Alexis' Journey through Kootenai Elementary

Hi my name is Alexis!

I completed my field experience at Kootenai Elementary in Sandpoint, Idaho with a Kindergarten class.

Domain 2.a : Creating an Enviorment of Respect and Rapport

One of my favorite things that I saw in my field experience was how the students interacted with each other and also how they interacted with my mentor teacher. I work at an after school program as a group leader, but the environment is not the same as a classroom led by a teacher. So my knowledge on how kids behave with each other/teachers was based on my personal experience in school, that being said I was raised in a more " old school" where you do as you're told and follow directions the first time you are asked. So it was interesting to see how students interacted with the teacher (the respect level, what they called him, ect.), some of them absolutely loved him while others had little respect for any adult. The relationships that I saw between the kids was also interesting, they acted almost like highschoolers with all the drama that they had.

This photo shows two girls that were fighting over the right answer to a math question

domIAn 2.d Managing student behavior

For my Field experience I went four days a week two hours at a time, so I came to know all the children very well. After just observing how my mentor teacher discipline the children for two weeks he asked me to also start disciplining also (Taking class currency, sitting away from the group, ect...). he gave me tips on what kinds of discipline works for each individual student, For example Student "m" is on the autism spectrum and does not respond to continued discipline, while student "W" needs continued discipline or they get out of control. I learned at the beginning of my field experience that I have very little patience for misbehavior and quickly became frustrated;after some time though I learned strategies such as love and logic that helped me manage not only the classroom's behavior more efficiently, but also helped me to manage my frustration.

This Photo is from my second lesson, in this photo you can see that most students are following the group plan and behaving. when compared to the beging of the semester I could see a definant increase in my ability to manage behaviors.

Domain 1.d Demonstrating Knowlege of the Resources

Having been in the classroom so much I not only became familiar with the children but also the classroom procedures; such as their weekly Schedules, snack times, and where all the class resources are (worksheets, workbooks, ect.). For example When my mentor teacher had bus duty or was busy preparing student work in the morning i would set up their bellringer and morning message. Their bell ringer is often a color by number/sight word, I would make copies for each student and place it on their desks with coloring tools. The morning message was a multistep activity that was used to hit multiple state goals at one time; this activity included updating the calendar, creating a sentence for them to read/correct, making a sentence scramble, creating a writing prompt, and making multiple math sentences.

In the photo you can see me doing me second lesson that I set up myself

Domain 2.c Managing classroom procedures

My mentor teacher was awesome, he encouraged me to jump in whenever I wanted. I would often volunteer to help the children transition from activity to activity, such as going from Read groups to recess. In the photo to the left was taken during my second lesson, we were starting to finish our lesson before transitioning to recess and this student was struggling to write her morning message prompt.

Domain 3.c Engaging student in learning

During my second lesson, which was doing their daily morning message. The last portion of their morning message was having them solve simple math sentences, so I wrote the equations on the board and had all the students work to solve them. In the photo you can see two students working together to find the answer.