Field Experience Service Learning Project

a. Fox Hollow Elementary Has an enrollment of 916 students. Fox Hollow has 204 students that receive free lunch and 86 students that are on the reduced lunch plan. The school is located in a mixed economic area having students that live in both single family and multi-family homes. The racial demographics for Fox Hollow is predominantly white at about 95%. The next to largest race represented is Hispanic or Latino at about 3.0% . The remanding 2% is made up of Black or African American, American Indian &Alaska-Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander. Most grades in this school are represented by a multicultural group of students.

b. Our relationship with Mrs. O’Very is one of mutual respect and friendship. We found her to be open to letting us try different management tactics. She gave us good advice and then an opportunity to use the advice she gave. She understood that we had certain goals and objectives we were trying to achieve and gave us every opportunity to reach them. When we had completed our field experience and were leaving she told us she thought with a little more practice with pacing our lessons and classroom management we would make great teachers.

c. Our cooperating teacher loved the digital story and more importantly so did our students. We were asked by Mrs. O’Very to teach about WWI and WWII and so we made a digital story on WWI so that we could open our unit with it. When we finished our unit on WWI and started on WWII both Mrs. O’Very and our students asked if we had made a second one for WWII. So we made an additional one and played it at the end of our unit to tie everything up. It was great.

d. Mrs. O’Very said our lessons were wonderful thought out and put together. She said that we had covered things she hadn’t considered and used approaches that she thought added to the students learning and their deeper understanding of the material. She emailed us yesterday and asked for copies of everything we did in her classroom.

e. The training session went well. Mrs. O’Very is a recent graduate from UVU (she graduated a year ago) so she is very aware of how a digital story is created. She allowed us to explain the process of creating a digital story and then we showed her the one that we created. It was helpful to reteach her the process because it helped us to remember all of the steps and to have a better understanding of the whole process as well. She loves our story so she was very pleased with the work that we did on it and was thankful for the retraining session.

f. We enjoyed this service-learning experience. It was a great learning experience for both of us. We learned a ton about classroom management because we had quite a rowdy group. Even the principal told us that it was a great opportunity for us to see that not every class is an easy class. It enhanced our desire to be teachers and to help educate the children of the future.

g. Our cooperating teacher gained two excited students thrilled to be in her classroom. She was also given some new ideas for the future when she teaches about WWI and WWII. She has asked us if she can keep the copies of all of the handouts, digital stories, Power Points and information that we used. She enjoyed watching us teach and it gave her new insight on how her class responds to teaching. She said it was a great time for her to reflect on her use of technology, classroom management and a reminder of some of the things that she learned while at UVU. We were able to learn from her and she also learned from us. It was a great experience for all involved.

h. We gained an even greater appreciation for teaching and teachers. We used the information that we have learned in our classes this semester and recognized the things that we have been taught. It was a time of learning and trying to improve. We learned that perfection isn’t required, just the desire to do our best and act upon it. We gained a strong desire to be in our own classrooms but understand that we still have much to learn. Our cooperating teacher was a good example to us and was always excited to share new things with us and to help us learn as much as we could.

i. The Field Experience Service Learning Project was definitely worth every minute. We feel that we have a better understanding of curriculum, classroom management and use of technology because of what we learned in the field. We look forward to our next field experience with excitement.

Field Experience Week 3

What?

What have I learned this week? I have learned that I LOVE teaching! I have learned that it's not the end of the world if your lesson doesn't go how you hoped it would go. I have learned that sixth grade math isn't my favorite thing and that I need a review course on fractions and decimals. This week has been bitter sweet because it was our last week in the field.

So What?

I didn't think that I would become so attached to a class after just three weeks in the field. It makes me so sad to leave the class of sixth graders that Sarah-Jane and I have been working with. It has been a trial in some ways but one that I have learned from. I have learned that no matter how much you want to help some students, sometimes there is more that needs to be done to help him/her than you can do alone. I am thankful for programs that are available for schools to send students that are unable to control themselves in the classroom. One of the students that we work with has ADHD but isn't medicated because the medicine is too expensive for his parents to afford right now. I normally don't feel that kids should be medicated but I believe that this student should and life would be much easier for him, his parents and his teacher. He is going to be sent to a special school in Provo that works with students that have behavioral issues for 8 weeks and helps to teach them to be able to control themselves and to be able to function in society. It's so hard because when this student isn't misbehaving, I really think he's a great kid but when he's misbehaving, it's so hard to deal with him. He is famous for doing a "belly dance" while the teacher is teaching. She has his desk in the front of the classroom against the wall so that he is less of a distraction but sometimes I feel like it backfires. He's a pretty funny kid and sometimes it's hard not to laugh along with everyone else. He has taught me so much during this field experience! I have learned that you can genuinely like a kid even when you don't feel like you like him very much.

Now What?

I will really miss this class of 34 kids. I have so much enjoyed the time that I have sent with them. I have learned so much from them and from the teacher that we worked with. I have also learned so much from Sarah-Jane. She has been an awesome person to work with. It's nice to know that your partner is a hard worker and is as excited about teaching as I am! I am so thankful for the wonderful experiences that I have had and can't wait to do it again next semester. Now I get to use the things that I have learned from my experience to become a better teacher. I look forward to being the best teacher possible.

I hope that I have made a difference in the lives of these students. I know that they don't want us to go which really makes me feel good. We even got a little goodbye gift from one of our students! I love these students and the experiences that I have had teaching them!

Field Experience Week 2

What?

This is our second week of field and it has been a great learning experience for me. I LOVE being in the classroom! It's exciting and great to see the students actually learning and retaining what we are teaching them. We have a great cooperating teacher that is teaching us a ton including things that we want to do like her and things that we don't want to do like her.

So What?

Our class of sixth graders is teaching us as we are teaching them. I feel like every minute I am there I am learning something new from them. Many of the things that I learn from them have to do with classroom management. I think that our cooperating teacher is great but there are a few things that she does that I don't like. She is a yeller. Her students don't listen to her unless she is yelling. She also likes to publicly embarrass the students which I totally disagree with. I think that she feels that if she does it, they will stop misbehaving but usually it backfires. Sarah-Jane and I try to find ways to get the students to pay attention by using other ways. So far, it seems to be working well. The students seem to behave better when they are treated with respect knowing that we expect the same in return.

Our teacher has taught some awesome lessons that I want to do when I teach. She did one where she taught the students about the moon phases. She used a big light that was like the sun and Styrofoam balls on popsicle sticks and they turned around using their head as the earth. It was really cool and the students understood it. I wrote the experiment down so that I can use it for my future classes.

Now What?

We have one more week in this classroom. I hope to use every second to learn more. Our cooperating teacher is sharing lots of ideas with us and giving us lots of hints on what we can do to improve our teaching. This week we will teach five more times and we will help the students understand WWII. There is so much information though that I am not sure we will be able to get through it all. I am so excited to teach this topic to these great sixth graders!

Field Experience Week 1

What?

What did I learn this week? Wow... I learned that you are never really prepared for what is to come when it comes to field in the Education Program. It has been an interesting three days in field. Sarah-Jane and I are in Mrs. O'Very's sixth grade classroom at Fox Hollow Elementary School. The class is full of 34 students who are full of energy. There are 21 boys and 13 girls. So many boys in the class give it an interesting dynamic.

So What?

Interesting dynamic is how I'm putting nicely that the teacher has her hands full! There are several boys with ADHD who either are on or probably should be on medicine. I normally don't think it's good to medicate if there are other ways to work around it but our first day in class about scared the pants off of us! There was a student that was dancing in front of the class while Mrs. O'Very was teaching. He is actually such a problem that the school is sending him for 10 weeks to a school in Provo where they teach students to behave and be able to control themselves. Generally, the girls don't cause any problems in the classroom. There is some talking that is distracting but overall, they are easy to handle.

We got to teach our first lesson on Thursday! We actually put together a "get to know you" game so that the students would feel more comfortable with us and so that we could get to know them too. It went well. I think we had a pretty good handle on classroom management. I thought that I could handle pretty much anything that came my way but this class has opened my eyes! I still feel that I can handle what comes my way but maybe now with a little more preparation, I will be able to do a better job of it. Our second lesson was Friday and I feel that we did a great job. Mrs. O'Very uses a microphone clipped onto her shirt so that she is heard but Sarah-Jane and I aren't comfortable with using it yet. Sarah-Jane noticed that the class has a way of quieting down that we have been using and it works great so far. If it's too loud in the classroom, the students begin to raise their hand. As the other students notice, the room quiets down. So, we've been using the same method when we teach. When Sarah-Jane is teaching, I am helping with classroom management and visa-versa.

Now What?
We will be teaching everyday that we are in field for 30 minutes. We are teaching Social Studies and the subject is World War I and II. We have already shown our digital story and the students LOVED it! They asked many questions about it and learned a lot. It is so great to see that their interest was peaked. We also are using a Power Point Presentation that the teacher already had made and we are enhancing with pictures and music.

So far, so good! The class is a hard class but that doesn't mean that the experience has to be a hard one! It's so great to be out teaching in the schools! What I learn now will help me to be a better teacher.