Reflection Of Field Experience

I began my field experience at Harry Spence Elementary School for EDUC 319 on February 1st, 2017 and completed the experience on April 27th, 2017. My first placement was in Mrs. Curtis’s second grade classroom where I completed a total of 16 hours and 20 minutes. My second placement was in Mr. Markworth’s fourth grade classroom where I completed a total of 15 hours. In total, I completed 31 hours and 20 minutes of field experience during this semester for EDUC 319. This was my first experience working in a second-grade and fourth-grade classroom and I learned a lot from both Mrs. Curtis and Mr. Markworth and their students. The teachers I worked with taught me about learner development, learning differences, learning environment, and instructional
Curtis and Mr. Markworth I gained a clearer understand of learner development, learning differences, and learning environment. In terms of learner development, I learned what content is developmentally appropriate for second and fourth grade students. For example, I learned that the Common Core State Standards requires second-grade students to describe how characters in a story responds to major events. In contrast, fourth-grade students are required to describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story using specific details from the text. By comparing the standards from different grade levels, I have a better understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for students in each grade
One way that Mrs. Curtis takes into consideration learner’s differences and uses differentiation is by using leveled text during her literacy block. For example, she groups her students based on their reading ability during guided reading. The students aren’t aware that they are grouped based on their ability, rather they think they are just equally divided. Lastly, I learned the importance of having a positive learning environment. For example, during standardized testing, some of the students had a very negative attitude towards the idea that they would have to sit in front of a computer for an hour taking a test. Luckily, Mr. Markworth was able to change the student’s attitude by telling them that this is one way that they can show off how smart they are to their parents. This example illustrates the importance of having a positive learning environment and how it can influence the student’s attitude towards