Field Experience Reflection

My first field experience has taught me a lot. It was held in Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten classroom at Kennedy elementary. I have experienced many aspects of the content that we have learned in class. I have experience student diversity, classroom management, twenty-first century technology, instructional strategies, and a very nice learning environment. I have learned a lot about myself through this experience, as well as, about the profession of teaching. I have had a lot of fun with all of the students and have had a very good time getting to know and practice lesson plans with four of the students. I will be sad to leave Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten classroom.
In Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten classroom they have a motto, which states, “We are all alike, we are all different, we are all friends”. They celebrate the differences in their classroom and are taught about tolerance to diversity. Mrs. Murphey does a very good job at practicing culturally responsive teaching. She recognizes and accepts student diversity. She lets all of her students know that they are welcomed and valued. There is a daily story time in the classroom, which allows Mrs. Murphy to read stories out loud to her students. Mrs. Murphy picks books that resemble their class motto. The books have something in common, something different, and are nice stories. The books tell of different cultures and backgrounds. I have noticed that all of the students in the classroom realize that they are different from one another and accept everybody for who they are. They are all friends and they never judge one another. This aids in making Mrs. Murphy’s classroom a very nice learning environment.
Mrs. Murphy has a very nice learning environment within her classroom. The walls of her classroom are decorated with displays and pictures to make her classroom more physically attractive. She has the alphabet displayed around her room. She displays her students’ most common reading words on one wall of the room. There is a play area with a kitchenette, dolls, games, and other toys that the students’ would like to play with during break time. When the students first enter the classroom at the beginning of the day, they meet and form a circle at the center of the room. Once they are all together they greet each other and they each say an activity that they did over the weekend. This helps to make the classroom more inviting at the beginning of every day. Mrs. Murphy really shows the students that she cares by knowing all of her students names, greeting them every morning, smiling constantly, and holding all of her students to high standards. She is always positive and never puts any of her students down. As I have already stated, everyone in the classroom has respect for one another. I have learned that respect is very important when creating a positive learning environment. When I walk into the classroom I feel comfortable and I know that all of the students do too. It is a very nice learning environment. Mrs. Murphy also has some amazing classroom management techniques.
I have learned a lot from Mrs. Murphy’s management techniques. My favorite technique that I have witnessed within her classroom is when she is trying to quite the class. She gets them to focus their attention on her almost immediately. She starts singing very softly until the whole class hears her and participates in the soft singing. Eventually the whole class is quite and their attention is focused directly on the teacher. I am amazed at how well this works in her classroom. Mrs. Murphy has set classroom rules that are posted up on the wall so that all students remember what they are. Her rules include; raising your hands before speaking, keep your hands to yourself, and listen when someone else is talking. Her rules are simple and effective. She has kept the list of rules small so that her students will remember them better and will be less likely to break one of the rules. Her students understand the rules and the reason behind them. Also, all of the students practice the rules and accept responsibility for their behavior, which is very good for a kindergarten class. Mrs. Murphy also uses the latest technology, which keeps her students motivated.
Mrs. Murphy’s classroom contains the technology needed in the twenty-first century to keep her students motivated. She has a smart board, which the students in the class love. The smart board is used to start out a lesson. First the class will read the lesson off of the board and then actively participate in touching the board to finish the beginning of the lesson. For example, when practicing reading numbers, each student will walk up to the board and flick a spinner which will randomly land on a number that they have to read off for the class. It is amazing to see how excited the students are to walk up to the board just to spin the spinner. The technology of the smart board keeps them motivated and entertained. Using the smart board follows Mrs. Murphy’s style of instructional strategy.
Mrs. Murphy uses a combination of direct instruction and cooperative learning. When introducing a new lesson, Mrs. Murphy will introduce the topic to her students, describe and model the skill that they are to learn until all of her students understand, and then let them practice. Every once in awhile she will let the students practice the lesson in pairs or in groups. During the day she will let them practice reading with a partner. However, when it comes to writing they typically practice writing letters on their own. Both of the strategies are used and both seem to be highly effective. Mrs. Murphy knows when a strategy will work and when it won’t. She can read her students very well and knows when to trust them in groups to be able to complete a task and when they need to work alone.
All of the students in Mrs. Murphy’s class are very bright and polite. They are all excited about learning and take it seriously. I was assigned to practice lesson plans with four of the students in her class. They were so fun to work with and they were always excited to participate in activities with me. Their favorite lesson plan that I practiced with them was the poetry segment. First, I would read them a poem, ask them to find the rhyming words within the poem, and then teach them about synonyms. They caught on very fast and loved poetry afterwards. I felt a very good sense of accomplishment and I was very proud of the students when they remembered what a synonym was. I had the best time getting to know the students in Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten class. I am sad to have to go, however, I am very grateful that I was able to have time with them. They have helped me discover that I was born to be a teacher. I have heard that when you love doing something it doesn’t feel like a job. That is exactly the way I felt when I was working with these students. I am going to miss Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten class. I have learned so much from Mrs. Murphy and all of the students in her class. On my last day with them they really made me feel like I was going to be missed. I have witnessed classroom management techniques, student diversity, instructional strategies, and the use of technology. I have seen students be motivated to learn a lesson because their teacher cares and is enthusiastic. I have practiced patience with the students in the classroom. I have learned a lot and have benefited from this experience. Thanks to Mrs. Murphy’s kindergarten class, now I really know that I was born to be a teacher.