Mary Kaza Prof.

Gullen
April 26, 2017 Reflection
Paper
EDU 109 C
My field experience was at Bishop John King Mussio Junior High. My

cooperating teacher was an English teacher; literature for the 8th grade and

grammar for the 7th grade. Each period was about forty minutes long, and

the class sizes ranged from 15-20. It was a private Catholic school and it was

conjoined with the high school (there was also a BJKM elementary school

across the street). Students were mostly white, with a few Hispanic and

African American students. Because there was no individual special needs

program at the school since they couldnt afford it, there were a fairly large

number of students who had learning disabilities.

In my Foundations of Education class we learned three very important

things one should maintain in a classroom; respect, professionalism and

positive learning environment. These were the three guidelines I used when

entering my first ever field experience. While this class did not prepare me

for everything, it set a very clear set of guidelines to follow which helped me

in having a substantial experience. My pre-field class also helped me prepare

for this experience. It prepared me for all the paperwork that was part of the

class and I learned all the different competencies and Ohio standards which

were essential to complete this course.

The teacher kept a very positive and creative learning environment.

She did this through maintaining the physical and mental health of the
students in a wholesome manner. If students complained about a classroom

being too hot she would allow them to open a window or turn the fans on. If

they were hungry and the time was appropriate, she would allow them to get

a snack. As for maintaining a positive mental environment, she let the

students partake in creating the classroom, such as writing an inspirational

quote of their choice on the board. Because it was a Catholic school, the

students would all pray before their class and keep a respectful and holy

atmosphere in the classroom.

My cooperating teacher wasnt only a teacher to her students but their

mentor. As homeroom teacher, she would allow the students to come up to

her with questions and would give them advice on any and all topics. My

cooperating teacher was also head of the 8th grade school board, so she

would help fundraise for their class through creative ways, such as selling $1

water bottles and charging for dress down days.

I taught two lesson plans during my experience. The first lesson plan

was on pronouns; most of this lesson was based off getting to know all the

students better since I mainly observed for most class periods. Therefore, I

had them engage in a team ice breaker where they all told me what was

their biggest bucket list wish and then I would discuss it with them. I also led

an individual project where they all had to create a foldable with a

description of what a pronoun is as well as their own self-made examples. My

second lesson plan was more complex since it was about adverb clauses and
those were more challenging to learn so I mostly focused on teaching the

class through a lecture and interactive usage of the blackboard.

My main role in the classroom was to be an assistant to the teacher.

For her 8th grade English she would quiz them on the vocab for each reading

so I would create the vocab list and quizzes. To create them, I would use an

online dictionary to find their definition and then create a list on word doc,

which I would print out and give to the class to study. I then made a match

quiz and after they took them I would grade them using a key. I would do

other grading as well, mainly for tests and quizzes. I did other odd jobs for

her such as copying and printing and running errands to other classrooms.

She would always thank me for my help since the work was very time

consuming.

My overall experience was extremely eye opening into the behind the

scenes of a school. Teaching is not a profession that remains in a classroom,

but one that goes out to everywhere you go. My cooperating teacher told me

how she would not have enough free time to grade, so she would have to fit

in her grading while she was at her childrens sports games or waiting for

appointments and other miscellaneous work. While it may seem tiring, which

it is, the work one does for ones students is very rewarding. Sometimes, you

dont get to see immediate results, but it was obvious that the work my

cooperating teacher did for her students made great impressions on them

because students would come from the high school to ask her for help on

certain assignments or even to just thank her for teaching them something
that assisted them later in life. My experience was fruitful, eye-opening and I

learned lessons from my cooperating teacher that will follow me into my

future teaching career.