Field Experience Reflection

Introduction

This essay explores different concepts learned throughout this course demonstrated during my field experience. In this essay I will give several examples of situations I encountered in the classroom and how I related them to the topics we have learned about. Also, I will examine the teaching methods used by the teacher I observed and how she used different theories based on different students. Other topics discussed in this paper will include diversity, learning styles, development, and the teacher efficacy that I observed. My field experience involved many challenges and lessons learned by myself and those topics will also be explored.

Field Experience Site: Prince Avenue Christian School

The location that I used for my

Breedlove gave weekly tests to her students on different subjects. For example, one week there would be a science quiz and then a math test and the next week there would be a math quiz and a social studies test. When I asked about how she liked to give assessments to her students she explained that she felt as if assessments were very important until a certain point. She expressed to me that she believes standardized testing is way to emphasized, which I completely agree with. When I think back to when I was in school, all teachers talked about and all students cared about was what was going to be on the CRCT or the EOCT. Standardized testing is not good for the students because it becomes the prime focus and instead of learning and understanding material, they memorize. In the study done by Beverly Hoeltke the following was found: “Assessment is an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding.” This quotation is a reminder that testing is in most ways important and paves paths for students even though it can also be a

Breedlove’s classroom in which I observed behavioral and social theories being used. Positive and negative reinforces were big in relation to the behavioral theories. Mrs. Breedlove was very consistent about giving the students compliments of things they were doing well or praising them when they got an answer right and these are examples of positive reinforcement. Something that I would have considered a negative reinforcement of which I witnessed was when a child would act up and cause a distraction and Mrs. Breedlove would just ignore it. I felt as if this negative reinforcement just made the child want to act out more and instead of how she acted and ignored him, it would have been better to address the situation and correct the behavior. An example of a learning theory that I observed being used in Mrs. Breedlove’s classroom was self-regulated learning. Self-regulation is essential to the learning process (Jarvela & Jarvenoja 2011; Zimmerman 2008). It can help students create better learning habits and strengthen their study skills (Wolters 2011). During the time of when mathematics was being taught (and when I worked with Alexis), self-regulated learning was taking place because the students were given a daily math worksheet and were instructed to read the directions, complete it, and then turn it in on