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Home > Diversity > Practicum Reflections

Practicum Reflections

Observations and Interviews

Context

These observations and interviews were completed at W.A. Young Elementary in November of 2005. I observed one student in three different situations.  These were two math lessons and one trip to the bathroom. During the math lessons he remained quiet, but got distracted at times. During a bathroom trip his Kindergarten class has to remain completely silent. Sometimes this student has a hard time remaining quiet in the hall. Especially when I was in the hall, he loved to talk to me. When I interviewed this child, he had a hard time staying focused. I had been told this student did not like school at all. While interviewing him, he had many nice things to say about school and his teacher. When I interviewed the teacher, she had a lot of great advice for me when I begin to teach. I feel very lucky to have worked with such an amazing teacher.

Impact

These observations and interviews helped me learn more about children and my teacher. When I begin to teach, I will be so nervous and overwhelmed. My teacher helped me realize that this is normal and gave me lots of wonderful advice. By completing these observations and interviews, I can now better understand students and their relationship with their teachers. I will be a better teacher if I constantly observe and interview my students so I understand what level they are on at that time.

Alignment

I have met Standard 14, Indicator 1 by interviewing a student that told me he hated school and his parents did not care if he did what he was told at school. I am not sure if this was true, but I respect that could be the way his family feels about the educational process.

I have met Standard 14, Indicator 2 by interviewing a student with an open-mind to his answers and feelings about school. I have also met this standard by respecting that all students come from different backgrounds and their opinion is just as important as the next child's opinion.  

I have met Standard 14, Indicator 3 by rationalizing with a student about why he does not like school. I focused on the one thing he does enjoy at school and made that a topic in my interview.

 

 
NC- North Carolina DPI Elementary Education Specialty Area Standards
Standard: Standard 14: Elementary teachers develop strategies to address topics that are controversial to diverse groups.
Indicator: Indicator 1: Teachers understand and respect that families and communities may have diverse attitudes about the educational process.
Indicator: Indicator 2: Teachers promote the open-minded discussion of controversial issues by developing and using various strategies such as debates, use of data gathering and analysis for informed decision making, and recognition of bias and propaganda.
Indicator: Indicator 3: Teachers guide students in developing rational solutions to controversial problems.
File Attachments:
  1. Observations and Interviews Observations and Interviews
    Summary of observations and interviews.
Author: Lauren Currier
Last modified: 1/14/2008 4:14 PM (EST)