1

Reflection
on Field Experience
Stella Orji Chicago State University

Special Education 5477

April 19, 2011, a very peculiar young man entered Mr. Walter Casimiros sixth grade classroom. He had a large smile on his face and was always laughing and talking. This young man seemed very self assured due to the way he answers the teacher. This interesting fellows name is Alfonso Lopez. Nothing seemed to upset Alfonso like the other students and I wanted to find out what was his inspiration to keep a positive aura. During interviews with the teacher and Alfonso as well as my observations, I had a clearer understanding of what kept him so bubbly. In addition to that, I found out the effects that his background, school learning climate, and teachers classroom management had on him. Alfonsos levels of understanding in the classroom, unique style of learning, behavior during instructional tasks, and engagement in the learning process became clearer as well. His academic and social success, as well as evidence of higher thought process was also an effect of everything mentioned. Alfonso Antonio Lopez is a 11 year old boy, born on March 18, 1990 to father Greg Lopez and mother Diana Delgado. He has two siblings: one older brother and one older sister. Unlike majority of the class, Alfonso has a mild intellectual disability that prevents him from learning as quickly as his peers. Although Alfonso lacked in the area to communicate, understand, and reason academically, he compensated in the area of charisma, interpersonal skills, and social development. According to the teacher,

Alfonsos parents do not use his disability as an excuse for bad grades. When Alfonso makes indecent grades, his mother grounds him for a month and that is all he needs to get back on track. In class, Alfonso is very talkative. The classroom atmosphere is calming. It consists of 30 students, but the arrangement and large space allows it to look less

crowded. The classroom has three groups of four students and three groups of six. Alfonso sits in the group of four students, by the right corner of the back of the class. Because of this, Alfonso is rarely noticed when the teacher is in front of the class teaching or lecturing. He often is ignored during lessons and he talks or drifts away. Even though Casimiro rarely notices Alfonso during lessons, he always makes him feel comfortable during breaks like recess, lunch, or downtime. Alfonso feels at ease in the classroom environment and teacher permits him to speak his mind. He and the teacher have a friend-like relationship and this causes Alfonso not to take the Casimiro seriously as an authority figure. According to Alfonso, he likes Casimiro because he jokes around a lot and is not to serious, but an ideal teacher would know when to discipline and joke to gain the students respect. Casimiro has very few classroom management skills. Many times, I find him yelling at the class to be quiet. Discipline-wise, the teacher has limited skills as well. He just sends the students next door to Ms. Santiagos, a seventh grade teacher, classroom for a couple of minutes. This has a negative effect on Alfonso because he generally gets away with being disobedient. Since Alfonso and the teacher have a friendlike relationship, it is difficult to actually discipline him. Alfonso has disrupted the class every day of my several observations and only one time has the teacher told him to settle down. Alfonso did not listen. He became upset and walked from the back of the classroom to the front, disturbing working students. classroom because he is a class clown. One particular morning, the teacher tried to discipline Alfonso by giving him a firm ultimatum, after several warnings when he threw rocks at his group during science. Alfonso basically rules the

Mr. Casimiro said, Alfonso, if I catch you disrupting your group members by throwing rocks at them, I will pull you out the group. I was not sure if it would work, but he eventually cooperated with the group. Later that afternoon, Alfonso became disruptive again, but this time he did not listen to his teacher because he said, I dont want to listen to you. He gets away with a lot with his teacher, so he uses that as a reason to disregard other authority figure. He admits that he is bad at times, but is a good student so should not be punished. That attitude, lack of classroom management, and lack of discipline has caused Alfonso to interrupt the class anytime without repercussions. According to

Alfonso the teacher is wonderful with classroom management because he is not strict. Alfonso claimed to be a genius. Obviously he has very high self esteem about himself. His class works does not prove it because with accommodations, he is barely getting a C average. His favorite subject is math and most hated is language arts. Alfonso seems to barely understand the lessons presented. He states that there are two main things that prevent him from fully understanding the lessons. The first thing is the classroom. The classroom has too many students. He believes that he can learn best when the classroom has less students so the teacher can focus more on the individual child. It is reasonable because Alfonso is not noticed during lessons. The second issue is the students. The students do not care about school and therefore disregards the teacher. He said that three fourths of the class does not like school or respect the teacher and it is affecting the way he listens to the lectures. Alfonsos ideal learning environment is smaller classes with motivated students that will help motivate him to pay attention and learn.

From my observation, Alfonso is an individual learner who learns visually. In other words he understands and grasps things better when he is by himself and materials are presented is in picture form. He likes to put things in his own words and he processes the information or material best when he does it his own unique style and fashion. Although he gets along well with people, working with a group is a whole different story. He does not concentrate as well when he has to work with others because he has not yet learned to incorporate what the group members say, and to then take their different angles in order to apply them to his own personal knowledge for it to make sense to him. It is critical for him to learn to work well with other in order for him to be successful in other aspects of his life. He also has a problem with instructional tasks especially when their long and involve retaining his attention for a long period of time. Although Alfonso does not have a problem with following directions, he has a short attention span and easily gets bored and would often start doodling, daydreaming, or spacing out during long lectures. He needs to be engaged in hands-on activities like a lab or something the require him to apply his past or present knowledge of skills in order for him to be fully engaged, meaning both mentally and physically. He says that he does not pay attention during lessons because the materials are boring. On the other hand, he says that he barely understands the lesson. Alfonso is still struggling academically, but not socially. He gets poor scores with the accommodations and is given opportunity to redo his work to bring his grade up. Even with the opportunity, Alfonso barely gets a C average. Alfonso does no focus in class like other students do. Since he is not engaged like he should be in school, he is

engaged in different activities to keep him from getting bored. For example, I noticed Alfonso has time to make silly jokes and comments to keep the class going. This behavior could sometimes be disruptive to his teacher and classroom, and could keep his classmates from learning important material. Because of this behavior, he is labeled as a class clown and all his classmates love him. He admits to talking and getting along well with everyone in his class because he is easy-going. His parents raised him to think beyond the box and openly speak his mind. This has completed the painting of Alfonso. His parental guidance is the main source of his temperament. His parents encourage him to challenge what people may say or think and to not allow his disability to hinder him. He continues to try that in the classroom to be the class clown. The classroom atmosphere does not permit a positive learning process for Alfonso because he gets too bored and lost in the lecture as well as the high number of students in the class. There are too many unmotivated students for Alfonso to focus on and his teacher is not an example of an authority figure that can help foster his inquisitive side. Casimiro does not discipline enough and Alfonso is taking advantage of that. Alfonso does not pay attention to lectures, homework, or other

students when he feels that he needs to talk. It maybe alright to shout at home, but he does not know how to calm himself in the school atmosphere. Alfonsos behavior and disability has made it very difficult for him to be successful in the classroom.