2 Mary Jones My name is Mary Jones. I completed my field experience at Parkside Elementary School. I am observed a third and fourth grade self-contained class. This class was made up of a 10:1 student teacher ratio. There were three girls (African American) and seven boys (African American). Their disabilities range from autism to mild intellectual disabled. There were also two students who are served for autism. Ms. Paramore, my supervising teacher showed many direct interactions with students. She also showed higher order thinking beyond their ability level, to challenge them. She provided stimulating educational programs; such as lexia and dreambox with the use of i-pads. This in itself required high expectations not only academically but behavior wise as well. Ms. Paramore provided emotional development and self-efficacy with consistent praise towards the students. All the students are currently below grade level in Reading and Language Arts. Ms. Paramore set high expectations to increase motivation in students who may find their work to be below grade level. She does this by pushing them to read above grade level. The students in this classroom are currently reading on a 1st grade level (1.0 book level) but she pushes them to read on a higher level. She gives them books between 1.5-2.0 reading level this gives these students a positive attitude toward learning to have read a book above grade level; even if it’s not that big of a margin. This also broadens their knowledge and interpretation of concepts. There are multiple exceptionalities in this classroom. Those issues are also addressed through differentiating. This is where the she modifies assignments and activates to meet the student ability level. This includes but not limited to all assessments on the state and local level. Ms. Paramore used modified grading and used the platform grading on-line. She modified students test by limiting their answer choices. For example, marking out two of the four answer choices so students would have to choose from A and B verses A,B,C,and D. She also uses platform grading on-line which are the assessment the students take on dreambox and Lexia. Ms. Paramore used this data to focus on standards that students have not yet mastered to improve their skills, and to better prepare students for the GA Milestones Test. She also used a program called Khan Academy, where she goes and create an assessment based on taught material, to see if they have mastered the skill. This also prepare the students for GA Milestones which are also taken on student computers. Students are placed in flexible grouping and the rules are clear and concise. She uses flexible grouping to access their individual needs. One of her grouping methods was High-Low, this is a group that consist of one high functioning and one low functioning student in a skill or area of study. This is considered peer tutoring; this method is effective because many studen.

1. 2
Mary Jones
My name is Mary Jones. I completed my field experience at
Parkside Elementary School. I am observed a third and fourth
grade self-contained class. This class was made up of a 10:1
student teacher ratio. There were three girls (African American)

2. and seven boys (African American). Their disabilities range
from autism to mild intellectual disabled. There were also two
students who are served for autism.
Ms. Paramore, my supervising teacher showed many direct
interactions with students. She also showed higher order
thinking beyond their ability level, to challenge them. She
provided stimulating educational programs; such as lexia and
dreambox with the use of i-pads. This in itself required high
expectations not only academically but behavior wise as well.
Ms. Paramore provided emotional development and self-efficacy
with consistent praise towards the students. All the students are
currently below grade level in Reading and Language Arts. Ms.
Paramore set high expectations to increase motivation in
students who may find their work to be below grade level. She
does this by pushing them to read above grade level. The
students in this classroom are currently reading on a 1st grade
level (1.0 book level) but she pushes them to read on a higher
level. She gives them books between 1.5-2.0 reading level this
gives these students a positive attitude toward learning to have
read a book above grade level; even if it’s not that big of a
margin. This also broadens their knowledge and interpretation
of concepts.
There are multiple exceptionalities in this classroom. Those
issues are also addressed through differentiating. This is where
the she modifies assignments and activates to meet the student
ability level. This includes but not limited to all assessments on
the state and local level. Ms. Paramore used modified grading
and used the platform grading on-line. She modified students
test by limiting their answer choices. For example, marking out
two of the four answer choices so students would have to
choose from A and B verses A,B,C,and D. She also uses
platform grading on-line which are the assessment the students
take on dreambox and Lexia. Ms. Paramore used this data to
focus on standards that students have not yet mastered to
improve their skills, and to better prepare students for the GA
Milestones Test. She also used a program called Khan

3. Academy, where she goes and create an assessment based on
taught material, to see if they have mastered the skill. This also
prepare the students for GA Milestones which are also taken on
student computers. Students are placed in flexible grouping and
the rules are clear and concise. She uses flexible grouping to
access their individual needs. One of her grouping methods was
High-Low, this is a group that consist of one high functioning
and one low functioning student in a skill or area of study. This
is considered peer tutoring; this method is effective because
many students learn better with their peer’s verses teacher. She
utilizes their IEP or Individualized Educational Plan which has
the student disability, goals, accommodations for testing,
behavior plan, and much more to better serve that student.
In this self-contained classroom the teacher has an effective
classroom management system that reaches all students.
Routines are developed for each step of the day this allows
students to stay focus and be engage in learning. She has
developed clear, consistent routines and procedures. Students
review classroom and school wide expectations daily, which is a
learned behavior that becomes a routine. This helps to increase
independence because students can recall and know what the
must do daily. While observing this classroom, I noticed that
one student is all about routine and does not like change. I
noticed that if there was any altercation with their daily routine
or schedule he would have a complete meltdown. Ms. Paramore
also encourages morning meditation or mindfulness to create a
positive atmosphere. This helps to decrease behaviors and
minimize the cognitive load of students allowing more brain
power to learn content. The para has been trained on the
importance of supporting the routines in the classroom, when
she steps out the classroom he jumps right in and put up where
she left off. The teacher is flexible; no one students learn the
same way. She looks at each student strengths, needs, and
interest. She keeps students engaged, where not one student is
singled out no matter what their disability is. Planning is very
important in classroom management, this will give structure to

4. the environment and class dynamics. She also has designated
spaces within the classroom for group work, instruction,
independent work, time-out area, and free time area. She
remains engaged with manipulatives and many hands-on
activities. She also uses call backs to gain students attention.
Ms. Paramore uses a stop light chart to reinforce discipline.
With red meaning a phone call to your parents or loss of
privileges and yellow means stop and think about it. A behavior
plan has been inserted in the student IEP. This helps to assert
discipline where needed and how certain behaviors should be
handled. If the IEP doesn’t work a modification can be done at
the discretion of the IEP team. She also finds ways to celebrate
the students in the classroom. She has a shout out wall, where
she gives students shout outs. They receive good behavior and
academic certificates when a student has met his/ her goals.
They also praise each other as, a whole class even if the student
answer was completely wrong. This encouraged the students to
keep trying, allowed their classmates to give them a helping
hand, and gave that student their confident back to try again.
When observing Ms. Paramore during a ELA lesson, she started
off with a pre-teaching vocabulary of the text she was about to
read.One of the goals for ESP students is to be able to ask and
answer questions related to the text. Another goal is for
students to use context clues, prefixes, and suffixes to
determine the meaning of the words. The students and teacher
are modeling I do(teacher), We do (as a class), You do
(partners/groups), and you do independently (by yourself). Ms.
Paramore asked questions as she read the story aloud. The
students were very engaged in the lesson and they were able to
use phonological skills to sound out unfamiliar words from the
story. She than did an informal assessment by asking students
questions related to the story. She provided multiple
opportunities for the students to answer. After completing
question and answers as a class. She worked on writing skills,
such as letter formation and sentence structure using the
projector board. The use of technology during the lesson

5. provided a visual which benefited all learners. This activity was
very meaningful because this assignment prepared the students
for the next assignment. She than provided the students with
writing prompt to answer the key details in a paragraph.
I also observed Ms. Paramore during math, they were working
on multiplication using manipulatives. She placed students in
groups of two. Than drew circles on the tables and placed
counting bears in the circles. For example, they did multiples of
3, she drew three circles on the table and the problem was 3x3
the students would place three bears in each circle to get the
sum of three. The students were really engaged and eager to
raise their hands to give the answer.
FIELD OBSERVATION REFLECTIVE PAPER
The field observation reflective paper is an in-depth written
discussion of your overall field experience.
The reflective paper is a detailed rumination that describes your
field experience and should
illuminate connections between course content including:
theoretical concepts, relevant lived
experiences and other course content. A good starting point for
your discussion is the classroom
setting, including any observed modifications related to the
promotion of an inclusive environment, if

6. applicable. Extend your discussion to incorporate your
interactions with individual and groups of
students, as well as any specific developmental opportunities
provided by the cooperating teacher.
The paper should provide a summary of your daily observations,
interactions, etc. made during your
classroom visits. Describe the elements of instruction and
teaching strategies you observed, as well as
assessment tools that were utilized as part of the lessons. Be
sure to make reference of any salient
reactions and analyses associated with your observations and
experiences. The paper should be
formatted in APA writing style and consists of 4-5 pages not
including the title, abstract and
reference pages. Some final components that should also be
included are:
1. General Identifying data
Your name, field assignment location, type of class, grade level,
demographics (i.e. race, gender),
and profile of students, include the number of students with
exceptionalities (i.e. ESL,
disabilities), if any.

7. 2. Learning Environment
Arrangement of the classroom, educational resources (including
technology), classroom
procedures, teacher/student and student/student communicative
practices, implied or clearly
communicated performance expectation, record
keeping/grading, and assigned seating (if seating
is not assigned describe the elected student groupings). How
were the varying issues of
difference, multiculturalism, and/or exception addressed?
3. Classroom Management
Describe strategies and practices that were employed to manage
the classroom and individual or
group behavior, including class rules, monitoring of behavior,
cooperating teacher’s address of
appropriate and inappropriate behaviors as well as inattention.
Discuss equitable and/or
inequitable application of rules and discipline.
4. Educational Activities
Describe the instructional activities you observed in the
classroom, indicate if learning activities

8. are designed in a manner that is relevant to the subject matter,
outlined objectives, goals and
standards. Describe students’ level of engagement with lessons
and activities and indicated if
observed lessons and activities were meaningful. In addition,
discuss assessment practices and
cooperating teacher’s monitoring of performance and
engagement including reference to any
implemented accommodations
5. Personal Reflections
Describe areas that you feel are opportunities for improvement
as well as areas of strength in
relation to the cooperating teacher’s practices, philosophy and
overall classroom engagement.
Discuss any correlations between your philosophy of education
and your observational
experiences; include any strategies for how the lessons,
activities, classroom management or
other aspects could be revised for greater effectiveness.
Finally, provide any insights you gained
about the students, educators, educational processes and
yourself as a potential educator.