L.

Noelle Murphy

Deanna Reinard

PSC-220

March 2019

Fieldwork Journal – White Marsh Elementary

For my fieldwork placement I completed my hours at White Marsh Elementary school,

in Ms. Ryan’s second grade classroom. This was my second time doing my fieldwork placement

hours in this classroom, and Ms. Ryan and her students have taught me so many things that I

need to know in order to be a great teacher. Some of the things that I have learned include: the

many different learning theories, teaching theories, classroom diversity, classroom climate and

classroom management. In order to be a great teacher you need to have competent knowledge

on all of these content areas and be able to implement them within your classroom.

Before I dive into my placement observations, I would like to talk a little bit about the

observations I have made on Ms. Ryan. First of all, her classroom was very organized and had

areas for the children to take time to relax if need be. I also liked how she moved the desks

around every week and allowed for the students to pick their own seats, this shows a trusted

relationship between the teacher and the students. Ms. Ryan has taught for five years, and I

could tell she was a very knowledgeable teacher. She knows how to get her students thinking

critically, engage in discussions, respect on another and create an environment where everyone

will succeed. Ms. Ryan’s teaching would definitely be defined as informal teaching known as

andragogy. This is where the teachers chooses to have the learner as the main focus, and

although there is individual work at times the class engages in discussions together when
talking about a topic. I think this is so important for children to learn how to do, because in the

future when they get a job they are going to have to engage and discuss with their team

members and other employees. Ms. Ryan although she obviously pushes them to do their best,

lets them work at their own pace. For example, if they are a worksheet behind in math then she

lets them work on that during math class while others are working ahead instead of punishing

them and taking their recess away. Ms. Ryan does a great job with her students and has taught

me a lot on how to keep a composed and safe classroom for myself and my students.

On Friday, February twenty second, I started the first day of my fieldwork placement.

Today was a little hectic due to the fact that the school had recently switched their schedule

around in order to improve learning for the students. For Ms. Ryan’s second grade classroom

schedule, math was moved to the morning and reading was moved to the afternoon. This

switch was to ensure that the math work was getting the most possible attention by the

students. I feel as though this switch is an example of cognitivism. I believe that this is true

because the reason that they switched math to the morning rather than the afternoon was to

ensure that the children were active participants in their own learning. From this switch there

have been great changes observed in the behavior of the learning from the students. With this

switch I saw an amazing change in the classroom climate as well. The students and Ms. Ryan

both seemed a lot more capable of directing their focus on the math work. Fridays are mostly

test days, so the students had a math test that morning. Following the test, the students were

required to work on their math choice boards. These choice boards were a way for students to

learn how work effectively, independently on activities of their own choice in order to achieve a

formative grade at the end of the quarter. This would be an example of cognitive
constructivism. Cognitive constructivism is a theory of learning based on how children learn on

their own and from their own experiences. I believe that the students working on their choice

boards is a prime example of cognitive constructivism due to the fact that the students are

learning independently and learning from their own choices. As the students turned in their

tests and began working on their choice boards, Ms. Ryan quickly graded a few of the tests and

explained that she could already see a difference in the work from the weeks before. Assuming

this was from the change of the classroom, we can also assume that the climate of a classroom

really does affect work. What I mean by this, is that the calmer structure that the class holds in

the morning compared to the chaos in the Friday afternoons is obviously a stakeholder in the

math test grades for the students. Another change that the school has made would be the way

that they positively or negatively reinforce their students and I believe this would be an

example of Skinners behaviorism. During my first placement in Ms. Ryan’s classroom the

students would be rewarded with golden tickets for good behavior and the golden tickets

would be taken away for inappropriate or bad behavior. With the change, now teachers are

only allowed to positively reinforce and not allowed to remove a positive reinforcer due to

negative actions. I do not agree with this form of reinforcement, I believe that if a child acts out

of line then they should be spoken to and reprimanded. I feel as though a child will learn more

when they understand to the fullest extent why what they did was wrong and is reprimanded.

During my hours this day the school held a Black history month assembly, I thought this was

great for diversity within the classrooms. A few students from Easton high school came to

White Marsh and spoke about what Black history month meant and why it is so important to

them. They also spoke about a couple different groups and clubs that their school has to
broaden the knowledge of Black history as well. It is so important for children to know about

cultures and history of others in order to keep an open mind. I think that by having younger

high school students present at this assembly was a great way to grasp the students’ attention

and show how important it is to know about this information, especially as students. At the end

of every week, Ms. Ryan sends the students home with their Friday folders. Within these

folders there is a sheet with any comments or concerns Ms. Ryan may have about the children.

Parents are supposed to sign the sheet every week and comment back with any questions or

concerns, but Ms. Ryan stated that almost none of the parents respond or even sign the paper.

This worries her, because she is concerned that if a parent doesn’t take the time to sign a

paper, how much time is actually being given to their children on academics. Parent-Teacher

communication is a huge deal in order for the students to grow and succeed. The teacher

cannot be the only source of help and academic communication that the child receives, they

need to be coming home to a parent that is innately concerned with their growth and is willing

to help. On this particular day we were having some trouble getting one of the students to stay

focused, stay in his seat and even complete his work for the day. So, at the end of the day Ms.

Ryan requested a conference with the mother in his Friday folder and waited for a response the

following week.

Friday, March first was my second day in my field placement with Ms. Ryan. Since I had

not been here the rest of the week I had asked if Ms. Ryan heard back about the parent-

teacher conference that she requested. The parent not only didn’t reach out, but they did not

even sign the evaluation sheet in the student’s folder. We decided we were going to reach out

again at the end of the day. Today was Read Across America Day as well as Red, White and Blue
day for spirit week. It was a two-hour delay, so we did not have math this morning and we

jumped right into reading. The students had to read a passage independently on sharks, then

we came together as a class and talked about similarities and differences between Hammer

Heads and Great Whites. The students then were required to work with partners if they had

liked to make a Venn diagram of the similarities and differences that we spoke about as a class.

I think it was a great idea for Ms. Ryan to have everyone work on one task independently,

another as a whole and the last as a partner if they would like because it encompasses every

way that a student may learn. These forms of learning would yet again include cognitive

constructivism and introduces us to social constructivism. Social constructivism is when children

will learn on a social level, with other students. It is so important for teachers to have a

knowledge of each and every one of the students learning capabilities, and this way of teaching

is great for all students no matter their learning process. Next, we went to art and we talked

about how Dr. Seuss day was coming up, so we drew a picture of the Cat in the Hat. This

classroom environment as well as Ms. Ryan’s was made to teach the students how do things for

themselves along with working together. So, what I mean by this is that the art teacher did not

have supplies set up and ready for the students when they walked into the classroom. They

students had to get the supplies not only for themselves but for the other students as well.

Each student had a task and I felt that this is a great way to teach students independence as

well as team work. Straight after art we went to lunch, which was a silent lunch by the way. This

silent lunch was due to immature actions from the previous days. I believe that this was

another observation of behaviorism. The students were misbehaving in the cafeteria, so then

they were taken away from them their privileges to interact with one another. Students were
not following directions and were being very loud and rambunctious, so for today’s lunch there

was to be no speaking for the entire thirty minutes of lunch. I was given the opportunity to

leave because of the lesson that was being given, but I decided to stay to watch the effects of it

and to also show the students how important it was to follow the rules. After recess we dove

right back into reading, and because it was Read Across America Day some of the students from

the fifth-grade class came to read to the second-grade students. Ms. Ryan let the students pick

some of their favorite books from the classroom and the fifth-grade students brought some of

their favorites as well. The students each then broke off into partners or small groups and

started reading with one another and discussing the books that they had chosen. So, like I said

before at the end of today Ms. Ryan and I sat down to fill the Friday folders and she had

requested yet again another conference. She also reached out with an email as well to the

parent and waited for a response again.

Tuesday, March twelfth, my last and final day in Ms. Ryan’s classroom. This morning Ms.

Ryan informed me that the mother finally reached out to the email. This is very frustrating for

teachers because they shouldn’t have to go through such extreme measure to try to talk to a

parent about their child’s academic growth. The morning like usual was spent doing math but

instead of independent choice boards the class was broken into groups. Unlike any other typical

classroom, these groups were not placed by rank. There was no inferior group, intermediate

group or extraordinary group. The children were all mixed in with children of all levels in order

to help guide and teach one another. This again introduces social constructivism, where the

students work socially in order to learn but because of the way Ms. Ryan has grouped her

students it introduces The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This is the distance between a
student’s ability to learn with peer or adult guidance and the ability to complete that task or

problem independently. So, when this takes place there will always be a More Knowledgeable

other, like I said this person can either be another classmate or the teacher, helping the student

in need to achieve some sort of goal.

I couldn’t thank White Marsh enough along with Ms. Ryan for allowing me to complete

another field placement here. From this fieldwork placement I have learned so much on how to

be a successful teacher. I have learned how to implement many different teaching styles for the

different learning styles each individual child may have. I have also learned how important it is

to be knowledgeable on classroom diversity as well as classroom climate. Both of these things

play a big role on the academic growth of the students. If students do not feel safe within your

classroom then they will have a harder time learning. I cannot wait to able to bring the things I

have learned from this placement into my classroom one day.