots of “busy work” due to the students’ extreme restlessness because they are just coming back from spring break. I did get a chance to work with some of the students individually on TAKS practice reading worksheets. However, most of them seemed to rush through it because they did very poorly, but when I asked them the questions individually, they knew the answers. My teacher, Mrs. Exparza, said there is a Reading teacher at Alderson that only lets the kids read silently. She does not read aloud to them, nor do they read aloud to the class or in small groups. This is definitely not what I have been taught in my Education classes, but apparently all her students pass the reading portion of the TAKS every time.
I also helped my teacher edit pen-pal letters from the students. After I edited them, they typed, printed, address the envelope, and put stamps on them. I think that’s really good experience for children to learn how to send letters and have interaction with adult pen-pals from various businesses here in Lubbock.
I also attended the South Plains Middle School Association Conference this week for another class at Bennett Intermediate School in the Frenship district. I noticed a tremendous difference between Bennett and Alderson. However, I really don’t think I would mind teaching at Alderson.
It just hit me that my field experience here at Alderson Middle School is almost over. Like most people, I feel relieved, but also sad because I have really grown to like the kids and faculty at Alderson.
March 28th-April 3rd
Week Seven
This will be my last field experience week at Alderson Middle School. The first thing I noticed when I entered the classroom on Tuesday was that the young boy who brought the gun to school a few weeks ago was back in school. However, he is much quieter and seems to be actually doing his work, unlike before.
I also noticed that most of the teachers were playing classical music in their classrooms. This is because it supposedly helps transfer information between the left and right sides of the brain. A few students complained about the music, but my host teacher insisted that she continue playing it. Honestly, I couldn’t even concentrate with the music on and I know I wasn’t the only one.
I also spent a lot of time this week taking students to the library to assist them in choosing AR books for a class activity. Mainly, I took the students who can no longer check out books because they either lost their previous books or never returned them. So, my host teacher let them check out books under her name. I had a chart with all the students’ reading levels to guide them in what books to choose, but most of them chose either the absolute smallest books or books that were the lowest in their reading level.
In closing, I have really enjoyed my seven weeks at Alderson Middle School and I look forward to my field experience next semester!
Field Assignment Activity Journal
March 4, 2004
I conducted my field experience activity on March 4, 2004. It lasted from approximately 9 – 9:30am. First of all, I read the students an article from “Time for Kids” called “Putting Kids to the Test,” which focused on the “No Child Left Behind Act” by George Bush. This article explained what the “No Child Left Behind Act” meant and especially, what it means for students.
Before reading the article aloud, I explained that it was very important because it affects their life at school every single day. While reading, the students were very attentive. After I finished reading, I asked if they had any questions and after answering a few questions I moved on to my survey.
To conduct my survey, I handed out a sheet of paper to all 10 students with three questions on it, some containing, “Why?”, or “Why not?” Here are the statistics and the most popular answers I received:
Do you enjoy Social Studies?
Yes- 2 students, No- 7 students, Sometimes- 1 student
Why?
Because you learn about new things, famous people, and things that went on in the world with our ancestors
Why not?
it’s boring, waste of time, it’s hard, contains too much reading
After reading the article, “Putting Kids to the Test,” do you think tests are the best way to measure how kids and schools are doing?
Yes- 8 students, No- 2 students
Why?
They help you know when you’re ready to go to college and get a good job, you need it in life, to see where you need help, to learn things you don’t already know
Why not?
It makes kids tired, and it’s too hard
In what ways, other than taking tests, can students show what they know?
Play educational games, explain what you know aloud to teachers, stay after school, write it on paper, answer teacher’s questions, and make good grades on mini assessments
Last Updated: April 15, 2004
Background courtesy of: www.designsaroundyou.com