Literature lessons, read-alouds, students with special needs, and working with faculty members are what filled my field experience hours with excitement and learning. I completed 31 hours at Patterson Elementary school with a focus on children’s literature and special education in the classroom. I had the wonderful experience to teach two literature lessons that each had amazing outcomes. The whole class enjoyed each book and reader response activity! Besides focusing on children’s literature in the classroom, I observed and assist students with special needs and learned ways to accommodate lesson and activities for their disabilities. Each day brought new experiences for me and taught me important lessons that I will take with me through my teaching career.

In this information age, it is extremely important for young growing minds to learn and adapt to our world’s technology. After school would be a great place to reinforce the technology skills introduced in school and a place to not just play games, but learn to do homework on the computer and enhance learning through technology skills. The Boys and Girls Club has developed that place for students after school. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend four hours in the after school program at the Compadre Branch of the Boys and Girls Club in Chandler. I was surrounded by advanced technology opportunities and skills from the students and it was amazing to see the love for technology.  In my college classroom at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, I had the opportunity to judge the Digital Contest brought on by the Boys and Girls Clubs around the valley. Each contestant put a lot of hard work, time, and creativity into each of their video pieces which made it extremely hard to grade. One of the Boys and Girls Clubs mottos is that “everyone is a winner” and all of the digital videos were truly incredible. The amount of advanced technology seen in the digital videos was encouraging because our technology world is growing and even the younger students are learning about technology.

At Simonton Elementary School, I was surrounded in an amazing technologically advanced learning environment. I observed and assisted all grades in the technology lab classroom. Each day brought new experiences about teaching technology at the elementary school level. The students were utilizing the computer, the internet for Web searches, Paint, and PowerPoint in the classroom, to produce and assist in their learning experience. My wonderful mentor teacher helped me to broaden my horizons on integrating individual grade subjects with technology in the lab. I learned an amazing amount of information about technology to use in my future classroom. Overall, my experience in the technology classroom was marvelous. It opened my eyes to a new topic in school that I did not have in my early years of education. Technology is expanding every single day, and has quickly become an important element that touches many parts of our lives, especially the classroom.  Throughout the years, teaching techniques have had major changes; however, technology is by far the most useful and resourceful teaching foundation in education. 

Lowell Elementary School can be described as a wonderful safe haven for its students from the enthusiastic and dedicated bilingual teachers. I assisted my mentor teacher in teaching a variety of lessons which created many eye-opening experiences for me to take away. I had the amazing opportunity to be able to develop creative classroom management techniques, teach a lesson on professions, help instruct the calendar board as well as the morning message. The teachers are angels who believe in each and every one of their students. I learned to believe in my students and the little things that I do can change the life of a students and their family forever.

At Madison Elementary School, I had the opportunity to discover how amazing an Early Kindergarten classroom is. The classroom was filled with color and excitement that entices students to learn. I was blessed with an amazing mentor teacher who took me under her wing and taught me many teaching qualities that I will use for the rest of my teaching career. She gave me the courage to jump into activities and games, which I did, and she taught me how to balance exciting, educational activities with teaching the curriculum and standards. I was able to help the students learn the letter “S” and engaged in the games and activities that followed. I taught two students how to hold a pencil and continued to help all the students in the class how to write their letters. I left with wonderful memories and ideas that will take part in how I grow as a teacher.

I had a wonderful opportunity to observe a seventh grade life science class at Greenfield Junior High. The junior high setting was a big difference from the kindergarten students I had observed. It made me realize the different individual needs of all the junior high students. My mentor teacher would put three questions on the board every day for the students to answer. I believe it is a very efficient way of getting each class hour focused and on task. Many different teaching styles have to be incorporated to encourage the students to be responsible. Greenfield Junior High is a very encouraging school for students, and I am glad I observed twelve hours there.

I had an amazing opportunity creating a Halloween craft for the Boys and Girls Club children. The theme of the table that I was involved in was ghosts. We assisted the children in making ghost hats and ghost suckers. After the first few children completed our ghost table, we noticed that they were embarrassed to wear the ghost hat. Our whole table made our own ghost hat and wore them on our heads. After the other kids saw that we were wearing the hats, they put theirs on. I had a great time with the ghost activity and helping boost the children’s confidence. Every child needs excellent role models and I was there with a positive encouraging attitude.

This Halloween event at the Williams Community School was an incredible experience. I dressed as an 80’s Flash Dance girl and even though the students had no clue what I was, I was comfortable and had an amazing time interacting with students. I was assigned to the face painting booth, where I worked one-on-one with parents and children. I learned that my experiences outside the classroom can help me inside the classroom. I enjoyed the chance to experience and observe the relationships between parents and children in many different situations.

The Techathalon was such a great experience. There were hundred’s of students of all ages who came together from Boys and Girls Clubs across <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:State>. I have taught my family a lot about computers, cell phones, and other technology. It was amazing to see students so young in age creating PowerPoint presentations and figuring out technology projects by there self. I was in charge of the Roto Copter booth. The children of all ages had to follow the directions on the paper that told them what lines to cut and what side to fold which way. It created a paper “helicopter”, and they had to drop it from a high point and make it into a bulls-eye bowl. It is much harder than it sounds. After perfecting the Roto Copter, it took me about 20-30 tries to make it on the bulls-eye. The children were making it on their first and second try. As a future teacher, I will make sure I keep up with the current technology to help my students learn the best.