Brittany Schiavo

EDR 317-06
Field Reflection Journal
1) Thursday February 5th, 2015: First Day of Field!
My first day of field at Manoa Elementary School in Havertown, PA was a total
success! I have passed Manoa many times since I live in Springfield, but I never
realized how nice of a school and school district that it was! Right when I walked in
the door I was greeted by the principal who instead of being intimidating was
extremely friendly. He told us how the doors do not open until 8:00 am, but if we
arrive early and see him in his office, that we can just knock on the window and he
will let us in. I thought that gesture was so nice of him as he seemed like a down to
earth man. After I signed in at the front desk, I walked into the library, which was
HEAVEN for any future elementary school teacher! The library was large, modern,
had an abundant amount of books, and had tons of popular childrens book
characters all over the walks. It is nice to see how important and how much the
school appreciates the importance of reading and childrens literature!
My teacher, Mrs. DeFrusio, was even nicer than I imaged from her e-mails! For
the first thirty minutes of class she gave Erin and myself a brief run-down of her
classroom. In the morning we would start off with homeroom, then the children
switch for math, and then switch again for language arts. I found this very
impressive because I did not start switching classes and teachers until middle
school, so for these students in elementary school to already get used to the
routine is a big change! The students that come to Mrs. DeFrusios math class are
considered higher level with several students in the classroom in gifted programs.
This was a little intimidating because some of the students asked for my help on

specific math problems that even I as a college student had to take a second to
process the question. Mrs. DeFrusios reading class however, is considered lower
level students with several students receiving what Mrs. DeFrusio described as
grants to receive extra support. An itinerant comes into the classroom two times a
week the struggling readers with their specific areas of need.
Mrs. DeFrusio is very open and is excited for us to be a part of the classroom and
hands on with the students, which is awesome! However, she did explain to me that
the students are preparing to take the PSSAs in April, so the lessons that I may be
teaching will be driven by the standards and the content that is supposed to be on
the test. I do not find this discouraging because when I do have the opportunity to
teach the class, I want to get the require content taught in creative ways! Overall,
my first day at field has been an excellent experience and I am excited to get to
know the students more and gain experience in a fourth grade classroom!
2) Thursday, February 12, 2015
Today in field, the students had a math test for the first hour we were there,
so this gave me the chance to talk to my teacher about some upcoming events. I
decided to pick a boy named Brian who is in Mrs. DeFruscios classroom. Mrs.
DeFruscio said that Brain was on grade level in his Language Arts abilities. I picked
Brain for my case study project since I do not have any experience in fourth grade, I
wanted to see and get used to what is considered on grade level in Language Arts,
and Brain is also in Mrs. DeFruscios math and reading classroom so I can observe
him the whole time I am practicum. Mrs. DeFruscio was so incredibly helpful by
providing me with Brains folder in Language Arts that contained work samples, and
how well he did on past reading assessments. I was able to make copies of this
information and use it for the case study. Mrs. DeFruscio is also very open and

flexible so I will get the opportunity to administer my own assessments on Brian to

see how well he does in key literacy elements.
Connecting to the West Chester Conceptual Framework, today I got to
experience and realize the evaluation and preparation that a teacher must do. In
order for a teacher to be effective, they must understand what skills each of their
students is good at and what skills their students need practice in. A teacher also
needs to evaluate these skills in order to track progress and determine if the
teachers current teaching strategies is successful. By getting to view the data that
Mrs. DeFruscio already had on Brian, it helped me see what I will be doing as a
future educator and effective ways of saying that data to show parents, principal,
and fellow teachers that may be working with that student as well. In order to be
organized, I want to have a big plastic bin with a lock lid on it that has a folder for
each student in my classroom room. Inside each folder will contain work samples,
assessments, progress monitoring techniques, and any notes or observations that I
have taken on that student. This way I am fully prepared to know what I need to
work on that student with, and have a collection of information to share about the
progress of each student.
3) Thursday February 19th, 2015
Today at Manoa Elementary school was interesting because we had a
substitute teacher. Manoa has one house substitute named Mrs. D, that substitutes
around the building for teachers who are absent. Since she stays in the one
building, she is able to get to know some of the students and teachers. Thinking
about my own future, I know I will have to substitute for a little before I am able to
land a full time job, and substituting is a little intimidating! You have to walk into a
classroom that youve never been and try to pick up where the teacher left off. I

think it is a great idea for Manoa Elementary to try and always use the same
substitute around the building. My cooperating teacher Mrs. DeFruscio also left out
on the back table typed up instructions on how the day runs and what the
substitute was supposed to do, and had all the materials neatly lined up and labeled
with a post-it note. For instance, the students have homeroom then math and then
writing. Mrs. DeFruscio had one column labeled homeroom with papers that needed
to be handed out, then a second column labeled math with the teachers textbook
open to the correct page and worksheets needed, and then a third column labeled
writing with several prompts and activities for the students to complete. This made
it extremely easy for the substitute to follow what the teacher wanted them to do
and had the materials all neatly organized in one spot.
Going off of the West Chester University framework and my knowledge from
my experience in field so far, organization is key when having successful classroom
management! A lot of time when I had a substitute teacher we did not learn new
concepts, but instead watched movies or did filler activities. Seeing how well
organized Mrs. DeFruscio is for her substitute teachers is exactly how I want to plan
my lessons and hopefully when I am a substitute teacher one day will have lessons
left that organized for me! Mrs. DeFruscio also left a worksheet that I could work on
with Brian, the student who I am planning on doing my case study about. I loved the
opportunity of getting to work with Brian on this worksheet because I was able to
listen to him read and then see how he answers comprehension questions to follow.
However, my cooperating teacher is extremely friendly and helpful, but I hope she
has me and Erin helping out more in the classroom. Right now, me and Erin mostly
walk around the classroom to help out any students who may need assistance or we
may pull a student to the back to work on an assignment. I hopefully soon will get

the opportunity to teach a lesson to the class or teach a mini lesson to a small
group of students.
The most rewarding part of my day, was when several students in Mrs.
DeFruscios math class left her room to transition to their writing classroom, they
remembered my name! Several students that I worked with today said Good bye
Ms. Schiavo, thank you which made my heart melt! That is the best part about
being a teacher is seeing how you can help students and how grateful they can be
for your help. Especially since I have only been in the classroom now three times
due to snow and since my last name can be tough to pronounce, I was so impressed
that students remembered my name and said good bye.
4) Thursday February 24th, 2015
Today at field, I had the opportunity to work with a small group of children
both in math and in reading. In my last journal entry, I stated how I wished I was
able to become more hands on with the students so today I was given that
opportunity! During math, I worked with several students on the back rug going
over a worksheet together. In reading, I worked with several students at the
kidney bean table reading a passage and answering comprehension questions.
Having this small group interaction was great because I was able to get to know
some of the students in the class more and I was able to practice teaching
strategies and important concepts to the children. During math, I used a white
board to help show examples and explain problems, but I would like to start
incorporating my I-Pad into my small group instruction time.
I also was able to collaborate with my teacher and begin creating my lesson
plan for when I teach next Thursday! In reading, the students focus on a certain

article for two weeks and then they have a test on the article evaluating how
well they do with comprehension questions, vocabulary, inferring, and more. This
week and next the students are working on a story about Lou Gehrig and will
have a test on the story next Thursday afternoon. My teacher told me that she
would like me to do some type of wrap-up activity to help prepare the students
for the test. She gave me two ideas of maybe doing a vocabulary review or
working with the main concept of fact or opinion. I already have thought of some
great ideas related to vocabulary that I think I will create my lesson mainly on.
Since the students are preparing for the PSSAs, the curriculum is really strict
and scheduled so I have some freedom in creating my lesson, but at the same
time my topic is very limited. Never the less, I am looking forward to getting to
teach a lesson that I have created with the class!
5) Tuesday March 3rd, 2015
Yesterday, Monday March 2nd, 2015, was Dr. Seuss day at Manoa
Elementary! I had the opportunity to do an activity with the kids that was
related to Dr. Seuss. First the students listened to the read aloud of The
Places Youll Go, then the students brainstormed five places that they would
like to go to in their life and why, and then write the ideas on a striped hat
that the cat in the hat wears. I was able to create a bulletin board outside the
classroom in the hallway displaying the students work and the book. I took a
picture of the bulletin board as an artifact to add to my reading practicum
portfolio.
I think the organization and display of a classroom is very important in
order to enhance the learning environment and community of the classroom.

I would like to always have updated bulletin boards and decorations in my

classrooms related to what my students are learning and doing. However, I
have learned today that creating a bulletin board is not as simply as it looks
since the school day for a teacher is so busy! I noticed how a lot of the
bulletin boards in the hallway had outdated pieces of works and topics
displayed from the winter time. These are the task that teachers must stay
after school or have a helper in the classroom in order to get accomplished
frequently.
6) Tuesday March 17th, 2015
Today I was able to conduct a fluency assessment on my case study
student Brian. In the beginning of the semester we practiced doing a running
record in class and I felt very intimidated. I had to listen to the recording of a
student reading a passage multiple times in order to follow what they were
reading and keep track of the errors they were making. Today, I was able to
keep up with the rate of the student, mark any mistakes they made, and use
the correct marks to indicate what mistakes they made. I feel very
accomplished of myself! Doing a running record is a very small element to all
the type of things a teacher must do, but it is nice to see how I am constantly
improving and becoming closer and closer to becoming a successful teacher!
Since there was multiple snow days this semester, I finally have the
opportunity to teach my first lesson and get observed next Thursday, March
26th. Erin and I are going to co-teach a lesson on making inferences. Since the
PSSAs are right around the corner for the fourth graders, we thought
practicing making inferences is a skill that the students could use extra
practice with and will definitely be a skill they need for the standardized
tests. Making and understanding what inference is, is a complex skill that

can be tough to teach children. There are not that many creative ways or
activities to teach the skill besides modeling and having the students trying
to do the skill on their own! I am looking forward to the opportunity of getting
to teach a skill that is a higher level thinking skill.