Sophomore Field Experience Paper

Maggie Hepper
Northern State University

EPSY 302, Educational Psychology

Dr. DiLivio
Spring, 2015

Introduction
Once I have graduated with majors in Elementary Education and Special Education I
intend to teach in an elementary school in South Dakota. I prefer to teach in a regular classroom
setting, but I also would work in a special education room. For my sophomore experience I went
to Mayberry Elementary School in Aberdeen, SD. The principal is Mr. Marathon and the dates I
went to observe the elementary school was February 17th and 18th.
My cooperating teacher was Ms. Curly, a first grade teacher at Mayberry Elementary
School. She teaches all the subject areas since it is in an elementary school. Her class size was
twenty-three students, but she received a new student my second day, making the class size
twenty-four.
While I was at the elementary school observing, I also was given several small
responsibilities. One of my favorite responsibilities I was given was leading a small reading
group each day. I was in charge of a group of students and during the reading group time I
discussed the book with them and helped them each read the story out loud. I then reviewed the
story with them, asking them questions to see if they could retell the story back to me. Another
responsibility I had was working with a few students one on one who struggled in the certain
subject, or needed someone beside them to make sure they were focused and on task. This
allowed me to come with up strategies and different ways to help the student understand the
assignment. One of the last responsibilities I had included more of the simpler tasks such as
mailing papers, getting book orders ready, and cutting out laminate sheets. All of these were
simple tasks, but they all are parts of teaching that need to be done.

The Students
The Piagetian stage of cognitive development the first grade students were in would be in
between preoperational and operational stages. Since the students I observed were approximately
the ages of six and seven, they were towards the end of the preoperational stage, and at the
beginning of the concrete operational stage. Children between the ages of two and seven are in
the preoperational stage. Some characteristics of this stage include how the child thinks
egocentrically and centered. Also, children in the preoperational stage are unable to
accomplish the task of conservation. When it comes to the ages of children in the concrete
operational stage they are between the ages of seven and eleven. Characteristics of this stage
include that children now think more decentered and reversible and less egocentric. The children
can now accomplish tasks of conservation and they are also developing more logical reasoning.
Also, they are able to perform seriation, transitivity, class inclusion, and they only think and
solve problems with familiar events and objects.
An example of one of the students who would be in the beginning of the concrete
operational stage would be when I was leading discussion in one of the reading groups. The story
the students were reading was about an owner who had a very large dog and needed special
directions and items to take care of the dog. One of the problems the owner ran into was finding
a house large enough for his dog. On the picture there was a small dog house, a shed, and then a
barn. Since the dog was abnormally large the children all agreed that the dog would need the
barn. When I asked them why they thought the shed would be too small they told me they
compared the size of the dog to the size of the shed. Then after they explained their reasoning I
asked why the dog wouldnt fit into the dog house, and they were able to tell me that since he

wouldnt fit into the shed, the dog house would be too small as well. This example shows they
could perform transitivity.
The Erikson stage of socioemotional development that the first graders I observed were
in is also like the Piagetian stage. It comes down to the student and how they are developing
emotionally. The third stage of the Erikson stage of socioemotional development tends to include
children between the ages of three and six. Like I stated earlier, the students I observed were
either six or seven so this puts them right between the two different stages. The third stage deals
with initiative vs. guilt. Some characteristics of this stage include the child learning to cooperate
with others, to lead as well as to follow. Also, the children are immobilized by guilt and are
fearful, hangs on the fringes of groups, and depend on adults. The fourth stage, industry vs.
inferiority, is the other stage the students I observed could be in the beginning of and this
includes children between the ages of six and twelve. Some characteristics of this stage include
the child learning to relate with peers according to rules, progressing from free play to playing in
a more structured setting like a team, and mastering math, social studies, and reading. Since each
child doesnt develop at the same rate, some students depended on their teacher and me more
than other students did, and some students also were able to pick up on addition, subtraction,
writing, and reading more than others.
An example of a student who was in the third stage of socioemotional development
included when I went to the computer lab to observe the students as they played computer games
that worked on sounding out words and deciding if they had a long e sound or a short e
sound, etc. I noticed one little girl becoming frustrated and kicking her feet around under the
desk. I walked over and also noticed the frustration she was showing on her face and I asked her
what was wrong. She said she didnt understand what to do so I explained how she needed to

click on certain pictures and how to move the letters around to play the game. I stood there for a
while, helping her along the way and she seemed to figure the game out. Once I walked away to
help another student, I looked over and noticed she was becoming frustrated again. When I
would stand by her and help her sound out the words she would do just fine, but once I walked
around she would immediately become frustrated again. This student would be an excellent
example of a student who is in the third stage because she was showing the characteristic of
relying and depending on adults.
In every classroom each and every student is going to be different in some ways. As I
observed the first grade classroom I noticed the variety in race, ethnicity, gender, and a few
disabilities. The room was split pretty even between the number of boys and the number of girls.
As far as diversity in race, there were a handful of students of different races other than white,
which was the majority of the students. I cant say how much of a variety there was for
ethnicities, since I was only there two days and dont know that much information about each
student. The disabilities I noticed was one student who was visually impaired, but other than that
I cant say I was informed enough about the variety of disabilities in that classroom. I also wasnt
there long enough to know the variety of socioeconomic statuses of the students, without just
making a judgment.
Diversity can impact a students learning in a few different ways. Race can affect a
students learning if there is a problem in the classroom with bullying, but at this age and in this
classroom there wasnt any student treating another student differently because of their race. In
some schools, however, stereotypes and bullying may take place which could affect the student
and make them not feel comfortable in the classroom. This could lead to them not performing as
well in school. Another way diversity could affect a students learning is if they have a disability

of some sort. If a student doesnt have the proper tools to accommodate their disability, they may
not be able to learn and reach their full potential. In the classroom I was able to observe some
accommodations for the student with the visual impairment. For example, in the computer lab
she had the screen zoomed in more and if she didnt have this it would have been hard for her to
navigate the screen.
The Classroom
While observing my cooperating teacher teach her students, I noticed multiple different
teaching methods being used. To name a few of the strategies she used, class discussion,
demonstration, and hands-on. In most cases I noticed Ms. Curly using direct instruction since the
age of the children she was teaching is fairly young. To define class discussion, the teacher asks a
question and opens the floor for students to raise their hands and answer the questions and give
their input on the topic. The teacher used this method when the students were learning about
George Washington about their prior knowledge of the topic. She allowed them to each give their
input and answer questions if they wanted to. The next teaching strategy I observed was
demonstration and this was used when they were making an art project of George Washington
with paper plates and other art supplies. Ms. Curly stood in front of the class and did the project
with them so they could follow the directions and saw what they should be doing. The last
method I am going to talk about includes the students being taught hands-on. This teaching
method was applied when the students were learning about telling time and each student was
given a small clock where they could change the hands to match the hands on the clock the
teacher was holding. The students then were supposed to figure out what time was shown on the
clock by looking at their own clock.

In the classroom I observed several different behaviors and misbehaviors. Some

examples of good behavior I noticed was when the students were inside for recess because of the
weather and they all sat in small groups, quietly, and played together nicely. I also noticed that
when the new student came the second day, two students were supposed to be his buddy and sit
with him and both students behaved very well and welcomed him into the classroom. Some
examples of misbehavior I noticed was a few students who would disrupt the class by talking
during work time when they were supposed to be quiet. Another example of misbehavior was
when a girl threw her pencil across the room. When these misbehaviors happened I watched my
cooperating teacher to see how she would deal with the acts and I noticed that she would pull
them aside and talk to them telling them what they did was wrong and that what they did is not
the appropriate acts to happen in the classroom. Some other ways I noticed the teacher getting
her teachers to behave included giving an incentive of not having to work on their homework
during indoor recess if they worked quietly for the whole work time they were given.
The atmosphere of the class room I observed was fun and colorful. When you first walk
in there is the coat room and then when you walk into the main classroom there was a small
library where the students could get age appropriate books from during quiet time and silent
reading. The desks were arranged in pods of four and there were six pods set up. Cabinets were
labeled saying what was in them if students needed to get something from them, they were easily
accessible. There was also a candy dish where students could choose a piece of candy if they did
well on a certain assignment or test. If I was a student in this classroom I would definitely be
motivated to learn. The classroom had a positive vibe and the colors and fun posters hanging
around the room would be motivation to keep working. Also, students tend to be really motivated
by candy, so the candy dish would be some major motivation.

Reflections
After going into the classroom and observing, I am excited to graduate and be able to
have a classroom of my own. I am eager to be able to inspire and teach my very own students. If
my feelings about teaching have changed, they have only changed for the better. Before I had the
chance to observe a full day of school in an elementary classroom, I never really knew how busy
teachers were and what all went on behind the scenes. I now know it will be a lot of work and
preparation for each and every day, but the thought of doing all of it excites me. This experience
has definitely confirmed my thought of wanting to be a teacher. Throughout the rest of my
schooling I want to develop more skills on making lesson plans, learn more activities to do in the
classroom, learn more teaching strategies and methods of controlling the classroom, and I also
need to learn more about the common core standards so I can properly apply and meet them once
I am out teaching. Overall, my sophomore field experience was excellent and a very insightful
look on what my future career will be like.