Running Head: FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 1

Field Observation Report: Classroom Management and Techniques

Kelli Robinson

EDU 203 Section 1001-1003

March 9, 2018
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 2

The School

When I arrived at Tony Alamo Elementary School I was immediately greeted by the

principal and assigned to observe a general education first grade class, taught by Ms. Powell, that

shared a pod/wing with the special education classes and a fourth-grade class. While I was doing

my field training I had the opportunity to sit down with the principal and ask him questions. He

is a great leader of this school, he treats his staff as a team. He is not a micromanager and said

that he has great teachers he has complete trust in. He involves his teachers in decision making

and each teacher is on a committee and in charge of some aspect of the committee. He told me

that some things that make this school great is the parent involvement and the positive

environment. The staff is here for the children and are invested in their success and the students

want to be here. He said his door is always open and believes strongly in great communication.

His staff knows he is always willing and wants to assist and help them in any way possible. I

could definitely sense the positive atmosphere and environment while I was doing my field

training. Safety seems to be a priority to this school and to the class. At the front office it is

impossible to go beyond a point where you could have access to the children without first being

buzzed in by the front office. In Ms. Powell’s classroom, I notice a clear backpack with safety

equipment and paperwork hanging next to the rest of the backpacks. She informed me that this

backpack is to be taken anywhere the class goes or travels to. She also has a view from her desk

and group table that enables her to see all of her students at all times.

The Classroom

When I entered Ms. Powell’s classroom I was greeted warmly and excitedly by Ms.

Powell and her 19 students. There were 10 boys and 9 girls from various cultures. She has 6

English Language (ELL) students; 1 from Iran that speaks Arabic, 1 from Peru, 1 from Mexico,
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 3

1 from Bulgaria, and 2 from the Philippines that speak Tagalog. As I looked around the room I

noticed a colorful schedule, bold printed rules, sight words, and other colorful printed teaching

aids for the children. The rules posted were: Be Kind, Listen, Keep Your Hands to Yourself,

Follow Directions, and Try Your Best!!! The classroom is small and cozy with several high

windows to let natural light in. There are several bookcases for books, desks, and a sink. Ms.

Powell is reading from a large non-fiction book about birds as all of the students squeeze

together eagerly to be able to have a good view of the book. She takes time to answer each of

their questions and comments and later tells me that she likes for her students to always feel

validated.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to observe Ms. Powell’s teaching style. I feel like I

learned so much from her. She was always willing to answer any and all questions I had and

gave me information I hadn’t thought of. She had unique and clever ways to manage her class

that impressed me. I observed her handling issues and conflict between students that made her

students feel heard and understood. She was extremely organized, prepared and managed time

very well. I loved her interaction with the children during story time and during lessons, she used

various techniques to keep the students engaged and involved during instructional time. She

would break up instructional time by letting them do centers in pairs where they could interact

with each other or they could journal, which she would provide a prompt to get them started. On

one particular day the prompt was, “if you were an animal would you rather be able to fly or

swim and why?” This invoked deep thinking on the part of the students and most of them could

not wait to start writing their opinions in their journals.

I learned from Ms. Powell how important it is to be flexible as a teacher, you never know

from week to week how things are going to go. It was reading week at the school on the week I
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 4

visited so there were certain adjustments to the schedule as well as an assembly that the Smith

Performing Arts Center came and performed. They also were scheduled to go on a field trip later

that week so it was definitely not a typical week and adjustments needed to be made. She also

taught me that flexibility is important during instructional time, you need to be able to adapt and

change the lesson if it is not being presented in a way that the students can understand. She said

that she has children at all different levels and she needs to adjust the lessons in a way that all of

her students can understand. Sometimes things don’t always work out like you expect and you

need to be willing to change and be flexible with whatever is thrown at you.

Another important lesson I learned is the importance of the classroom community. Ms.

Powell said she started building a classroom community from the beginning of the school year

and it definitely showed. All of the children had a sense of ownership for their classroom

community. They helped each other clean up, loved doing classroom jobs to help the class run

smoothly and were kind and helpful to one another.

Ms. Powell and the other seven first grade teachers meet every week to plan the lessons

and curriculum for the week. Each teacher is responsible for a subject or a portion of the

curriculum. This planning as a grade level lessens their individual planning time. Ms. Powell

pointed out that it is also good for continuity. Each class is learning the same thing each week so

parents in the neighborhood can’t compare and say that one class is learning more or less than

another class because from week to week they are all working on the same curriculum.

I feel like Ms. Powell’s exchange and interaction between the boys and girls in the class

was fairly equal. She uses what is called equity sticks where she randomly pulls sticks with the

students’ names so that all of the students are engaged, accountable, and paying attention. If they

are called on and unsure of an answer and unable to come up with the correct answer they were
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 5

able to “phone a friend” (ask a classmate for help). I feel like this interaction kept instructional

time very balanced. Ms. Powell had one student, a boy who has been diagnosed with ADHD, he

was extremely smart and became bored easily. He also had moments where he would argue and

be disrespectful to Ms. Powell and so because of this there may have been a few more

interactions with boys than girls.

I was curious about the different positive and negative aspects of teaching in a general

education versus a special education classroom. I noticed there seemed to be more pressure on

performance in general education. In addition, the standardized testing requires the first grade to

know 150 sight words by the end of the year. Ms. Powell tests her students on sight words every

Wednesday and works on them every day. She also does MAP growth in math and literature to

test their percentiles. She said absences and tardiness really effect performance so that is

something along with behavior and grades that she discusses with parents on a regular basis. She

uses incentives such a point system called Dojo for rewards and Believer Bucks for a popsicle on

Fridays. The hope is to encourage her students to be motivated, stay on task and manage their

time efficiently.

Special Education

Although Tony Alamo does not have a full inclusion class the students do have the

opportunity to socialize with one another. One of the students from the special education class

who has autism, Audrey, spent part of the day with Ms. Powell’s class. Ms. Powell assigned two

of her more mature and responsible girls to be friends with Audrey while she was with the class.

Audrey was unable to communicate verbally but she was extremely well behaved and happy.

She seemed to really enjoy the time she spent in Ms. Powell’s classroom.
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 6

In the middle of the six classrooms (2-1st grade, 2-4th grade, and 2 Special Education EC)

were two large tables where specialists who came to work with students. While I was doing my

observation the speech-language pathologist was pulling students out to teach. I was able to

observe how valuable this one-on-one instructional time was for the students and how much they

were able to gain from the individualized attention.

In Special Education although they didn’t seem to have the same pressures for academic

performance they faced their own challenges and successes. Each student in special education

varied so greatly on what they were struggling with that even with the help from professional

trained specialists the teachers sometimes seemed overwhelmed with the needs of their students.

They were always busy and constantly interacting with their students. I think they were all

agreed that the love that they have for these exceptional children and the bond they have with

them is beyond rewarding. I was truly amazed and admired these teachers and their level of love

and dedication.

One challenge both general and special education seemed to face was a lack of resources.

They all seemed to express the same frustration of the lack of financial help they receive to buy

materials. Most have used their own money to buy materials. They have had to buy and provide

books, learning games, iPads, and other instructional tools for their classroom. They both also

receive a formal assessment and formal observation per year (Nevada Educator Performance,

Teaching and Performance). The administration goes over indicators, standards, and gives ideas

and opportunity for improvement.

Lessons Learned

During my week at Tony Alamo Elementary School I learned so much from my

cooperating teacher, Ms. Powell, and the other educators I was able to observe. Ms. Powell has
FIELD OBSERVATION SUMMARY 7

been a teacher for 15 years and I think through these years she has been able to learn different

teaching methods and styles. One in particular that stood out to me was an auditory lesson during

phonics. She taught the children a really cute, catchy song about a tricky “Y” and when it should

be used. They loved the song and were able to recall it if they were not sure when it should be

used. She taught me about how important it is to be flexible and manage your time. I was also

able to get an idea of what type of school environment I would work best in. I really liked and

respected the principal, Mr. Lindberg, and his leadership style. He was very trusting and not a

micro manager which I felt gave his staff more confidence. I think together with his style, the

teacher’s love and dedication to the children, and the students’ desires and enthusiasm to learn

created a positive environment leading to the success of this school!