Classroom Field Experience
Camelot Intermediate School, Brookings, SD - K-8 Student Teaching - 4th Grade Science
I completed my K-8 student teaching experience during the spring semester of 2023. I was placed in a 4th-grade science classroom. My cooperating teacher, Megan Madsen, was extremely helpful and provided me with a multitude of teaching experiences. I had the opportunity to work in a Mass Customized Learning (MCL) classroom, meaning that learners are able to take charge of their learning and teachers are able to meet more of their individual needs. Students created their class schedules at the beginning of the day, so we saw a variety of students each day. We had a homeroom class of 24 students. This group of students was in our classroom at the beginning, middle, and end of the day. I had the opportunity to lead morning meetings, check in with them at lunch, and teach a language block for our homeroom students. During the other blocks of the day, I am teaching science! I planned and implemented a unit titled Changes to Earth's Surface. In this unit students learning the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition. They also explored various maps that displayed patterns of these changes. I also led a writing project called Computers on Strike. In this project, students constructed a paper persuading their computers to "come back" and "go off strike." Teaching these students and working with experienced teachers provided me with endless skills that I will make use in my own classroom. I was so lucky to have been placed in a team of five wonderful teachers and three other student teachers. This experience has expanded my love for teaching and I made close relationships that will impact me the rest of my life!
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/pdf.png)
Contextual Factors Paper | |
File Size: | 91 kb |
File Type: |
Dakota Prairie Elementary School, Brookings, SD - Practicum II - 1st Grade
I completed my Practicum II hours during the fall semester of 2022. I visited Kali Lamp's 1st-grade classroom on Mondays from 8:30 am to 10:45 am and Wednesdays from 11:45 am to 2:30 pm. It was amazing to see how fast I developed relationships with the students and teachers in this classroom. During this Practicum, I had the opportunity to plan and implement two lesson plans that fit into the curriculum. These lesson plans were observed, so I was provided with useful feedback that helps me now and will help me in the future as I develop lesson plans. One lesson was centered around addition and subtraction within 20 units. The other lesson was centered around identifying individual syllables in words. In both lessons, I was able to work with a small group of students for more individual instruction. In the math, lesson I also taught a large group lesson before the small group session. In this experience especially, I had the opportunity to learn and explore more behind the scenes aspects of teaching. My cooperating teacher showed me the resources that their school provides the teachers and how she prepares for her lessons. My teaching skills greatly improved during my time in Ms. Lamp's classroom. I am confident that this field experience will benefit my future in teaching. It has prepared me for my student teaching opportunity at Camelot Intermediate School.
Mickelson Middle School, Brookings, SD - Practicum 1 - 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade
During the spring semester of 2022, I completed my Practicum I hours in Mickelson Middle School in Brookings, SD. I spent approximately 12.5 hours in the classroom with students in grades 6, 7, or 8. I would go at varying times, so I would have the chance to be with different classes, grades, and subjects. During this time, I was able to observe Lisa Weier, my cooperating teacher, implement lessons in her 6th Grade Design and Modeling, 7th Grade Medical Detective, and 8th Grade Automation and Robotics classes. It was interesting to see how her teaching style adapted depending on the class and age of the students. I was able to create a lesson plan that went along with her teaching goals. I created a lesson plan about the Nervous System for her 7th grade class. Although I was not able to implement this lesson, it was useful to learn how to create a science lesson plan and to see how a lesson could fit into an entire unit. I had the opportunity to see an example of how differentiation is used in classrooms. Weier had printed out a seating chart with pictures and names of her students. Next to their names, she wrote if they had an IEP, 504 plan, or any point of importance. Then, she would make adjustments to her lessons, assignments, and seating charts to best accommodate her students. I found this information especially useful because I was able to see how the content that I was learning in my classes applies to real classrooms. This field experience was unique when compared to my other experiences because the students were a little older than what I was used to. Having experience in a middle school classroom was extremely helpful because I was able to learn the differences between age groups of students and how teaching compares and contrasts to younger grades.
Fishback Center SDSU Campus - Student Teacher - Kindergarten
During the fall semester of 2021, I was a student teacher with the Kindergartners at the Fishback Center on the SDSU campus. I was in this classroom Mondays through Thursdays every week this semester from 8 am to 11:30 am. My teaching skills improved so much during this semester. In the course of my time here, I was able to plan and implement many lessons, administer a variety of assessments, lead home visits with families, and be a member of teacher reflection meetings. I was able to see how much thought and precision goes into every lesson plan. There is a specific reason for every activity that is planned. I also learned how to act under pressure. Sometimes an activity does not work out how you planned or it does not take much time to complete. This requires a back up plan and/or quick changes in the lesson plan. This is definitely a skill that will be useful in my future. An example of this is when I had a lesson planned about gardening. We worked through everything that I had planned and we had a lot of time left for our investigations. I had to quickly think of an activity that would go along with our lesson and still have a meaning behind it. I ended up using a flower puzzle that showed the life cycle of flowers and everything that they need to grow. This not only fit into our lesson, but it incorporated evaluating and fine motor skills. Another important skill that I had learned is how to communicate with families. As I planned home visits and parent-teacher conferences, I had to think about collecting evidence of learning, creating individual student goals, and how to present myself in a professional way. It was very insightful to hear from caregivers because they are the experts on their children. This provided me with essential information for the classroom, student learning styles, and their personal experiences. It was amazing to get to know each student and discover what they have to offer the world around them. I find it interesting how even though the students are all the same age and going through similar developmental stages, they all have unique qualities and ideas.
Fishback Center SDSU Campus - Assistant Teacher - 3 and 4-Year-Olds
During the fall semester of 2020, I had the opportunity to be an assistant teacher with 3 and 4-year-olds at the Fishback Center at South Dakota State University. Every Wednesday afternoon, I would be an assistant teacher for the other teachers from 12 pm to 3:30 pm. This experience greatly expanded my desire to teach. This involved setting up the classroom, teaching the children, cleaning up after the school day, lesson planning, and more. After each day, we would have a discussion with our mentor teacher. We would discuss how the day went, what we thought went well, and what we thought we could change for upcoming lessons. This experience opened my eyes to what real teaching may look like and everything that goes into making a school day run smoothly. Being an assistant teacher has prepared me for my future of teaching. This was one of my first real experiences with teaching. Before this, I had only learned the skills and techniques needed for teaching. Simply learning these skills is different than actually putting them into action. The most important skill that I learned was how to interact with the children. Knowing how to ask the correct open-ended questions and have conversations that encourage critical thinking are essential skills for teaching. Before this experience, I found myself asking a lot of yes or no questions. Another important aspect of communication is to find topics that children are interested in. Finding ways to make topics relate to the children’s lives helps them become more engaged with each topic. This results in them mastering skills easier. This experience provided foundational skills for my future education experiences