Fieldwork Summer Semester

I participated in many preparation responsibilities during my time volunteering.  I would arrive during lunch so I helped the teacher, Ms. Cheney, get ready for her next lessons.  I also graded projects on important people to Utah's history. I found them very interesting, I'm from California so my school's history was different.  I also recorded the grades the students received on their math homework.  On my first day helping out I was very nervous about messing up and recording/grading something wrong, but the second time I volunteered I was more confident in my skills. The week I was volunteering was the week of testing, so I didn't get a chance to see classroom testing.  When Ms. Cheney was talking to another teacher about the testing and how their overall class was doing. I realized that teachers actually care about how their students do and that the schools look at the scores of the teacher's students. When I was a student I never thought about how my sco...

My time in the classroom was very brief.  The total amount hours I volunteered was six hours.  I didn't see many modifications for exceptional child while volunteering.  I do remember that when I was in elementary school, one way the school was able to modify the lessons for exceptional students was by placing students of similar paces in the same classes.  Also they would have us switch classes for the subjects so if one student was not as fast at science, but really good at math they would't be placed in a slower placed class for all subjects.  As a result to IDEA there are special ed programs offered at schools.  Some strategies the teacher does to help students who are English learners are placing those students near her desk so she can be there when they need help.  Also she would always check on them and make sure they are doing okay.  I am from Southern California so in my schools growing up many teachers could speak Spanish so they could...

While volunteering in the classroom, I had many opportunities to interact with the students.  My first day helping in the class, I got to introduce myself and the class asked me ten questions.  After that the students worked on assignments.  The next time I volunteered, I was able work/interact more with the students. Since it is the end of the year the teacher, Ms. Cheney, had me call each student to the back to get their workbooks to take home.  When they came up I was able to talk to them and get to know each student.  Ms. Cheney is going to teach at a different school and was trying to figure out what books to bring with her, so she had each student pick their favorite books from her library and then give them to me to pack.  It was very fun to see what kind of books the students picked.  This also made me realize the importance of having a fun reading books in the classroom. Teachers have many duties.  They have to communicate with the othe...