The End

Topic: What is the most important thing you have learned during your fieldwork observation? Why?

During my fieldwork observation I learned countless lessons about classroom managment, assessment and accountability and working with students with disabilities.  "Mrs. Kay" is an amazing teacher with years of experience and  I can honestly say the two most important things I learned from her were to always be compassionate and kind to your students and be energetic about learning.  In "Mrs. Kay's" contained classroom the student were known to scream, spit, hit and kick.  The students were also known to be very generous and loving, so where do you find the balance?  During my entire fieldwork experience I never once saw or heard "Mrs. Kay" scream at her students, lash out at them, or hurt them in any ways.  She always spoke to them with kindness and compassion, she discussed their actions with them and worked with them to get to the bottom of their outburst.  "Mrs. Kay" was always patient and took her time with each student, she showed real respect and devotion to them.    

Secondly, "Mrs. Kay" was always energetic about teaching and learning new things either for the students or from them.  She showed enthusiasm and encouragement when students progressed academically and never reverted to a negative attitude when they didn't.  One student fits this description perfectly.  When "Sam" would lash out and scream at teachers calling himself and others dumb, "Mrs. Kay" would remind him of his success in her class, how wonderfully he had done since working with her and that he was definitely not stupid.  Another thing "Mrs. Kay"showed great enthusiasm for was reading, she loved to find new books to read to her students that would capture their attention and excite them about learning to read on their own.  Reading was incredibly important to her and her students were well aware of that.  I was reminded during my fieldwork observation how important it is to love what you teach.

As a teacher, I have a responsibility to make teaching fun and to boost students academically through interest in required materials.  My hope is to be able to do this for my students.  My hope is to be the teacher that my students remember when they think back on there elementary school careers as the teacher who loved what she taught.