Matthew Frutchey

Professor Reilly
Field I
4 November 2015
Field Reflection #2: Planning, Goals, and Utilization of Resources
While observing Mr. Nolan's 8th grade Civics class, I was pleasantly surprised to see how
well not only the teacher interacted with his students, but how well they interacted with him.
Class would typically start by discussing some interests students had; most of the time Mr. Nolan
found commonality talking about sports with his class. After transitioning to the lesson, his
planning was very evident and structured. Physical observations that I could make included: wall
decor appropriate to the lesson, the Promethean board had been set up for use in the day's lesson,
and folders for collecting work had been set up on his desk. Every lesson I observed was
structured in a way that motivated students to participate, move through the material, and
finished the lesson. Upon completion, students were awarded free time which typically gave
them five minutes to chat with classmates before the bell rang. It seemed he had no contingency
plan to keep the lesson going once the goal was reached, and I found that to be a lazy approach.
However, I found that resources were used well in by both teachers I observed. For
instance, Mrs. Legg had the students watch a short documentary on Netflix by projecting it to the
Promethean board. Although it was not setup beforehand as I had often witnessed in Mr. Nolan's
class, I thought it was an effective tool to convey a lesson and found that the students enjoyed it.
Likewise, Mr. Nolan frequently used the Promethean board as a note-taking device. He would

often use it as one used a blackboard. Students would come up and write key vocabulary on it,
and it was used as a television as well. Overall, students seemed to enjoy using this technology
during class, and I was impressed with the usage of it. Additionally, in classes where ELL or
special education students were present, there was often a classroom aide in the room. She would
answer those students' questions, take notes, and assist them during assignments if needed. The
students seemed to appreciate her presence and it seemed to help the flow of the lesson. As I
mentioned before, both classrooms had incredible decor that pertained to civics. The teachers
would reference posters and pictures, and offer books for supplemental reading if the students
seemed especially interested in the lesson. For example, Mr. Nolan had a poster with all of the
state license plates on it. Within those license plates were the years the states had ratified the
Constitution and the abbreviations of the state capitals. He used this for almost an entire lesson
and encouraged the students to use it as well.