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Sasha Wong Hinkel

Edu 203-1002
October 15, 2015
Field Observation
As Im getting out of my car looking at the school it seems smaller than most elementary
schools. I walk in to front office to let them know I am meeting with Mrs. Avery, my cooperating
teacher and the administrative assistant tells me to sign in and get my visitor pass. She seemed
annoyed, but it was probably because she was conversing with a teacher. My cooperating teacher
had an IEP so I waited for a few minutes and she took me back to her classroom. Five minutes
into me being there, they had a fire drill. The fire drill was interesting because I got to see the
entire school outside and how they handle fire drills. The school is the size of around 700
students.
The class I observed is a 5th grade class, but the way the fifth grade teachers (3 of them)
arrange the curriculum is different than at other schools. Mrs. Avery, explained to me that it was
more interesting and helpful for the fifth graders to get a bit of experience of what they will see
in middle school. So what the three teachers do is they rotate the classes. So Mrs. Avery has her
class first which includes general education students along with Special Education students. She
teaches reading and language. The other two teachers teach math, science, and social studies. Her
second class is the accelerated class and her third class is all general education students.
After the fire drill we walked back to class and the students started coming in and getting
ready for class. The students make-up of the class is 14 girls and 22 boys. Theres about 3
African American boys, 3 Asian girls, 2 Hispanic boys and the rest are Caucasian. There are
about five Special Education students in this class. Of those five students, about more than half

of them are not able to read and have learning disabilities. The teacher has all of her students in a
boy girl seating chart. Theres four students per table, but the tables are connected together to
make one long table seating twelve students. There are three rows making it thirty-six students in
her classroom. She has one desk that is isolated from the rest of the class for two students. One
of the students is in her first class and the reason he sits there is because he is very disruptive and
doesnt work well with others. The other student that sits facing away is a student who should be
in the accelerated class but chose not to be in the accelerated class. The reason he sits by himself
is because the teacher usually gives him harder worksheets. The way the teacher has the
classroom laid out is efficient and works well with the teacher as well as the students.
The schedule for the week is posted on the white board. On one side of the whiteboard it
has the date and week and all of the assignments that will be given in that week. On the other
side of the whiteboard it has the due dates for each assignment plus any big project that will be
due. When Mrs. Avery gives her lessons and instructions on each worksheet she goes over it with
the entire class. If anyone has questions about it, they can come ask her. This week they are
finishing a book called I Am Jack because they will be having a field trip on Friday to go see
the play at the Smiths Center. Mrs. Avery reads I Am Jack while her students quietly work on
the worksheet she has given them. She reads for about 15minutes and then moves on to a new
lesson. For each class, she had three to four worksheets assignments. One of the worksheet
assignments the students did in partners. The other two were individual assignments and one was
a homework assignment. I got to see how different each of the classes were and how Mrs. Avery
interacted with the different classes.
Even though Ulis Newton, the school I did my observation at does not have GATE (gifted
and talented classroom) or a Special Education classroom I was still able to observe students

with special needs and students who are considered advanced. I was also able to observe Mrs.
Averys class in one of the specialist classes, that being Music class. I was able to see how the
students participated and behaved compared to in Mrs. Averys classroom. The same students
who were usually disruptive in Mrs. Averys class were also disruptive in Music class but not as
much. Looking at the entire class, they seemed more involved and seemed more excited to be in
the class. I think that with the music teacher being male, he intimidated the students a bit more
so they paid more attention and followed directions compared to how they acted in Mrs. Averys
class.
I observed one student who seemed to like to act out a lot, but he also made it seem like
he knew everything and would finish his work before anyone else. He liked the attention he was
getting from all of the students, but he would still be respectful to Mrs. Avery. If she would tell
him to stop talking or do his work, he would listen. After my observation and once school was
out, I asked Mrs. Avery about him and she told me that he is one of the students with intellectual
disabilities. He cant read and usually never finishes or does his work because he cant read the
assignment. Mrs. Avery said because he is considered part of the special education class he
automatically receives a W for the class. He will continue to go to middle school and be part of
the special education class there. The reason I know that is because I asked her if he would flunk
and have to repeat fifth grade and she advised me of how it works.
During my teacher interview I learned a lot about how things are very different than how
they used to be 20 years ago when it comes to our school district. She said some of the main
challenges she faces as a teacher now compared to twenty years ago is that she doesnt get any
support from parents and a lot of the kids are coming in with less skills. I also learned that over
the years budgets have been cut and ridiculous in-services have been established that dont help.

They dont have any books, so she buys workbooks with her own money and makes copies of
the worksheets, so a lot of the money is being spent on paper. She said their PTA is supportive
and they raise money for events and have fundraisers to raise money for the school. She also
advised me that the school district is messed up right now. They are trying to dig themselves out
of a hole and its falling apart, not like it was twenty years ago. What surprised her most about
being a teacher was the lack of support from the parents and how an elementary teacher seems to
have more work and doesnt get any support compared to when she was a middle school teacher
where she had much more support and less work. The main reason she became a teacher was
because she wanted to see the kids faces as they learn stuff, the sparkle in their eye as they learn
and how the growth they make.
In the end, this was a great experience. I was able to see three different sets of classes and
how different each class was. I was able to see how Mrs. Avery would prepare before class and
how she would handle difficult students. During my observation I was there during a fire drill,
earthquake drill and picture day. Even though Ive learned about how our school district is not
the best, I still know especially after observing for four days, that teaching is my passion and
thats what I want to do. I cant wait to start teaching!