Lucy Kunz

Observation Paper
EPSY 240
Description of School, Classroom, and Teacher:

I did my field experience observation at Greater Plains Elementary School, which is

located in Oneonta, NY in Oneonta City School District as well as Otsego County. The school

has 291 students between kindergarten and 5th grade. It is mostly Caucasian children about 79%,

8% Black or African American, 8% Hispanic or Latino, 3% Asian or Native Hawaiian, and 1%

Multiracial. There are 57 or 20% of students that have a disability and 123 or 42% that are

economically disadvantaged. The teacher I observed was Mrs. Jessica Jochem. She was a

Caucasian female, with brown hair and brown eyes, whose age ranged between 35-40. Jessica

has taught for 13 years, 12 years at Jefferson Central School and currently her first year at

Greater Plains. For her schooling, she went LIU Post, in Long Island, and for her masters, she

studied special education at Saint Rose in Albany, New York. Jessica currently teaches both

Kindergarten and 1st grade in the same classroom. The reason for this was because the school

had too many kids in Kindergarten and 1st grade at the beginning of the school year, so they took

a few from each class and combined them into one. When I first drove up to the school I felt like

it was located in a small secluded area. There was a lot of chaos because it was a Monday and

everyone was just arriving and getting situated from being home that weekend. I walked into the

school and was told to go to the main office to get my visitors pass. When I was walking through

the halls you heard all the children screaming, yelling, running around, hanging their jackets up,

talking their best friends, whispering in ears. It brought me back to when I was young. When you

first walked into the door of the classroom you saw the students' cubbies to the right of you. If

you kept walking straight, there was one round table which sat eight students, and three rectangle

tables which sat four students at each table. The teachers' desk was at the front of the room.

There were approximately seventeen students which included two special needs students. On the
walls, there was a calendar, vowels, the alphabet, how many days of school, pictures of them

holding up a sign that stated, "My first day of Kindergarten or 1st grade", and more. Mrs.

Jochem didn't really move around the room a lot which is one thing I didn't like. She was

constantly sitting down and the teacher's assistant moved around the whole time.

Cognitive Development:

When it comes to Piaget and Kohlberg they suggested taking a developmental

perspective meaning that you should be able to look at a child and understand their logic of

thinking (McDevitt & Ormrod, p.14). In the classroom, I saw an example of this theory when the

children were doing math problems or trying to sound out a word you could tell by the

expression on their face if they were confused or not. The theorists Vygotsky decided that people

will grow intellectually by taking part in repetitive activities like a routine as well as

progressively assuming higher levels of responsibility for their completion (McDevitt & Ormrod,

p.15). This theory took place in the classroom every day. The teacher made sure that they had a

schedule and everyone knew what they were doing that day in case something changed. In the

morning, they walk in hang their stud up and put their folders on the back table, they then would

have to either read a book play with blocks or do a worksheet. Then throughout the day, their

schedule remained the same routine. Another theory, by Piaget, was that cognitive development

depends on brain maturation (McDevitt & Ormrod, p.209). The working memory is a part of the

human memory system in which people store information and process new information

(McDevitt & Ormrod, p.209). When the students when to computer lab they had to do math

tables online, some of these students used a singing method in order remember the math

problems or self-talk, Vygotsky's theory (Sodeur, PP). If the student didn't know the math

problem the computer would help them and they would have to type the numbers in three times
each, allowing the working memory to retain this information. The game was also very

interactive and colorful allowing their attention to stay focused cause if they aren't then the

information won't move from the sensory register to the working memory. The last theory I want

to touch on is Theory-Theory, a theoretical framework about how children form and revise their

ideas when they confront new evidence (McDevitt & Ormrod, p.267). When the children were

learning about migration they learned that monarch butterflies migrate in the winter. Therefore,

they made the assumption that everything that has wings and flies will migrate, but no other

animal does. Then the teacher explained to them that buffalo and other types of animals migrate

it's not just an animal that has wings and can fly. The children formed the one specific idea of

animal migration and then later on revised it because the teacher taught them differently.

Emotional Development:

An incident that happened during English was a little boy became very upset when they

were spelling a word and when it came to him he had to say the word they spelled and sit down.

The boy got upset because he wanted to stay in the game, keep spelling the words and be the last

one standing and win. So, when it came to the last student standing everyone clapped for him.

After, the teacher sat everyone down and explained to them that it was okay if you had to sit

down because we are not doing this as a competitive game we are doing it so we learn how to

spell words. Here she was identifying the kinds of temperaments that she doesn't allow in her

classroom, without directly pointing out the student and embarrassing him (Sodeur, PP).

Erickson touches on attachment a little and when I was in the classroom I noticed one boy who

always hugged the adults. When I first walked into the classroom he came up and spoke to me

and then gave me a hug on my arm. This student continued to hug me throughout the day

whenever he left or entered the room as well as randomly. My possible reasoning for this is that
the student might not have much love given to him at home or has a younger sibling that needs

more attention so when he comes to school he is seeking for attention here. Lastly, another

incident happened when I first got into the classroom another student, who was a boy, was

pretending to cut a little girls hair with the scissors he had in his hand. The teacher caught him in

the act and explained to him what the rules were. Mrs. Jochem has these rules posted in the room

on the wall, which states "Hands are for helping, not hurting. Be kind. Listen to each other. Be

responsible for what you do or say. Always do your best!". She made sure to ask him why it

wasn't right for him to do that as well as what he needs to do. By doing this she is developing

students mind and teaching them what is right and wrong, by making them analyze the situation

and seeing what they did wrong. She also writes a reflection letter to the parents stating why he

was talked to and what is currently happening at school. When she told him, she was writing an

in his folder to his parents he started immediately crying. In my opinion, I think he started to cry

because at home he might be disciplined in abusive ways or didn't want his parents to be upset

with him and that's why he didn't want his parents to find out. At the same time, I think it is good

that she's communicating with the parents explaining to them why he was reprimanded, therefore

they know what is going on in school.

Social Development:

The theory psychodynamic focuses on the interaction between a person's internal

conflicts and the demands of the environment, therefore it states that early experiences play a

significant role in later characteristics and behavior (McDevitt & Ormrod, p.13). Erik Erickson,

later on, focused less on sexual aggression and more on developing personality, desires,

commitments, and direction. Psychodynamic highlights the significance of children's social and

emotional needs (McDevitt & Ormrod, p.13). An example of this that I saw in the classroom
was with this little girl. At the beginning of the year, the teacher said this student constantly ran

out of the classroom or ran around the classroom crying. Therefore, they took the student out of

the classroom and put her into special need, because they didn't know what was wrong with her.

She would come into class for different subjects and when she did come in she constantly had

her thumb in her mouth. When the teacher or teaching assistant asked her to take her thumb out

she would say goo-goo-gaga towards them like she was a baby. The teacher, later on, told me

that her home life was very rough and she didn't have my strong relationship and was neglected

quite a bit. Thus, this explains why she was acting the way she was. Another personality that I

saw in the classroom was confidence. Another little girl thought that she was the smartest and the

best person in the classroom. When a teacher told her how to do something she would say that

she knows and she doesn't need any help. The possible reasoning for this could be that at home

her parents aren't reprimanding her if she does something wrong or that she's so smart and

doesn't need help or that she thinks that there only one way to do something and no other. Like

the example that Professor Soduer gave us in class, how her child thought there was only one

way to dust and no other until she explained to her that there are multiple ways.

Implication for Educators:

I thought she did an amazing job adjusting to the students' needs. You can tell that all the

children in the classroom have amazing relationships with her and aren't afraid to raise their hand

in class. She is very good at making the students engage with her as well as each other. One

thing that I realized was that she was on her phone very often, but it wasn't just her it was also

the teaching assistants. It was a regular thing for them to do even when I was there observing,

which I thought was odd. I disliked this because you are supposed to be the role models for them

and teaching them instructions on how to do certain things and if you're distracted with your
phone in front of you how is one supposed to teach. I also thought the teacher should've been

moving around the classroom more often. She sat in a seat most of the time and didn't move

around or interact with the class at all. Therefore, she didn't know if the students needed help on

certain subjects or what their levels were in certain areas unless she took them one on one for

reading. In my classroom, I would make sure to interact with the student and give them as much

of my undivided attention that I can. To interact with them and see their thought processes, rather

than sitting in a chair and making my teaching assistants do the work. Another thing I would

have done differently is when the little girl that knew everything said, "I knew!" one of the

Teaching Assistance said under her breath, "nobody cares." If I was the teacher in that situation

and you were in my classroom I would've asked them to step outside the room and spoke to them

about that. Instead, she just let it be and moved on with the lesson. The last thing that I would've

changed would how she used free time. I constantly felt like we were always on the smartboard

watching videos. She would use it for almost every lesson and if she wasn't using it for a lesson

they were watching someone read a book off of it. They also did their math problems on iPads

instead of doing them as a class. How is the teacher supposed to know if they need help figuring

a math problem out? It felt more like the children were at a daycare instead of school. One

student said that he hates this school and learned more at his other one. I would construct

different lesson plans and adjust accordingly. I would also teach math face-to-face instead of on

an iPad. This will increase their focus and not get distracted or be wanting to go on different

games other than the math game (McDevitt & Ormrod, p. 430). Overall this observation allowed

me to realize that I would teach my students differently and allowed me to see how or what to

look out for when watching students develop. I got a lot of insight out of this observation and

plan to continue my journey in elementary education.

 References
McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education.
Upper Saddle River, N.J: Merrill.