SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

MULTICULTURAL PRACTICUM FIELD REPORT

University Park Elementary

Observer Megan Shoemaker School
(Gateway School District)

Language Arts, Science, Math,

Grade First Grade Subject
Art, Library, Health & Gym

Part 1

Demographic # Demographic #

Male Students 13 Female Students 10

Black Students (1 with first

White Students 8 7
language being French)

Hispanic Students 1 Asian Students 1

Middle Eastern Students 6 [Insert Representation]

[Insert Representation] [Insert Representation]

Environment Y, N, N/A

Do classroom images, such as posters, appear to represent all of the major

Y
racial/ethnic groups in the classroom?

Justification There were not very many images presented on the walls but the ones that they
did have equally represented the racial/ethnic groups. There was a large bulletin
board in the back that said, “We’re Buddies Not Bullies.” There were different
children represented in classroom settings getting along with one another. In
addition to that, each child had their picture holding a sign saying, We’re
Buddies Not Bullies, that was placed on the bulletin board. There was also a
large poster in the front of the room that showed the characters from the book
that they used throughout the year for Language Arts. There were 12 different
characters and they represented the major racial/ethnic groups.
If the classroom population is homogenous, are there representations of the
N/A
major racial/ethnic groups in the community?

Justification The classroom population was varied.

Do the images of important individuals displayed, such as historical figures,

N/A
reflect a diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, and ability?

Justification There were no images displayed that represented historical figures but there
was a large variety of books with different racial/ethnic groups.

Is there a fair balance of images of men and women engaged in a variety of

N/A
activities, both at home and at work?

Justification There were no images displayed of men and women engaged in a variety of
activities.

Are there images of people with different abilities from various backgrounds
N/A
shown at work and with their families?

Justification There were no images displayed of people with different abilities from various
backgrounds.

Instruction Y, N, N/A

Does the teacher pick up on nonverbal cues and verbal expressions of interest at
N/A
the same time for all students?

Justification I wasn’t able to notice a specific time when the teacher picked up on nonverbal
cues and verbal expressions of interest at the same time for all students.

Does the teacher allow both girls and boys of all represented groups the
Y
freedom to express their feelings?

Justification The teacher allowed all the students to have the opportunity to answer and
express their feelings during the time that I was there. When questions were
asked, the teacher always chose different students to answer. I was not able to
tell if the teacher had any “favorites” because no one student was chosen more
than any of the others.

Does the teacher create opportunities for children with physical or cognitive
Y
limitations to interact actively and independently?

Justification One student in the classroom had an aide which is the only reason that I knew
he had cognitive limitations. When speaking with his aide, she shared how the
 child had autism but was still high functioning. For a part of the day, he was
taken out for direct instruction in another classroom. When in the classroom in
Mrs. Doman’s class, he worked with partners as every other child did. When in
art class, he created a clay snowman and painted it along with his peers. In gym
class, they were playing tag on the scooters, he was able to have a turn and be
it, as well as, try to escape from being tagged. The children all had fair
opportunities to interact actively and independently.

For children who speak languages other than English, is there an attempt by the
Y
teacher to learn and use key phrases from their language?

Justification One of the students spoke French as their first language and knew very little
English. The teacher used sign language and short expressions in French
(Repeat, Come, Good Job, Sit). For more specific teachings (such as
directions), the teacher used the IPad to translate. To use the application, the
teacher spoke into the IPad and it was instantly translated to French and the
student was able to listen. In addition, the teacher taught the other students
short phrases so that they could communicate with the child, as well.

Does the teacher respond to an aggressive act in the same way regardless of
Y
race, ethnicity, gender, or ability?

Justification The teacher was able to maintain a calm and respectful composure the entire 15
hours that I was observing in her classroom. For example, when the students
were lining up, another child (white) pushed into another child (black) while
running to be first. The teacher calmly told the student that it was not polite to
push our friends and running in the classroom was against the rules. She then
had the student (white) apologize to the other student (black). Another example
that was seen throughout the entire observation was that the teacher never
responded differently to children because of their gender. When students
answered a question correctly, she always told them that they were doing a
good job. If a student answered a question incorrectly, she always told them
that it was a good try and to listen for the correct answer.

Reflection #

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being “Multicultural” and 10 being

3
“Monocultural,” how would you rate the classroom’s environment?

Justification Although there were very few items in the classroom to fully judge the
environment, the items that were posted equally demonstrated multiculturalism
in the classroom. Books that were available to the students to read had a wide
variety of backgrounds.
 On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being “Inclusive” and 10 being “Exclusionary,”
1
how would you rate the classroom’s instructional practices?

Justification All of the children were included and made to feel important.
Each student had an opportunity to speak and answer questions.
The student who spoke French as his first language was given
opportunities to share when he was able, the teacher always
called on him first if he was raising his hand because she said
she wanted him to feel that his opinion and answers were just as
important as the other students. The teacher made a great effort
to differentiate the work for students in all of her lessons
(spelling tests, reading work, math work).

Part 2

Participation Y, N, N/A

Whole Group Instruction Y

Description The majority of the classroom instruction was based around whole group. To
introduce each lesson, the teacher would hold “informational” hold group
lessons. These would help students to understand the concept and for the
teacher to model the activity. During a math lesson, the students were all called
to the front carpet. The teacher presented the lesson on adding numbers with
regrouping. They practiced problems together until the teacher felt they
understood the concept with ease. She then allowed them to move to other
instruction types.

Small Group Instruction Y

Description During Language Arts, the students were split into different groups. In the
groups, a student would be chosen to read a page of the book, then the class
would read the page as a whole group. During math, when students were
independently doing the assignment, the teacher would pull a small group of
students who did not fully understand the concept or a random group to gauge
their learning and complete the assignment with them.

One-on-One Tutoring Y

Description Each day, the students had a bathroom/snack break after their special class and
before they finished the remainder of their morning lesson. During this time,
the teacher would take the opportunity to meet with any students who were not
fully grasping the concept that was taught in the morning. She also used this
 time to meet with children who were absent the day prior to go over any
information that they needed to. One day, she used the time to conduct reading
fluency assessments with individual students. Throughout the day, she did not
have much time to work one-on-one with students because there were so many
of them.

Independent Work Y

Description During math, after the concept had been presented, the students completed a
page by themselves to help solidify the learning. Once they completed it, they
would take it to the teacher for it to be checked. If it was correct, they would
get a star on their paper. If it was not correct, the teacher would circle the ones
that needed to be fixed and the children would try again. During Language
Arts, the students would independently read a book at their own level. They
would then take a “quiz” on Reading Counts using the Ipads. Reading Counts
helped the students to gauge their reading levels and continuously work to
achieve a higher one.

[Insert Role]

Description

Part 3

Multicultural Specialization 

Social Justice Pedagogy 

Critical Pedagogy 

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 

Describe how your multicultural specialization contributed to your understanding of what you
observed in the classroom during the practicum:

Description My multicultural specialization contributed to my understanding of what I

observed in the classroom during this practicum because I was able to see how
to create a positive and supportive environment. Mrs. Doman never made any
of her students feel that they were below or any different than anyone else in
the class. When students were struggling to understand a concept, she took the
time to walk through it with them rather than get frustrated. Being that the class
was diverse, I never once saw the teacher treat any of the students differently.
As a future teacher, I understand that it is my duty to make every child feel
 welcomed and encouraged in the classroom no matter than race, gender, or
ability.

Describe how your specialization will inform your future practice:

Description My specialization will inform my future practice because I will create a

learning environment that is suited for all and based on equality. Students
should not be judged on physical appearances or backgrounds. These are things
that make a child unique and set them apart from one another. Those
characteristics are what make us special and should be embraced.