Summative BlogPost

Throughout all my field experiences, I truly see myself at the high school (maybe middle school) level teaching English or history. I find English and history the most interesting; therefore, I believe I would be able to teach them the best. I picture myself at the high school level because I would be able to have intellectual, logical conversation with my students (hopefully). 

However, through these observations I have found that age does not always mean maturity. I witnessed a kindergarten class that was far more well behaved than a 7^th grade class. I also engaged with fifth grade students who were far more talkative and open with me than an English class of freshman students.

A reoccurring theme teachers demonstrated was how rewarding teaching is, and also how difficult it can be. I watched power struggles between teachers and their students. I viewed students constantly putting their heads down and on their phones. I observed one teacher who was stressed to the max and snapped at her students. I heard teachers talking about how difficult it is to work with parents and the administration. And I received countless “hopeful” smiles and head nods when I said I wanted to teach – which kind of came off as a sarcastic “good luck”.

But I also witnessed students who admired their teachers, and vice versa. I saw students who truly grasped concepts, and were really becoming educated. I heard classrooms filled with laughter, enjoyment, and comfort. I experienced students who really wanted to impress their teachers and be involved in their school.

Basically, the positives I saw outweighed the negatives, and I still plan to go into the field of education.

Gearity FieldBlog

Lauree P Gearity Elementary school is a public school located in University Heights. The elementary school consists of grades pre-k through fifth. I was looking forward to go to Gearity because I plan to be an AYA teacher, but I was anxious to see how early childhood would be because I hadn’t been in an elementary in so long. I have two younger sisters but they are in middle school and high school; if I am ever around little kids it is normally at youth cheerleading camps, which does not happen often.

When we first arrived everyone received name tags. Then the announcements came on and two younger boys, I assume in fourth grade, said the pledge of allegiance. Then afterwards five students from the fifth grade pointed us into different directions. The students that walked me to my classroom were so talkative, energetic, and adorable. I was surprised, to say the least, at how social and conversational they were. They were very helpful and funny. One of the girls was running for student council and made a sign with rope that hung around her neck that read “Vote for Toni”.

We went to a kindergarten classroom. They were reading books they chose by themselves. Then they put them away and went to a colorful rug. They sang songs to introduce the lesson. They were learning how to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s. They also were learning their sounds. It was so cute. It was fun to watch but I don’t think I could teach such a young age. I would have loved to see a third or fourth grade classroom because I might have been able to see myself teaching that age group instead.

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During my final observation I ate lunch with social studies department. Class began by Mr. Velotta calling each student up one by one to check if their homework was completed. He began his lesson on a PowerPoint called “The War at Home”. The PowerPoint had fill ins that related to the students’ homework. Mr. Velotta called on students for the answers. As the lesson continued, he focused a lot on propaganda during World War I. He used actual visuals from the time period and linked each of the photos to the lesson.

During the lesson he also explained the Great Migration. This historical event was thousands of African American families who picked up their entire lives and moved to the North. They were moving because of all the job openings in factories since so many workers were gone over seas fighting in the war. While these families moved North, they experienced racial backlash, especially in St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Velotta used building bridges by explaining the racial tensions and discrimination that happened in that time period and linking it to modern times. For example, the Ferguson riots and the University of Missouri protests.