Field Observation Activities Assignment

Brianna Garcia

Introduction to Special Education 203

Field Observation Activities Assignment

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Instruction Question 1: What is the posted daily schedule for different subjects or periods?
In the resource room, there is thirty-minute intervals of each subject; reading, writing, and math
for the third, fourth, and fifth graders. The schedule also includes different times for planning,
during this time the teacher has no students and is preparing for the next group of students that
are coming to the resource room. The time spent on each subject is accommodated by teacher
and/or student request. A portion of the schedule is below.
8:30-9:00 Reading 3​rd​ Grade
9:00-9:30 Writing 3​rd​ Grade
9:30-9:50 Writing 5​th​ Grade
9:50-10:15 Planning
11:10-11:20 Planning
Instruction Question 2: Is instruction done in small groups, centers, whole groups,
individual?
Instruction is given in whole group because at one time there is only about 6-8 students in the
classroom. The teacher has a large table in the middle of the classroom that all of the students sit
around while the teacher is giving them instructions of what to do or how to do something. While
the students are working on the worksheet the teacher has passed out, the teacher walks around
the room and helps some students individually.
Instruction Question 3: How would you describe your cooperating teacher’s learning style?
My cooperating teacher gives the students many different worksheets throughout the week for
them to work on a particular skill. The worksheets become more advanced as the week goes on.
Then on Fridays she gives all of the students the same worksheet and tests them on the skill the
students have been practicing that week. She reads all of the questions out loud to the students
and then briefly explains what to do. She uses the tests the make sure the students have mastered
the skill they need to know. She also tries to get them to work fast once they come into the
classroom because they only have a small amount of time in the resource room.
Instruction Question 4: Does the teacher incorporate the sensory modalities? If so, give
examples.
My cooperating teacher includes the visual learning style in her teaching by having posters
around her room with different strategies to help answer math or reading questions. She also
writes all instructions down on different boards around the room so that all students at all time
know what to do. My cooperating teacher incorporates the auditory learning style into her
teaching by she reads all tests and worksheets out loud to the students and she explains how to do
a problem verbally to all of the students. The teacher also allows the students to move around the
room between three different tables. She also gives them freedom and allows them to work on
their own pace, she also gives them breaks where the students can sit on the carpet in the reading
area and relax for a little bit before heading back to their table and finishing their work.
Instruction Question 4b: What modifications, accommodations, and/or inclusion
techniques were observed?
My cooperating teacher accommodates the students during writing time by asking for shorter
paragraphs from the students, she asks for at least 5 sentences to a paragraph. She also allows a
whole essay to only be one paragraph long, and after the paragraph is completed, they are done
with writing for that week, but normally the students take the whole week to complete the
writing prompt. My cooperating teacher also provides the students with sentence templates for
the paragraph they have to write. An example of a sentence template she had on the board for the
students would be; I like to do ______ during the summer. I like to do ____ because ______. I
like to do ______ with _______. For math, my cooperating teacher gives the students templates
to help them figure out the steps for how to complete the problem. She also has different posters
around the room with tips or hints for what to do on a problem. Before she gives the students a
worksheet that they have to do on their own, she reviews with them and makes sure they
understand what the problems on the worksheet will be asking them.
Instruction Question 5: Do the students seem engaged the lessons that are being presented?
Most of the time the students are engaged and following along with what the teacher is
presenting to them, but some students can be become impatient and look around the room or they
mess around the person sitting next to them. Some students become so antsy to move and not pay
attention to the teacher that they would get up to touch things and move things around the room.
Instruction Question 6: Are there any students isolated from the rest of the class for any
reason? Why?
There is three separate tables in the room that the students can choose to sit at. Some students
choose to sit by themselves in one table, but most of the time the students choose to sit together
in the large table at the middle of the room. The teacher sometimes makes students sit at their
table if they are being disruptive to their classmates or if they need extra one-on-one help from
the teacher.
Instruction Question 7: Is instructional time managed efficiently?
Yes, instruction time is managed efficiently, there is only a thirty-minute time limit for each
subject with each grade, so the teacher always made sure the students were kept on task. She
made sure they stayed focused and continued to learn throughout the time limit so that no
education time was wasted and so that they would have enough time to complete their work
before they had to move on to the next subject.
Instruction Question 8: How does the cooperating teacher handle transitions from one
subject to another, and are those transitions efficient?
When time is almost up on one subject, the teacher will announce to all the children that there is
only five or ten minutes left on the subject. Then, when it finally is time to change subjects, I
noticed that the teacher allowed them some time to clean up and be prepared for the next task.
Instruction Question 9: List way that the teacher attempts an “attention getting”
commands? How effective are they?
The main “attention getting” command the teacher uses is her voice. She raises her voice and
asks the students to pay attention to her, if the students don’t quiet down she tells the students
that she is waiting for them to be good listeners/students. This “attention getting” command isn’t
very effective because sometimes is takes the students a while to calm down and listen to what
the teacher is saying.
Instruction Question 10: What specific behavior issues does the teacher have to deal with?
How does the teacher deal with these behavior issues?
Some specific behavior issues the teacher has to deal with is the students speaking out of turn or
the students making random, unnecessary, and disruptive noises with their mouth. If the teacher
is instructing the students, and they are talking or making noises she tells them to be quiet and
wait their turn. If the teacher isn’t instructing, she normally lets the random noises slide and
doesn’t tell the students anything if they aren’t being disruptive to the students around them.
Another behavior issue the teacher has to deal with is students getting up and out of their chairs
to walk around the classroom and touch things. If the students are running out of time to work or
they have not done any work at all, she makes the student sit back down and continue working.
But if the student has been working hard for a while, she understands that they may need a break
and allows them to go sit in the beanbag chairs around the classroom or on the floor in the library
area. The students also sometimes would throw themselves on the floor and refuse to do work.
She normally bribes them with something so that they would get off the floor and begin their
work.
Instruction Question 11: Are there any policies in place that help or hinder instructional
time? If so, explain them and how they help or hinder use of instructional time.
Some policies that hinder instructional time is that the students must grab the supplies they need
at the beginning of each class period, supplies such as their whiteboard, marker, pencil, and
paper. The supplies are separated all around the room so when the students go and grab them,
they end up wandering around the room because they know that once they have all their supplies
they have to sit down and do work. A policy that helps with instructional time is that if students
feel the need to take a break from their work, they can ask the teacher. This helps because it
gives the students time for a small brain break before they move on to the next task.