Laura Stadele

EDUC350/886: Linda Williams

Field Notes 2/4/15
February 19, 2015
1) Impressions of one day in the classroom/work covered? What would you do
differently?
When I first walked into Mrs. Hughes class I didnt know what to expect! When I found out
it was a class of 6th graders I was happily surprised because I have never really worked with this
age group before, so I stood at the front of the class and watched as they all walked in. I
immediately noticed that they had a seating chart and all the students knew where to go and what
was expected of them. Mrs. Hughes called everyone to attention and had them listen to the daily
announcements and watch the KLIN News show before she launched into her schedule for the
day. In this class Mrs. Hughes covered figurative and sensory language as is used in poetry; she
went through two poems with the class and had them do an activity with figurative language and
then another activity with sensory language. I thought that the way the class ran very smoothly
and all the kids seemed to be really invested in their poetry. Mrs. Hughes had good classroom
management and was able to easily get the kids back on task if they ever started to get out of
control. I think the one thing I would do differently would be to write a sensory poem on the
overhead with the whole class; although Mrs. Hughes did go through several examples of model
sensory poems and explained the concept very well, I would have first shown them how I would
have gone about writing my own to give them ideas on how to go about the process in their own
writing.
2) Script one class period: POD, learning target, time spent in each area
5 Mins- morning announcements
5 Mins- KLIN News Show
5 Mins- check literature sheets and planners
10 Mins- go through poem Wet
30 Mins- activity: write several examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, and hyperbole

25 Mins- activity: sense poems

Learning Target: I will practice using my figurative and sensory language

3) List and explain 3 teaching strategies/techniques you observed and tell why each is
of benefit to the student:
The first strategy I observed was when Mrs. Hughes went through the figurative language
poem Wet. For this poem she used extensive modeling as she read through the poem so that
the kids could see what she was thinking about as she got to each different stanza. I thought this
benefited the students in several ways: first it showed the kids what they should try to be
thinking about as they read through the poem, second it showed the kids what they can do if they
find something confusing and how they can pull out context clues to find an answer, and lastly it
showed them how they really need to slow down and read through each part of the poem
carefully in order to gain meaning from the poem.
The second strategy I observed was Mrs. Hughes call to attention strategy, or as she calls it
her three-finger strategy. In this strategy Mrs. Hughes will call out give me three whenever the
kids start to get rowdy or out of hand and she expects them to all get quiet and hold up three
fingers back at her. I found this to benefit the students in the following ways: first it lets them
know that they are not behaving in a respectful manner, second it allows them time to notice and
correct their behavior, and lastly it in no way singles out one student, instead it treats the class as
a whole and holds everyone equally accountable for their behavior.
The third and last teaching strategy I observed Mrs. Hughes use was what she called brain
breaks. This strategy is exactly as it sounds, it is a fun activity that the students do for about five
minutes and it is used as a brain break or a break from their school work. So for five minutes she
will have the kids play Simon Says, or have them do something like jumping jacks so that they
can get their bodies moving and give their minds a slight break. I found this to benefit students in
the following ways: first it allowed them time away from their school work to do something fun
and then re-group, second it gets the students moving which will reinvigorate their minds and
wake them up, and lastly it gives students the opportunity to be completely off-focus and silly
(and come on who doesnt need to do that sometimes?).

4) Observe two students who stand out in the class and why?
The first student who really stood out to me in this class is named Caleb. The reason he stood
out to me is because from the moment he stepped into the room he was acting like he owned the
place! He was extremely sociable and talkative, and yet he seemed to always be on-task when
Mrs. Hughes gave them something to do. Sometimes he would speak out while Mrs. Hughes was
talking or he would have some side conversations, but, for the most part he was a hard-worker. I
think another reason he really stood out to me was because he came up to me and introduced
himself and didnt seem to have a hard time opening up and talking to me, which is something I
really appreciated out of him!
The second student who really stood out to me in this class is named Bradley. The reason he
stood out to me was mostly because of his behavior. Like Caleb, Bradley is a super sociable and
talkative student and so while I was in class I watched as he moved from his assigned seat to a
different seat so that he could be near his friends. Of course Mrs. Hughes noticed and asked him
to move back to his assigned seat, but he did so with a groan. Other than that he seemed to be ontask when Mrs. Hughes would give them assignments, and the only reason he was ever
reprimanded was for being too talkative or loud. Another reason Bradley really stood out to me is
because he is a joker and he seemed to always be laughing or cracking jokes with the kids at his
table, and he even cracked a couple of jokes to me. That stood out to me because like I said
earlier I really appreciate when the students include me in their conversations or try to connect
with me in some way!
5) List the number of students with exceptionalities. What modifications or
accommodations are needed when you teach a lesson?
Mrs. Hughes has several students across all of her classes that have exceptionalities. She
explained to me that she has 5+ students that are ELL, she has about 12 students with IEPs, and
she has about 6 students with 504s. Mrs. Hughes explained to me that she and Lincoln have
done several things in order to accommodate and work with these kids. At the school level, all
language arts classes have been separated into different levels of difficulty so that kids at every
stage in reading/writing can be placed in the class that will benefit them the most. Mrs. Hughes
also stated that the school is utilizing a program called Every Child A Writer that involves small
group reading and writing instruction that is for students that need extra help with their reading

and writing skills. And in her own classroom Mrs. Hughes has an entire binder full of which
students have what type of exceptionality so that she can easily plan her lessons to incorporate
these students. Mrs. Hughes said that for her ELL students she will go as far back as re-teaching
basic sentence structures, providing visuals and pictures for words, and other SIOP (Sheltered
Instruction Observation Protocol) strategies; for her IEP students she stated that she has a wide
variety of accommodations like extended time for tests, having assignments read-aloud, making
modified lessons, or doing certain activities on a computer; and for her 504 students she uses
things like preferential seating or IST (integrated services) to help them.
6) What do you see kids doing while on hall duty?
While Im out at hall duty I see kids doing some interesting things! For the most part I see
them socializing with their friends and getting their books out of their lockers. But, I also see a
lot of kids grabbing snacks out of their lockers and trying to eat really quickly. I see a lot of kids
running around trying to see as many people as they can before they run into their classroom, and
I also see kids running randomly through the halls until they get called out by an adult. Seldom
did I see students talking to teachers or talking to my other fellow CSU students, but, as I know,
they are more immersed in their friendships and classes than they are in the adults in the
building. So to sum it all up I guess I would say that I see a lot of chaos while Im on hall duty as
the students scramble to take hold of their few moments of freedom before class!