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Lisa Dickson
Edu 201-2002
Pro. Christensen
December 6, 2018

Field Observation
Assignment #1 Organization
1. My first impressions of Mrs. Farley’s class were that it was very organized. She had a place
for everything and things were put away. The student’s desks were not crowded with things and
neither were the extra tables in the room. My kids have been in a teacher’s class were the teacher
was not organized, piles of papers everywhere and she was always looking for something. That
is why I noticed right away the organization of the classroom. Along with being organized, it
was not overly crowded. There was room to walk in between the desks and to move your chair
back and not run into the desk behind you.
2. Mrs. Farley’s student make-up was very diverse. She has a total of 16 boys and only 11 girls
in her class. She also takes in 6 English Language Learner (ELL) students throughout the day.
The majority of her classroom is Hispanic.
3. She has five rules posted and laminated over the white board. These are on 8x10 sheets of
paper and decorated with owls. She loves owls. Her rules are as follows: 1. Follow directions
quickly, 2. Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak, 3. Raise your hand for permission
to leave your seat, 4. Make smart choices, 5. Keep your teacher happy. Number five was my
favorite. I think the students should always keep the teacher happy.
4. Mrs. Farley is very good at enforcing her rules. If the children disobey the rules she has them
put their name on the board. She says things like, “The next person to talk over me will put their
name on the board.” When the child’s name is on the board she calls home, if they get their name
on the board two times in one day then the child has to call home. She also has the children each
lunch with her for lunch detention. Sometimes she sends the student who is misbehaving into
another classroom for a while. She also uses que statements like, “I am waiting for you to be
ready. I’ll know when you are ready because there will be no noise.” The children in her class
know they will miss lunch with their friends, call home themselves, spend time in another
classroom and so they know how to behave. She is not afraid to follow through. She also praises
her class. She has team tables and gives out points for the best table. The table with the most
points gets to choose things or gets to go first. She also has a prize bucket full of things that they
helped pick out.
Assignment #2 Classroom Layout
1. She has a working station in front and center where she teaches in small groups, I feel like this
is the main workflow of the room. She uses this space effectively throughout the day when she
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has kids come up to read the board, and she projects things from the overhead from this area
also. When she works in small groups she uses this also. It is the main focus of the room and she
uses it all day long.
2. I loved the space in her room and the arrangement especially with 30 kids in the room. I would
like bean bags in my reading center not just chairs. That is the only change I would make.
Assignment #3 Instruction
1. The schedule for the week is written on the white board. It is as follows:
9:00-9:20 Announcements/ Breakfast
9:20-9:50 Intervention
9:50-10:40 Specials (Art, P.E., Music, Library, Science)
10:40-12:25 Reading
12:25-12:55 Lunch
12:55-1:20 Reading
1:20-2:30 Math
2:30-3:20 Writing
3:20-3:26 Cleanup/Dismiss

2. Mrs. Farley delivers instruction using centers, whole groups, individually, and small groups.
She is a great multitasker. During certain lessons the students work in groups. If someone needs
extra help she works with them individually.

3 & 4 Mrs. Farley has several different learning styles. She uses visual with an overhead
projector and with things around the room. She uses Aural and incorporates sound and music
into her lessons. She also uses catchy jingles in your class room like “Class, Class” and they
answer “Yes, Yes”. She obviously uses verbal because she talks, lectures, reads aloud, and
directs her class. She uses Logical because she always thinks before she speaks and must also
plan out all of her lessons. She also uses social because she is required to interact with her
students every day and also with the teachers and staff at her school. She has four different
spelling groups and tests each group at the same time. Each group is a different type of owl. She
says the group name then the spelling word, and then uses it in the sentence. She repeats with
each group’s word. She checks regularly to make sure everyone is on the same number and
repeats the words for kids that missed their word.

5. The students did seem engaged but if they were not she would involve them. During reading
time everyone was reading along. She asks questions and the students would put a thumbs up or
a thumbs down to answer her question. If she felt like someone was not engaged she would call
on them and ask them a specific question. She uses the same methods in each subject to make
sure that her class was involved and learning. They read a story together and then to themselves.
She has them discuss in small groups and ask each other questions. Then she has them talk about
it as a large group. Then she has them write about what they read to encourage understanding.
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6. There was one student who sat by herself for most of the day. I ask Mrs. Farley why she was
isolated from the class. She says that sometimes when a child can’t stop talking, touching or
standing then she assigns them to sit buy themselves for an agreed upon length of time. She also
says that sometimes children request to sit by themselves and depending on the situation she
decides to let them be alone or she makes them stay with their table.

7. Mrs. Farley transitions easily through each subject. She uses key phrases that the children are
familiar with such as “Let’s put away our reading and get out our vocab.” “Let’s get our math.” I
think because she does it regularly and because she has the schedule on the board it is easy for
the children to follow and obey. She also moves from lecture to groups with phrases like “It’s
time to work in groups Table 1 will be ____ table 2 will be ____ table 3 will be ____” until she
has assigned everyone’s group activity.

8. Mrs. Farley has the best attention getting commands. My favorite one was when she says
“Class, Class” and the class answers “Yes, Yes.” This is not the only one though. She has trained
her class well. She says we will be ready in 5 and counts down as the children get ready for the
next assignment and return to their seats. She also has the tables line up by their number like “ 5
push in chairs, 3 push in chairs” until all tables are lined up. When the kids are walking there the
hallway she will count to three. Sometimes she says it out load and sometimes she holds up her
fingers to see if they are paying attention. One is face forward, two is arms crossed and three is
silent. I enjoyed seeing her use all of these attention getters and look forward to finding some of
my own.

9. I assume that every class will have behavior problems and so did Mrs. Farley’s class. She
handled it like the pro she is. One student laughed at another student and made him cry. She
took the student aside that was mean and talked to him about, why he did it and what he said.
She asked how he would feel if he was laughed at. I turned out to be a misunderstanding. He was
laughing at his book but the other child thought it was him. She had the boy who laughed
apologize and explain what he was laughing at. She also had a boy get right in her face and yell
at her. He had been trying to get her goat for a while. She asked him to leave and go spend some
time in another classroom. She kept her cool and handled it with style.

10. Mrs. Farley tries to be on top of the procedures’ and policies that would take away from her
learning time. She makes sure all pencils are sharpened before the listen starts so no one has to
get up and sharpen their pencil. She makes sure that everyone has gotten out all of the supplies
that they will need before the lesson begins. She tells the children that it is now instruction time
and that you will be listening and taking notes. When the GATE teacher comes to get the kids
during the spelling test she says they will come when they are finished testing.

Assignment #4 Culture

Physical Characteristics:
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1. I observed at Guy Elementary school, this is what it looks like. There are three elementary
schools in one city block. One is Legacy a charter school built 3 years ago. The other two are
Guy ES and Wolf ES. Wolf and Guy are sister schools. If you have an even home address you
would go to Guy ES and if you have an odd home address then you would go to Wolf ES. I think
this is very hard for the children in this school. You could be best friends with your neighbor
and you could both go to different schools. I thought that having neighbors in your school was
good for children and I think this zoning ruins it. They have a flag out front that they put up and
take down every day. On the corner of the school they have a marque that they put upcoming
announcements for the parents to read. There is a little front parking lot for teachers and special
needs buses. They also save a couple of parking spots for early pickups. They have an eagle
painted on the brick wall above the front door and a huge stone with the schools name on it. The
grass area is huge because we share it with Wolf ES. There is an unofficial line on the field and
the kids from the different schools do not cross it. They have two play grounds on the black top
with the soft ground underneath it. One is for grades first and second and the other is for grades
third thru fifth. The kindergarten has their own play ground on the other side of the school
fenced in by the kindergarten doors. The playground is covered with a big blue plastic to keep
the sun off of it. They also have tether balls, basketball hoops and four square boxes. They have
a sunshine set up for morning ceremonies and for afternoon pick up. They also placed a red line
around the sunshine as a reminder that parents cannot cross it to pick up there kids. The kids
must see them and raise their hands. There are bathrooms they can use outside. There is a gate
around the yard of the school and a bike rack for bikes. They have four little gates that they open
for the kids to come and go through but they lock them up in the day. On the left side of the
playground they have a bus lane that picks up the kids that take the bus. There are crossing
guards posted on every corner of the block and on one block out to help the kids get to and from
school safe. They have speed limit signs posted and no parking signs by the drop off areas. They
also have painted signs on the sidewalk talking about how bad it is to jay walk hoping the kids
will go to the crossing guards.

2. When you arrive at the front of the school you must check in with the front office and receive
a badge. People are not allowed in the school without a badge. They check your ID, scan your
ID, and take your picture. The carpet is grey throughout and old but clean. The walls are all
white or off white and the teachers can decorate them how they want. The multipurpose room
has a stage with a sound system and they have fold out tables for the kids to sit on. They have a
small kitchen to heat up the food for lunch and to get the cold breakfast ready. There is also a
piano in the multipurpose room. They have bulletin boards up and down the halls that the
teachers change regularly. They have two walls with murals on them that the art teacher helped
the fifth grade to make. They have a small court yard that the kids can walk through. Several
years ago an Eagle Scout project was done there and it is set up with gardening plots in case a
class wants to plant things as part of their curriculum. They also have a wall of bricks in the
court yard that were designed by the different families that helped make this school come
together. There is a flag in every class room. They have a sports them this year and have
decorated all through the school with sports. Each great room has its own theme hockey, soccer,
baseball and basketball. Bulletins are put up with encouraging words in each great room to match
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the theme. There are also student council election poster around the school waiting for elections
to be over. They have the hallway rules posted clear and cute in the hallway. They are:
Flip & Zip (pre-k -2)
Walk on the right side
Body parts to yourself
Greet with a silent smile
Listen to adult in charge

Culture of the School:

1. The Guy ES mission statement is “The mission of Guy ES is to ensure a safe, nurturing and
cooperative environment, where all children have the opportunity to achieve academically,
develop socially, and grow emotionally.” The Guy ES motto is “I can and I will.” The mascot is
an Eagle. The colors are red white and blue with an American theme. They decorate with a lot
of American pride including flags.

2. The three office staff pays attention to who comes in the office and responds fast and efficient
to all the office needs. They help kids sign in tardy and answer questions that the kids/parents
might have. They unlock the doors for the children to get into the school and check in the parents
that want to help in the school. They have a great new program this year called SOAR which
stands for,
S how self-control
O wn your actions
A ccept others
R espect your school and community

The teachers will give out SOAR dollars while walking in the hall to a whole class or to
individual students. The students collect them and they have a SOAR store that they open one a
month to shop at. They have instigated a PBIS, Positive Behavior program. This is incentives for
the kids. In the lunch room they have jars labeled with each grade. They fill them up as they
behave well and receive awards.

3. The students at this school are just like students at any other school. The students have klicks
were kids fill included and kids fill excluded. They talk, they hang out, and they play. At lunch
they get to pick who they sit by. When they were at recess they played tag, slide, basketball,
catch, tether ball and four square. They love the breaks from the classroom and enjoy spending
time together.

4. See enclosed map.

5. The school has many traditions, achievements and awards I would like to share with you.
They encourage the fifth grade top participate in the Great American Challenge. They normally
get at least a third of the fifth grade to accomplish this. Th3en Wolf ES and Guy ES have a big
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lunch celebration for all the kids and their parents. The governor has come out for the lunch
several times. They have a PTA that is very involved in the school. The PTA runs a lot of the
fun events like the fundraisers, cookies with Santa, Trunk-or-Treat, Guy Restaurant Night and
skate nights. They have a student council that they vote in every year and they run a lot of events
also like the food drive at Thanksgiving time. They have cheerleading team that is run between
both ES. Every year they have additions for the choir and ensemble. They do two performances
every year. The principal worked really hard to get the school free lunch and breakfast for five
years. That means every kid at school can learn without an empty stomach. They participate in
the Be Kind program. If kids are caught being kind they recognize them in front of the school,
they get their picture on the wall and a Be Kind shirt. Every Friday they have spirit days were
they wear their Be Kind shirts or their school shirts. Some of the awards hanging around the
school are: CCSD meeting or exciting standards Student Series recognition, Powered by
breakfast award and an award from PBIS. Their principal received Principal of the year from
Nevada PTA last year. Each month they recognize an artist in their school by displaying their art
work in the front office. A new student is picked every month.

Culture of the classroom:

1. I think that Mrs. Farley has many expectations about learning and success. She demonstrates
this in how she sets up her room and also how she teaches. She has several different charts
around the room. One is spelling tests. Gives each child’s test but does not name their name only
a number. So each child knows what they got on the testy and can compare it to other students
but other students cannot make fun of kids for their scores. She does the same number process
with a mathmasters poster, Lexia, Fluency, MCOMP and STMath. So kids can see how they are
progressing and they can see how well they are doing compared to other kids. A friendly
competition. She also did several retakes while I was there, giving children who missed
something time to make it up.

2. I think that the participation of the class is like any other class. Some kids raise their hand
right away and some do not. She is very good at letting the kids answer that always answer but
all calls ion other children to help them get more comfortable with answering.

3. Mrs. Farley has a very friendly personality but she also does not let the kids get away with
things. She is outgoing, fun, kind but also has rules posted and expects them to be followed. She
has six ELL students in her class because they get along better with her personality then the other
teachers so every year they are assigned to her class. She often rotates the seating so that it
makes things different and if you are buy your best friend you move so you are not chatty and if
you don’t like your partner then you know you will move soon. She takes time for individual
students to work with them if she needs to. When there was an outburst in class she pulled the
child aside to talk with him instead of losing her cool in front of the whole class. When they go
to specials they have to take a class backpack. One boy always remembers it. She is out of the
class and heads back to get it and he says I have it. She thanks him for always remembering. She
is constantly reminding children to be on task just like I do at home with my kids. When children
give answers she tells them thank you and lets them now it is write or wrong in a loving manner.
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Assignment #5 Cooperating Teacher Interview

1. Mrs. Farley wanted to be a teacher because she loves working with children. She wanted to
have an impact on the world and make children lives better and teaching children does both of
these.
2. There are a few challenges that she faces as a teacher. One of them is learning new curriculum
to teach to your class when the administration decides to change it every year. Having such a
great diverse class can also be a challenge. Some students come with learning disabilities and
that can be difficult to incorporate into your class room. Sometimes she has students that excel in
her class and they are bored and a lot of time she has children that are very behind. You have to
take time for both of these situations and it is a challenge. She also mentioned that there is a large
population of families in CCSD that don’t speak English but you are required to teach them the
same. All of these things take time and effort to adjust your classroom to the needs and
challenges you face.

3. The best part of being a teacher for her is when the kids get the Aha moment and you see the
light go on and you know this is worth it. It is also very rewarding when a child tells you that you
made something easy or helped them understand.

4. The very first day Mrs. Farley picks seats by random. She just assigns them anywhere. Then
she watches the group and changes seats often. They never get to pick. She tries to put a high
student next to a low student so that when the high is bored he/she can help the low that is still
struggling.

5. Mrs. Farley chooses members of her flexible groups by the test scores and the academics that
they perform in class.

6. At Guy ES there is not a lot of parent to teacher contact in person because of the diverse
population. We do use class Dojo and we Dojo parents as needed and they can Dojo us. Every
day I send out a class Dojo to the whole class letting them know how our day was and what they
need to be working on and then I pick 5-7 students and do individual Dojos to those parents. She
has about 70% of parents respond on Dojo. Some of the reasons why she contacts the parents
are: homework, no homework, class events, special events, special speakers, projects, behavior
problems and school activities.

7. Mrs. Farley says how much grading she does on a daily/weekly basis depends on what is
going on at school or at home. She does often grade things at home and over the weekends. She
also works on her lesson plans on the weekends.

8. Mrs. Farley says that is takes her about 1 ½ hours every day to be ready for the day and then
she spends 1 – 2 ½ hours every week preparing lesson plans for the week. The lesson plans are
about 36 pages long.
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9. Mrs. Farley uses attention getters to maximize instruction time. She also has a table for
children that are not behaving well. She also makes the kids accountable for their actions and she
uses great transactions to flow through the day. The kids must always raise hands to be called on
and she randomly picks someone and the team caption of the tables will gather the supplies.

10. She has many positive reinforcements like a treasure box and the top winners of fluency and
math get to eat lunch with her in her class room. The table that is ready first receives a table
point. The table with the most points gets to line up first and other such awards. She has a
warning for bad behavior and then they write their name on the board with a call home to
parents. The kids have to call themselves and that really helps with discipline.

11. The specialist teachers like DHH and Resource, come into the planning meetings with them
so that all the kids are working on the same lesson schedule.

12. & 13 Mrs. Farley says that she is required to have one informal and one formal evaluation
every year. The formal one she meets with the vice principal or principal and they talk about her
lesson plans and what she is doing in class and then they come observe the class. If there are any
concerns they meet again and observe again until the problem is resolved. The informal one a
administrator will just pop into your class and observe you.

14. Mrs. Farley was most surprised by the amount of work that goes on outside of the class
room: prep time, committees, grading. She also was surprised buy how much of her own money
she spends for stuff in her classroom.

Assignment #6 Student Observation

I decided to observe an individual student during vocabulary. Mrs. Farley asks all of the class to
get out their vocab workbook. She counts backwards from 5 to help them get ready. This boy
takes out his vocab and is ready. She reads through the directions two times to make sure
everyone understands and then asks if anyone has questions. This boy does not have any
questions. You can tell that he is focused on the teacher during the instructions and is really
listing. He immediately gets right to work when she tells them that they can start. You can see
him reading each question thinking and answering. You can see that part way through the lesson
he is confused. He starts looking around at what the other children are doing trying to figure out
what to do. Then he asks his neighbor at his table very politely the question he had. She was very
kind and answered his question. He must off got the answer that he needed because he stopped
looking around and focused in on his work again and continued writing. You could tell that he
wanted to be a good student because there were times when he stopped writing and erased his
answer so that it was correct. There were a few times when he was not sure again what he needed
and stood up to see the3 white board. He read what he needed and then he continued to work.
Someone at his table dropped something on the floor and he got right up and picked it up for
them. You could tell that he had a kind heart. He checked over his work one more time and then
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he put his assignment away and took out a book to read quietly while everyone else was still
working. I know that this was an ideal student. Normally children do not behave exactly how
they should but this boy did. By the end of the day I found out that it was his first day at Guy ES
and that he was a new student.

Assignment #7 Summary

I had the best two days watching Mrs. Farley at work. She is an amazing teacher and I learned so
much from her and her classroom. You must be prepared for anything and keep your cool at all
times. You must be kind but follow through with what you say and make the consequences to
the situation matter to the kids. You must be prepared or they will eat you alive. There is a lot of
work outside and inside the classroom and even when you are on break or over the summer you
are still a teacher and you still have work to do. Your job is never complete but when a child says
thank you or you see that Aha moment then it is worth it. I also realized the admin had a very
controlling role in your teaching and that they really choose for you a lot of what is required and
you must do what they say or lose your job. The book does a good job explaining a lot of things
but nothing can compare to being there in person and seeing for yourself and experience it
yourself. My favorite ideas that I received from Mrs. Farley was her attention getters and having
the kids call home to their parents. I know that both of these things could really change a class
room. Guy ES is a great school with a great staff and wonderful culture. I am so glad that I had
the opportunity to observe and learn so much from Mrs. Farley and Guy ES.