My Field Observation

What make a teacher a great teacher? How could you become a great teacher? One way is

to learn from others. You can either learn from their mistakes or their success. Doing field

observation teaches you a lot by the way the teacher teaches, the classroom environment, and

how the students and facility interact.

Everyone’s techniques are different. You could learn a lot when you see how other

people would go about something and see how their mind perceives the problem. The teacher I

observe had a very straight forward approach of teaching. He made his expectation clear and

precise. It was the same routine every day. He would pick up the 3rd graders from their

classrooms and walk back to his room. The students knew the first thing to do when they walked

into the room was to grab their books and a pencil. Students then sat in their assign seats. The

only time the teacher would change the seating arrangement would be because of behavioral

problems. Such as talking to much with their friends or distracting other students. After they

were seated and had all they materials they started reading. The teacher style was that he would

read the whole story and then they would proceed to do popcorn read. Students would raise their

hand to be called on to read. If a student is not partipacting the teacher would call on them so

everyone got a chance to read. The teacher would give them a few seconds to sound it out if they

didn’t get it the teacher would tell them. After they were done reading they moved on to the

questions. The teachers technique for doing question was “I do, we do, you do”. That meant the

teacher would do the first question. The second question they would do as a group. The third

question the student would try to solve the problem by themselves. Then as a class they would go

over it. The teacher either used finger for the student to answer their question “A=one finger”,

B= two fingers=three fingers, and D= four fingers. The teacher other technique would be using a
pencil which the teacher would go over each answer which ever answer the student chose they

would say stop. These techniques were good because all the student was engaged and focus.

Finally, the student would be assigned an exit question once it was completed correctly they

would be excused back to their classrooms. The next group was 5th graded. Which were just two

girls they were Hispanic and African American. They would practice their math. They would sit

at the table closes to the board. The teacher then place the problem on the board. The first day I

was in the classroom they were working on two digits’ multiplication. One girl would do the first

step and then take turns going back and forth completing the steps. The second day I went they

work on regrouping subtraction. Which they did at their desk by themselves and the teacher

would check them. Both group had taken homework home which was assigned the beginning of

school till the end which was to practice either sight word or multiplication flash cards.

The environment was very plain. There were few poster up and the ones that were up

were school wide. One of the school wide poster was “HALLS” which stands for hands to

yourself, all eyes forward, lips zipped, low speed, and space between you and me. Another

school wide poster the teacher had up was the seven habits the first one being be proactive, 2nd

begin with the end in mind, 3rd put first things first, 4th think win-win, 5th seek first to understand

then to be understood, 6th synergize, and the 7th sharpen the saw. The other poster the teacher had

up were cause and effect charts, bubble maps, and some letters. I especially liked the chart and

map because you could tell they did it as a class it showed what the kids were learning and their

understanding of the subject. The teacher room was really organized but that didn’t affect the

student learning because they never were in that part of the room. He had a bookcase where the

kids could come in at any time and get a book to read the teacher had them separated by AR

levels. This system work well I believe because it encourages them to read. I always saw kids
coming in to get a book to read and was really trying to improve. The best part of this system

was that the student knew the expectations and never disrupt other kid learning time they were

always so respectful. The teacher had computers which where against the wall and didn’t distract

any of the student during an assignment because they were place towards the back of the room

and he gave lesson in the front of the room. Some students had a special curriculum where they

work on the computer for 3o minutes. In the front of the room was a rolling cart which held all

the student’s materials. It was easy to access and find. In the center of the room was a projector

that the teacher did his lessons from. The teacher was colorful or very decorated it was simple

which was very effective.

During my observation hours, there were two students who stood out. These students and

the situation they put their teacher in was a very useful learning experiences. Both students were

in the teachers 11:30 am to 12:30 pm class time which was 3rd graders. This class consisted of

five males and two females. The first student that taught me a lot was one of the females in the

class. She was always so eager to learn. She tried her best and never gave up. You could tell she

struggle momentously with reading and comprehension skills. She was always one of the first

reader to read during their popcorn read. She always wanted to read everything and anything

even though she struggled. Which show me no matter how hard or how long the task is always

try your best. The teacher encouraged her all the time which aided her in her learning and her

drive to learn. The second time I was there the seating arrangement change and she now sat by

her friend. She still was always trying to improve, but she started getting more distracted and

missing out on key elements of the lesson. I also noticed she started copying off her friend when

she got really frustrated because she still hasn’t gotten the right answer even when everyone was

done. The positive result from the two girls sitting together was that they started helping each
other out understanding the lesson better. This situation teaches that in every problem there is a

negative and positive result you just must weigh the results. The second student that made this

observation a great learning experience was one of the males in the class. This student was

always goofing off and never paying attention and was always getting reprimanded for his

behavior. He would goof off because he wasn’t understanding the material and couldn’t read.

Instead of trying his best to improve he gave up. The teacher gave him so many warnings and

chances. The teacher kept on moving him hoping it would fix the situation, but anywhere he put

this student he would disrupt the other learning. The teacher pulled aside the student to have a

private chat. The teacher explained everything he was doing wrong and had the student tell him

what were the expectation on how he should be behaving in his classroom. The teacher also

stated that the reason he was getting so frustrated was because he wasn’t practicing and that you

could tell this when he read he wasn’t improving. After this the student was still misbehaving but

he made some improvement. By the third time I was in the room the student was practicing and

enthusiastic about the assignment. He made a lot of improvement I believe because he practiced

at home and because the teacher gave him so much encouragement the teacher praised him on

the simplest accomplishment that he made. These two students were very different from each

other but towards the end they were driven to improve and succeed.

These observation hours were very beneficial and educational. I was taught from many

different angles and situations. The environment, the teaching style, and the students taught me a

lot.