Running head: Education 203 Field Observation 1

Education 203- Field Observation

Evelyn J. Hernandez

College of Southern Nevada

Education 203 Field Observation 2

For my field observation, I was assigned to work with Ms. Correa as my cooperating

teacher who has been teaching Kindergarten at Bruner Elementary School for over fourteen

years. I was fortunate to learn a lot from an experienced educator who has been teaching

elementary for an extensive amount of years and has an immense amount of knowledge in the

education system. Over the ten-hour course of my observation at Bruner Elementary, I was able

to observe the environment and nature of the school and its students, the distinguished features

and quality of instruction in the classroom, implementation of various assistive technologies, and

an assortment of related services provided to students in general; with or without disabilities.

Bruner Elementary is a Title I Tier II school located in a low-income neighborhood.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, over fifty-three percent of the enrolled

students are Hispanic, twenty-four percent are black; non-Hispanic, almost ten percent of the

enrolled students are white, and six percent are two or more races. Student diversity is

unquestionable at Bruner Elementary. In my comparison from my observation to the content of

the text, I was able to analyze that the framework of the school is a distinct subculture of

microcultures. With Hispanics being the largest number of students enrolled, multicultural

education is strongly supported at Bruner Elementary. Regardless of race, ethnicity, culture and

other characteristics such as social class or disability; the school believes that every student

should experience an equal educational opportunity. In contrast, Bruner and its educators do not

indicate ethnocentrism. It is described in the content that often teachers “perpetuate ethnic and

racial stereotypes”. Teachers with an ethnocentrism perspective assume that the behaviors,

beliefs, and actions of their particular cultural group are correct and those of other groups are

inferior. However, administrators and educators at Bruner Elementary School maintain a

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balanced perspective of proportionate education regardless of race, ethnicity, disability or social

class.

During my ten-hour field observation, I noticed sixty-five to seventy-five percent of the

students in Ms. Correa’s classroom participate in response-to-intervention (RTI). In my studies, I

have learned that RTI is a strategic method designed to help struggling learning students at

increasing levels of intensity, accelerate their rate of learning. The intensity and duration of

interventions are based on individual student response to intervention. Response-to-intervention

is based on a three-tier model. Tier 1 is the primary intervention tier, which consists of five to ten

weeks of preventive instruction in a general education classroom, for a minimum of 90 minutes a

day. Tier 2 is eight weeks of secondary intervention; which is a more intensive supplemental

instruction focused on specific areas of need. Tier 2 students engage for 20-30 minutes a day in

addition to Tier 1. Twenty to thirty percent of the students in the class participate in tier 2.

Lastly, tier 3 is the tertiary prevention; which consists of eight weeks (or more); it is focused on a

more specialized instruction which addresses the specific needs of each individual student.

Sessions in Tier 3 last about 50 minutes or longer. About five percent of the class engage in

tertiary prevention. One of the advantages of RTI is to help reduce the number of inappropriate

referrals to special education assistance. From my research, I noticed the students at Bruner ES

are arranged just as specified in the content of the text. Students are categorized into three

different “tiers” or levels (according to their own specific needs) and engage in RTI three times

per week. Since Bruner ES has four Kindergarten teachers, each teacher selects students (from

the general classroom) that are struggling with learning certain material such as reading

instruction and curriculum and are then grouped according to their tier and directed to another

kindergarten teacher. For example, Ms. Correa assigned four of her secondary intervention
Education 203 Field Observation 4

students and directed them to Ms. Dresser (another Kindergarten teacher). However, Ms. Dresser

also assigned four of her tertiary intervention students to Ms. Correa. Each grouping was

homogeneous; small-group instruction with a ratio of 1:4. Each teacher worked with the assigned

RTI students for fifty minutes a day, three times per week. Much of the content matched my

observation regarding RTI, the only difference between the two, Ms. Correa specified response-

to-intervention was only held three times per week only. The text describes RTI daily. The text

also describes other interventionists such as personnel determined by the school, or a specialized

reading teacher assisted in intervention services, however, during the observation, I recall the

general teachers’ being the only interventionist.

During my observation, the instruction was the most interesting. I enjoyed observing the

students engage and participate in various learning activities. Some students expressed more

interest during direct-instruction, others responded less interested. The less responsive students

were often more distracting and disruptive to others. To help the students engage in instruction

and develop their learning ability, assistive technology devices were implemented in the

classrooms as a learning strategy. The students who showed less involvement during teacher

instruction, suddenly were more attentive when Ms. Correa used technology such as smartboard,

educational videos that involved participation and movement. As well as, computer-assisted

instruction technology that includes educational software such as Lexia, or ABC Mouse. I

analyzed that the entire classroom participated daily in assistive technology (such as Lexia). Each

student is assigned to assistive technology for about thirty minutes a day. Regardless of a

disability or not. In the text, the author explains, “assistive technology is central to the education

of students with disabilities” (pg. 141).

Education 203 Field Observation 5

To compare the content of the text from my observation, I noticed that from the twenty

students in Ms. Correa’s classroom, three students had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD). When analyzing the characteristics of an individual with ADHD from the text and

from my observation, the attributes relate to each other. All three students demonstrated features

of inattention; which often means failure to pay close attention to detail, makes careless

mistakes, have difficulty sustaining attention, fails to complete tasks, loses items necessary to

complete a task (pencils, books, tools), and is easily distracted. These three students also showed

characteristics of hyperactivity such as inability to remain seated for periods of time. Lastly, I

also observed these students with ADHD express some of the features of impulsivity which

include, blurting out answers, interrupts or intrudes on others, and often acting without thinking.

All three students had to be moved from “green” (good standard behavior) to “red”

(bad behavior) during the first hour of class. On one occasion, Ms. Reed (a resource teacher) had

to come to remove one of those students for a few minutes to implement self-regulation. This

technique compliments Ms. Reed’s strategic to what the text describes in the content, “Self-

regulation requires students to stop, think about what they are doing, compare their behavior to

the criterion, record the result of their comparison, and receive reinforcement for their behavior”

(pg 270). Upon returning, I observed the student attentively and the student showed calmness.

I enjoyed working with the students during my field observation. I actively joined them

during centers and on one occasion, they asked if I would read to them. It was on this occasion

that when interacting with a group of students, I immediately distinguished one student in

particular with a speech impairment. When doing my studies in chapter 11 involving

“Individuals with speech and language impairments”, I recall the author describing several

language disorders. Apraxia of speech is a language disorder composed of both a speech

Education 203 Field Observation 6

disorder, caused by oral-motor difficulty, and a language disorder, characterized by the resultant

limitations of expression. When the student would speak to me, I can clearly see he had an oral-

motor difficulty expressing what he wanted to say with delay. Bouck and Gargiulo explain that

the “speech mechanisms are operating, but the child cannot get them to operate properly when

the child wants to speak, he has difficulty planning what to say and which motor movements to

use.” (pg 374). I compare my experience with the student to what the authors suggest, and it is

accurate. Another comparison regarding educational considerations for students with speech-

language impairments is that the vast majority of students (about 87%) with speech-language

impairments receive services in the general education classroom.

In conclusion, I am appreciative of this experience in which I have acquired so much

knowledge and information in which enabled me to see first-hand the field and direction I want

to go into. I have learned that the education systems are always changing and will continue to

innovate. Cultural diversity and linguistically diverse backgrounds continue to grow, special

education students continue to arise, assistive technologies continue to expand and be more

implemented in classes, and the importance of assessments. I have also learned key features to

identify a student with characteristics which can imply a learning disability, as well as strategies

for effective teaching to help students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In completion

of the ten-hour filed observation and in this course, I am certain and confident that this is the

field I want to be in. Though this field may contain many difficult obstacles that can make

teaching difficult, I know I can help my students become successful lifelong learners, and that is

the best reward as a teacher.