PORTFOLIO ARTIFACT # 1 1

Portfolio Artifact # 1

Field Observation

Ivana Salazar

March 8, 2017

Edu 203

College of Southern Nevada

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My first impression of the school environment was it is organized, warm, and friendly.

The office I had to go in was very welcoming. My first impression of the classroom was it was

warm and friendly. I noticed it had many tools to help the students such as a SMART board,

charts, small white boards and a desk fill with materials. The student make-up of the class varies

throughout the day. In the morning, it is five girls and four boys. One student is African

American, one student is White, two are Asian, and five are Mexican. Later a different group

comes with some of the same students and new students. This group has four boys and five girls.

Two students are African American and seven are Mexicans. In the afternoon, there are four

boys and three girls. One African American and six are Mexicans. Rules that are posted in class

are “We are SWEET because we Strive to do our best, Work so that, Everyone learns, Each

person is, Treated with respect.” The cooperating teacher, Mrs. Lynes, says “We don’t really

have rules but they do know that they need to stay on task.” Also, all over the classroom there

are yellow papers that have characters on in such as: respect, kindness, caring, etc. I believe the

teacher does enforce the rules. She makes sure to have them stay on task and to make sure they

are nice to each other. There are rewards or consequences that are used for student who comply

or don’t comply. The consequences are lunch detention and/or to deduct points off. The rewards

are getting points, stickers, praise, and depending how much point they receive Mrs. Lynes will

buy them lunch and eat together.

Instruction is done in whole groups, small groups, and individual depending on the

subject. For example, in the morning it's reading and writing because she has fourth and fifth

graders. So she would have a group of fifth graders working on writing while fourth graders are

doing reading. The next subject is Math and everyone focuses on that subject. I would describe

Mrs. Lynes teaching style as student-centered. For example, she knows which students learn best
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when being shown how to solve a problem or to rephrase a sentence she said so they can

understand. Mrs. Lynes does incorporate the sensory modalities such as kinesthetic, visual, and

auditory. For example, during writing she will have each student get a small white board. She

will sound out ar and the students have to write the letters they think sounds like ar. After they all

write their guesses down she shows them the letters and has them write it down. She will then

show words that have ar in it like car, park, shark, etc. Another example is when they had to

work with fractions. She had fractions that are magnetic so they can put them on their

whiteboard. While they solve the problems she would make sure they get the right amount

correctly and will guide them when they needed help. The students do seem to be engaged in the

lesson that are being presented to them. The students would actively participate and try to finish

all the problems. There are no students that are isolated from the rest of the class for any reason.

How Mrs. Lynes handles transitions from one subject to another is by telling them ahead of time

what they will be doing. For example, she will tell them they will be watching a video, will have

a worksheet about the video, and will have new vocabulary words with pictures. The transition

she does works because the kids get to know what they are going to do and feel motivated to get

started in the subject. Mrs. Lynes “attention getting” commands are light flicker, calling on the

student, and telling them to quiet down while having her finger on her lips to signal them.

Fencing surrounds the whole school property. In front of the school there is a sidewalk,

parking lot, and gates for the kids to go in. The interior of the school is outside. For example,

when student come out of their classes they are outside. The school it not under one whole

building but is in sections. The classroom is labeled by number and the hallways are labeled by

names. For example, some hallways names are Osu Cowboys, Texas Longhorn, UNLV Rebels,

and Nevada Wolf Pack. The hallway colors are blue and white and the doors are blue too. The
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entrance security is very tight. You have to state your business and sign in to be able to go into

the school. The school mission statement is “Mountain View Elementary School in partnership

with the community strives to empower students to become problems solvers and life-long

learners in a safe environment.” Their motto is “We are: Motivated Unique Sincere Talented

Achieving Noble Genuine Students.” Their mascot is a Mustang and their motto spells out

Mustang.

In the Field Observation Activities Packet, there is section where I ask the cooperating

teacher some questions. I will only be talking about the ones that really stood out to me. Main

challenges Mrs. Lynes faces as a teacher is communicating and balancing a schedule of the

students with six different teachers, coordinating schedules, and paperwork being filed. She says

it’s hard to sit down and talk or email with the other teachers in what they will be doing next

week and what they want the students in special education to do. She says that some teachers

forget to either tell her so she either makes up something for her student to do or tries to find out

what that teacher will be teaching. The best part of being a teacher for Mrs. Lynes spending time

with her students, to see their success, and giving them encouragement that yes they can do it.

The discussion Mrs. Lynes has with student’s parents is IEP meeting, the progress the student

has made in the classroom, testing, and future goals. Some procedures or strategies Mrs. Lynes

uses to maximize instructional time is using Class Dojo. Class Dojo is a program where Mrs.

Lynes can keep track of points so she can reward them. For example, if the student is doing their

work them she gives him/her a point and it make a sound effect so the students know she’s

awarding them. She can also deduct points and that also makes a sound effect. It makes the

students aware that their not on task.

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Another activity the packet had was during a direct instruction to record tally marks for a

20 minute period. When there is interaction with a male student and the teacher then I gave a

tally to the boys section and the same thing applied to the female students. I recorded twenty two

tally marks for the boys and eleven for the girls. Students had just come from recess when I

started to record my tallies. That is why I think the boys were very active and couldn't stay in

their seats. So the teacher had to keep asking them to sit down or quiet down. The girls were not

as active and they were paying attention and doing their work.

The field observation was such an awesome experience for me. It made me see and

realize how much time and effort special education teachers put in for their students. They have

so much to do since they teach students who are in different grades, they all learn differently and

are in different levels, and prepare assignments where they can understand and learn. Also, the

schedule they have is so complicated that I respect them. I notice how much they care for their

students and how they want them to learn and grow. One thing that stood out to me the most was

when Mrs. Lynes said “I don’t want them to give up on themselves. Some of them think of

themselves as dumb but I’m going to prove them wrong.” It’s sad to think that these students

think of themselves like that just because they need help. I hope to be teacher where I

communicate with the special education teacher to make sure my students are getting help in the

assignments. Also, to have the resources in my classroom and to encourage them that they can do

anything.