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Christine Rice
24 November 2014

Professor Vudrogovic
Reflection Paper

Field Experience I
I completed my first field experience at Buckeye Local High School, where I taught
freshmen, sophomore and senior students. In my field experience, I was able to apply the things
which I have learned in my coursework at Franciscan. With the knowledge that I gained in my
Foundations of Education and Pre-field classes in particular, I was able to enter my first field
experience confidently and apply what I learned in order to further my knowledge with
classroom experience.
On April 30th of last semester, Mr. Sismondo spoke to our pre-field class, and one of his
major topics was the importance of the Ohio teaching standards. Although this was the first time
I had heard of the standards, they have now become familiar tools as a field experience teacher.
Mr. Sismondo noted that the standards are a guide for teachers so that they can continually
reflect on them and improve their effectiveness through every stage of their career. I found this
to be very true when teaching at Buckeye Local, because as I taught lessons and interacted with
the students I was constantly contemplating how I could improve and have a greater impact on
them in the future. When completing my assignments for field experience, I was able to
contemplate not only how I used each of the five standards in the classroom, but also how I
could use them better in my next field experience and in my career as an educator.
I also learned about IEPs in my Foundations of Education class at Franciscan and was
able to apply my knowledge of them in field experience I. As stated in my
demographic/reflection form, one of my tasks was taking students who had IEPs outside of the
classroom to take their tests and quizzes. By taking them outside, I was able to bring them to a

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secluded environment and a smaller setting where I could work with them one-on-one to explain
any questions that confused them. I also helped my cooperating teacher to modify tests for these
students, by doing things such as eliminating possible multiple choice answers or eliminating
questions altogether in order to shorten the test. In my Foundations class at Franciscan, I learned
that effective IEPs are created when parents, teachers and student come together to look closely
at the student's unique needs. Knowing that these students are simply unique in the way that
they learn helped me to approach them in a way that was different and helpful to them. I learned
that not only are these students smart, but they are special in that the way they learn is different
than most of the students I worked with. This specialness required more effort to make sure that
they understood the concepts, but it made me learn about the differences in students and the
potential that each one has, regardless of what standardized tests or reading levels might say.
Also in my Pre-field class, Mary Anne Donnelly came and spoke on child abuse and
neglect. Mrs. Donnelly taught me that as an educator, I have to be prepared to teach and
positively influence students that come from all different backgrounds and home environments.
One way I experienced this at Buckeye Local was noticing that the school provides free
breakfast for all students. Once a week, my cooperating teacher and I would take her classes
down to breakfast for the first fifteen minutes of class, so that the possibility of hunger was not a
barrier for their learning that day. This small activity in my field classroom reminded me how
different each student iswhile one student may be offered a plethora of food at home, others
may go hungry every single day. This is an important reminder when teaching these students to
be patient with them and to contemplate the different factors that may be making it harder for
them to concentrate. I also experienced the way that different cultural backgrounds can affect my
teaching. As stated in my demographic form, one boy in my Buckeye Local sophomore class was

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an exchange student from China. This student, Lu, spoke broken English and often handed in
assignments written in Mandarin. While teaching my lessons, I was tempted to avoid calling on
Lu in fear of not being able to understand his answer. However, remembering what I learned
about the importance of treating all students the same, regardless of ethnicity, I made an effort to
call on Lu and ask him questions, so that I would become more comfortable with his accent and
way of speaking. In the end, making the effort to do this was rewarding, because by interacting
with Lu I was able to learn how extremely gifted he is and even hear about his life in China and
his family back at home.
In conclusion, these are only a few of the many things I learned and applied in my field
experience classroom. Through teaching lessons, helping students one-on-one, grading tests and
speaking with my cooperating teacher, I learned an extraordinary amount about how to be an
effective and influential teacher. I am extremely satisfied with my first field experience and am
excited to complete my second, so that I can apply the things that I have learned even further and
ultimately become a better educator.